Newbie from Southern California

Hi Everyone! :) Okay, i'll get to explaining myself now!

My name is Alyssa and I'm about to turn 18 and graduate from highschool! :) Highschool was a fun time, but I'm excited to move on with my life. I've always been interested in being in better health. In my sophomore year I went vegan with my mother for about 2 months. I decided to go with my brother on his senior road trip, and that is what ended my veganism. He would stop at McDonalds and not give me the choice to stop anywhere else, which was very irritating. I remember laying in a hotel bed in Oregon and I could clearly feel that my thinking was sluggish. For the rest of the trip I DEMANDED that I be driven to a grocery store nearby whatever crap fast food place my brother wanted to eat at. :P haha.

Anyways, I've drifted back to a somewhat typical SAD diet, but I still try and eat healthy-ish. I avoid red meat as much as possible and stay away from chips, cakes, soda, etc. But I have a whole host of mild medical issues right now, and I'd love to give the 811 diet a serious try for at least a year to see if it can take care of these issues:

TERRIBLE seasonal allergies(I've missed probably 50 days of school in highschool just due to me sneezing my brains out and being completely miserable. The only way to help the situation is to go home and take 2 benadryl and then pass out for a few hours. It's terrible)

Tired/Run down daily at around 3PM

Food Cravings(mostly chocolate & sugary carbs)

Irritability

Acne on Face, Shoulders, and Back(it has gotten better over the years, but still not completely clear)

Bumps on my arms, I'm not entirely sure what they are but my dad has them aswell.

Overweight(I could stand to lose probably 40lbs. I'm 5'11" and I weigh around 195)

Lack of Motivation to do practically anything but sleep.

Lack of Concentration

Lack of desire to exercise(although I do really like running once I actually get my butt up and outside)

Dry itchy scalp

Irregular periods

So yeah, that's most of what's wrong with me! :D haha. If it was up to me, I'd be 811 a month ago when I started to discover this way of eating! I stumbled across "The Fruitarian"s youtube channel first, and I thought that it was crazy, I'll admit it! But I'm a pretty open-minded person, so I began to watch more and more of his videos and do more research on 80/10/10 and began to think that cutting back on protein and fat wouldn't be so bad. My mother, however, thinks I'm the biggest freak on the planet for eating 4 mangos a day for breakfast for the past week or so. She makes comments on how my BM's must be and that eating 4 mangos a day is as freaky as eating 6 bananas a day! Oh, the horror she'd feel if she knew that some people eat 50 bananas a day! When I asked her what was wrong with eating that many bananas a day(referring to 6, I didn't want to freak her out too badly), she replied with, "I don't know, it just is! That's my opinion. People shouldn't eat that much of anything."

Anyways, I'm house sitting for a friend for 2 weeks in a house by the beach in July/August, and I plan on going 100% 80/10/10 during that time. Right now I eat fruit(when there is any in the house) from the time I wake up at around 6AM until I get home from school around 2PM. Then I'm definitely craving cooked food and I usually have some sort of rice. But then I usually eat whatever the rest of the family is eating for dinner. :/ Right now it is around 11AM and I haven't eaten breakfast because the only fruit in the house is my unripe papaya! I have eaten only fruit for breakfast for the past week or two, and I really love how it makes me feel. The other day I was so completely hyper in my 2nd period class that it was crazy. I cant remember the last time i had that much energy! :D

Sorry that I basically wrote a novel, but I felt like i wanted to explain where I'm at and what I hope 811 can help me with. :) I'm practically counting down the days until I'm on my own for 2 weeks and can dictate what I have in the house and what I eat! If you guys have any suggestions on how to convince my mother that I won't die from eating this way, that'd be great. She is very closed-minded and views her sister who eats only organic and very healthily(and has also lost a lot of weight) as a complete freak, and she definitely doesn't eat 100% raw like I want to. :/ I'd like to eat this way and feel better about myself and improve my health conditions without completely alienating myself from my family.

Thank you so much to anyone who read this, and I really look forward to being a part of this forum and way of life! :)

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Permalink Reply by Kim K on May 21, 2012 at 6:59am

Hi, I'm new to this forum as well. I'm so happy to see there's someone around my age here :)

I have similar problems as you; I'm a little overweight, my face and back still break out quite often (I'm 19 years old), I have never had regular periods, I'm always tired...

Until last year, I was really lucky, because no matter what I ate I didn't gain weight. However, in October I started Uni and my eating habits became worse and worse. At the end of the day I didn't have any energy to prepare myself a healthy meal and used to eat fast food (pizza, sandwiches, McDonalds) every day. I was addicted to chocolate, I even spent a couple of days eating only chocolate :/ I gained 6 kg in 7 months :(

I've just finished my first year at Uni and I'm going back home next week and that's when I'm starting the LF/HCRV. I find it hard to start it alone and with no "supervision", I've tried many times but eventually I just give up and go and buy a sandwich, chocolate, cookies... Therefore I decided to do it at home, as I know my family will support me. My Mom and Dad have been trying to switch to Vegan diet since couple of months ago.

I hope you succeed in LF/HCRV. If you ever need someone to talk to I'm here for you (or if you have any tips, inspirations, if you need commitment buddy...). x

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Permalink Reply by Alyssa Herbert on May 22, 2012 at 11:20am

Hi Kim! :D I'm also glad there's someone my age on here, too! Thanks for the support and I'm definitely here for you too. :) I'll definitely contact you about being commitment buddies when I'm a little closer to being able to start the diet. I need to "come out of the closet" so to speak, to my parents first. And I definitely need to find a part time job, as my parents are likely not going to be very supportive! :/ Wish me luck! LOL. I wish you luck as well. :)

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Permalink Reply by Megan Sto on September 30, 2012 at 11:37am

Hi! I just read your story and I'm dealing with the same things you're dealing with! (You might be better by now!) I'm in Temecula and wanted to find anyone else in this area who is doing this "crazy" diet! Haha!

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Permalink Reply by Alyssa Herbert on September 30, 2012 at 1:04pm

Oh no way! :D That's so awesome that you live in Temecula too! I'm definitely not better now...lol. Stressing over money prevented me from going raw when I was living at another house, but I tried when I got back to my own home. I made it about 8 hours. :O I was sweating like crazy and I was hot, my mouth tasted disgusting to me and the thought of eating more fruit repulsed me! :( It was pretty frustrating. I don't want to give up though. When I start making more of an income, I want to give HCRV another try, for sure!

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Permalink Reply by Kaitlyn Thomas on September 30, 2012 at 12:40pm

Hi! I am 19 and currently 100% hcrv in the dorms at my university, so it is possible! It was really hard the first couple of weeks, mostly because I came from an eating disorder, and I got really thin last year. Adopting 811 over the summer, I thought I would be slim and trim come time to come back to school, but I gained some weight (20 lb) in about 3 months and I was not expecting it. Granted, I needed to gain it because I lost my period and I was practically mental from starving myself of carbs, but it's hard looking in the mirror not meeting my expectations, as unrealistic as they are. Glad y'all are here too!

Btw, I am from SoCal too. I'm from the Irvine area. I go to school in Texas now though.

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Permalink Reply by Alyssa Herbert on September 30, 2012 at 1:06pm

Ooh, very cool! :) I'm at a community college right now, but I'm transferring to a 4 year in the spring or fall. Do you have any tips for staying raw at the dorms? My self control is not what I'd like it to be! :/ I hope you continue to succeed despite your unwanted weight gain. I can see how that'd be really hard! SoCal people FTW! :D

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Permalink Reply by rachel stone on December 19, 2012 at 7:44pm

hey i am 19 as well and have somewhat of the same experiences as all of you. Last year i lost a lot of weight due to food sensitivities as well as excessive exercise and restriction of carbs. I lost my period and was pretty underweight (92 pounds and 5'3"). this past summer i was put on a shake to make me gain weight. i had to drink it 3 times a day and it helped me retain fat. anyways it worked and i am now way heavier tipping the scales around 125-135. I got my period back which i am happy about but feel WORSE than ever, which is why i want to start 801010.

i live in cali (born and raised) so add me on here i am new