I have been on a low fat vegan diet for fourteen years. I went on the diet originally because I had a very serious deep lung cough that would not go away. I also suffered from chronic diarrhea, swollen glands, sore throats, fevers, fatigue, herpes etc. With in 24 hours of going on a low fat vegan diet my deep cough cleared up as well as a majority of the other symptoms. When ever I go off my diet even to a small degree my deep lung cough comes back immediately.

My new diet included oat meal, fresh wheat bread made with out oil, sugar or animal products; lots of fruit, rice, potatoes and cooked vegetables. I found that even most beans and nuts are too high in fat and protein for my digestion and cause my symptoms to return.

About 4 years ago I developed a sever case of bi-polar disorder. In the winter time when the sun light was low I would become extremely manic as well as experienced hallucinations. I was forced into a mental hospital six times over three and a half years. The illness devastated my finances and relationships. I tried medication but after five months the medications ultimately caused my condition to worsen.

Several times when I was in the hospital I mostly fasted since the staff could not figure out how to feed me a vegan diet. In general the staff was more concerned with sticking to routines such as charging me $250 to take my blood pressure everyday rather than feeding me food that did not make me sick. The last time I was released from the hospital I continued to experiment with changing my diet in different ways. Finally after more than three years of becoming increasingly desperate over how I might solve my health problem I discovered that when I eliminated bread from my diet I felt much better and did not experience going into a bi-polar array in the winter time. I began to research the concept of candida, allergies to wheat gluten, sugar and schizophrenia. One of the major symptoms of candida is bi-polar disorder. Once I had this information I eliminated all wheat flour, products that contained yeast, all fruit except apples, as well most cooked vegetables and even oatmeal from my low fat vegan diet.

Possibly a candida condition caused the yeast in the fresh bread I ate every day to effect my nervous system. Wheat gluten, milk lactose and sugar have all been found to cause schizophrenia in numerous studies and research. Of course none of the doctors or staff in the hospitals I was sent to ever mentioned any of this information. I also read that not only the yeast in bread but the fungus in mushrooms can promote candida. I once ate some button mushrooms and became very stoned soon afterwards.

I noticed from experimentation that many cooked vegetables, raw fruits and even oatmeal are high enough in natural sugar and refined carbohydrates that they caused my blood sugar to drop and hence trigger a physiological depression and occasional night sweats. I also discovered that eating raw steel cut oats caused me to hallucinate. Possibly the steel cut oats where contaminated or over time I developed an allergy to oats as well.

I modified my vegan diet by switching over to eating finely chopped low fat raw vegetables such as onions, celery, carrots, cabbage, spinach, peppers, corn, ginger, cilantro, tomatilos, cucumbers, radishes and tomatoes. I also add organic brown rice, cooked potatoes, cooked whole rye and a modest amount of split peas to my raw vegetable salad which I always top with fresh lemon juice. I often wrap the rice and raw veggie salad in toasted sea weed paper. I have read that sea weed is beneficial for the thyroid. In between meals or as a desert I eat slices of apple. The proportions are about half raw vegetables and half cooked rice and to a lesser degree/whole rye/potatoes/peas mixed as a large salad in the morning and eaten many times a day.

It is to great delight I can report that after eight months on this new variation of a low fat vegan diet I continue to be clear of major bi-polar symptoms and I never even catch a cold or flu.

But about four months I was working very hard in the rain for several days and I started to develop chronic soreness or arthritis in my left elbow and to a lesser degree in my back and right elbow.

I then researched further and found out that night shade vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and egg plant can cause a biochemical reaction that can contribute to arthritis. At the time I was eating one or two very hot peppers a day as well as a high percentage of potatoes and tomatoes. Some researchers also believe that an allergy to grains like corn and rye can also contribute to arthritis. As a result I have since cut way down on the night shade vegetables as well as corn and rye. After doing so my back and right elbow recovered from the chronic morning stiffness, but to date my left elbow is still experiencing a lot of stiffness and pain.

Since illness is mostly caused by stress, it is a common experience that when a serious illness is cured a less serious illness will result. Over all I am very happy with getting my life back and am very grateful to have discovered that in my case a mostly raw vegetable and rice diet is a cure for bi-polar disorder.

I continue to be amazed by the fact that twice in my life I have been able to clear up a very sever and chronic conditions through a simple change of diet. It is upsetting to think that millions of people are forced to be addicted to mind altering and health destroying medications as well as endure dangerous surgeries and other invasive treatments because of conditions that I believe for many can be cured literally in days through a change of diet!

My advice to anyone with a health problem is to keep experimenting with changing your diet in the direction of simple low fat plant based foods until you find a balance that works for you. And of course keep up with other healthy spiritual practices such as mediation, natural exercise and service to others.