RE: detox symptoms? [s]

[Guest guest]

Greetings!

 

You've taken some huge steps in a very short time, congratulations!!!!

 

Without actually seeing you in person, it's impossible to say definitely

what is happening. But what you are describing does sound like a nice

collection of cleansing events (what people often call detox, but I rather

dislike the term).

 

I remember 7+ years ago, when I was just beginning to eat raw food, maybe

25-40% raw, give or take. Then once, my friend and I ended up pulling 3

straight all-nighters on a project, more or less, and since the only food in

the house was raw, I ended up eating 100% raw for 3 days straight. At the

time I knew basically nothing except that I loved raw almond torts. Anyway,

on the third day my body began to eliminate simultaneously through several

major orifices. (I won't go into more detail unless someone REALLY wants to

know. :)

 

This went on for several hours. Again remember, I was just starting out and

had NO knowledge at all, and no community, either. Anyway, my friend, who

had introduced me to RF in the first place, told me that if I really wanted

the cleansing (I many not have called it by such a polite name at the time)

to stop, all I had to do was go over to Burger King and eat something there.

(At the time, I still ate things like that.) So when I thought I couldn't

stand it anymore, I did just that. And the cleansing stopped pronto.

 

The point of the story is this: you can control, to at least an extent, the

speed/intensity of your own cleansing process. Right now you are mixing raw

food, some strong green juices, minifasts, etc. You could change the green

juice. Instead of juicing those strong greens, BLEND (in a blender, not a

juicer) softer greens, such as red or green leaf lettuce, or romaine.

Blending retains the whole food, the fiber and other nutrients lost in

juicing will help stabilize your digestion and absorption. Add some dates,

figs, banana -- whatever you like. I prefer these sweet fruits because they

contain very few acidic components; we want alkalinity to clean house and

rebuild. But if you prefer apples, pears, etc. then use whatever works for

you, you can tweak over time. Also, when you drink juice or a smoothie, chew

it, literally. Chewing signals the system that a particular food is coming,

it cues the digestive biochemistry.

 

Experiment freely. For example, you could back off on the one-day fasts and

see how that affects you. Then, when you feel well enough informed and can

take some time for yourself, you could try a somewhat longer fast, perhaps

5-10 days. FYI, in any fast shorter than 3 days, the body doesn't really

know it's fasting, biochemically speaking. The shutting down of digestive

activity and the related physiological rest take a couple of days to kick

in.

 

Finally, start increasing your fruit consumption, with good food combining.

(If you want input on food combining, please write back.) This will improve

hydration, oxygenation, vitamin and enzyme loading, and provide adequate

fuel for energy (once you are eating enough fruit. " Enough varies, but 2-3

dozen pieces daily is common.)

 

As long as you are undereating on RF calories, you will feel physically

pulled back into the cooked food, often carb/fat combinations

(salt-fat-starch). So if you can boost your RF caloric intake, as by eating

lots of fruit, you'll do better and better. (This does not address any

emotional eating issues, which for some people can be quite profound. They

were for me.)

 

Hope these thoughts are helpful to you,

Elchanan

 

 

oak1day [claire]

Thursday, February 24, 2005 3:17 PM

rawfood

[Raw Food] detox symptoms?

Hi-

I have been transitioning to raw very gradually over the last couple

months. I've done a couple two day juice fasts and I am fasting one

day a week. I juice about three times a week and do really strong

stuff: spinach, kale, collards, etc with whatever is needed to make

it palatable, usually apples or carrots and some ginger/parsley.

I would say I am about 50% raw on bad days and 85-90% on good ones.

I eat the Ezekiel and Manna breads, altough I was not even doing

that to begin with.

100% vegan all the time & zero white flour, processed food etc. I am

still getting rid of some nuts I had that were not raw. Had a few

small organic frozen dinners on busy nights. Not all the fruit and

veggies I eat are organic but most are.

Before this transition, my diet was was, for me, the worst it ever

had been. I was doing a modified lo-carb, eating dairy, fish,

chicken and some meat. I have never been much into the processed

foods. I have also had to take plenty of prescription medications.

SO, this week, I got sudden extreme itchiness all over my body a few

times. Did not last long or look like anything, but I was afraid I

was having some severe allergic reaction to carrot juice! It was a

strong sensation that could not be ignored. Then I also have been

getting a muscle twitch under one eye. Then also pain like you feel

when you have been exercising, even though I have not. And I feel

weaker than usual. Now today I have a " cold " . I can deal with that.

I have been getting headaches, but that is a common problem for me.

But the other stuff, when I searched on the net, it seemed to

indicate that these could all be signs of renal failure.

So is it possible that my kidneys are getting overloaded? That the

juice mixtures are too strong? Any ideas?

Thanks!!!

oak1day