Introductions

[mattm]

Hi guys again, thought I would kick off things with my background to raw for those who don't know me. I'm 20yrs old, live in England and have just completed my first year of study at university on campus. I made the transition to raw after suffering from a number of ailments in my very early teens and taking an interest in the power food can have on the body. My tranition was a gradual one with first going vegetarian, then vegan, then a percentage raw vegan and finally 100% raw. During this change in lifestyle and the improvements I saw in myself, I developed an intense passion for the subject and read extensively on the subject of nutrition. I've discovered proper nutrition can almost work miralces and I really do see this lifestyle as a gift. Lately (since December) I've been consuming only green smoothies and my health has reached even greater heights...I've attained a vibrance, energy and just general love for life I never thought possible and have written extensively on the subject in past posts where I've given others support (e.g. http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=27646&highlight=mattm). I have a strong philosophy of LISTENING TO YOUR BODY AND DOING WHAT WORKS FOR YOU which I feel is a piece of advice overlooked even on the healthiest of diets sometimes and a few words of inspiration and thoughts of mine on this subject can be found at the following link http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=28068&highlight=consideration.

All the best and welcome again.

[trinity082482]

Hello there and good morning :D I'm a morning person too

[magglepie]

Well, 'm technically not a teenager, but I am young! Can I speak here?

[dreamrawalwz]

Well, 'm technically not a teenager, but I am young! Can I speak here?

Sure ya can! Mattm isn't a teenager anymore and neither am I. Any young adult or teen is welcome.

I guess I'll do an official introduction in this thread. I just turned 20 and I'll be a junior in college in the fall. I'm actually transferring to a college (i was attending a community college). Such a life change.

Anyway, I don't remember how I found out about raw, but I do know it was when I was searching about food allergies and intolerances. I have many intolerances so that kind of makes raw difficult, but still very possible. I've been off and on with raw for the past 4 years. Each "on" has been getting longer and the sessions "off" my food choices have been getting even better. Most of my ailments were due to food intolerances so once I cleared those up I've felt much better.

I'm finally in tune with my body's needs. It's not full time, but I'm working on it haha. I'm recovering from eating disorders and raw has actually helped tremendously, even though I still struggle. Again, it's a process. Um, my depression has gotten much better with raw too. I have more energy. Right now I'm trying to focus on more greens. I want to consistantly start green smoothies and or juices. I think for me, that's the next step to optimal health and well being.

[rande]

i'm rande, i'm 21 and will be a sophomore in college this next year. found out about eating raw probably 3 years ago now when i read "eating for beauty" by david wolfe. tried to go all raw so many times and nothing ever worked til i realized it was ok to have a gentle transition into this way of eating, and its made all the difference in the world! i've been a hundred percent raw for months at a time and am mostly/all raw at any given time now. love greens and green juices mostly! thats what makes me feel the best!
my family is all very supportive, my mom and one brother eat mostly raw. last semester my roommates were really into it too and we would sit down to a raw dinner together several times a week! it was awesome. i've really only encoutered people who are open minded about the whole thing, which has been wonderful! i'm excited to meet young people here too who are living this lifestyle full time! :)

[Pipen17]

Hey guys. My name is Pam and I'm 16. I'm fairly new to the raw thing (I will have been doing it with my mom for 10 weeks on Sunday.) So far I have lost 35 pounds...
IN THE BEGINNING: When i was 5 my dad came home from work (at poultry plant) completely digusted. So he announced he was going vegetarian. Then my oldest brother joined him. My mom then changed, my next oldest brother, then myself.
When i was ten my mom had been doing some reading on milk and stuff and decided we should go vegan. We did at home (only had soymilk around, no eggs, nothing) but when we weren't home and were offered something we knew had milk or something we'd eat it anyway. (my mom stayed strictly vegan though)
So 10 weeks ago my mom was reading about angela stokes and asked me if i'd go raw with her. I looked at the before and after pictures of her and right then and there we became 100% raw.

I've been over weight for as long as i can remember but i'm really working on it and have benn seeing weights i hadn't seen in years!
I'm not doing raw just beacuse of weight though... it just seems like the right thing you know? An instinct... One that tells me that in the long run i'm taking steps in being my own hero.

[wanderinglady]

Hi Everyone. Well I just introduced myself the other day in the other forum, but I'll go ahead and do it here.

I'm 19 and I'm going to be starting college this fall (hopefully). I took two years off after I graduated highschool and I ended going to Liberia, West Africa for two weeks in March of 2006 and this in November I went to Sweden for 3 months on a mission internship (followed by a brief stay in Paris). Now though I'm exchanging my passport for a notebook and we'll see how that goes. I intend to be a world traveler though so I'm by no means finished :).

I first heard of raw when I attended a mother/daughter conference when I was 15. One of the speakers is 100% raw and she talked a lot about it. My mom ended buying her book. We tried it for a while, but no one else in family was interested so we ended up falling away. I never really wanted to quit though and I try off and on, but I eventually fall away (mostly from lack of support I think). After finding this forum I decided to try the 30 day challenge and just really try. I do really want this and I want to start now when I'm young and I don't have any major illnesses to deal with.

Can't wait to hear about everyone else!

[LoveLife]

Hey everyone!...I just turned 24 last wk.:eek: ..feels like I should still be 19 ...some of my background..

I initially found Raw almost 2 yrs ago...I tried it at first (tho it was not Raw Vegan..it included raw meat)..I just became confused and it was too expensive..so I then decided after further nutritional reading to become vegitarian...then I became Vegan last Dec...and now I'm trying for Raw ...I have a better understanding of it now...so I think that will help...I've never had any medical problems..my only issues are with weight and a serious sugar addiction ...but I really want to be as healthy as I can so that when I'm older I (hopefully) won't have any serious medical conditions...

I became interested with nutrition and health at around 19...I plan on becoming a personal trainer in the near future...I have always been interested in psychology..went to college for a short time for that...and I believe that food and health are very much intertwined with psychology (how we think of ourselves)...when I was a kid I never liked taking medicine...I often wouldn't take any even if my mom had taken me to the doctor and gotten some (unless she made me;) )...I've always liked drinking water..and fruits and veggies...so I think Raw just seems very natural to me...I hate feeling like I'm being controled by anything or anyone (which is why I've never taken any drugs..cept drinking)...so I honestly can't wait until I don't feel controled by pop and sweets...

I got out of a VERY bad relationship last Sept...and from that I had gained a good 20-25 lbs...and lost a ton of self-esteem...so right now I'm just trying to heal myself in every way..mentally, emotionally, and physically...and I believe that Raw will help me in many of these areas...

I love to see so many of us teens and twenties on here ..this was a great idea Mattm:cool: ..and thanx for all of your smoothie help..I have started doing smoothies for a meal or two a day..and tomorrow I'm gonna try for just smoothies

And good luck..and positive energy and thoughts to all of u teens who are trying to go Raw..I wish I had found it when I was a teen..and I'm sure it can be hard if your parents aren't supportive..but good luck and RAWk on:cool:

[mattm]

Hey LoveLife, great to see you on this very special forum of ours...so happy your enjoying the smoothies...you're making excellent progress from the sounds of it and as always, any questions you have, please ask. This food is so healing, the transformations it achieves are truely remarkable and success stories I continually see described on this forum are testamant to that fact...just look at Britaniefaith's pictures (wow) or, as for green smoothie inspiration:), Bampot's success http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=28245...so inspiring and there are endless more examples on this forum.

All the best.

[rawsurfer]

helloooo...
well this is cool we have our own forum now! umm, well my name is taylor, i am 18 years old, just graduated high school, and i live in sunny florida.

i have been raw for about 4 months now, and it really feels like i have been doing it for a lot longer. it is really easy for me now that i see real, incredible results. i was never overweight, but i always had to watch what i ate (even though i ate a ton) a little bit here and there... and i was definitely in the bondage of food. i consider myself pretty talented with the preparing of foods, and my mom is basically a gourmet chef, so i have loved food and eaten loads my whole life. i used to eat a meal and just be waiting to be hungry so that i could eat again. ha. i guess i have never really met a well prepared food that i didnt like.

... which is maybe why raw is so easy for me, as everything i eat is pretty yummy. i read alissa's book one night, and the next day i started and never looked back. everything really resonated with me, and i knew that this is the only truly healthy way to live. one thing that was so amazing to me was the whole sunburn issue, which appealed to me so much as i surf year round and my nose would have inevitably fallen off had i not switched to raw.

the first month or 2 (and a litle still) were kinda hard cuz i would smell meat and cheese and everythign in between, and would salivate. i read out of alissa's book daily for support. i had quit drinking, smoking, and drugs new years day so i had some experience with radical lifestyle changes, and understood that my mind will try to trick me, and that i can beat it if i immersed myself in my new lifestyle, so thats what i did. i read a lot, and i carried a piece of paper with all the reasons i was going raw for those weak moments when my forgettor setting turned on.

now it is super mellow, and i dont really eat too much. i get up usulaly at like 5 or 6, and drink water for a couple hours, and then breaek my fast with a good solid juice of carrots, beet, and assorted greens and other veggies... a couple hours later its a mellon or some other watery fruit. after that a possible salad or green smoothie, followed by more fruit, and then bedtime, sometimes accompaned by some emotional munch session that i cant seem to get rid of (althogu it is getting better).

i excersice daily, and feel great. raw food brought me so much life, and i went from being a somewhat of an atheist to a full on spiritual junkie. i meditate daily and love every moment. i wish everyone could have raw food in their life. and its so nice to have all this support. great to meet all of you, and im sorry for boring you with this extra long post. peace:)

[RawChicky]

Hi everybody

I just turned 18 and am going to a community college next year. I went 100% raw last summer but my parents didn't support me and forced me to get a blood test. We took the results to an alternative nutitionist doctor who told me I was practically dieing, a lot of my organs were failing, though I felt great and rock climbed for hours a day. :confused: He also tried to sell me all his supplements. We bought inot it for a while and they forced me off raw and to eat dairy, so I did for a little bit and I felt like shit. Then I stopped eating dairy and instead turned to turkey as my only animal product and then stopped turkey and had eggs as my only animal product, all through this the doctor thought I was being difficult and that I should eat how he said to which included "balanced meals" all containing animal products. He said butter is a girl's best friend!!! Anyway, he kept trying to force us to buy his supplememnts and my mom got sick of paying and me complaining so we finnally left that doc. and I became slowly vegan again. Now I'm back to raw and have been for 3 1/2 months. I like it a lot better, I never have cooked cravings.

I've gained about 8 pounds on raw but I was only 90 pounds before (5'3) now I'm almost 100. I also haven't been rock climbing this WHOLE time because I'm recovering from an overuse tendon injury in my wrist. :( It's been tough because climbing is my life, but I'll get back to it very soon, I can tell.

Anyway, enough about me! Good to meet all you guys

:)

[eatyourbroccoli]

sup guys

im 20 and i just took a year off college because i was sick. im going back to community college to do what will now be my sophomore year this fall..and then transferring to a university next year. im from chicago, but living in toronto, and moving out to boulder this august.

ive been high raw since august 2005 with stints of 100% occurring more and more frequently as time goes on

my health story is long and boring..some people whove been around know a bit about it..but if you dont youre probably better off :p

i wanna be myspace buds with any of u who have myspace! if u message me ill add ya since u need my last name otherwise

so cool that younger people are gettin into raw. now i just need some of u to move out to colorado

[dreamrawalwz]

Hi everybody

I just turned 18 and am going to a community college next year. I went 100% raw last summer but my parents didn't support me and forced me to get a blood test. We took the results to an alternative nutitionist doctor who told me I was practically dieing, a lot of my organs were failing, though I felt great and rock climbed for hours a day. :confused: He also tried to sell me all his supplements. We bought inot it for a while and they forced me off raw and to eat dairy, so I did for a little bit and I felt like shit. Then I stopped eating dairy and instead turned to turkey as my only animal product and then stopped turkey and had eggs as my only animal product, all through this the doctor thought I was being difficult and that I should eat how he said to which included "balanced meals" all containing animal products. He said butter is a girl's best friend!!! Anyway, he kept trying to force us to buy his supplememnts and my mom got sick of paying and me complaining so we finnally left that doc. and I became slowly vegan again. Now I'm back to raw and have been for 3 1/2 months. I like it a lot better, I never have cooked cravings.

I've gained about 8 pounds on raw but I was only 90 pounds before (5'3) now I'm almost 100. I also haven't been rock climbing this WHOLE time because I'm recovering from an overuse tendon injury in my wrist. :( It's been tough because climbing is my life, but I'll get back to it very soon, I can tell.

Anyway, enough about me! Good to meet all you guys

:)


I'm just wondering if your parents support you this time around? Now that you're 18 they can't force you off raw ;) I bet if they see such positive changes in you they'll support it more.

[magglepie]

Sure ya can! Mattm isn't a teenager anymore and neither am I. Any young adult or teen is welcome.

Yeah! In that case, I better introduce myself now that I have some time. I tried going raw a back in like September. I didn't make it AT ALL. Then in March I started reading more and more about it, learning more about it from a friend who is raw, etc. Then I found this site and started learning more here and decided I had to try it. And although I have yet to go for several weeks at a time all raw, I am at least high raw and I am loving it! I am trying to make it through June 100%. Although I must be honest by saying that last night I ate a sandwich and I had a bag of chips at the pool the other day.

I am pretty active (I work with kids) so I eat pretty much all the time. Except on weekends. The kids I work with are soooo fun. I graduted from college 2 years ago with and English/writing major and a theatre minor. In addition to the work with kids I also work on poems, stories, etc and knit scarves, hats and blankets for some extra money!

[magglepie]

Hey guys. My name is Pam and I'm 16. I'm fairly new to the raw thing (I will have been doing it with my mom for 10 weeks on Sunday.) So far I have lost 35 pounds...
IN THE BEGINNING: When i was 5 my dad came home from work (at poultry plant) completely digusted. So he announced he was going vegetarian. Then my oldest brother joined him. My mom then changed, my next oldest brother, then myself.
When i was ten my mom had been doing some reading on milk and stuff and decided we should go vegan. We did at home (only had soymilk around, no eggs, nothing) but when we weren't home and were offered something we knew had milk or something we'd eat it anyway. (my mom stayed strictly vegan though)
So 10 weeks ago my mom was reading about angela stokes and asked me if i'd go raw with her. I looked at the before and after pictures of her and right then and there we became 100% raw.

I've been over weight for as long as i can remember but i'm really working on it and have benn seeing weights i hadn't seen in years!
I'm not doing raw just beacuse of weight though... it just seems like the right thing you know? An instinct... One that tells me that in the long run i'm taking steps in being my own hero.

Wow. Good for you and your family! I think it is so awesome when families can enter into these kinds of things together.

[Rossk]

Hallo All.
Im Ross , been lurking on here for months now thought id pop up properly now! im 19 live in England and Well I LOVE THIS SITE AND RAW IS FANTASTIC.
Righty dokay I wont bore you too much but in short I was a vegetarian since I was 10 ,but at 16 began stuff which I thought was healthy but really wasnt and was making me feel worse and worse I had depression , self harmer constally worn down , water retention , puffy and ughh terrible so like id have cooked food basically every meal m totatly over steamed veggies , microwaved brown rice and beans , tons and tons of soya tofu , cottage cheese .
I was unhappy I could never beat the odd bits of acne , never bad but it was so depressing , especially my face i couldnt look in the mirror it was so puffy it upset me so much , the rest of my body was in good shape on surface , I worked out 5x a week I was far from overweight had very low bodyfat but the face ruined the image
http://h1.ripway.com/Rossk/sd.bmp


blehhh

but 2 months on a 98-100% raw foods diet has done wonders

http://a351.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/28/l_a1cf0af33046d52dc904a256955fdc1e.jpg

http://a470.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/23/l_39a8c66c939e3396676f2aac85dac185.jpg

have such clearer skin its smooth and glowy! no acne , scars healed
- depression lifted alot better much
0More spiritual
- Able to love family more
- Increased energy
- Can get by on 5 hours sleep , can fall asleep easy and its good sleep , like bed 11 and can get up at 3 am which is so handy in my line of work (police )
- face tightened up jawline and chin more visible
-more positive outlook on life
_no gas or bloatings
- losing SAD muscle from whey protein and stuff and slowly been building raw muscle after an intiail weight drop to super skinny my body readjusted and began rebuilding
- Financially better , people moan Raw is expensive? I dont do anything too fancy , not buying tofu and soy and powders has given me much more money


:D

[tinystrawberry]

woo raw teens! i'm 16 and i've been experimenting with raw since i was about 14. i live in Pennsylvania and i'm homeschooled.

yep

[Pipen17]

YAY!!! Someone even CLOSER! to my age! I'm 16 too but most the others who are younger are still older than me. I have only been doing raw for 2 months but i feel like i've been doing it forever!
-Pam :D

[PixieLed]

Hi everyone,

I'm 21 going on 22 this august. I'm from Montreal, Canada, but go to school in Waterloo, Ontario... and I've lived in NYC and California (both have amazing raw food restaurants if you have the money to eat there often hehe). I'm moving to London, UK starting in September.

I've been raw since March 2006, so a bit over a year. I cheat every now and then, but I consider myself "100% with slips". I also had some issues going off the BC pill and am taking some chinese herbs to heal my liver and kidneys.

Nice to have a young person's place to hang out!

[mattm]

Great to see everyone here, it's wonderful to see this forum bringing this community together like it is. I take my hat off to Pipen17 and tinystrawberry starting so young (14 or 16 that is impressive) and having the determination and self belief to stick with it. I remember starting on the road to raw at 16 and encountering all the problems temptation and pressure wise hence the reason I started this forum so if you guys ever have any questions be sure to write straight away and we'll be on the case for you!! Also hi PixieLed great to see another raw foodie my age coming to the UK, just moved up north of the country for the uni summer vacation but will be returning down south to the Midlands (close to London by train) for the start of next year...hopefully we can really start drawing a community here together and all meet up, hang out and of course eat:D

All the best and as always keep writing.

Matthew

[aililiu]

hello :) im 19, 20 in a week, and as of today have been raw for four weeks!

i suppose my first step towards healthy eating was january 2006, when i cut out dairy products. i just had a revelation that i am not a cow and its a bit odd why id want mothers milk from another animal.
i became vegan last october, so not very long ago. in that case, it wasnt even a choice. its more like... it chose ME. it just crept up on me and before i knew it i was officially vegan. i received sooo much flack from friends and family, but eventually they got used to it.
i started feeling sick all the time, bloated and horrible, and eventually figured out that i was sensitive to soy, so i cut that out and felt loaaads better. i started wanting to pay more attention to the quality of the things i was eating, i desperately wanted to gain some more energy &vitality. i bought brenden braziers book, the thrive diet which is fantastic and although hes not 100% raw he touches on that and really supports it. i guess thats how i first found out about the raw food lifestyle, i really didnt know about it before. i started looking more and more into it, and then four weeks ago i thought id give it a try for a week, just to see how difficult it would be to stick to, and just never wanted to stop. so here i am :) i read everything i can lay my hands on about raw and i love this website. i really want this to be the beginning of the rest of my life. there are definately difficulties that go along with it but i think itll be worth it. im still low energy, and im still on BC pills and another medication for hormonal imbalances, if i could ever get off that i would be SO THRILLED!

what a boring introduction!
in other words, im in for the full deal,
raw and loving it,
so happy to be here.

anyone else from BC??

*aililiu

[MelonManiac]

Hello! I'm new to this raw thing and am hoping to be 100% soon (75-80% now). I'm 19 years old and will be starting my second year of college this fall ... My family thinks it's crazy to eat all raw food, which is why I'm not 100% yet, because I live with my family :-\ ... I have been dealing with depression and a recovering body image issue, so am hoping this helps with it (the days where I eat all raw I can already tell a difference in my attitude) ... I will definaltey be 100% when I move back to college because I will be buying and preparing my own foods, but I want to change immediatly! I am a perfectionist so once i put my mind to something I wont settle until I am the best at it/ have done it to the best of my ability, so I know I *will* soon be 100% haha ... Anyway, I'm glad we have our own place now :)

[RawBecky]

I'm 19 and fairly new to raw. I've known about it for a few years and at first thought the idea was crazy. I've been vegan my entire life. I began to incororate raw a year or two ago and slowly upped my percentage. Here I am 100% raw with maybe a few slips of salad dressing or stamed veggies on salad made for me.

[VenergySoul08]

Hey everyone! I'm christy, and am 17 years old. I've been working on becoming a raw foodist for a while, but until then i am a vegan. I'm currently on the june raw challenge. I've been doing pretty good but have had a few slip ups. My parents think i'm long gone from "normal" eating. My mom has given up hope that i will return to eating meat and such. But i whenever i go to the doctors, i am always declared very healthy, so my parents don't complain too much.

[mattm]

Hi everyone, great to see so many young guys commited to this wonderful lifestyle and I'm glad to see quite a few of you have good support from family around you which I'm very lucky to have and know my road to raw when I started at 16 would have been a million times harder.

MelonManiac (love the name...love my canteloupes:) ) I see you're unfortunately not getting the support from home and I just want to say I'm glad you found this forum becuase you'll always get words of encoragement, inspiration and advice here in abundance. I'll be starting my second year of university here in England after the this summer vacation so I know what it's like and will be able to give help as go through same experience as you! Oh and by the way, if this is of any encouragement for now, since going 100% raw and especially having the green smoothies since Dec (do search for 'mattm' if want more info on these as I've written extensively on them) my energy has sky rocketed (need usually 6hrs sleep max), I've overcome numerous ailments suffered from as a young teen, I've got skin I could have only dreamt of 5 years ago and a boundless enthusiasm for life. So even though raw seems sometimes a long and even hard path, as our bodies heal and we love life we start to paint our very own masterpiece that just like a rainbow is vibrant, brightens up life even in the darkest of situations and has that pot of gold at its end which truely enrichens our lives.

Aililiu, just spotted your post and saw you had problems with howmones and energy. Have you ever tried maca powder? This is a Peruvian root vegetable (Alissa describes and sells it here http://www.alissacohen.com/shop/product.php?productid=45&cat=5&page=1) that has a wonderful ability to stabilise hormones and give energy...I absolutely love this stuff (has a malty taste to it) and take it daily in my green smoothies...might be worth checking out for you...just a thought.

As always all the best you guys and any questions you know where toask them!!

Matthew

[MelonManiac]

Thanks mattm, I have found that even the first day I joined this forum I was accepted and supported and I love that. I have been searching your green smoothie threads/posts and will be trying them as soon as I gather some ingredients. The only thing is I noticed a lot of people use bananas as an ingredient and I don't like bananas. Do you taste the banana in the smoothie or is it just kind of a base? I hope these smoothies help with my depression and energy.

I can't wait to start my second year of college! Unlike last year, where I shared a tiny dorm with two of my friends, I get to live in a beach house with my own room with 3 of my good friends! lol ... It will definitely be easier to eat raw there than in college (and possibly easier than at home :-p) ... I'm glad that someone more experienced in raw is going through the same time in their lives as me! It'll be nice to get more and more support from this forum as I travel further into my raw journey!

Oh, and I was feeling creative with the name lol

[MelonManiac]

Rossk, if you don't mind me asking, how long did it take eating 100% raw for your depression to get better? Were you ever on depression medication before? The reason I want to start raw is to avoid going on medication but I can't take feeling down like this (and having no enthusiasm for doing anything) much longer.

[mattm]

Hi MelonManiac, that's fine that you don't like the bananas though if you really don't like the taste of them then don't put them in the blender as their flavour is strong and tends to permeate through the smoothie. Incidently that is the reason a lot of us use them in smoothies because they are wonderful at hiding those bitter greens tht people starting out on GS's find particularly unpalatable usually. Though you never know, 1 banana mixed in a alarge smoothie with lots of other fruits and veg might be palatable enough for you especially if you use other dtrong tasting ingredients. But there are of course a plethora of other fruits to choose from...mangos (gorgeous), papaya, pineapple, dried fruit (soaked overnight and add soaking water as well for sweet liquid base), apples, pears etc. There are of course all the wonderful superfoods that have distinctive flavours in themselves...cocoa for bitterness, mesquite meal for low GI sweetness etc which is all describe in my GS posts. But don't worry if can't get these or can't afford them at moment, you can make wonderful GS's with conventional fruit and veg.

Living in a beach house for second year...okay I'm envious...seriously considering moving countries and uni's! You up for a student exchange programme:D

All the best and any more questions ask.

Matthew

[mattm]

Hi MelonManiac, I saw you had asked Rossk about your depression, and I just wanted to say that you might want to try cocoa powder as it contains neurotransmitters (4 I think) among which is the powerful PEA which together gives feeling of well being and are therefore extremely good for alleviating depression. Of course the raw food will help significantly with the depression over time as proven by Rossk who will be able to help you in this respect but the cocoa might help quicken progress (though start off slowly with it as even though I and lots others have thrived on it, equally, many people can't tolerate it and even had adverse reactions).

Anyway, even though I'm not an expert on depression I hope this helps and all the best of luck.

Matthew

[LightLover]

I think this forum is even better against depression than cacao. :)
But I will still eat it.

ll

[Alba]

Well hello everyone!
I am an 18 year-old girl from Copenhagen, Denmark.
I went from being an real meat-eater (followed the palio-diet: meat, fish, meat, veggies, little fruit and eggs) to 100% raw vegan over night on august 5. last summer. Never looked back.
I feel much like EYB - as if raw found me!
I didn't need to loose weight (I'm 5"9 and weigh about 115 lbs) but I work as a model and great skin is a very big part of that - a part that poor eating and a lot of antibiotics as a kid had ruined for me!
a low glycemic Raw diet along w. oil pulling (do a banana search if interested; I've started a thread on it!) has healed me compeletely - I now have perfect skin...the kind of skin I'd only dare dream of; matte, dewy and soft. *sigh*
I a sorry if I'm babbling - but for some reason, skin has always been a major issue for me...It means so much - maybe because it says a lot about the state of the inside of the person (not inside as in personality, but rather colon, liver etc:p ). I wish I had a good before shot - cuz I do have some stunnign afters:D
Appart from the psysical things - raw has made me a happier, more confident and open person. I almost never have an off day - sex is better, relations w. other people are smoother, more enjoyable, I wake up refreshed in the morning and every day seems glorious and beautiful to me now.

In other words: raw changed my look, my life and me on so many levels!

I keep thinking how lucky we are - us who have found raw so early on! This is totally incredible...we have a chance to actually treat out bodies w. the OPTIMAL diet almost from the beginning - we can heal all those nasty ailments that would have crept up on us, had raw not found us or vice versa! Let's celebrate!

Love alba

[mattm]

Hi Alba, great to see another fellow European here...loved your colourful (literally!!) post . Great you've found RFT and from the looks of things you've really started something with this oil pulling which admittedly I'd never heard of before...learn something new everyday I guess...seems to be especially the case since starting on this road to raw all those years ago at 16. I happy you've found such great success on this diet...unlike many with this lifestyle, it wasn't about losing weight for me as I've always been one of those lucky people that could eat and never get overweight but on the other hand I suffered from poor skin and many other ailments as a young teen...since raw and now 100% raw with green smoothies since December, like you, I've now got skin I could have only dreamt of, cured my other ailments, have boundless energy and joy for life. As I said, great to see you here and hope us youngins can have some fun chatting and getting to know one another so as ever keep writing:D Oh and, as you'll see from my posts, I totally agree this lifestyle is a gift so, as you would say, I'm CELEBRATING everyday :)

All the best.

Matthew

[MelonManiac]

Thanks again mattm ... Haha student exchange hmmm sounds interesting :-p ... I will try the cacao powder.

Lightlover- I know what you mean this forum is great :) ... I'm addicted to it :p

[Dylan]

My name's Dylan. I'm 21 years old, a student at NYU, but I commute from home in the 'burbs. I'm studying philosophy, without a clue as to what I'm going to do with it when I graduate.

I started my raw adventure about two years ago, was on and off for the first year, but now going very strong. I absolutely love superfood chocolate smoothies, green juice, oils including flax, coconut macadamia nut and fruit in general. I LOVE fatty foods. I'm very spoiled, getting to go to Pure food and wine (the takeaway) and bonobos several days a week. lol :D

I find that while Raw Foodism is not an end in itself, it does help me deal with all the stressors in my life.

I usually lurk on here for inspiration to make interesting foods. The pictures always make me drool lol. But I figure maybe posting will be helpful for others, and for myself as well. :cool:

[missthomas86]

My name is June. I reside in mobile, al and im 21 years young. I attended the University of South Alabama for 3 years and dropped out this yr. I realized that i was going to college only because of job security, which is not promised and never really wanted to be there in the first place so i stopped wasting my time. Partying, drinking, smoking, etc was fun but that was not going to get me through college. I am currently a nanny for a doctor and professor and in 08 i will be getting my real estate licence along with buying stocks here and there. I love to travel, enjoy music, art, looking at moon and overall im a pretty laid back person but i know what i want out of life and i will achieve it. Thats my intro, so as far as raw foods......

I came across raw foods a couple of months ago when i was trying a vegan diet. I researched the benefits, etc and realized that this is the healthiest way of eating. I have been playing around with it for some time now and im ready to take the plunge. I love this site because the people are supportive and it makes going raw a lil easier.Peace