Hello All who are Raw!!!!

[BlueLotus]

Hello all! I am so excited to be on RFT. I have really enjoyed learning from your posts and looking at your inspiring before&afters that I decided to join.

Most of my life I have been overweight and depressed. I have been on many different antidepressants since the age of 8. When I was 13 the new meds aided me in balooning up to 220lbs from 160lbs over the course of 6 months. I have been miserable ever since. The funny thing is that my weight became the reason for my depression, but the antidepressants were the reason for my weight. I contemplated ending my life on several occasions. My parents told my doctors not to pressure me to lose weight for the fear of me developing anorexia. My family has very unhealthy eating habbits, and they don't understand how those eating habbits can have a real effect: you see, even though I eat the least and the healthiest (I promise it's true) I am the only one remotly overweight. This was and still is very fristrating to me. When people see my whole family together, they always ask me what happened or tell me I don't look like I belong (embarrasing!)
It wasn't until a few years ago that a doctor actually told me that I needed to lose weight. She gave me wellbutrin and that was working for a while. Unfortunatly, my insurance was terminated shortly after. I was upset because finally I had found something to help me lose weight (I lost 20lbs on wellbutrin) But I didn't want to be stuck on antidepressants my whole life. These meds were becoming an anchor. I felt I needed to clean my body and address my depression at the root instead of covering it up with meds. I began surfing the web to find such a thing. I found raw.

I have been raw for 3 weeks. The first 2 weeks I was 100% raw, and last week I was about 95% raw (soy milk). After the first week my depression cleared!!! I feel light of mind and energetic. It's amazing!! My family is noticing and learning the effects food can have on the mind. Unfortunatly, I haven't lost a pound or an inch, and I am scared to exercise too much because every time I do, I GAIN both weight AND inches. If this was any other diet I would have given up, but the improved mood and energy is too great. Life is so much more exciting and meaningful. I feel that I found the answer to my depression problem and raw is my new lifestyle. I am so thrilled to be a part of this community and to be a raw-foodie!
PEACE&LOVE!!!

[Dimond]

Welcome to raw, BlueLotus! Very glad to hear raw is helping your depression. :) After awhile you should be able to add in exercise.

[The French One]

Hello BlueLotus, welcome here and I'm glad that you've found this place before doing something bad because of your depression:
- concerning the feeling of unhappiness, you should watch the movie "Food matters" made by the Hippocrates center. They gave the example of a depressive woman who was cured when taking niacin (vitamin B3) supplements. It's the vitamin that helps the body create the hormones linked with the feeling of well being and happiness. So maybe you should consider taking some (there are many organic, plant extracted vitamins now available) and add it to you new raw life style.
- concerning weight, don't worry. Often, in the first weeks of being raw, people eat a lot of green fats (nuts, avocados, plant oil). Eventually, you will be attracted less and less to them. Plus, you're body is now in the process of detoxing, and the fast is where the body puts the toxins. As a consequence, the body will start release fat when it will be able to handle a massive release of toxins in the blood stream. Right now, your body is doing some internal work to prepare itself and heal. That's the priority. So, don't change for the moment.
- concerning sport, I know that yoga (slow movements of stretching and meditation) helped me a lot. But don't worry about gaining weight. You'll take muscle, sure, but even when not active, your muscles will consume calories. So first, when you gain muscle, your gain weight and inches (because under the fat, muscles are growing), but after that first time, the fat will begin to diminish and you'll first start to lose inches, and then pounds. My only advice would be to choose a sport you like and that won't be a chore, and try to plan the days you'll do it, the frequencies, and stick to your plan until it becomes a habit. Plus, sport is good because it brings oxygen to your cells. One last thing, because you said you're overweight, find a sport that won't be bad for your articulations: swimming, yoga, riding bicycle are far better at first than running.
- Soya is not a healthy food for a lot of reasons, try to avoid it. If you want to have milk, try almond milk for instance, and to me, it tastes much better than soya, and it's healthier.

As I said before, welcome here. I was also depressed before, and I can tell you I feel a different person now, and I'm just in my seventh week raw.

We are here to bring support if you need it. Welcome to this wonderful community.

[spicyfull]

I wish you everything you need to Stay RAW.........Welcome to MY World.

[Frugal Raw]

Welcome!! I wish you the best of rawesome health!!