Depression and Raw

[bananaberrie]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone here dealt or deals with depression. If so how did your raw diet effect it? My hubby is on anti-depression medication and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with depression and raw diet.

Thanks

[mcster]

My experience with raw is that, on a dietary basis, it would be the last thing that could cause depression. If depression was triggered by emotional or mental stress, I'm sure it would be a great way to help address it and possibly even solve it. The one thing that I have experienced emotionally as a direct result of going raw in combination with exercise is euphoria. Best wishes to you and your husband. These things are temporary and sometimes all it takes is a shift in perspective (or diet) to start the turnaround.

[bananaberrie]

My experience with raw is that, on a dietary basis, it would be the last thing that could cause depression. If depression was triggered by emotional or mental stress, I'm sure it would be a great way to help address it and possibly even solve it. The one thing that I have experienced emotionally as a direct result of going raw in combination with exercise is euphoria. Best wishes to you and your husband. These things are temporary and sometimes all it takes is a shift in perspective (or diet) to start the turnaround.

My personal opinion is, he has been battling depression for a very long time. It must run in his family because as both his sisters have been on anti-depressives as well, but not either of his parents...hmm interesting. He always refuse to go on them in the past, but then we got to a place in our marriage where it was a must. I know he hates being on them, but the thought of him going off of them scares me to death. He is horrible to be around when off, moody, dark, judgmental it is like living with a black cloud, and very hard to do with 3 small kids. Since I have been raw I have noticed my mood is much more sable, I was always fairly laid back, but even more so now. So I was hoping that a raw diet might help my husband so that he wouldn't have to take his meds anymore, of course first he has to be ready to go raw.

Sorry I know I kind of want both world, to be honest he has no...um drive when on the meds...um like....uh zero. This for me is a very important part of a relationship, and I really want that part of our relationship back. So I want him off meds but I don't. Sorry I think I am just rambling now. I don't know why it is easier sometimes to tell your woes to an entire stranger, but for what it is worth.....thanks for listening.

[smiley]

I was dealing with major depression and other mental issues myself in the past. I weaned myself off the antidepressants and started a 100% raw diet. People talk about physical detox which I went through too but my issues were mostly emotional so my emotional detox was worse than my physical detox.

My depression and other issues started surfacing and as I went through the experience without meds and with the benefit of raw food, I felt like (just like the physical toxins release from your body), the mental issues were releasing from my body.

I felt like I went through a dark tunnel and at the end of the tunnel was the brightest shiniest light I have ever seen and when I reached the end of the tunnel, I felt healed.

It didn't happen overnight but now, 7 years later on a raw food diet, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life and I handle life and stress much better.

I wish you and your husband the best on your raw food journey!

[mcster]

Banana: You shouldn't feel guilty for what you want, especially when you don't seem to be asking for much.

I believe in the body-mind-emotion connection. If one of these aspects is dragging behind, you can use the other two to pull it forward. I've never been depressed but I have gone through big challenges in life like many/most of us. During those times, it's always easy to throw your hands up in the air, be sedentary and eat junk food. That's a great way to make a bad situation worse. When I've found myself in a bit of a valley (I've lost everything twice in my lifetime) I've used exercise, a clean diet and reading positive literature to help put myself back on track. Have you considered getting him to make some healthy lifestyle choices before weaning him of the meds? One has to have discipline. Even watching the news can have a detrimental effect on someone if you're in the wrong frame of mind...

[bananaberrie]

Smiley: Thanks you so much for your encouraging words. It is great to know that raw foods have helped someone overcome something like depression. I hope that there will be some way that raw food can help my husband.

Mcster: You are so right about the mind, soul and body connection. It is amazing how close they are connected in so many ways that most of us will never know. It is a good idea to get him on a good raw diet before he goes off his meds. He is pretty open to trying what I eat or make for the family. But he has stated that he is not ready to go on a full raw diet. So I know enough to not push the issue, and just hope he comes around. I was hoping to find a few people who have been able to get off anti-depression meds because of raw foods. maybe there are some on this forum somewhere who will share there experiences.

[Aleesha Sattva]

i hadn't read the posts above...

when i eat anything SAD... i feel sad. my daughter has noticed the same for her. when she eats cooked food, she notices a difference in - not only her mood - but how she copes with things.

[changeisgood]

Bananaberrie -

IMO -
It is very important to do research yourself and with a nutritionist to figure out which foods would feed the missing chemicals in the brain and act as a stand in.
I pretty much white knuckled it thru most of my life battling depression since I was against chemical meds, but finally had to use them since everything else didn't work for me (almost committed suicide from a homeopathic remedy that was intended to reduce depression - and was given to me by an MD who apparently didn't know what she was doing with dosages).

I notice a change in myself, but not nearly there yet to wean myself off meds yet. The pain of deep depression is still too raw in my memory to risk a chance, yet. But it's only been a couple of months of raw eating.
I can distinguish sadness vs depression now, although there are some 'things' that come up that can throw me back into depression. And can recognize that certain foods can set me back. BUT, there is still, as of now, the chemical imbalance causing the depression. The emotional issues relate more to guilt and shame, and those issues have been worked thru.

My husband sounds like the way you describe your husband during dark times.
He'll only eat certain raw stuff, not nearly enough to make a change in his life. Even if the most respected person on earth were to explain how it all plays into each other, I don't think he would give up cooked food.
It's like an addict - you look for comfort in something and get it, but after awhile, it turns on you, and wreaks just as much havoc as the reason you turned to it in the first place. Although he is on meds (thank God) he considers food to be one of his few pleasures in life.

And I know what you mean - the med he takes is very frustrating to him since it blocks the ability to get to the end result most men want - he's tried other meds, but none work as good as this, so he'll not take it for a day and then after his 'moment', he'll immediately take it to get back on track. If he feels a bit dark he knows why and accepts it just as someone's mood changes when they aren't feeling well, and then it passes.

Even if he won't go raw, try and get organic fruits/veggies, make him smoothies - fun ones so he doesn't feel like it is 'medicine' and you're trying to push raw on him. Make fun salads that he could enjoy. And read laabels on anything you purchase that isn't home cooked to keep away from food coloring, dyes, and chemicals. Even detergent can cause changes in mood since it gets into our skin from residue on our clothing we wash. etc, etc. There's alot that can be done. Make it a joint effort to go green as much as possible. I use one of those lightboxes, especially during winter and extended darkness. That has helped me considerably with how lack of light effects me.
My thoughts are with you. Best 'wishes'

[jazzygirl]

I don't eat raw.... yet, I am working on it ;)

Anyhoo, since I began juicing which has only been one week, I have noticed a difference in the way I feel.

Sugar, actual sugar... brings me down.

Bananaberrie, work on yourself. Make a life for your self. You can't make him go raw, let him see what it's doing for you and maybe he will change on his own.

My boyfriend thinks I have gone crazy because I am always buying different veggies to juice but just wait till he sees how healthy and even happier I will be

[mcster]

Mcster: You are so right about the mind, soul and body connection. It is amazing how close they are connected in so many ways that most of us will never know. It is a good idea to get him on a good raw diet before he goes off his meds. He is pretty open to trying what I eat or make for the family. But he has stated that he is not ready to go on a full raw diet. So I know enough to not push the issue, and just hope he comes around. I was hoping to find a few people who have been able to get off anti-depression meds because of raw foods. maybe there are some on this forum somewhere who will share there experiences.

Do a search for videos on vegan athletes and raw athletes on youtube and show them to your husband. I also found a bunch of videos on raw vegans that are in their 50's+ and categorically look 10, 20, 30+ years younger than their age including that 109 y/o guy who is writing his second book, opening a restaurant, lives alone, drives himself everywhere and looks 80. It will blow his mind. After weeks of research, those videos closed the deal for me and I went raw.

[EscapeArtist]

I'm a true believer that most long term major depression that is not related to an extreme and direct situation (somebody dying.. etc) is caused by food. Feeling good gives us a safe spot within ourselves and a better ability to cope. But, I'm not so sure as to whether raw is the first step in overcoming depression through diet. For me, removing food sensitivities, gluten, dairy, corn, soy, did WONDERS. Did you know that when your body is sensitive to a food, it has the ability to flush out the 90% of serotonin in your body that lies in your digestive system?? I for one believe that the entire human race is sensitive to gluten and dairy in particular, these two foods also really DO destroy the serotonin in your gut. Heck, it even says so if you type in "serotonin" on wikipedia!
Certain antibodies that your brain makes against gluten also can, and usually does, directly attack your nervous system, including your brain, which leads to food directly attacking your brain... causing inflammation in your brain, re-organizing the brain flow and causing certain dysfunctions such as: suicidal thinking, schizophrenia, major depression, Alzheimer's, dementia, ADD... etc. I for one believe this to be the main reason for diseases that do not have "enough flow to the frontal lobe". It is always the frontal lobe it seems. This being called "the brain on fire".

I guess I can speak from experience because it was gluten, dairy, soy and corn (but mostly gluten) that ended up being the thing that gave me major depression from age... birth? Lol. I ended up being suicidal in my teens, until I took some things out from my diet. This alone halted my major depression and allowed me to cope.

On the other hand
I believe that you can escape major depression through minor dietary changes such as those stated above- food sensitivities.. But I also believe that raw food does give you a state of bliss that other diets can't reach. If you want to go that one step further and feel the best you possibly can in the body that you have, if you want to reach that level. So yes raw alone can definitely help assist depression, but to me it depends whether or not you are eating raw glutenous grains or raw dairy products, because that could very well completely sabotage it all IMO. Also I believe that it is very hard for one to repair the damage that has been done on a horrible diet without some kind of cleansing diet, becaues that stuff will still be circulating in your system until you squeeze it out a' you through detox. If you are still eating toxins from cooked food your body won't have as much time to repair.. Etc

Goodluck to both of you I hope he gives this whole diet thing a try! ;)

[Raw Angel Mom]

Before raw vegan, i used to have the blues all frequently i think you can call this being depress. I don't feel this way now. I also make sure to have a good dose of vitamin D (If you are low, you will be depress). B12 seems to help also.

Most of all, i don't feel the same physically since doing raw, i will have the blues for personal reason but my body doesn't feel the same.

When i did my detox program with simplyraw, i also notice that i my mood was better and i was more patient and happy.

Yes, without question for me raw food and alive food made a huge difference in this matter for me.

[margoss]

My experience.....My H passed away 4 yrs ago. We went into a severe depression eventhough we tried hard not to. I started raw 1 1/2 yrs ago, started bathing with Tangerine soap..suppose to be good for depression, added a little Maca. It's been a long road. I noticed a slow improvement, but the past few months have been amazing! I sing & dance with soul, laugh, feel so much better. I see my old self emerging again! I say that I've been a catipiller in a cocoon that wouldn't open eventhough it tried so hard to get out. Guess it wasn't time! The emerging suddenly showed itself & the beautiful butterfly is showing her colors. It's wonderful. I do know that if I eat more than one sad meal a week, I feel worse.
Can't hurt to try it. I eliminated bread products completely. That & red peppers make me very depressed.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone here dealt or deals with depression. If so how did your raw diet effect it? My hubby is on anti-depression medication and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with depression and raw diet.

Thanks

l used to get depressed all my life before going on the raw sprout diet. Now l am in complete control and life is so good that l love my life, and l wouldn't change it for anybody. Nothing bothers me, but meditation makes it twice as good because you really know your inner self and understand people very very well, so nothing bothers me anymore because l accept everything happens for a reason. Life is like being in an amusement park all day and every day. Life is like a holiday all day and every day. Even when l am stuck in traffic...so what...life is still good.

Of course life can produce some stress, but it is a piece of cake to handle.

The best thing l found for producing the best mood was to consume 8 oz of chia grass juice everyday. Nothing seems to bother me at all when l drink that stuff. Life is like l am in paradise. The coldest and darkest days become the brightest days./ Makes me feel like l am on holiday everyday and gives you the excitement you used to have as a child.

[fastfreedom]

One thing to consider is B vitamins. Not just a small dose either but larger doses. I think B6 is the one I recall most.

Undereating tends to make my mood drop I've learned. But I've also learned that it depends on what I eat too. High carb food makes me happiest. Fruits are carbs as are vegetables.

Bananas are supposedly good for uplifting the mood.