What health issues have you fixed/lessened?

[allgirls]

I am very curious as to what kinds of health benefits you have seen from being raw?

I would love it if you can share your stories and personal experiences.

Thank you

Carolyn

[Veganforlife]

I'm been Vegetarian for 26 years. Vegan for 2. Now raw for 11 weeks. All my life I've suffered w/migraines. Since going raw, not one migraine. NONE! This is monumental for me. My thyroid meds since going raw also have been reduced, hopefully they will not be necessary in the very near future.
Oh yeah - I've also dropped 25 pounds! That's secondary though to how wonderful I feel. Loads of energy. I sleep well, think clearer and just feel alive. Plus NO MIGRAINES!!! :D

[allgirls]

Thank you for sharing! That's amazing!

[Sharon in Colorado]

I have very high cholesterol, genetically, through my father and his mother (paternal grandmother). Both of them died at age 39 (my age now) from heart attacks. After my father died my brother and I were tested for cholesterol and I was the one who got the gene.

So my usual cholesterol on a cooked diet is upwards of 350...365 last I checked on a cooked vegetarian diet.

I've been able to get it down 90 points on a raw diet. That is still not low enough for me, and watching the fats will take care of that (I've gotten it under 200 on meds & raw diet before).

So, just knowing that the raw diet works even better than taking medication alone is astounding to me.

The good side effect in addition to my dropped numbers, are:

mental clarity (less fogginess)

better stamina (just walking up stairs and inclines I won't run out of breath)

no bad taste in mouth upon arising

much more energy

monthly menstrual symptoms drastically improved (lighter flow, low to zero PMS, sometimes not even realizing that I've started which is huge as I noramlly get horrible headaches and other crazy PMS symptoms)

cravings for bread and other starches competely eliminated

extra stomach bulk goes away (from pregnancy)

Hope that helps!

[Veganforlife]

mental clarity (less fogginess)

better stamina (just walking up stairs and inclines I won't run out of breath)

no bad taste in mouth upon arising

much more energy

cravings for bread and other starches competely eliminated

extra stomach bulk goes away (from pregnancy)

Hope that helps!

YES YES! I second this!!!
Plus my skin feels totally different. Smoother. Younger.

[Linda1970]

Both of them died at age 39 (my age now) from heart attacks.

Hi Sharon,

I just saw your Step by Step video. You are 39? I thought you were 20, 25 at the most. How can you look so young. So amazing.

[DavidZaneMason]

Sure. Headaches & body aches gone. Energy very stable and high. Outlook very stable and high. What could be better?

-David Mason

[Sharon in Colorado]

Hi Sharon,

I just saw your Step by Step video. You are 39? I thought you were 20, 25 at the most. How can you look so young. So amazing.

:D

Oh my gosh! THANK YOU!!!! :) :) :)

[GoingtoRAW]

Sharon,

DITTO what Linda 1970 said! I looked at your video and you do not look anywhere near 39! NO WAY! :eek:

[rawbeliever]

Likewise, Sharon.

Also, to answer Allgirls' question: I've been asthmatic since I was 1 year old, in and out of hospitals all my life. Three years ago, I was doing badly and went through some tests, and was told that I had a 20% lung capacity, with medication. I recently got re-tested in August. Now I have 75% lung capacity...WITHOUT medication. At that point I was about 95% raw. Now I'm 100%. I used to take medication every day, twice a day, at least. Now I take it once about every three days.

Also, the clarity of mind, huge leap in energy, weight loss of 35 lbs (30 more to go!), blah, blah, blah... all the general side effects of going raw. :)

[sherahtaylor]

I'm 9 weeks pregnant with #6 and every single pregnancy, I have morning sickness to the point where I'm very nauseaous 24-7, solid for 2 months. The last pregnancy I had to have someone come and help for 3 months, because I couldn't take care of my children and my home.

This time around, I was 100% raw for 5 days before I got pregnant, and am now 50 days raw. I have had very little nausea, kind of like an annoying bug that you swat at, then go about your business. It's INCREDIBLE!! I can't even say how much this means to me, that I am able to be a mom to my children and they don't have to "suffer" because I am pregnant.

I also have quite a bit more energy than normal, especially for being pregnant and tired in the first trimester. I'm LOVING LIFE and the fact that the world doesn't have to stop just because I'm pregnant. I can't wait to see what else is going to be different in the next 10 months!

[Biff]

Since going High Raw, I am now off all asthma and allergy meds. I had severe asthma and it is wonderful to feel free....

[Pailani]

I had neck pain so bad that it was hard to drive. Over the year and a half that I've been raw/high raw, it's totally disappeared. Hives and stomach upsets are mostly gone, too.

[Bingka]

cholesterol 246 to 196 in 30 days......

lost about 26 lbs since August 16th. Mostly fat from testing....

And most of what everyone else has said....(except pregnancy and female stuff...I am a male...hahaha)

I no longer feel tired after eating....

The naps I take are productive. I feel refreshed.....

There is a lot of little things you notice here and there....

The biggest thing for me.... I AM HAPPY!!!!!

Ken

[wildfae]

I've had terrible, life inhibiting IBS for two years.... I've been raw for 2 months and it's essentially gone :cool:

I was beginning to exhibit symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.... those are gone too. I have more energy now than probably ever. I've had terrible anxiety for almost my whole life.... the combo of my current healthy and happy lifestyle combined with being raw has pretty much cured that too.

I've lost 25 lbs ;)

[Rawky Balboa]

Keeping in mind that I'm only on Day 10 of my 30 Day Challenge, here are the things I've noticed thus far:


Sleeping Better - better quality sleep, not tired in the mornings anymore, waking up before alarm, and vivid dreams.
ENERGY! - Went from being tired & lethargic 24/7 to having tons of energy all the time. Things that I usually procrastinate on are getting done effortlessly. My house has never looked better. (I'm actually having a tiny problem with all the energy because it's literally keeping me up at night! Lol....it's hard to turn it off & sit still so I can get to sleep. But I'm NOT complaining!)
Improved Skin - I have KP Bumps (a common skin condition similar to eczema) on the backs of my upper arms. Going raw has improved my arms so much that the KP areas are not noticable anymore & almost gone. My skin in general feels smoother & soft. My hair is shiny, soft & isn't oily. I used to have to shampoo my hair daily because it would get so darn oily by the end of the day. But yesterday I was able to just pin my hair up in the shower & skip washing it cause it just felt great & didn't need it.
Mental Benefits - Feel more alert, mental fog has cleared. I'm in better spirits & I feel like I'm dealing with stress a little better. Seems like I'm a little more patient & not as quick to lose it. And since I'm not drop-dead tired all the time, I don't get frustrated as easily. I also feel like I have more ideas & have renewed interest in hobbies/projects I gave up on long ago cause I just didn't have the energy to devote to them.
Better Health - I would occassionally have episodes of IBS, which have completely disappeared. My sensitive teeth have stopped being sensitive. My body doesn't ache constantly anymore, particularly my back.
Weight Loss - I've dropped 5.5 lbs in 10 days.


What I find completely amazing is that I started transitioning to high raw on 9/11/06 & went 100% on 9/25/06 and I'm already seeing so many benefits. I can't imagine how long my list will be in a few months! (How exciting!) :D

~*~ Rawky B. ~*~

[RawNut]

Improved vision (was going farsighted)
No indigestion or reflux.
Improved energy... after detox.
Sense of calm and well-being.

Bingka, what type of body fat measuring device do you use? I've heard that the bathroom scales with the metal bodyfat measurers are inaccurate.

Craig

[RawNut]

Hi Sharon,

I just saw your Step by Step video. You are 39? I thought you were 20, 25 at the most. How can you look so young. So amazing.

What Linda said but I'm not surprised since she's raw.
:)

Craig

[Bingka]

Rawnut - I use underwater weighting. It is the gold standard all other methods are compared against.

My buddy has a scale w/ fat tester. It said I was 49% fat. I am currently 32.5%. It was way off..

It costs about $50 a dunk, but money well spent. You can really have proof of fat lose.

Ken

[Tangerina]

Mostly psychological.... I have less anxiety, though part of that is due to other positive life/situation changes, but seriously, I haven't felt seriously anxious in a while and I even went through a break up of a year long relationship 2.5 weeks ago.... like I said, my positive outlook is due to many factors, but raw has been a huge positive motivator, and eliminating all those stimulants has helped so much with anxiety. Also, one major source of anxiety for me has always been food and being afraid of gaining weight since I am only slightly overweight but always struggling. I feel soooooo free that I get to eat all this lovely stuff as much as I want and I have still dropped about 2-3 lbs in two weeks.... that is phenomenal for me... oh, and more energy....

[luckitri]

I have had many major health problems that raw has eased up. I have written about them elsewhere on this site so I am not going to bore everybody. I still have a long way to go and now that I have read SHARONS WONDERFUL SITE I understand that I am transitioning and that is OK. I have alot to detox and alot to heal but I was a walking dead person every day just wondering when I would die. For years I did not know why God would let me be so physically miserable - for what end? I wondered how long one could live with the things I had wrong - often with no diagnosis until at deaths door. Or how the doctors could not recognize the meaning of my symptoms and give me some relief? Raw has given me hope for life!

[Sharon in Colorado]

Wow - I just came back to this thread. Thank you for the compliments!

I tell you, that just made my day (and night!)

:)

[maryonherway]

I've been raw since 7/23/06 - no more hemorroids; no more IBS; my knee - which has hurt most of the last 38 yrs - stopped hurting after about 2 weeks; I've lost about 20 lbs; have eaten more good food in the last 2 mos than I ate in the last 5 years; no more morning breath; I feel better in general; have stopped taking 3 of the 9 prescriptions I've been on for years;
saved $$ by not eating at drive-thru restaurants every lunch & many dinners and by not buying so much crap at the store; I have impressed my family & friends as well as myself!

One or two of the above I would have been happy with, but all those things? Geez, I'm overwhelmed with the changes I've made and look forward to seeing what's down the line!

[Coriander74]

I posted this in the October Challenge recently...

I've been on disability since June 2004. It started out from physical agony from what was supposed to be a polyp-filled gallbladder. After they removed it, they discovered through pathology that there was absolutely nothing wrong with that organ. The pain worsened and I became ill, food would go right through me and I couldn't go anywhere because I would need a bathroom nearby in case I became sick out of either end (sorry)

Because of this, I developed anxiety and agoraphobia. I became so housebound that I would have a panic attack trying to check my mail or take out the garbage. I would have to wait until 3 in the morning to do anything. I was diagnosed with bipolar with severe depression, and soon after that I had a psychotic episode brought on by the sudden reappearance of someone in my life who hurt me very much mentally and emotionally. I was a train wreck.

As if this wasn't enough, I developed bulimia. I've already experienced anorexia several years ago after my divorce, and this time it was the combination of the two. I went from 135 pounds in June 2004 up to about 172 pounds. I ate to fill an emotional hole. Then I punished myself by throwing up because I felt I didn't deserve to be satisfied, to be full. I ended up in the emergency room one night because I was throwing up blood. And because I didn't want to gain weight eating the bland diet prescribed for me, I just didn't eat at all, except maybe a Slim Fast here or there.

By this time I had been prescribed around 14 medications, some of them had been tried and failed, and others seemed to work. I was taking upwards of 20 pills a day. I started therapy once a week. I needed Xanax to even leave the house to go to doctors. I needed pills to wake up, pills to eat, pills to sleep, pills to calm my raging stomach, pills to keep my food down, pills to stay alive. I became suicidal more than once. The constant agonizing pain in my abdomen never went away even when I was taking 10 Vicodin a day.

I was speaking with a friend of mine this past June. She goes by Shmoopie on this board. She was doing some research on various cleanses and came across this board. One night she messaged me about Raw Foods. I had been told about this way of eating years ago when I ran a photo lab. One of my guys was on Raw and he raved about it and tried to get me to do it with him, but I didnt' have the discipline. I was then in an abusive marriage, and ate the way I did so I would repel my husband.

I told Shmoopie that I was up for anything that would help my pain go away and cleanse my system of all these awful medications. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I knew that life had to be better than this. I began my 100% raw challenge on June 29th. I wasn't perfect that whole 30 days but I came out of it 8 pounds lighter, with clearer skin, all the stuff that you hear about here.

I also came out of my first challenge with less pain. Almost pain free, just a twinge here or there in my abdomen. The second challenge I did left me with no pain at all. I even began trying sit-ups. I would twist and turn, TRYING to have the pain, but it wasn't there! My stomach and intestinal issues went away. I was regular for once. I didn't have any diarrhea, nothing... I could leave my house.

My anxiety is almost gone. I've been able to stop all medications except 3 "mental" medications which I hope to be completely off of by next year. I don't need Xanax. I don't need Vicodin. My depression has lifted, I may have a couple bad days here or there, but it's not the life-altering depression I suffered from most of my life. I have not had one single manic episode since going Raw. I am able to get back to the gym and exercise until I can't move anymore. I hope to get back into playing league softball like I did several years ago.

I attribute all of this to Raw Foods. I have stumped my gastroenterologist. I have stumped my psychiatrist. No doctor I've talked to can understand how this fantastic nutritional way of life has altered my brain and body chemistries so much that I'm a new person.

Thank you so much to Alissa, and to Shmoopie for introducing me to Raw. Both of you will forever be in my heart.

[allgirls]

Thank you all for responding!

The one that jumps out at me is "no more hemoroids" I just realised...mine are gone..it's only been a frickin week! Wow...just wow! It has been so painful for so long when I go to the bathroom...this is a huge thing for me. I am healing.

I had a bad day yesterday....I ate mashed potatoes :( BUT this encourages me to get back on track. From now on I am going to cook things I don't like for the kids..lol...mashed potatoes is a weakness of mine.

I am out of nuts and a few other things...so off I go to the health food store again

cheers
and thanks