Real reason for going raw?

[Imani]

I want to get rid of thyroid is how I found raw. I always as a kid ate alot of raw because I love the taste of veggies and i am a fruit lover to the bone. But I felted really bloaty and uncomfortable with cooked food. I love to cook and am a lover of food, period. I love to dine, I love tasting new foods. But I love feeling good,and serving good food at my house. I gained a hundred pounds per kid. I have four kids. I lost the wait each child except the last. I ate much raw with the first three and not as much with the last one. I started doing triatholons with the last hoping not to gain weight during the pregnacy. I trained for my first triatholon with my last child. I did not gain 100lbs. I gained 40. My other children where all three years apart and I lost the weight unknowningly I believe eating lots of raw. The last child was concieved when the third was nine months. I had lost 60 lbs, but not the last 40. so I gain 40 puting me at 220. I lost 45, but I assume from the thyroid and the carbs I struggle with another 40 lbs. Well, here I am eating to live. I like the way raw taste the best. My health is primary, and the weight is a great side benefit. I look forwarded to loosing all I need to look and feel well.

[amarryth]

i'm still trying to make the transition.. but each and everyday i'm over coming cravings and plain old routine.. i've been realizing how much i eat without thinking! for me, i've decided to work towards raw, and actually follow through with it since nothing else has worked, and i can find no reason why this won't.. i'm at the point of even feeling groggy when i have cooked vegetables at my mom's house... it's frustrating and fantastic at the same time. it's amazing how quickly we learn to listen to our bodies when we give it the chance to speak. i was diagnosed with ibs (irritable bowel syndrome) over a year ago... i just call it bs - they give that name when nothing else turns out positive. so that was the last time i went to see my traditional family doctor who dealt with my chronic asthma and allergies as a child. since that time i've been to a naturopathic doctor, an iridologist, and this amazing woman who tests for food sensitivities - the best move i ever made. i never really did say what's wrong with me eh? if you saw me on a good day, you'd say i'm thin and healthy looking.. then there's days i'll eat anything and my entire abdomen protrudes to look like i'm 5 months pregnant.. you can see my hips and ribs and the swelling the bursts from their edges. the worst part about it, is that it doesn't hurt (the intestines do not have feeling receptors, otherwise you'd feel disgestion all day long!).. so it took me years to recognize that i hardly have fat but i LOOK like i've got ALOT to lose. looking at vacation photos from 5, 6, 7 years ago you can see my mom and my sister standing there with normal looking bodies, and then me with this stomach sticking out to forever. i have photos and i'll post them when i'm finally ready to make my complete transition - which i'm hoping to do in the next week or so, i don't want to sit on the verge for too long or i'll never do it...

sooo, why am i doing this? to cure the diverticuli in my intestines, to gain this fantastic energy that everyone talks of and i have no idea what it's like, to be a living example of all that i represent, and most recently after reading a segment of a john robbins book, that the average person's breastmilk is incredibly toxic.. and if want to have kids one day, i better start cleaning myself up now... who knows how long the toxins from all of my childhood medications and the cigarette smoke i ingested which triggered the allergies will take to come out.. it's up to us to keep ourselves and our children disease free..

[StudentforLife]

I don't know which is was for me. It's all based on the first time I really read about raw. It's kind of random story.

I was looking on e-bay's independent artist's section for new paintings when I came across a modern painting that I thought was very beautiful. The thing that got my attention the most though was that the young woman who painted it went by the name The Raw Artist. I went to her website and she wrote why she called herself the raw artist. The raw food diet had saved her life. She told of all the sickness she had and the raw food diet cured her of all of them. Of course I also noticed that she was very thin and healthy looking. I've been hooked ever since.

So, I guess it was more about health and wellbeing than weight loss, but it was definitely weight loss too. I'm only 23 and have been very lucky to not contract any illnesses yet, but I wasn't about to find out if I would. I think what appealed to me was that some people who had depression and anxiety felt better on raw food. I've struggled with anxiety for a long time now so I was thrilled with this.

[goyethere4raw]

I have always loved raw foods since a child. I have always also loved natural remedies. Therefore, when my son was diagnosed with diabetes this year in January I went on a fact-finding mission and came up with Victoria's son who healed himself of diabetes with the raw food diet. This made sense to me, so I set out to totally revamp all of our diets in the house. I have not totally succeeded, as I had to find out the hard way that you cannot necessarily change the diet of teenagers with the drop of a hat. We have incorporated more raw foods, though they are not as raw as I am. I too had health issues including lupus and weight gain from the steroids for lupus. I was also diabetic gestationally and borderline even after my youngest child was born. I thought that eating a raw diet would bring me closer to what God's original plan was, thus would be blessed with better health and vitality because of it.

These are still the reasons I stay raw, however, I have added more reasons as the time goes by. I have lost 40 pounds to this date after being raw 8 months. My eyes are so white and clear they look like they did 10+ years ago. I am amazed at the clarity and peace that is coming back into my life. I love the light feeling that I have always on this lifestyle plan.

Now, I have other reasons for sticking to this as well, and these are totally vain!!!!!!!!! I want to look like I did 15 years ago. Yep, you heard me right. My husband announced to me (at church no less in between services) that he did not love me anymore and that he was moving out. Well, he did and moved in with "her". I will fast forward.......................Now! I want to keep myself in good shape and also hold on to my youth so that when I am done raising my children I can be equipt and youthful enough to accept a mate in my life if that is God's plan for me. I want him to experience a youthful energetic individual, and I want to be a knockout! LOL!!!!

[Frecs]

For me it was all about weight -- when I started. Then, I discovered that raw was about so much more than that! Over about four months I recovered from Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and rosecea. The only thing that hasn't changed is my hypothyroidism.

[Frog]

I dont have weight issues - its about the health.

[Shmoopie]

StudentForLife: thanks so much for the mention of The Raw Artist. I just went to her site and can't stop reading it. Lots of really inspirational stuff there. The testimonials are great too. Thanks again! :)

[elian]

I started with raw primarily to loose weight so I could 1-be a good role model to my son and hubby 2-so hopefully I can get pregnant again (to straighten out hormones and cycle). I also knew that this was the right path to take... drugs can't do it (even if perscribed by a doctor), exercise can't negate dead food you put in your mouth... everything about the raw diet just seems right.

[eatyourbroccoli]

1) to help my body heal itself from years of antibiotics and then a long bought of mono..and to prevent chronic disease in the future.

2) immortality ;)

[Lunar*Fey]

I was having a lot of trouble...I wanted to be vegetarian, and then I wanted better health so i went vegan....but something was still missing. I read about raw and it just clicked beautifully with everything I have always believed. I guess you could say its about health...but mostly its just what feels right to me...something finally feels right. And I feel good about eating and my body and all that while raw.

Konmai, that is totally not vain! That is something everyone should strive for and be envious of! It is a beautiful thing to feel good about yourself, love yourself inside and out....and it is rather rare these days. Congratulations to you! <3 By the way you are beautiful!

[Free Energy]

Why Raw? Hmmmm...because I LOVE FOOD and I can eat as much raw food as I want and still feel comfortable in my own skin.

[Maria]

I was a vegetarian for 30 years and decided to take it a step further into raw for better health in general. I have fallen back into cooked some, but always come back to raw because it makes me FEEL SO GOOD!

[swingbolder]

I didn't have any weight issues, I went raw to improve my health as I was suffering from several chronic conditions that conventional medical treatmant could not heal.

[Kassandra]

Raw was something I'd thought about quite a lot, but I only really turned to it after a hideous break up with my partner (and father of my two girls) because it gave me something positive to focus on.

Kass.