July 2011 - 30 day challenge - Join at ANYtime of the month!

[MysticTree]

you've got the rest of your life to detox and the most important thing is that you live in such a way as to sustain the raw, vegan lifestyle. Eat simple if you want to. Eat complex if you want to. Just eat raw vegan and it will all come good in its own sweet time

[MeredithLee]

I've been detoxing hard core, but I'm juicing. I was inspired by Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead as well. Very good movie. I figured if those guys can do it, then I can. I'm not digging the short fuse that has come with the detox. I have cried, argued, and been down right crabby. Working in the restaurant last night did not help. Walking through the smells was torture. Even though all I wanted was the beautiful salad. I drank a quart of pear juice and it seemed to do nothing to satisfy me.

But I'm losing weight, feeling great, my skin looks awesome, I'm feeling less bloated and very comfortable in my skin. I haven't been able to say that. Ever. So it is well worth it. I'm on day 5 today and I'm hoping it will get easier soon. I have 5 more days to go. Then it is my boyfriend's birthday and I plan on preparing a nice meal. 100% raw for me, and maybe 80% raw for him. ;)

Also, I get my kids back for the week tomorrow. I'm a little scared about juicing with them around. I think I can do it, but still, making food for a family is tough when you are restricted. Hopefully some boating and fun times in the 102 degree heat will take my mind off of it!

[MysticTree]

Tonight I fancied purple so I have a mixture of finely sliced red cabbage, radishes, red onion and grated beetroot with a little of my salad dressing from the fridge (which has started fermenting! Tastes ok though). Then I couldn't resist an avo sliced on top.

I should have taken a picture of the purple salad.

[November Blue]

Day 14 and I'm feeling great! I've been keeping it pretty simple. Fruit in the morning. Green smoothie around 10-11. A salad for lunch. Another smoothie in the afternoon and whatever floats my boat in the evening - usually another salad / sometimes a fruit salad if I feel like I just can't eat anymore greens for the day. I've been having a great time experimenting with new foods and combinations.

My dehydrator was delivered yesterday, so I've got some things dehydrating: zucchini chips, sweet potato chips, squash chips (just because I happened to have some squash). I also mixed up some of the corn chips from Alissa's book and some crackers (corn, sun-dried tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, carrot, celery...and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember right now). Hopefully everything will turn out. It all smells & looks delicious, so I've got high hopes.

I'm also planning to make the blueberry pie (from the book) this weekend - if I can find some dates

[MysticTree]

that sounds good. You will find dates - you just have to look in the right place

[Nad]

Dani - Hmm, that makes sense about the detox! I do really want to properly detox and do my juice fast but I think if I jump right into it without re-acclimating to my new surroundings/lifestyle at home I might fail miserably. I'm planning on re-reading Jason Vale's book over the weekend (weekends here are Friday and Saturday - weird I know) so I may change my mind and decide to start on Sunday - but not sure yet.

Today was really good! Stocked up on lots of yummy fruits and veg from our local greengrocer and managed to snag some heavenly tasting fresh raw Barhi Dates (pictures and info on my blog if anyone's interested).
Lunch was a large green salad with heirloom tomatoes and a simple lemon dressing topped with pine nuts along with some shredded carrot and red cabbage dressing marinated in balsamic vinegar and topped with raisins - yum!
Dinner was some dates as I just couldn't resist the little plate staring at me in the fridge when I got home, but might have some leftover red cabbage salad as I'm feeling hungry now again. Going to try and make a green smoothie tomorrow with just romaine and some fruit - not sure how it'll turn out but still waiting on some fresh spinach.

Mystic - your purple salad sounds de-lish! Inspired me to add some red onion to mine next time I make it

[MysticTree]

Mystic - your purple salad sounds de-lish! Inspired me to add some red onion to mine next time I make it

Thanks ... it was very good but I should have left the avo in the fruit bowl and added apple and chopped dates instead!

[EscapeArtist]

Nad I too haven't experienced any major detox symptoms like Escape artist and honestly i'm a bit jealous lol as i'm ready for my body to finally detox and get rid of the bad stuff to make way for the good and optimum health. I think our main difference is we don't eat as simply as Escape artist. We're always experimenting with new recipes and what not which of course is fine since we want to know what variety raw foods has to offer but i think once we go simple like green smoothies maybe a salad and more green smoothies we'd start to experience full detox.

This is what i plan to do for the next month is 2 weeks of only green smoothies on the 3rd week start introducing my salad back in and on my fourth week adding in a dinner meal like a melon or a fruit salad. I think will be a nice cleanse and the initial two weeks will really give my body time to go into full detox mode.

Goodluck on your 2 week plan! Mystic said it well, you're probably detoxing but don't feel it. Keep on listening to your body

[EscapeArtist]

Day 13, woke up with energy and felt really good after my water and green smoothie, and then as always a sudden change in tempo in the early afternoon and I felt worse and worse. Though I don't feel as bad as yesterday or the day before, I am in the detox mind panic state with the usual headache ;) (I actually love the headaches, physical sign). Having a bit of a hot flash right now too. Detox puts my mind in panic, I get mentally and physically very restless and the tunnel vision, I feel like a blind person with a beast on their back.

I ate so much today, I had intense cravings and sadness around 5pm and started to freak out so I let myself eat as much as I wanted. I should find other ways of comfort. It helped quite a lot to slow the detox down.

I'm trying to figure out why my chelitis is acting up again, very slightly but it's there! That's my most sensitive telling-sign of candida still lurking around. It only comes when I'm detoxing, could it be detox?? Does detox involve some re-curring candida symptoms? Or am I somehow feeding my candida? I guess I won't know until detox is over, but I am beginning to suspect that I have parasites enabling the candida in some way.

B: Banana peach kale smoothie
L: Grapes, salad.
S: A few cherries
Mindless snacking: 4 kiwis, 3 bananas, green juice, 3 donut peaches, 1 large apple.

[EscapeArtist]

euck, I went for a 10 minute car ride and everything changed. Began to feel extremely nauseous and thought I was going to puke. I feel anxious, so paranoid, (I was sure I was going to die in the car in an accident.) irritable, very depressed and everything around me feels dead. Not to mention my perception feels as if i'm a little stoned?? Having some hot flashes. I now know that carsickness is caused by toxins, definitely! I hope I don't feel like this for long.

Woo, okay I feel a bit better now. Sorry about that minor rant

[speltrong]

well, today was pretty awful for me. I woke up feeling 'not right'... around lunchtime, i decided to go with my hubby to have lunch with a friend, despite my broken feet and feeling bad. i ordered a large green salad which took me forever to eat but ended up tasting pretty good. but the drive home got to me, and the second we parked the car, well, let's just say that the salad got to meet the pavement and both of the bandages on my feet. ugh. so i find myself reading this forum, about everyone's detox symptoms, and i realized that what i am experiencing is quite similar sounding. so i am wondering if my body is just horrified at all the prescription drugs i have been putting into it and is trying to detox itself. i dunno. at any rate, i took the last of the prednisone today and have vowed not to take another narcotic painkiller no matter how bad the pain. so i am hoping it is just a matter of waiting to feel good again. i hope. i have stuck with being raw through this, so i guess i will be able to stick with raw through just about anything. but i am growing weary of feeling bad. i supposei would feel even worse if i had not stuck with raw through this...

[MysticTree]

you are doing amazingly in the face of adversity Speltrong.

How is your water intake? Helps reduce the "detox symptoms" and flush out the remains of the drugs.

Hope you feel better soon, soon, soon.

[speltrong]

thank you, mystic. it has been a rough couple of weeks, and i really needed to hear some words of encouragement right now. :-)

[speltrong]

also, my water intake is pretty good, but it is hard to keep anything down. i will keep drinking though.

[MeredithLee]

Good luck speltstrong! Sounds like you are doing an awesome job!

I broke the juice fast. I had just gotten too crabby. I drank a green smoothie and my mood was back to normal. I had energy, I was happy, and I felt like a new person. I hope to fast again in the future, but hopefully it will be at a point where I will be able to handle it better. I lost 5 pounds, and my body feels great. Hopefully I can do 10 days or 21 days some other time. I'm super stoked to get back to exercising though. I'm going to start lifting weights this week and get back into choreographing some Zumba routines.

I am wishing that the weight was coming off quicker. I hate that it is such a concern for me. I know it will happen eventually. I'm just ready to hit the beach or to have a new size to shop for when I hit the outlets in 3 weeks. ;) But I'm more accepting of my body. The lack of wheat has flattened my stomach and I need to stick with it.