Hi there :-)
I'm Lindsay from Northern UT. I'm a 19 y/o makeup artist, photographer, and college student. (that sounds like a personal ad. ha!)
Anywho, I'm starting to do research on starting a raw food diet. I have a few reasons for wanting to do this, but mostly I really want to feel and be healthy. I've heard about raw food lifestyles before, but I don't know much about it. So I think joining a forum is a great idea!

A little bit more in depth to why I'm considering this:
For the past four or five years I've been suffering from health problems. None of them seem to be connected (though, I'm sure they are.) Starting the summer before 10th grade I had a severe heat stroke, and since then it's seriously one thing after another with me. Over the course of a year, about two years ago, I gained roughly 100 lbs out of nowhere, I was already over weight so I really ballooned up. It's odd to me why this happened since during that year I was figure skating nearly everyday and would be out on the rink four to six hours a day. That's a TON of exercise! But after putting on all that weight it became increasingly hard to be on my feet for so long and I gradually decreased my time at the rink until I just stopped all together. Which, of course, was devastating. Both physically and emotionally. It seems that every time I start feeling better, I'm hit really hard with something. Already this year I've had a severe bout with flu twice, my gallbladder removed in an emergency surgery, and Whooping Cough (still battling that... it's been 2 months now, not better yet!) I was also diagnosed with gluten intolerance. Basically, if I eat anything with gluten in it, I get really, really ill for a week at least. That's terrible if you have to make it to classes or work. I just started looking at ways to detoxify my body and help myself feel better. I've been relying on doctors (don't get me started on those people.....) and it's obviously not working. The best way, in my opinion, to heal is to do research and start your own process of making yourself better. I had to leave public high school and was homeschooled because of all of my health issues, and had to leave college this semester because I got stupid Whooping Cough. I'm really sick of being sick. I feel that if I can successfully detox and transition into eating and living a raw lifestyle I can, not only drop the weight (added bonus?!), but kick my darn immune system into gear and get totally healthy. And do it on my own terms. But, I just started doing some research and making the decisions I need to make. I not only want to cleanse my body to give myself a fighting chance at a real life, I want to cleanse everything around me. I feel clogged up physically and mentally, and I want to make a change to better myself. I have no idea HOW to do it, but I do know I WANT to. That's where it starts, I think. That desire. So.... I'll be spending a few hours/days/weeks reading every piece of literature I can find and scouring over this website... I have nothing else to do, so what better way to spend my time!

Sorry that was so ridiculously long... I promise not EVERY post will be so long and intense... haha There was a lot to say!! :D

Thanks!
Lindsay