im having a really bad time,, i was 100% raw for about 3 months straight, and for the past week or two i went back 2 sad food, and i am now addicted 2 it once again,, im feeling the same way i felt b4 i went raw, hopeless, depressed, hating myself for being so retarded,, neways i need stories about people who have lost tons of weight, and healed severe skin problems, and look like totally different people now,, i need to hear their stories,, or watever you story is i just need one of those miracle stories that will help me feel like that coul be me if i just keep going,, ok well thanks

You did 3 months straight fuzzysox! That's really good! If that's your record so far, maybe next time, you can go for breaking it!

Try Storm and Jinjee's site: she said she lost 30 or 40 lbs and healed her acne. (I think that's right) She's been raw for 15 years and looks truly awesome.

[jinjee1.securesites.net]

regardless of the story or who it is about, i think you are gonna find that nothing happens to anyone overnight ...YOU have to find the patience and calmness to see things through and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel

the reason i started to go raw is because i got sick with cancer ..its been 5 years now and im still cancer free ..i think thats pretty successfull
my motivation is to stay healthy , to not go thrugh all that pain ever again

is that a miracle .. i think it is .. for me it is anyways

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

i agree with suncloud. 3 months is incredible. i have not made it that far yet. i have been having like 1 baked potato a night with the exception of my great binge this past weekend. lol!

however, in this short time period that i have been 100-90% raw i have noticed my skin looks amazing. i can confidently walk out of the house with out foundation on for the first time since i was 13 years old. i am 29 now. my skin also tans much faster and the color i get from the sun is like honey caramel. i feel so beautiful and that radiates in my disposition. everyone around me has noticed.

i can breath better. less mucousy. i lost 5 pounds. i am much less moody and less upset when people disappoint me--this has by far been the best part of it all. i have done quite a bit of mental healing. its as though i was so unbalanced and still i am still finding new balance and strength every day.

i saw a great quote that might help you, i cant remember where i saw it but:

""nothing tastes as good as health feels.""

dont feel guilty and dont beat yourself up. its not easy. especially when your dad owns a pizza restaurant. lol! but you can do it. just look at the faces of the sad eatters around you. then look at the faces on this website. that is great motivation. raw eatters seem to radiate positive energy. i want that so much. and that is what keeps me going. you have to find something to keep you going. and you will find it, if you want it.

best of luck and love to you. we are all rooting for you, fuzzy! so many people are in your corner!

well done for going three months raw,
but aren't you just making up exuses? You are waiting for an outside source to supply you with something. This choice needs to be your own. Make your own reasons for wanting to eat healthily, like long life, self esteem, good moods etc.

Don't be too harsh on yourself, even when you take a bite of sad food, remember, you have a choice about it. Tell yourself that if you want, you can continue to eat these foods for however long you want. If you want a doughnut, then choose it, but also choose to accept the feeling that comes with it. If you take away the MUST and SHOULD and HAVE TO mindset you might realise there's nothing to rebel against. Just take it easy, there's no pressure on you at all in the way you eat. It is your life, you clearly want to eat raw, so think about why you do, then you might come up with those turnaround reasons you were looking for. Don't feel guilty for eating SAD it's just something you feel like you are stuck in at the moment, but nothing lasts forever. Change is all around us.

You can choose to make that change today, I think you already have as you are here on this forum, so well done you, looks like you are ready to get some fruit down ya! : )

You can find all kinds of transformations of people that went from SAD to raw foods at [www.shazzie.com]

It's been a miracle in my life. A suggestion, (people gonna get so tired of me talking about this..but) try some raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar daily. I mix 1 T of acv in 1 C of pure water and drink it. I have that 3x a day and it's done wonders for my health, and for getting back to higher % of raw, and it's an apetite suppressant for me too.

Love,
Prism

HI Prism - do you have weak fingernails, cuz it's supposed to be a sign of hydrochloric acid deficiency.(which acv would 'replace'). I used to use a couple of h.a. replacements (acv was one) but they didn't always work so I gave them up. I'm just curious about this cuz my fingernails are STILL weak and react very strangely to certain foods now, which I think has to do with eating acid foods. I'm still trying to figure it out. Cheers, aqua.

FUZZYSOCKS - you are truly awesome in my mind - no hyperbole here, just telling the truth. For anyone dependent on other people for their food and emotional support, you are doing a fantastic thing. It's hard at times, to transition to raw while living amongst sadders - just remember you're going to feel weak sometimes, cuz you are normal!

Someone here (diayan, I think) said she prayed for a long time for the strength to be raw, and I have my own version of that too. I have mind-spirit things I do when I remember and they are very helpful to me, but I suffered alot from my own stupidity and had finally had enough.

When I get strong cravings, which I believe are mostly from my body eliminating the toxic residue of the incomplete digestion of that or a similar food, I thank my body for now eliminating the burden I put on it in the past. I spend time using thoughts to ease my way through the cravings, till they're gone - usually only a few seconds now.

But sometimes I'm weak and don't even remember why I'm craving something and I cave in - then I feel like you do now. But don't waste time kicking yourself - you can't even benefit from that.

You can do this, so keep going!

fuzzysox if you do a google search "raw food before after" you'll find a bunch of sites with various peoples' stories, and lots of before/after pics, also.

Fuzzysox,

I have beat depression (I'm one of the few women my age I know who is not on medication - or self medicating with alcohol) and nothing brings me down for long anymore. I can relax on deeper levels with relative ease now, that's a big bonus for me and was totally unexpected! Not really worried about cancer returning since witnessing these and other powerful turnarounds in my health and am fascinated by how my body is healing/changing on raw

You could ask yourself how commmitted you are to eating raw and if the answer is very! then be your own supportive friend and try and feel some compassion towards yourself during the times you find it hardest.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2007 04:42PM by Dulset.

dulset, what type of cancer did you have and did you cure it with raw food? how long were you raw before you began to feel as though nothing could really bring you down? just curious, thanks for sharing.

Jgunn,

Yes it's a miracle! Congratulations!

Pihourova,

Had thyroid cancer followed by a full removal. Discovered raw a couple of years later after struggling with vegetarianism which made me nervous cuz I didn't think I was eating right just by not eating meat.

After staring to transition last October it didn't take long to feel a difference in my depression. At the time I thought I had it mostly under control because I was getting so much out of meditation practice but it wasn't until I started eating raw that I realized that how depressed/anixious I still was because of how much better I felt after only a short while. Metaphorically it was kind of like a dark blindfold finally lifting off my eyes.

The wonderful thing is that other stuff in my life that I'm working on is also moving along, the raw diet has been a catalyst for positive change in other areas, I'm more effective overall at whatever I'm doing.

Fuzzy, I don't have a miracle to tell you, but I feel like one is going on in me.

I found Jinjee's site a couple days ago. I have very similar looks to Jinjee - same hair colour, eye colour, comlexion, skin type and tone, and even a similar face and body-type, but I am only 5 ft. 3 ins. and weigh about 114 lbs. The past few years I've had so many health problems, including anemia, my complexion was like old Xerox paper and I was more than 20 lbs overweight. I was invisible on the street. Now, after a few months on raw, I look more like I used to. I'm going to use Jinjee's photos as inspiration.



My daughter, who is a harsh critic, (she's in her late teens, is slim, beautiful, fashionable and turns heads everywhere she goes) has been complimenting me for the first time in years. She says I look pretty and tanned, but I haven't been in the sun. My entire body has a pinky-tanny glow. My legs honestly look ALMOST as good as they did when I was a dancer at 15 (I'm in my late 40s) and I can see the rest of me is slowly catching up.



I was never really a SAD fooder and I still don't need eyeglasses. For most of my life, till the last few years, people thought I was at least a decade younger than my true age.These things are probably largely due to not eating SAD and to being athletic and getting lots of fresh air.

I have a long, long way to go to feel and look good again- I should weigh about 104 lbs. I have several health problems. But when I consider your question in this post, I realize I'm on the right track and hope you can tell that it's mostly the raw diet that has brought about these changes, or actually, the return to the way I was a few years ago.

At your age, the testimony of someone 30 years older than you doesn't mean much. But how you eat now will determine the state of your internal organs which in turn will determine how you look and feel for all your tomorrows.

I went from being 215 pounds to 125 pounds in 8 months on raw... My skin looks much better, and I think this might be because I am allergic to chocolate, sugar, gluten and lactose. My kidney disease has also stabilised, I have excellent digestion, I am never tired or depressed... I could go on and on about the benefits.

I am 95% raw. I still allow myself a treat once and again like tea or falafel (without the pita of course).

If you want to see my before and after pics, I believe I posted them in my journal. Check it out there.

Peisinoe check your private messages, please.

fuzzysox, if you have never heard of Angela Stokes....search her. It's incredible! she is an amazing lady!

3 months is pretty incredible, in my opinion.

everyone

--------

if you are even thinking about food and your body differently, that is an extreme turnaround from where mosts folks heads/bodies are.

everything else will follow in time with the right decisions.

pursue things more joyfully, not as an imposition/program/sentence to be carried out

don't set goals like long term water fasts or even 100% raw (if it cant be done healthfully/enjoyably without relying on many 'stay-raw' foods)...keep things reasonable. in most cases your body just won't allow this kind of acceleration one way or another, mentally or physically even if you can drudge through the task.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2007 04:27AM by anaken.

fuzzy where are you no comment?

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Dulset

I was very impressed with your story. I am battling one of your problems, the depression. It's been rather serious for the past 2-3 years. I have never taken any medication for it, thank God, though I've been more than once tempted to. I've started raw, I'm somewehere around 80% raw, with a small cooked meal (one steamed/boiled vegetable a day). I've tried this before, had a pretty strong detox, all on my skin, then caved in when I lost an insane amount of weight - starting skinny I went to a walking skeleton. I'm not losing too much now because I eat a bit more and lots of fruits throughout the day.

Anyway yesterday I had again a breakdown (after our 9mo old daughter would not go to sleep even with prayers) and I've started feeling even more depressed since I've started raw. I am at the very beginning - 2 weeks on partly raw so...can it be detox? I'm experienceing detox as cold symptoms as welll but I can hardly bear the depression symptoms. When did it get better for you? What else helped?

Congratulations on your amazing success with your illness!

stay healthy
stay clean
cricri

Cricri I'm feeling very bad for you - postpartum depression often happens to people who have a history of depression.

Search for a forum for this problem and try to keep mineral levels up. Keep your blood sugar levels stable.

Depression is unique for everyone - mine had to do with a couple of people from my childhood, which antidepressants didn't help. Since I did a certain therapy, I've been feeling much better.

Kwan knows a self-help method - it's called Redirecting Self-Therapy and if
[www.postflood.com]
[www.redirectingselftherapy.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2007 05:40AM by aquadecoco.

hi everyone! :] thankyou guys so much for your replies,, you are all soo nice, and awsome, lol,im serious tho, i feel so much better from reading all these posts,, im fine now that im bax on the raw boat

suncloud haha i guess 3 months is a long time, yah im deffinately breaking that number this time around

aquadecco i saw jinjees story it is really amazing, thankyou for that :]aqua thankyou for thinking im awesome, but i dont feel that way,, i guess im doing ok for my situation, but still,,thankyou for saying that, its really nice iwant 2 have the strength you do just 2 pray through a craving! thats a real power youve got there,, i think i will try it ,,,it seems like i am in the shoes as you, except 17 and, well, heavier,, i love your story,, gawd if i weighed 114! you are doing amazing, and you sound beautiful! believe me your story is a miracle

jgunn your story is amazing, it deffinately gives me hope that i can make it through this,, im so damn pessimistic! i hate it! (theres the pessimism) but if you healed yourself from cancer, i can deffinately heal my problems, which are small in comparison 2 cancer,, i just have 2 keep reminding myself this

pihourova you sound beautiful, i want your skin! you are right,, i havent seen the huge changes that i want yet,, but my eyes are brighter, and i like 2 go out more,, i just have 2 keep going,, and i wasnt really healing much bc i was binging on rawfoods, i stil lost 15 pounds, but i had 30 more 2 go,, but i think im finally over that emotional crap, finally! i like that quote, its very tru :]
haha i cant believe you remembered my dad owns a pizza place, wow,u hav a really good memor y :]

azura you are right,, i just keep fighting with myself, and i hav 2 stop listening 2 the part of me that dosent want me 2 be happy, its hard but ur right

prism thanks for the website :] its a really good one ive been there b4,, i just wanted 2 talk 2 someone in person, or over computer or watever,,, about acv, i guzzle that stuff like crazy i luv it! it does supress my appetite, its just wen i run out of it that im in trouble,, luckily i double stocked this time ;]

Dulset i have depression 2,, well actually i think its leaving me,, its not really eating away at my soul anymore,, raw has healed that,, i still get depressed sometimes,, ive just got 2 keep pushing my way past it and stop getting trapped in my own darkness everytime it comes along, ive just got 2 learn 2 do that,, im glad it is healing your depression,, what type of cancer did you have?

Pesinoe! i saw your journal, and your transformation is just amazing,, i showed it 2 my sister,, and now she is considering raw :] you are so gorgeous! i hav a question about your skin,, did you hav stretch marks and did they heal,, i kno its really personal question, i just really want an answer about this,, from someone,,,neways you are amazing! and you look truly happy, i want that

browny angelas story is awsome she looks incredible!

thomas i guess 3 months is long, how long hav you been raw?

anaken i love your advice,, im trying 2 b more like that everyday,, enjoying things more

cricri ive had severe depression for the same amount of time as you,, ive had so many breakdowns, its amazing i didnt just cut myself off,, the depression can and will heal, it takes a while,, iwas actually raw on and off for 3 months before i was 100% straight for 3 months,, just around the last month ive been feeling much better,, its almost a complet turnaround,, i only start going crazy wen i eat crappy food,, you have 2 detox depression, just like you have 2 detox anything else,, but it will leave,, mine isnt completely gone,, but i am deffinately seeing more of who i really am, rather than the depression,,you just have 2 keep going

hello,

about the stretchmarks- I had some on my hips but they have faded and I think are only noticable to me. I try to get adequate sun and maybe this helps them to fade? I'm not sure... Anyhow, I was a lot more worried about my stretch marks a few years ago, but gradually I think they have faded to being almost invisible.

But also with stretch marks and such, it is very independant. If you have light or dark skin tones, this will affect how visible the scars are and heal/develop over time. I am naturally very pale, so I guess I have some good luck in that respect.

Anyhow, I am glad that your sister might be interested in trying more raw foods!! Is she becoming raw for weight loss? Or for the general health benefits?

xxpeisi

I haven't been raw... my record is a week. My diet is definitely better than ever though.

ThomasLantern Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I haven't been raw...

Same here..

All the Best,
Wong

Yes, I have had major turnarounds. I have answered this question here many times

It's like night and day. It saved my life, raw fruit

Today is my seventh day on the raw and I just impulsively ate some turkey. I definitely didn't want to do that. I think I was trying to sabotage myself. I'm definitely going to go back to the raw lifestyle. I want to see a change.

hey 2bwritten dont feel bad..today i ate some really crappy stuff bc i got all depressed about something... i go from being 100% raw for a month and then i slip up on the worst stuff...ive been doing this for almost half a year.. dont feel bad :] it will get easier,,for me i just have 2 learn how 2 not turn 2 junk wen im feeling low...is it just cravings for u?