New to raw: depressed/mood swings

[Kaila]

I'd been reforming my diet for about a year, and a few weeks ago decided to really make a change and eat mostly raw food and introduce green smoothies.

I'm rather young but I would imagine quite toxic. I lived the SADdest life before- huge stress from a very young age, a diet based on ramen noodles, cigarettes, and cake for years. Luckily, I never did any drugs or drank much :)

But- that's all behind me, for good!

However, now that I'm starting on raw foods, my mood is swinging drastically. In the early part of the day I feel great, borderline euphoric and tons of energy! My ever-present anxiety disappears.

However later in the day I feel and look much worse: dark circles, fatigued, depressed and negative. I just want to have a cigarette and hide :(

Even in my SAD fog, my internal 'tape' was usually pretty upbeat- how do I manage this? Is this a detox symptom? Will is go away in time?

[margoss]

I went through this & still do..I 've been mostly raw since July '09. My body & mood changes daily. You've let go of many things & your body is adjusting to it..getting the nasty out. I still go through it. I can tell that if I do not drink enough, I get circles & look tired. congrats to reforming yourself!!

[beckx]

you might want to keep a food journal for a few days and take a look at what you're eating + whether it is maintaining your blood sugar over the course of the day. are you eating a lot of sweets/cacao and then crashing? getting enough veggies and greens?

could just be detox, but it's worth looking into.

[Kaila]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm eating a lot of fresh fruit in green smoothies and vegetables dipped into mostly-raw hummous. Dinner I have some cooked foods and a big leafy green salad. My emotional low point in the day is typically between 3-6pm (before cooked food)

Margoss- I thought it could be my blood sugar too. Years ago I suffered from a *terrible* sugar addiction, and although I recovered 2 years ago I still can't tolerate sugar or dried fruit, raw sweets such as raw chocolate bars or balls, maple syrup, honey, etc. Luckily, those foods haven't appealed to me in ages. Realizing I was on a fast track to diabetes and I was addicted to sugar started my health education and journey :)

Knowing I'm sugar sensitive- I try to only have fresh fruit in a green smoothie, and eat low GI meals reguarly, easy to when on raw.

I've also noticed that my nose turns bright red when I have grains or nuts- this used to be a chronic problem until I realised it was my diet. I'm not sure if I have a mild grain or nut allergy, but at the moment I'm steering clear of those foods as the redness is something I want to heal.

[Green_Woman]

Kaila, why don't you give 100% RAW a go for 30-days and see if your Body can then take the next step in healing?

By retaining cooked foods in your diet, you are essentially keeping your Body in constant Detox-Limbo. So when your Body sends you those "emotional low" signals, it's letting you know you're hooked on cooked.

Get UN-hooked, and find out what your Body can do when you give it the raw tools to heal. :) :) :)

I'm speaking from a place of experience. In the past, when I did "mostly Raw" and still had cooked for dinner, I simply was not healing. And I felt WORSE than when I was all-SAD, which masked my symptoms.

Now, I'm ALL-RAW, and Life is good, diet is EASY, and my future looks bright and full of HEALING. :)

[JinAna]

Hi i am no expert but a friend of mine told me that if you dont eat enough green stuffyou cna get depressed.

otherwise maybe its also that you have to feel negative to let all the negative go for me i have times where i am negative too and then i discover that its just old stuff that wants to come out and i drink something and imagine how it flows easlily out of my body.