Omega,

I don't disagree that proper nutrition can favorably alter brain chemistry and that clinical psychiatry is a racket. But most bipolar people I know are more horrible eaters than scarred from wretched childhood experiences. That needs more than diet to clear up. You can have all the clarity of thought and increased physical vigor possible from a raw diet--it won't necessarily expunge the memory of brutalization from your mind or reconcile you with awful experiences you have endured. I think it's best to not over rely on a single protocol. It might not be enough.

Tamukha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But most bipolar people I
> know are more horrible eaters than scarred from
> wretched childhood experiences.

Hi Tamukha,

Did you mean less?

My understanding of what occurs on a raw food diet is that intertwined with the physical detoxification process is an emotional detoxification process. As our energy and consciousness rise by eating more alive and "quickening" raw food, we begin to feel more and become more conscious of our emotional body. The emotional body has a record of all cruelty and "hurt" endured in one's life (as well as the positive experiences), and as we become more emotionally aware, we are able to release the negative energy of those past episodes, typically with the realization that those who did emotional harm to us had their own issues.

If one perseveres, the end result of this long and winding emotional detoxification process is significantly greater self-appreciation (self-love).

So, the raw food diet is not an instant cure which simply makes one's emotional biography vanish, but an unfolding process where one is able to work through and attain a higher perspective on one's emotional biography. The healing aspect occurs as we release internalized negative energy, which allows us to become the whole person that we were meant to be.

Kate's experience with raw food and bipolar disorder: [www.youtube.com]

Recovery from bipolar disorder with high-raw diet: [www.alternativementalhealth.com]

Mama Cass' experience: [www.rawfoodsupport.com]

Testimonial: Healing Bipolar and Depression with raw foods: [www.beautifulonraw.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2009 01:29AM by Omega.

Omega....very nice Post. I like what you say.
Also, Dr. Bernarr has an interesting website about healing through
Detoxing.
What gets me about all this is how long we'll let a problem go
on without really doing anything about it. I'm not pointing a finger,
because when you do, three fingers are always pointing back.....WY

[www.healself.org]

funny Yogi .. 2 people today quoted that same thing to me today ... point a fnger and 3 back at you

how odd

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

"Here are some links to RST. Also, I've done it, and it's really easy, but in the literature online it's not always spelled out exactly how to do it. So if anyone wants a simple explanation, just PM me and I can explain it to you in simple terms. :-): "


KWAN - Can you pm me this info?

Thanks!

Omega,

No, I mean more, as in their problems are more a result of terrible malnutrition than childhood trauma. Agree with your post otherwise. I just think that John may benefit in the immediate term from some kind of non-pharmaceutical therapy in concert with raw foods.

juicerkatz--
Sorry-- got sidetracked for a couple days. Will send you a PM about RST shortly!

kwan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> juicerkatz--
> Sorry-- got sidetracked for a couple days. Will
> send you a PM about RST shortly!


That's fine - I know, you've been busy with camping & probably unpacking at this point!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2009 11:56PM by juicerkatz.

I know that anxiety problems have been solved by a number of different approaches, most of them mentioned here:

Fast
Raw food
EFT
Therapy to get to the source

Let me add a couple of more things to consider:
Medications - it is possible for some medications to hinder the body in ways that affect them psychologically.

Acquired sensitivities - at times, people with emotional problems, including anxiety, have found their symptoms cease when they identified and treated sensitivites using a technique called NAET, which stands for Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique. Dr. Devi Nambudripad's book "Say Goodbye to Illness" chronicles how she discovered this technique some 25 years ago or so, and in this book and in many others she details the most fascinating case studies.
She has acquired a great deal of knowledge and a lot of professional degrees along the way (eastern and western, including an MD), always seeking to learn more about how to help people. This is the method she finds most helpful. Her clinic is in Buena Park, CA, and at her website you can find the practitioner closest to you. (www.naet.com). Finding out if there is a sensitivity may be all or part of the solution. People have been sensitive to, and found relief after, being treated for sensitivities to ordinary things like eggs and household chemicals and vaccinations, and off the wall things like elastic and rocking chairs and family members.

Metabolic Type - Through reading the works of Watson, Wolcott and Wiley, I discovered that sometimes people react very strangely to foods - anxiety, depression, even bouts of catatonic schizophrenia - along with general lack of focus, violent outbreaks, hyperactivity, and so on - can be a result of an imbalance.

Wiley, in his book "Biobalance" describes some exciting breakthroughs. The first one is that he found that people who felt better on one diet than another (and he divides up "acid" and "alkaline" in a way somewhat different than others do) actually had blood values that correlated to their condition. He found that the pH - measured in the hundredths - was a deciding factor for the people that he saw. Correcting their diet resulted, either dramatically or steadily, in positive changes. The second breakthrough came when he looked closer at patients who didn't have consistent results. Further blood tests revealed that some people, women especially, varied in their blood pH over their monthly cycles. Identifying their cycle and changing their diet at the appropriate times gave them much needed emotional stability. The final real breakthrough came with the discovery that some people actually varied, cycling back and forth from acid to alkaline on a daily basis. By changing meals and snacks to balance this particular child's imbalances, he went from hyperactive, violent behavior that always had him in the principal's office into a relatively calm child, making good grades, able to remain in the classroom quite happily. These imbalances were not necessarily inborn, either. They often occurred when the person went through a big event, whether trauma, or simply pregnancy or menopause. Wiley's book has both information on testing that you can take to your doctor and a diet protocol and diary to do at home - both are ways to identify whether or not you have an imbalance that can be corrected by diet, whether your imbalance cycles, and if so, what kind of cycling it does. And of course, there is information on corrective eating. I don't always love the diet he suggests, but hey, not many people are as picky as I am about that.

Most diseases can be linked to deficiency. Heck, people in prison have huge nutritional deficits in specific areas, tell me that isn't a coincidence. If this person's diet has been deficient in healthy fats, you can expect mental and emotional problems, as well as decreased energy and motivation and follow-through. What kind of fats are part of this person's diet? If the person absolutely won't go for raw, vegan, try encouraging him/her to explore other ways of eating that might get good fats in: westonaprice.org and sally fallon's book "Nourishing Traditions" is one place. Out there but fascinating is "We Want to Live" by Aajonus Vonderplanitz (a very entertaining read at the very least). Seafood like wild salmon on a regular basis is a simple way to get some good fats in. If he likes it raw, as in ceviche, even better. Cod liver oil now comes in a delicious molecularly distilled version, Barlean's Lemon Zest. A high quality toxin free capsule is another way to get it in. Fruit smoothies with a few green things tucked in (lettuce, chard, parsley, celery) provide a huge mineral boost.
Hemp hearts are a yummy alternative to ground flaxseed, another goodie.

Sunshine. Moderate and daily.

Exercise geared toward lymphatic drainage - T-Tapp and Life Lift are both incredibly healthy, as is rebounding on a safe mini-trampoline. Passive exercise using a chi machine will pump lymph and help align the spine. Time in/under a Far Infrared Sauna/Dome is a powerful detoxifier and tones the heart. Massage and self-massage, like dry-skin brushing or food reflexology, are also good.

You can also exercise the energy in your body. Search the net for "donna eden" to find free videos of quick and easy routines to shift the energy in your body for a better flow through the various meridians/energy pathways. Sounds weird, but she hasn't needed her thyroid medication in years, and all sorts of amazing things happen to people when they do this. The energy pathways are actually measurable, electrically, and radioactive isotopes travel along meridians according to xrays, so it isn't all hocus pocus.

Think Right Now has some excellent audios that many have found life-transforming in this area...they also have a subliminal program that runs on your computer screen.

Toxins, infections, infestations from our food and environment can cause all manner of problems, including psychological. Regular use of products/supplements that will safely get these out of the system has helped many people recover from physical and emotional issues. Off the top of my head, look at things like IV chelation, zeolite, including NCD; Biochelat, clay baths, MMS, parasite eliminators, super blue green algae, spirulina, Miracle 2 soaps and neutralizers, oil pulling every morning....there are many, many things to try. That Far Infrared approach also helps eliminate toxins. Detox foot patches, detox colon implants, colon hydrotherapy, total cleanses such as Blessed Herbs or Dr. Natura's can be used to shift stuff OUT of the body, and Ann L. Gittleman has a fiber-rich cranberry concoction you can make yourself for a lot less to accomplish much of the same thing as the expensive cleanses. Something as simple as squatting while going to the bathroom might eliminate the need for a lot of "bowel blasters," google Nature's Platform on the net. They do sell a product but they also give instructions on how to make one yourself using cement blocks and wood. It is amazing how the natural position for elimination can really make everything in the gut work better. There are many ways to keep the garbage flowing out of the body so that the body works better, absorbs better. Choosing the right method or combination of methods can be made simpler by working with a non-biased natural health practitioner who understands your strength, willingness and preferences, as well as the ability to see whether certain herbal combos are appropriate for your situation or not.

Eating Raw food is probably the most straightforward way to accomplish a lot of these things because, done well, they can neutralize toxins, sweep out the garbage, and help you avoid most foods that you are likely to be sensitive to.
They digest easily and mostly under their own power, so energy is left to use that superior nutrition to rebuild the body back to healthy homeostasis. But every raw food program worth its salt ALSO includes lymphatic exercise daily, daily time out of doors in the sun, walking, daily opportunities to breathe and meditate and deliberately release stress, daily wheat grass juice, daily enemas to make sure that all the toxins stirred up by this powerful diet are eliminated. And if a person has heavy metal poisoning, all this stirring up could be harmful without the proper support of a chelation agent.

Suggestions for your friend:

In my opinion, the best thing for you to do is to

create basic routines for well-being and then build on them, step by step

Begin with the simplest activities of dry skin brushing, walking, sunshine, deep breathing and stretching two or three times a day, and drinking plenty of pure water.

Look into purifying the water by prilling or ionizing for a big two-fer of detoxification while hydrating.

Do a daily energy routine. Using a free online video makes it a breeze.

Do at least one daily lymphatic workout - T-Tapp, Life Lift, Rebounding, or...massage!

Do focus on keeping life running smoothly in baby steps and routines is important.

Move on to learning and practicing EFT, something that can also be done with free online articles and videos.

See if there is an NAET practitioner near you. Set a date to go for a consult. Some of them are quite busy, call now for later just in case.

Look for a local therapist who is skilled in EFT, another two-fer special. If they are good at NLP (Neurolinguistic programming) that's even better. If they have a biofeedback approach as well, you are one lucky dog.

Talk to potential providers, make sure you are comfortable with them before committing to spend your money. Studies show that good friends are more effective than trained therapists when it comes to things like depression. So get a therapist you can feel as good about!

Start keeping a food and feeling diary, and start adding raw foods and/or healthy fat foods, etc, and note the level of anxiety or other symptoms from day to day. If feeling consistently better on certain foods, keep it up. If the response is variable, consider reading Watson, Wolcott and especially Wiley's Biobalance and try the food challenge to see if THAT might be helpful. If up to it, try the fast.

Find a good natural practitioner that can order labs, if possible, and start trying the things that are appropriate for you, without overloading so much that you don't do anything at all. Doing a heavy metal screen might be very revealing.

I hope some of these suggestions steer you toward the help that works!

Rawley,

Yours was one of the most useful posts about anything that I have ever read anywhere--Thank you.

"According to Bruce S. McEwen, head of the neuroendocrinology laboratory at Rockefeller University, the new findings offer a particularly elegant demonstration of a principle that researchers have just begun to grasp. 'The brain is a very resilient and plastic organ,' he said. 'Dendrites and synapses retract and reform, and reversible remodeling can occur throughout life.'”

[www.nytimes.com]


The brain and nervous system can be healed...