Hi!

cranberry0

Hello everyone, my name is Carita and I'm a 19 year-old student living in southern Finland.

(and I'm so sorry for my imperfect English! I hope you can make something out of it ;) )

I feel so relieved for finding this forum, and I'm quite sure it'll be a lot of help during my journey to the raw food diet :)

I wanted to share a little about my background also, to explain a little bit about the reasons behind my decision to go raw.

A few years ago I suffered from anorexia nervosa. My lowest weight (and point) was 92lb at the height of 5'4. I wasn't really ever admitted to hospital, but I was nowhere near healthy either. My heart rate was extremely low from over exercising and restricting. I was completely out of this world, I was very depressed and mentally ill, I've figured it had a lot to do with my brain not capable to function with the little nutrients I gave to my body.

Well, this lasted for nearly 2 years and I'm overly grateful for my quick recovery, mostly due to the support of my family, lots of therapy and my amazing and loving boyfriend.

However, my recovery at first wasn't an easy time for me. Having survived on fruit and vegetable based diet for 2 years, I went completely crazy when I started to introduce new, earlier "forbidden" foods to my diet. I gorged on every junk food I could get my hands on: ice cream, tacos, candies, cookies, white bread, chips... My eating disorder took completely new course, and I began to slide to bulimia. I was more depressed than ever, gained huge amounts of weight and felt miserable.

Thankfully my crazy eating behavior lasted only for 4 months, but still thinking about that time makes me want to cry.

I still go to therapy and this has helped me more than I believe anything else for me. I feel I'm mentally 95% healed, this means that I eat enough to support myself, I allow myself treats every now and then and I've completely gotten out of my former anorexic mindset; although I'm sure it'll take a long time to fully accept my body as it is. I've even managed to keep my weight in a healthy number after being vegan for 1

NinaBvegan

Hi Carita,

My name is Christina and I live in Chicago Il/USA I am happy to hear that you are doing well after all of your struggles.. I have been a vegan for 1.5 years, and am doing a 30 raw food challenge.. I am only on day 12, and it is going well, the biggest thing is to not try and be perfect. .adding in more raw foods will leave less room for the other stuff, taking things away is never fun!! Fish was the hardest thing for me to give up when I turned vegan... Now, it's bread and pasta I am missing.. sites like this one are such a big help, information and support are everywhere!!

This is new for me and I am still learning my way around the forums..but I've learned a few things..

I think if you post questions in the subject people will see them right away it might help.. as far as soymilk goes, I am pretty sure they cook the soybeans first so it would not be considered raw.. many store bought, processed and packaged foods are cooked.. Now that they are more common, may items are labeled 'raw'

I hope this helps...

Good luck and good health to you!

Christina

cranberry0

Thank you for your reply! I've done some self studying and I realised soymilk isn't excactly raw.. But fortunately almond milk is so easy to make and tastes wonderful! I'm going to make a new batch tomorrow :)

I'm going to miss bread too I think.. Not really the white kinds but the rye bread I always eat. But I'm not aiming for perfection to begin with so I'll see how everything goes first :) I'm aiming at 80-90% raw, so hopefully I'll get there! I found this amazing book which is called raw food detox diet, and it offers stages for beginners to start with, making little adjustments as one proceeds. It sounds good and that's what I'm doing at the moment (I'm a level 3).

Good health to you too and nice to meet you!

Sheik

Hi Carlita- thanks for sharing your story.

I have been raw for almost six months.

You will definately see the benefits of raw foods! I too used to have a problem with gorging. I used to eat a lot of candy and fried greasy foods. I never had a problem with weight, but I did have lots of acne. I remember finishing a king sized bag of potato chips and feeling absolutely disgusted with myself. I now can eat a big bowl of grapes and strawberries or dehydrated kale chips and have no guilt. I'm so happy to hear that your doing better. Eating disorders are serious; I've seen my friends go through bulimia. The great thing about being raw is that you are only eating what is good for your body and excluding everything that is bad. It truly is a guilt free way to live. Good luck!