I've been WFPB for 5 years before switching to Raw Vegan 80/10/10 and I have to say there is a large difference in my feelings of depression. On WFPB I had times especially when the weather got darker and colder (I live in Michigan USA) that seasonal affective disorder does set in and the feelings of depression get harder. I did take Lexapro for about 20 years of my life in total with occasionally being on other prescribed depression meds too. For the last 6 months I've been taking 5HTP which is a more natural depression supplement that comes from an African plant called Griffonia simplicifolia and it works well for me and has a lot less bad symptoms when compared to the prescribed depression meds. Recently I went from taking two doses per day down to one because being raw vegan and life getting better and better and in this cycle of continuous improvement I don't feel like taking it. I'm amazed and at the same time surprised to admit it but after years of struggling with depression I think the eating of addicting toxic foods and not truly satiating myself on a raw vegan 80 10 10 diet is the main culprit behind my depression. That too and the suppressed emotions I had and not truly feeling and dealing with my emotions which I'm learning can only fully be done by eating raw vegan 80 10 10. It makes me sad that all of those years I took those depression meds that made me numb not knowing that the healing was so much more simple and could have erased many years of not truly living. I took a dose of the 5HTP today but I'm honestly thinking of stopping to take it just to see how I feel. The 5HTP means 5 hydroxy tryptophan and basically it is a precursor for serotonin so it essentially helps your mind to create serotonin. I've been very happy and satisfied especially the last two weeks. I do think taking Vitamin D3 is a help to me too with mental health and for me that is a good one to have because in Michigan we have many months of Cold weather and days where you don't get much sunlight so that makes it difficult to get the minimum 15 minutes a day that Dr. Graham recommends. So I will continue to take this but on days when I get enough sun I do not take it so it is very much a seasonal supplement. I'd love to be supplement free but I don't want to be without Vitamin D3 as I think it is important for me to take. As for the 5HTP I've tried in the past years that I've been on it to get off of it completely when I took it in past years but was always unsuccessful. I do think that some day I will be free from this supplement as well being on raw vegan 80/10/10 and that thought makes me happy. I'm not so sure if my mental health has recovered enough to be able to fully handle being off of this supplement but starting tomorrow I'm going to stop taking it and see how I feel. Does anyone else here currently or in the past have they struggled with depression? Taken supplements or meds that helped or therapy?

I have allergies every year and this year I decided to hold off on taking steroid progesterone for about a month then I took the 5 day regiment given by Doctor and it did not help at all. I know they are anti life drugs but when you have trouble breathing quality of life declines so I did what wad available that I knew of. Anyhow, I have trouble getting in full breath Doctor said oxygen level is 97% so they didn't think I needed an inhaler. It is like deep in my diaphragm I cannot get that full breath but only partial. Sometimes can get full breath but not often. I know that this way of eating is the best I've ever had and no way am I throwing in the towel I wanted to ask if anyone in the community dealt with breathing issues which may be due to the changes in digestion and diet? Curious if anyone has any ideas about how to get some relief?

I'm getting bored with my daily big salads so I thought I'd ask the community for smoothie recipes? I want to have greens in them and could mix in other salad things like cucumber, mushrooms, or etc. I don't have a Vitamix blender or anything fancy for smoothies yet just a basic blender but can puree so should be able to make smoothies I just haven't gotten creative yet

One of the things that brought me back to 100% raw fruit based this year was my worsening gut issues. I have celiac, and despite scrupulously avoiding gluten for decades, I still have problems (pain, bloating, flare-ups of diarrhea -- pretty much the entirety of 2023 was a diarrhea flare-up; I got down to bmi 12 at one point). I've avoided fat forever because it makes things worse, and I have to be very careful with leaves and veg. Just learned that I have severe EPI - exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. No pancreatic digestive enzymes, so no wonder! And no wonder I feel so much better eating fruit -- no enzymes needed! The medication for this condition is porcine based; as a Jewish vegan there's no way in heaven I'm going to take that! So fruit is right, right?!

I can’t wait for persimmon season, just the thought makes my mouth water😆 I live in the UK, so grapes and bananas are always a staple year round. How about you, what are your go to fruits this time of year?