Living And Raw Food Diet - Denali's Raw Food Success Story

Thirty two year old Denali lost 50 pounds and said goodbye to chronic anxiety and regular panic attacks when she began to clean up her diet and move in the direction of a totally living and raw food diet.

The following is Denali’s raw food success story in her own words. Wherever you see text in italics that is commentary from me.

So here it is -

About 4 years ago after the birth of my second child, my husband had a very serious ice climbing accident. He is lucky to be alive today.

After this accident I started to get panic attacks and bad spells of anxiety.

I went to the doctor/emergency room 3 times complaining of chest pains, dizzy spells and unusual heart beats.

All 3 times, I was told that I was in perfect health and was just suffering from panic attacks.

I also need to mention that I was about 175 lbs, which is considered overweight for my 5 foot 6 inch build.

I was a physical, emotional and mental mess. I was overweight, always tired, terrible PMS, explosively angry, low self confidence and suffering from anxiety and depression.

I got really scared when I started to feel depression.

I had never really felt depression before, but I was getting really scary complicated thoughts almost daily.

I was given Ativan the first time I went to see a doctor, but after a year of taking it, I ran out and did not want to refill it. I decided to go without it and see what happened.

At the time I thought I was living a very healthy lifestyle. I ran and did yoga as often as I could. We mostly ate organic, homemade, slow cooked foods and ate out very little. I did not drink, do drugs or smoke.

I had a lot of stress in my life, some resulting from childhood, but most people do, nothing really special. I had cut everything stressful out of my life that I could possibly think of. I stayed away from movies, TV shows and books that were scary or intense in any way.

I don't know how to explain anxiety, but it controlled my life. I was a mental mess.

I couldn't do anything without over-thinking it.

It is an overwhelming feeling and I am still scared of it.

I really wanted to be myself again - the person who could go outside and enjoy the world. I wanted to curl up on the couch and watch a movie with my husband.

I wanted to have a normal night's sleep. I was terrified of sleep. If I got an anxiety attack it was usually late at night. I went to bed late and made sure that I was really tired.

When my husband was away, I always slept with the TV on because it kept my mind from wandering into those scary areas if I woke up in the middle of the night.

If there was something to be scared of in any situation, I would think of it and dwell on it. It was driving my husband crazy. I was constantly complaining and always nagging, which caused additional stress.

The pictures below are Denali before she started to move towards a living and raw food diet.

I knew refined sugar was evil, but I had a very relaxed approach about it. I never kept white sugar in the house, but would indulge when we were out of the house on anything I wanted.

I didn't start drinking coffee until I had my second child, but once I started, I loved it. A hot creamy, sweet drink every morning that kickstarted my day. I was addicted almost instantly.

Coffee became one of my favorite ‘out of the house’ treats. A large Starbucks vanilla latte, whenever I could get away with it.

Anyways, I had kept this book "Lick the Sugar Habit" with me, but did not even crack it open until a year later.

My husband has terrible allergies and was reading a book about them and it mentioned something about anxiety and blood sugar levels.

I cannot recall exactly what was said, but that is what triggered this drastic change in my life.

I decided that I would do more research on the subject. Maybe, I was diabetic and it was my blood sugar levels that were causing all this chaos in my body.

I had tried so many other things, so this kind of made sense. So I got that book "Lick the Sugar Habit" off the shelf and started to read. I didn't put it down until I was done.

I remember I brought it with me to McDonald's play land and read it while the girls played.

This book made so much sense to me. When I finally finished, I was done with refined sugar.

I still to this day am scared of refined sugar and will not touch it because of what I read in that book!

That day I decided I would start a 30 day fast from sugar and anything sweet or sweetened (including fruit - unfortunately! A).

I stayed away from anything that had sugar in the first 10 ingredients and while I was at it, I decided to cut out dairy. I never really liked the idea of pasteurized dairy, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a break from that too.

It was quite easy after reading that book. I simply was not interested in eating sugar. I don't know why exactly, but something about that book just made something click and I was done with sugar.

I felt really empowered. I don't remember anything special about that first month, but my anxiety was quite mild and I quickly lost 15 lbs.

I didn't really realize it until we went skiing and my jacket was quite loose on me.

I had always been on the chunky side, and was okay with that. However, at 175 lbs, I was NOT okay with it, but I had secretly just accepted that as my fate. I figured it was in my genes.

After a month had passed, I decided to extend my fast and stay off sugar and dairy.

I was feeling much better, but was still struggling with anxiety around my period. I had gone to a doctors appointment and had all my blood work done. I had a squeaky clean bill of health, except one thing, my thyroid was a little off, but nothing for the doctor to be concerned about.

I did not like this. It really bothered me. I kept wondering if my thyroid had anything to do with my anxiety and panic attacks. I decided to take my results to a homeopathic doctor and get her opinion. She was wonderful. She really made the difference in my health.

She looked over my results and told me to quit eating gluten. She was wondering if that was messing with my thyroid. She explained the chemistry of thyroid, adrenal glands and ovaries to me.

I quit eating gluten that day. I was almost feeling normal again. I did not have any anxiety or panic after that. I was running almost daily and losing even more weight. The weight was falling off me.

At one point, I was getting concerned because I was losing weight so fast!

It was all good, until we moved across the country. Driving is a huge stress for me. I become a ball of stress whenever I get on a highway.

We had had a pretty serious car accident early that year, so I was a basket case starting into this road trip. Plus, with my already severely restricted diet of no sugar, dairy or gluten, eating on the road can be very challenging.

We were driving all day and only stopping to sleep, eat, or pee. We would limit our stops to gas stations and grocery stores to replenish our supplies.

I was living off veggies, some fruit, organic canned chili, rice crackers and chips.

By the time, we reached our destination, I had lost another 5 lbs, but was addicted to chips.

I was eating them by the handfuls whenever I saw the bag. Shortly after arriving, I had a very bad panic attack and brought myself to the emergency room thinking I was dying from a heart attack.

I was getting heart palpitations nightly and starting down that road again. I was calmer, but would still go through intense feelings of fear for my health. I knew that I still needed to make a change.

I was talking with a good friend one day about it and told her I was looking for a good recipe book for vegan recipes. I was not vegan, but liked their recipes because they were all dairy free.

She loaned me the book Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life by Brendon Brazier. I loved it. I read it and reread it.

The way he explains things is amazing. I highly recommend that book to anyone who is passionate about their health, diet and exercise.

He talked a lot about stress. I knew stress was a huge factor in my anxiety. He also talks a lot about the living and raw food diet and in a way that made complete sense to me.

I had heard about the living and raw food diet before, but not enough to make me research it. After reading his book, I started googling "raw foods".

I was amazed at the things I was finding on the internet. I came across this movie about the living and raw food diet and reversing diabetes. After watching that I decided to do a week long fast.

I was only going to eat the living and raw food diet for a week. I knew I wouldn't feel well because of detoxing, but I wanted to see how I would manage without my beloved potatoes and meat. I come from a very meat and potato family, so the thought of giving those up was very scary to me.

The week went by and I felt good. I was sleeping better and had regular bowel movements, which had been a problem for me since i started my diet several months before. I had to take a fiber supplement to help things out.

I was eating more fruit these days, but only limited amounts and only in the mornings.

During my first week on the living and raw food diet, I started to be more liberal with my fruit intake.

The day after my fast, I broke down and ate almost a whole bag of corn chips. I could not stop. I just ate handful after handful. I now think it was the salt that I was craving and my body needed. (I don’t think it was salt your body needed, as salt is a poison to the body, even the unrefined stuff. An ounce of it is suicide, the samurai’s used it to commit suicide. What it was, was HUNGER, you did not eat enough fruit. Not surprising as you were still struggling with fruit phobia, A).

I decided to make my diet more raw, not 100% but more like 90% made up of the living and raw food diet and 10% cooked. I would usually eat whatever meat I had cooked for dinner with the family.

I lost even more weight and was now at 130 lbs. I had never weighed that little in my whole adult life. I felt wonderful.

Letting Go Of Meat

I am now eating the living and raw food diet most of the time and continue to learn more about it. My weight fluctuates between 125 and 127. I am learning to listen to my body and understand how some foods are not meant for me to eat. I am slowly realizing that meat is one of them.

I get terribly bloated after every meat meal I eat. I also get this bloated feeling after every cooked meal I eat. I used to think Sushi was a god's food, but I am now realizing how terrible I feel after taking in all that white rice and salt.

Right now, I am doing another week long cleanse of a 100% living and raw food diet, and already feel much better than I did a week ago.

Eating a living and raw food diet has made so many wonderful changes in my life. The transition to the living and raw food diet has not been that easy from cooked foods and I still crave some cooked foods, but that is also fading away as time goes on.

Here is a daily sample of my living and raw food diet (because this is the first thing everyone asks me)

Breakfast - Fruit, served in a variety of ways

Lunch - Blender full of green smoothie and maybe a salad

Dinner - Salad of some sort with home made dressing

Snacks - any type of fruit

I sleep so well every night. I haven't had any feeling of anxiety or panic. I am calmer and more patient. I rarely feel tired during the day.

My thoughts and feelings are clean and clear. My relationship with my husband is amazing. Anger feels like something of the past.

I feel like I have such control over thoughts and feelings, whereas before I couldn't control them even if I tried. I am accomplishing more in the last couple of months than I have in years.

My running has improved tremendously. I am training for a half marathon next summer and hopefully a full marathon in two years time.

I wish everyone in my family would learn more about the living and raw food diet and try eating a living and raw food diet exclusively for 30 days.

Try it, try it, you will see!

She looks absolutely amazing doesn’t she? Wow! It is clear that her body is starting to communicate with her more clearly, and letting her know that meat isn’t ideal at all, and I am very sure Denali will be totally vegan soon!

When you clean up your diet and eat mainly a living and raw food diet your body really starts to direct things.

Often we do misinterpret our bodies needs. For instance our body NEVER asks us for doughnuts, or for white bread with jam. If you have a craving for a doughnut or find yourself tucking into the white bread and jam, it is not because your body is asking for it.

Your body is ALWAYS AND ONLY ever asking for CALORIES and NUTRIENTS.

When you do not get enough calories from sweet juicy fruits your body will always send you demands for more calories.

Your memory of what foods provide you with calories will interpret that request as a request for doughnuts or burgers or whatever you are accustomed to eating.

It is never that your body needs that. What your body DOES need is lots of fruit carbs and lots of vegetables too.

Every cell in your body runs on glucose. The absolute optimal source of this glucose is fruit.

The low carb craze has tended to dump fruit in with all other kinds of sugar. I totally agree that refined sugar is evil, but FRUIT SUGAR is WONDERFUL!

The only times we experience difficulties in eating fruit, is when we are eating other things WITH the fruit. Fruit is never the culprit, it is always what we put WITH the fruit. A high fruit diet TOGETHER with a high fat diet is never going to be successful. Read my article: FRUIT PHOBIA: FRUIT OR FAT?

Nothing can beat a high fruit low fat living and raw food diet for optimal health and vitality.