Testimonies of Raw Food Before and After

Here are some raw food before and after stories to inspire you on your raw food journey and the benefits of a raw food diet.

Here is the raw inspiring testimony of Val Charman:

In 5 months I lost 64 lbs and Cured Myself of Menieres Disease, Arthritis, Spondylosis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome with Raw Food

"In August 2009 I had reached a crisis in my life, I had contracted hypothyroidism, arthritis in my ankles, spondylosis in my shoulders, carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists and finally ended up with Menieres disease following an ear infection. This was totally debilitating as I was constantly dizzy and unable to walk without falling over. I was in pain, dizzy, very overweight, lost my job and felt as though my life was at an end. The doctors and consultants I saw could offer me no hope, just advised me to take painkillers and get used to it. The only clue I had to it all being caused by diet was one consultant at the balance clinic suggested cutting down salt intake from the recommended 6g a day to 2g.

"I researched low salt diets and finally found a raw vegan regime which I took to with great enthusiasm as I felt it made so much sense to cut out all of the processed food and additives and get back to what nature intended us to eat.

"After one month I had weaned myself off the Menieres medication, was no longer dizzy all the time and also found that my symptoms from the arthritis, spondylosis and carpal tunnel had all disappeared. I was also able to reduce the thyroid medication for the first time in 10 years!

After 5 months I had lost 64 lbs in weight and was rebuilding my self esteem, had renewed energy, needed less sleep and began looking to start my own business.

Today Val shares her raw food before and after testimony and offers a coaching program which helps people transition from their old foods to healthy foods.

RFDM: Val, you are a wonderful inspiration to all of those out there that are strugling with multiple chronic illnesses and at the end of their rope! Thank you for your contribution!

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Raw Food Before and After -- Emily Shaules

I call my raw food before and after story "My Divine Diet". Four years ago, I was as low as I could go. I was an attorney living in Chicago and taking about 25 pills a day for everything from ulcerative colitis to fibromyalgia (chronic pain). I lived all alone in a not so great neighborhood. I was soon to be divorced and could not afford anything better. I could barely work 10 hours a week at a local legal aid organization and did not see how I would ever be able to support myself financially, let alone physically or spiritually.

So I went online and looked for a fibromyalgia support group in Chicago…and in a city of millions there wasn’t one! However, on Meetup.com, 75 people had signed up saying there were interested in joining one. In a flash of motivation (which were few and far between in those days), I decided to start one myself. I figured, “How hard could it be? You say when, where and how you can support each other.” Little did I know how this decision would forever alter my life’s path.

I showed up for the first meeting in the summer of 2007 with a big tray of doughnuts- I wanted to be a good hostess. A woman looked at me, looked down at the doughnuts and said, “That’s why you have fibro.” I was shocked. I felt deflated and angry- here I was the only one in the city who had stepped up to start this group and I was already being criticized for doing something wrong. But I just smiled and agreed as she asked if she could bring a guest speaker to our meeting the following month.

At that meeting, a woman named Stacy Stowers came and spoke with us. She had been suffering from fibromyalgia for years, at times so ill she could only function for about 4 hours a day- something to which I could definitely relate. She then discovered raw foods and her raw food before and after testimony was that within a single week she felt better.

Now I had been to every doctor and practitioner I could find (even the world-renowned Mayo Clinic) and was told conclusively that fibromyalgia was a life-long disorder and I should just accept being in pain for the rest of my life. I had been to acupuncturists and massage therapists and had done everything under the sun to cure myself. So needless to say, I was skeptical when I heard Stacy say how her pain was now gone.

But something in what Stacy was sharing reasonated with me. The philosophy of raw foods nourishing my body with enzymes and nutrients made intuitive sense to me. I was intrigued and wanted to give it a try. However, the thought of eating nothing but fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds sounded like torture to me. You see, I was a junk food queen. In fact, I was one of those people who took the lettuce and tomato off my Quarter Pounder because they got in the way of my beloved bread and meat and cheese!

So I decided I would try a little experiment. I would go 100% raw for one week and see what happened. I figured, just like my previous diet, it wouldn’t work. However, being the all-or-nothing kinda girl I am, I figured I would do this right. So I went and bought myself a Vita-Mix, some superfoods I had never heard of (“what’s chlorella?!?!”), and enough fruits and veggies to last me for the week.

Of course, I almost broke my Vita-Mix straight out the gate. On Day 1, I figured since I was now a super-cool raw foodist, I would try something exotic for my first ever green smoothie. So bought my first mango, cut off the skin and threw the whole thing in the blender. Yes, that is how clueless I was about healthy food- I didn’t even know there was a giant pit inside! But God bless the Vita-Mix, she took a lickin’ and kept on tickin’ and my week went on.

To make a long "raw food before and after" story short, within about four months I was off all of my medications and haven’t been back on any since.

I was able to start working full-time and moved to a fabulous apartment in a great area of the city. After a year and a half, I left Chicago and the practice of law to intern at Creative Health Institute in Michigan and then went on an international speaking tour. I eventually settled in Asheville, NC (the most incredible place in the country) and for the first time in my life, really put down roots. I own my own business which I love and that helps people with their health as well as the health of the planet and I am surrounded by loving, supportive friends.

Has my life been perfect since going raw? Of course not. I’ve had my ups and downs like anyone else. But somehow changing what I eat changed how I view the world and myself in it. It allowed me to see that the path I was on was not the one that made my heart sing and gave me the strength and courage to follow the one that does. It awakened in me the inner light that was always there but had been dimmed by all the unhealthy choices I made. And it helped me realized that everything is always working out for me if I just relax and allow it to. So I guess, if you think about it, my life has been perfect…as it always has been and always will be!

Emily Shaules, of Raw Breakthrough, is a proud Ambassador for the Amazon Herb Company.  Emily and her raw food before and after testimony has been featured on Keep It Real Radio, WeLikeItRaw.com and is a regular contributor to RawFoodDoctors.com and Health View TV. She is also a certified Advanced Practitioner of Natural Health, Reiki Practioner and recently became the face of Living Trees Community Food raw chocolate bars!

RFDM: Emily, thank you for writing to us with your before and after story...you wrote it with such humour and vulnerability and girl, life is perfect!

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Sasha's Raw Food Before and After - Raw Food Journey

Sasha says, "I went on a road trip to find an new organic restaurant and made an interesting discovery. The cafe that I was driving around trying to find was indeed organic. Better yet, it was a raw food restaurant. I started researching and trying raw food recipes . I loved all of them but I just had to figure out a way to incorporate them into my lifestyle.

This began the start of my journey with raw food. I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams that my life would face some pretty hard challenges in the upcoming years. In late 2008, my son was diagnosed with Down Syndrome and we accepted him with love and open arms. However the first year and a half were hard on me. They were filled with lots of medical appointments, open heart surgery for him and lots of sleepless nights. The stress started taking it's toll on my body. My hair was falling out rapidly, the exhaustion was increasing and my health was declining. Just as my son was starting to thrive in life, I was bombarded with horrible news.

My parents were both chronically ill. I became one of their main caregivers. For that year I took all of my energy and time to take the best care of my parents. After their passing I was not only devastated, but feeling adrenal exhaustion. I had no energy for life. I was weak and burnt out. After several months I had to figure a way to get my life force back. I needed to heal.

Raw food and health has become a very personal journey for me not only because I needed it for myself, but also because I realized that an enormous amount of people are plagued by some type of illness. Spending so much time in the hospital center with my parents and seeing so many people sick and fighting for their lives deeply impacted me. Shortly after my mom’s death I created my own program at home and did 100% raw for 45 days. I started blogging about raw food and sharing my raw food before and after journey.

Raw food has provided me with the energy and ability to begin to heal extreme stress, grief and trauma. My energy has increased, my hair is growing back and I am healing. I credit raw food to helping me rebuild and find myself in so many ways that I now dedicate my time and energy to teaching others about raw food and sharing my raw food before and after story.

Sasha Campbell is passionate about health and raw foods. She is currently enrolled in Canadian School of Natural Nutrition and is taking the Ultimate Raw Nutrition Certification Course. She is an avid blogger at BlyssfulHealth.com. She also runs a local raw food meet up.

RFDM:  Sasha, it is so hard to imagine how a person could withstand so much grief and stress at once. I am so very glad you found raw foods as a means to get your health back and thank YOU for sharing your story.  It was beautiful!

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