Hey everyone,

I am really happy to be a part of this forum. I really like the diversity I see on here. I've been on other forums and found it to be way too one-sided.

Anyway, I'd like to share a little about myself to everyone and how I became raw.

Almost 2 yrs ago my health started to go downhill. I went back and forth to my doctor for months to figure out what was wrong with me. Both my doctor and I were quite surprised at what was going on. I was a very healthy person, worked out 6 days a week , ate a Paleo type diet, etc. Finally I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease(an auto-immune disease that attacks your throid until it no longer functions).

I was given medication and told everything would get better. It didn't! But I eventually switched to a natural dessicated thyroid med. that really helped a lot. So I began researching more holistic ways of healing and found The Raw Food Diet. I tested the waters and then eventually decided to go for it and be 100% raw and vegan. I was feeling great, my weight dropped effortlessly, and I did this for one yr. Then I decided that I wanted to eat certain foods that I had a hard time digesting raw(kobacha, butternut sqaush, sweet potatoes, broccoli, etc) so I incorporated these foods every now and again. I felt ok physically and didn't notice any difference from being 100% raw to 90%. On my last doctor's visit(in January), he even lowered my thyroid medication because my levels were too high(more towards hyperthyroid). This was good because I had hoped that I could slowly reduce the amount of medication I was taking.

Recently, in the past month and a half I've not been feeling well(tired,weak, loss of strength when weight training, spacey, very bloated, my digestive system is out of whack and my weight has gone up 8lbs. I've also been having cravings for weird foods such as beans(which I don't digest well raw), walnuts, grains, and raw meat.......very bizarre!! So after a lot of thought, for the past 2 weeks I decided to try to eat some cooked beans(lentils, garbanzos and black beans) and I also ate some amaranth and some fava bean four. I am not feeling any better doing this and I am also feeling more bloated. I'm not sure what is going on with my body? Has anyone else ever experienced this type of thing before and if so what did you do?

I have a doctors appointment in a week so I hope that will help. But I really questioning eating 100% raw. I know I will always eat a very high raw diet because I love fruit and veggies way too much, but I am in conflict with whether or not the cooked food has caused this not feeling well, or if it's a deficiency in something, or maybe it's my thyroid.

So that's my story everyone and thanks for listening:) If anyone has any feedback I'd love to hear it:)

Have a great day!