Waking up to 3rd day raw and feel ill

[srfjeld]

My boyfriend and I decided we're going to try to go raw and juice a few days ago after overindulging over the holidays. My problem is when I decide to do something, I can't wait, I just jump in feet first without a thought. So, I wasn't exactly prepared. I went blindly into a co-op and just bought some fruits, veggies, nuts, and some "raw" specified food products. Then I bought a cookbook and we came home and made the best salad with a raw avocado chili dressing that my sweetie made. It was so good! Yesterday I woke up and wasn't prepared for what to have for breakfast. I have to have breakfast type foods in the morning... I don't mean bacon and eggs, but yogurt or a cereal of some sort. We knew we were going to go out and get some groceries to prepare an amazing raw dinner for NYE last night and in the meantime we were trying to figure out what to eat for breakfast. We were frustrated and decided to hit a vegan restaurant with the thought that at least it's we won't be eating any animal product and it will tide us over till we can get something good (lame excuse, I know). Well, I made the worst possible decision and ordered a faux chicken fried steak (tempeh) with almond gravy and fried potatoes and had decaf with soy-milk and raw sugar. Even though it had barely been 2 days of being raw at that point... I KNEW I had made a horrible mistake. I pushed the coffee to the side, half empty and ordered a fresh juice, then I stopped eating my breakfast before I was full. Within about 5 minutes of that decision I had the "uh-oh" feeling that made me wish I was in my own home and bathroom. I was extremely nauseous, had a headache, was tired, and kept having to run to the bathroom. I should mention that this "bathroom cleansing effect" had already started the first day, but it didn't make me feel sick, just like my system was cleaning house. This was different. We continued on with our day and came home to prepare a dinner of thai lettuce wraps made with a walnut mixture (really good) and for dessert we made a raw chocolate cheesecake with mint ganache recipe that I found on the raw dessert website. The main base was cashews and cacao butter. Fast forward to this morning. I woke up around 7 with horrible stomach cramps that sent me running to the bathroom and rather than feeling it was a good time to get up, which it usually is, I had to go back to bed (like my body was craving more sleep/rest) until almost 11. I NEVER sleep that late. Since I've been up I've been very "productive" in the bathroom with a sense of urgency each time. My muscles hurt and I have that nausea feeling again. So... my question is... is this normal??? I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I'm getting ready to make a green juice and hope that gives me some vitamins and electrolytes. I want to be healthy but I don't want to feel like this every day. I'm a teacher and we start back to school on Tuesday. I can't work like this. Any advice, suggestions, or "I've been there's?" and how long does/will it last? Thank you for reading this longer than intended post.

Oh... and I should say, I checked in with my boyfriend and he says he feels fine. My diet was a lot worse than his before this, though. I was a HUGE sugar fiend.

Happy New Year!

Stephanie

[fastfreedom]

I'm sure there have been quite a few that felt the detox train similar to what you experienced.

I suppose the first time I drank wheatgrass juice I got nauseaus and had to purge EVERYTHING. But that was years ago and I was still experimenting with a cleaner diet and it was before I learned about raw food. BUT, I also drank an entire flat of wheatgrass juice. OOPS..... That really aggravated the parasites so they told my brain to, GET IT OUT NOW.

Do some enema's and/or colonics and it will help you rid your body of toxins quicker so that you won't go through a detox nightmare. Also I would suggest a parasite cleanse at some point, cus they send signals to your brain that you want some type of SAD item to eat instead of something your body wants. Not to mention they constantly excrete into the body continuing to fill it with toxins, which means.....DETOX NIGHTMARE.

I know you didn't mention parasites, and I know to some it may be daunting to think that they have parasites. But I'll tell you that nearly everyone has em until they wage an all out eradication effort to remove em. And you did mention that you were a sugar-aholic. And guess what parasites love......SUGAR. Yup they were the ones wanting the sugar, not you. So they sent signals to your brain telling you that you want to eat sugar.


BTW - would you mind sharing that chili avacado dressing recipe...... I dunno if it's simply cus I'm hungry or what....... But it sounds delicious. :drool:

[Boki]

Okay, I'll be be honest with you first, because you might not want my advise:P Umm, I fell off my raw diet after two years of great success with health and weight loss, so I am just now getting back on the raw wagon after a year of eating very badly and making myself ill.

I'm also going through what lots of folks call "detox". For the second time.*sigh*

Since you are having so much stomach cramping and bathroom trips, my advise would be to 1) calm down on the amount of raw fats. Yes, they are wonderful for you, and taste awesome, but lots of fats when you are new might cause tummy distress. 2) include more whole fruits that have water-soluble fiber. The nice thing about water-soluble fiber is that it absorbs the fluid in your gut and slows down the trots.

Non-water soluble fiber can add to the distress, so be respectful of the dark, leafy greens for now, too, until your body tells you it's ready.

Bananas and apples. Old-fashioned, I know, but I find these fruits to be very filling AND they definately slow down the runs and bathroom trips. They are also tasty and satisfy your sugar cravings if you are coming off of a high-sugar SAD diet.

I hope you feel better soon!:eat

[srfjeld]

Thank you for your replies. I have been taking it easy today. I had a "mean green" juice this morning. I think my muscles were hurting b/c I was so dehydrated from running to the bathroom all morning. The juice was really good.

FastFreedom, it's interesting that you mentioned parasites. A couple years ago I was diagnosed with celiac disease and my naturopath also said I have candida really bad, to the point that she put me on Nystatin and I was to do a 12 week candida cleanse. Well, giving up gluten was the easy part. The sugar? Not so much. So, maybe what I'm experiencing is the die-off. Who knows? Although, I'm still eating sugar in the form of fruits and agave so it's not like the little yeasty buggers are starving.

Boki, thanks for the tip on the fats. I was wondering what effect, if any, all that cacao butter would have on me, not to mention the fats from the cashews and walnuts. I think tonight I'll just go with another huge salad. I just had a cacao (powder) smoothie with banana and a bit of almond butter to sustain me until dinner time.

Here is the recipe for the avocado chili dressing from the growing raw website:

Ingredients

1 avocado
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
juice of 1 lemon
1 small red chilli
Method

Blend all ingredients until well combined.

Makes about 1 cup.

Tips

If you're after a low-calorie salad dressing that is creamy AND bitey then give this a go. The cucumber adds enough juice without making the dressing too runny.

So that there's no need to add water, start blending on a low speed until the chunks of cucumber have been caught up in the blades and some of the juice has been released. Then up the speed until your mixture is creamy and smooth. This is one of the best salad dressing recipes for sticking to the leaves of your salad as there's no added water and the avocado clings nicely.