Going rawesome and detoxing questions

[Lilja]

Hello people!

I'm new here on the forum and in eating raw. I've been eating almost a 100% raw for 19 days now and the first week-and-a-half was awesome: Even though I got very tired and sleepy, I had a pretty much instant radical increase in energy, alertness, happyness. I felt so grateful and was so spiritually there, it was marvelous.

Now, during the past week, I've been somewhat grumpy and I need more sleep. I eat the same amount of food, mostly three massive 1L (0.26 gallon) green + fruit smoothies every day, and I've been experimenting with other stuff to sooth my umami cravings, like quinoa salads, tasty rolls (lots of seeds and cold-pressed olive oil) and stuff like that. Still, this past week it just takes a couple of hours before I need to eat again, and I'm really emotionally fragile today.

Like, really self-absorbed and melodramatic and have a hard time counteracting it. It's not a big problem so much as a discomfort. So, to my question: do you think I'm still in detox? Reason I'm asking is I read a bit about it and most people had it at first and then it went away. For me it seems there was a milder detox at first, got better, then after a week and a half it went worse.

I just hope to God that this is detox and not "intolerance to raw food" or malnutrition because I loved how I felt the first week and a half!

Thanks for your rawesome answers and presence.

Peace,

Lilja

[Cruditas]

It can sometimes take a good month to detox. You need to eat frequently on raw foods and eat when hungry. If you started 100% raw after eating a SAD diet you might have a lot of toxins built up in your body. Make sure you get good rest. It will all come together just hang in there. Your are doing the best you can for your health!

[robh]

I wanted to post and and provide some support. You are doing great, and, unfortunately the fact that you feel bad indicates you are doing it correctly.

The bad news is that no one can really say how long you might feel bad.

The good news it that are going to feel great on the other side. Also, those cravings will be gone.

Keep up the good work. I hope you feel better soon.

[Traceyraw]

It sounds like emotional detox. It is said that our emotions are held in the liver and as its detoxing those old emotions are released. You are doing wonderful. You will make it through this. Greens are a great booster for my emotions. Maybe add some more greens and sprouts.

[Lilja]

Thanks so much for your answers guys. Everything's kind of up and down but now after a little over a month, I'm noticing I don't have to eat as much, I need less to get full and so on. Food has really gotten to be a great interest for me now, and I like experimenting and spoiling myself with nice foods.
I also realise I like the flavors of raw food much better than that of cooked food. I was vegan already before I went raw, and I found fried tofu to be more and more disgusting and I felt like what I was eating was just kind of toxic. I guess I was right.

I've had some cooked foods now and then and haven't had any side effects as far as I know, but I still wanna keep doing this. It is, after all, for me and my body and we deserve it!!! =D

I LOVE RAW FOOD!!!

[robh]

Lilja, you are doing great. Eating less is a good indication that your body is getting what it needs.

[Gianni]

If you are shedding fat from your body, you are probably detoxing as your body breaks it down, especially if you are losing fat relatively quickly.

One thing I've noticed while juice fasting is that my skin will get really smooth after a few days, then about 7-10 days into the fast it seems to break out a little bit or get dry for about a week, and then it gets smooth again. I think it's due to detox coming in waves.

Another thing I've noticed on my mostly raw, 100% vegan diet, is that I'm gravitating towards eating a lot of my meals in the afternoon (12 pm - 6 pm). I might have a big salad for lunch, but then two hours later I'm wanting something else. So then I make something else, and then maybe something else a little later. I eat more in the afternoon, but less in the evening. It all evens out, and I think it's more natural to be hungry at that time of day because before there were stores and electricity, people spent the mornings gathering food and then eating that food before the sun set.

So, like the others have said in this thread, make sure you get enough rest and get enough good foods to eat.