Raw Food Blog

Raw Foods: Healing Bipolar and Depression

By Suzy Hoseus

Occasionally my role as homeschool mother and housewife affords me opportunities to venture out and share my good news. I wasn’t always so happy and contented. To the contrary, I struggled with depression and bipolar disorder for well over 20 years.

My life is charmed now with the daily delights and antics of my 3 and 6 year old daughters, my thriving 16-year-old son who works hard and is an asset to our home, and a loving husband who cherishes and provides for his adoring family. No longer do I struggle with depression or bipolar disorder, nor do I require medications or therapy of any kind (indeed, except the weekly massage therapy which has become my weekly paycheck!).

How did this happen? For years I had been barraged by stress: physically, emotionally, and chemically. My parents’ separation and eventual divorce, alcoholism and drug abuse, extreme trauma, extensive dental work, several major losses – all these issues increased the stress. Added in were my own destructive habits: negative thinking, sugar, food and drug addictions, and major gluttony. I ate to feel better. It spiraled into a vicious cycle.

Years of stress had depleted my body of proper functioning. The neurotransmitters in my brain failed in communicating with one another, my digestive system clogged up, and my adrenal glands went awry. I required sleeping medications each night and other drugs just to cope each day.

How did I break from the bondage of mental illness? I surrendered control of my life to my Creator. He led me on a decisive path. I changed my diet and lifestyle. I began making “life-giving choices” instead of “life-taking choices.” My “Whole Health Journey” began with my relationship with God and continued into every momentous decision I made. Raw foods became my choice of food to eat. I decided this by asking myself “Why would I want to settle for good when I can have God’s best?!”

The juicing and raw foods gave me the energy I needed to make other life-giving choices such as exercising, sunbathing, getting rid of stress and toxic relationships, and replacing negative thoughts with life-giving ones.

What a difference my choices have made! The transition was intense. There were many times I thought, “Why would anyone in their right mind do this?” Detoxification was brutal; for that matter, homemaking was as well, and is still sometimes a challenge! But I got through and still do get through the discomforts of my life and oh, how worth it all is!

These days, my book, Healing Bipolar and Depression is touching people’s lives. I’m able to provide hope and encouragement to those who struggle with major mental illness. On top of that, I’m able to manage my home and children effectively and joyfully!

No one could have told me how blessed my life would become. Likewise, no one could have convinced me how changing my diet and lifestyle could lead to such vibrancy and beauty. The only people who can truly understand are those who take the journey themselves. Indeed, we all have the opportunity to create beauty in our lives. It starts now, choice by choice.

Check out www.lifelearningministries.org  for further information about Suzy’s recently published book, Healing Bipolar and Depression.