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Yes, definitely. I experienced (and still occasionally experience) detox symptoms, and I came off of a 50% raw vegan diet.
You may experience something similar to a drug detox, i.e. headaches, stomach aches, weakness, dizziness, low energy, body odour or bad breath (expelling toxins through the skin and breath, the lungs are a major outlet for toxins), breakouts, etc.
Thanks, I’m def. having detox symptoms then, I have been having mood swings twards my husband but am totaly energetic and feeling light and great. He thought this is what it was he has been taking the change light than I have because I want to hurry up and go 100% raw but I think I will start eating cooked grains or something.
I’m glad I saw your post, Mami. I was going to start a thread if I couldn’t find one on detox. I decided I would gradually go raw 4 days ago, but as always when I get excited about something—I always jump right in head first. I’ve been 90% raw for the last days. I Can NOT believe how quickly my body is starting to detox!!! I was going to ask when the average person starts to feel the detox. It’s only day 3, and the headache is horrible! My skin is usually flawless and it’s breaking out all over. It’s awesome! LOL! It’s like a good muscle burn after a good workout—my badge of accomplishment. ;o) How long does detox usually last? and again, When does it usually set in? Thanks everyone! I’m hoping to go 100% for the new year.
Hi Munchie~ Great attitude about detoxing. It can be really scary for some.
Each body and exposure to toxins is different. I’m not aware of any steadfast rules on “how long”, “what it will look like”. Also, it will probably happen more than once as you provide your body with what it needs (see the Progress thread for the onion example).
You might increase your water intake and/or add a 1/4 fresh lemon juiced to each 8 oz of water to help the detoxing.
I had a wicked detox of my hands (where I have had long term issues) when I started to give my body concentrated nutrients that my body needed (supplements I coach people around). Literally, my hands were dripping yellow stinky liquid along with hurting, itching, and major swelling. When I put my hand on edge, it looked like a slow dripping faucet. The toxins couldn’t come out fast enough. I thought I had something where my hands were going to peel off (ala the scene from “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” where the bad guys’ faces peeled back). Big time scary! If only I knew then what I know now I would have rejoiced and let it take its course.
Happy detoxing!
Munchie – it was day 3 for me too, I started eating cooked rice once a day and I find that eating 3 oranges helps for some reason with headaches.
I am glad I stumbled on this subject. In short, here is a catch up…
Healthy eater for about 6 years – not raw, not vegetarian
75% raw for 2 months
Master Cleanse 6 days
100% raw after – since Sunday
The day I went off the MC I noticed that I have a ton of bumps on my neck
And what if you never have detox symptoms? I’ve been 100% raw for 20 days now and nary a headache nor a skin eruption has been seen! I’ve done juice fasts in the past and my tongue has never been coated or anything. Can I really be that clean? Or am I not doing something “right”? I’ve always wondered…
I’m feeling a little better today. I drank an insane amount of water last night and I just had some freshly squeezed OJ- which is heaven, btw. I’m having problems sleeping. I feel like I could run a marathan 3 times over. I suppose I did that too, running back and forth to the bathroom so much from all the water, haha. Even though I haven’t gotten much sleep I feel surprisingly alert and energized. I think I might be eating my last meal too late in the day (6:30-7:00pm).
Madness, didn’t I read somewhere that with the exception of eggs and goat’s cheese you had a pretty healthy vegetarian diet? Maybe because you were already eating healthier you had much milder detox, or none at all?
Munchie: Glad to hear you are feeling better. Yeah, peeing one’s brains out is an “experience.” ;)
namadetaberu: You might check out some of the great products on my website to kick start some healing. Feel free to contact me and I can guide you to some solutions.
Madness: There is nothing that says that one must “suffer” with detox symptoms… Your body may just detox more efficiently than others or you just might not be that toxic. Each body is different. Gauge whether you are doing things “right/wrong” by how you feel. If you feel great (good energy, skin, healing quickly, etc.) then you are doing things “right” for you. Are you satified with how you feel? If not, explore different foods, cleanses, healing modalities, etc.
Munchie, I was eating healthy compared to SAD for sure. I only ate out a few times a month and 75% of my food has always been organic when prepared at home. I’ve been a vegetarian my whole life (except for while in college when I desperately tried to like meat – yeck!). I guess that could lead to a mild enough detox that I wouldn’t notice it!
Or things might just happen slower with me. I’ve been on a juice fast for 2 weeks before. This will be my longest adventure into a detoxing type diet.
I am going to eat cooked foods over the holidays. It’ll be my first experiment (I’m an experimental physicist, so the science behind the diet fascinates me). It will be very interesting to see how I react to cooked foods. If I have a “retox” reaction, I will surely be back on the raw food bandwagon! I might even try a cleanse or juice fast to get things going again. Just have to see!
Glad you are feeling better today Munchie!
One of the reasons I gave up juices is because right after drinking them, my skin would get sooo dry, I started feeling angry at anybody around me, and the worst of all, I would get so hungry, I ended up eating just anything, (not healthy, unfortunately, but at least, vegetarian)
Detox or not, I didnt want to be that way, so I change to smoothies, and found out the effect is not as strong, but still there, so now Im adding a little of coconut milk (so it stays in my stomach longer. Im a very fast oxidizer, I guess) and Im doing much better. Even though, after every smoothie, I need to eat something heavy.
The times I stood with the detox symtoms, were the worst in my life, so its just not worthy. For my own mental health and the health of people arond me, I think its better to do it this way. Very slow progress but still moving forward… I hope.
detox – OMG. I had no real detox symptoms at first. I skipped headaches and tiredness. But now 7 months in I am having a few fascinating things happening – arm pit rashes exactly where that old antiperpirent used to go and spots in my lower armpit regoin. Very attractive. I found this link http://eatonessentials.com/news/skincare/01deod… . I also am getting craddle cap that babies have and several ingrown hairs and yucky things in the bikini line regoin, aparently this is the lymphatic system….. I’ve just put it together that I have also started skin brushing. You have all this to look forward too, I just lost the thread I was reading where someone as raw as me has been having weird bumps on their thighs and odd rashes too. AH well better out than in, good luck xx
Princess—that’s so weird! I stopped using my deo. the day after I started my transition a week or so ago, and yesterday my arm pits felt irritated. I asked my husband to look because, I couldn’t really see and I don’t usually get rashes, so, I was concerned. He said there was discoloration spots and a rash. Glad to know I’m not alone, but I’m only a week in my body must be workin’ overtime to get all this built up crap out of my system! Thanks for the post, so, I know I’m not alone, haha. I’ll definitely check out that link too. ;o)
I have been raw for about 4 days now myself and I am experiencing headaches,a bit of lightheadedness and my face feels itchy. I guess in a way, that is a good thing?
in general, how long does detox last?? I know everyone is different, but what does it range? Days? Weeks? Months?
I think there is a real range for detox. For me the worst was about 3 weeks. To speed things up and get through it I did skin brushing and dry infrared saunas which are wonderful if you can access one.My symptoms were always the worst in the AM, shakes, nausea ( hair loss ) but by the end of the second month things stabilized.
I year later and I’m definately at a new level and detoxing again. Frankly, its not too fun especially because I was not expecting it but what are ya going to do? :O) All things pass and its worth it!
I appreciate this thread because I am one week raw (exactly 7 days) and have been full of energy and happiness until this afternoon when I was really low energy. REALLY low energy…and a little dizzy. I had headaches the first 2 days too. I think it is so important to read about others experiences with detox because we are brought up to think that if we feel sick… something is wrong. So I was a little worried today that I should have eaten something different or something. I ate a grapefruit this evening though and that seemed to really help…. who knows?? I wish the body could talk to me… you know like “Hi Katie, we are working on that chip binge you had last month… no worries, eat a banana.” That would be helpful! :)
I have been maybe 80% raw for the past week and a half and 50% raw the week before that. I have not had any detox symptoms, just my digestion has been greatly improved. Am I not “raw enough” yet to experience some of these detox symptoms? I’ve been doing green smoothies for breakfast, some dehydrated foods for lunch or snacks, and other raw recipes from this site for lunch. I don’t eat dinner often, so I usually have a snack late afternoon, which some days has been raw and some days not. I suppose I need to give it time, but I have gained about 3 lbs which I am not too pleased about, I actually need to lose 15-20 lbs. I have also cut back on the nuts this week.