In this third installment of posts from my old blog, I told about my experience with detox. I was pregnant at the time of this post, and trying to stay only "high raw", to avoid detoxification effects. You want to avoid going through detox if you are pregnant or nursing, because there is a possibility that the stuff coming out of you could get into the breast milk or cross the placental barrier.
Detox, and Why I Will Never Go Off Raw- originally posted June 3, 2007
The above pictures are from Carlene's website, I Beat Obesity . She lost 136 pounds in 9 months! She was my inspiration for starting raw. I was so impressed with how fast she lost the weight, and the health benefits she, and others, described, that I couldn't help but try it! Even though losing weight is a big motivator for me, the reason I will stay with this lifestyle is how I FEEL.
If you read my last post , you saw my results after two weeks on this diet. They are AMAZING! The best results are that I have had a significant reduction in pain and fatigue, and best of all, my depression is GONE!!! For that reason alone, it would be worth staying on this diet, even if it was hard. Which, thanks be to God, it has not been, so far. It's been remarkably easy.
The reason I know I will stay on this diet is because I had a "relapse" of sorts. No, I didn't fall off the raw bandwagon, but I experienced what I think was a day of detoxing. Detox is something you may experience whenever you begin a more healthy eating regimen than you previously had. Even on Atkins, you'll experience this to some degree, getting the "induction flu". If you've ever fasted, you probably experienced detox, as the toxins were leaving your body. Detox varies from person to person. Some people experience mild symptoms, some more severe. It depends on the toxicity levels in your body, and how long you have been polluting it. Often, you can experience old illnesses and pains from your past. This is all the crud stored in your body (probably from you suppressing it with medicines) making its way out. But detox is temporary, and it is good...it means your body is working properly, and all the disease and toxins in your body are leaving it. If you go 100% raw, you WILL detox, usually fairly soon, and it will probably be over quicker than if you were just high raw.
Detox is unpleasant, but necessary. Do not let this turn you back to cooked foods. It will be over, and you will feel great. From what I can gather, it can last a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with some occasional short bouts of detox over your first two years raw. The best way to get these bouts of detox over quicker is to go on a water or juice fast for a couple of days. Fasting is cleansing, and raw fruit juices are very cleansing. I've heard that after you detox, you will feel better than you ever have.
I was told I probably shouldn't go all raw until after the baby is born, at least. Some suggested I wait til I'm done nursing...ha ha ha! As you may know, if you read my other blog, I'm pretty much ALWAYS nursing or pregnant....or nursing AND pregnant, lol. The reason they say not to go 100% raw while pregnant is because detoxing while pregnant would probably be VERY uncomfortable. Because...well, you're pregnant, so you're probably already uncomfortable! You can be 100% raw and be pregnant or nursing, as many raw moms of healthy raw babies will tell you. But they were raw before getting pregnant, so they'd already been through detox. So they say stay around 90%, and I should be fine, which is what I am doing now.
But, I digress...back to my day of detox. I wasn't sure what the problem was, but Friday night I had problems getting to sleep, something I hadn't experienced since going raw. I got 4 hours of sleep, then had to do a round of errands Saturday morning. I didn't eat enough before I left, but I brought 2 raw energy bars with me (they're made of ground dehydrated fruits, nuts, and some other ingredients) but it didn't end up being enough. I was soooo tired, even before I started getting hungry. I was too tired and in too much of a hurry to try to find somewhere to get fruit or a salad. My brain was in such a fog, I couldn't even figure out where to go (I could have gotten a plain salad at McDonald's, duh). Then my back started to get sore. I didn't think I'd make it through Target, and at Sam's Club, I had to use one of the scooters.
I got really sleepy driving home, and by the time I got home, I felt irritable and weepy, and was feeling a little tempted to eat cooked food. I wondered if it was a combination of not getting enough sleep or enough food. I ended up going to bed, and having the WORST back pain ever. It was so bad, and felt so different, I worried I could be going into labor (I'm always getting paranoid about that possibility). More than anything, I wanted to take some Tylenol. But in the back of my mind, I thought "what if I'm detoxing?" If I was, and took Tylenol, my body would probably stop detoxing and start working to eliminate the Tylenol from my body. I'd feel better, but I wouldn't GET better, not really. So I suffered through it, and after an hour I fell asleep. Two hours later I woke up and felt much better, and an hour or so after that, I felt normal. My NEW normal...not tired, not in pain, and happy. It was so strange.
Today I felt great. I had a feeling that I might weigh a pound less today, even though my weight loss has stalled (which is good, since I'm pregnant). Low and behold, after a visit to the bathroom, I had lost a total of THREE POUNDS overnight! I really think it has to do with my body getting rid of some bad stuff. I've felt great all day.
In case anyone is concerned at my weight loss, don't be. Most of the ten or so pounds I've lost so far was probably water--before the diet I couldn't get my wedding ring off anymore. Now I can, and my face is noticeably thinner. My perinatologist isn't concerned. I expect I won't lose much more, and if I do, I'll gain it back. I'm thinking I'll probably bounce around weight-wise, and probably end up around 290 when I have the baby. Even if I only gain a few pounds, I won't be worried. They're already estimating the baby is 3.3 pounds according to ultrasound (they're usually right with my babies), so I don't think I need to gain more than five pounds more, ten at most.
But my lesson from my "mini-detox" is this: I don't want to go back to being that kind of person. That's all I could think while I lay in bed, crying from the pain. I CANNOT live like that again. I cannot go back to the depression, the anxiety, the crying, the pain, the fatigue...I can't do it anymore. Rather than drive me away from raw, my little detox episode made me more dedicated than ever. How on earth did I function with all that pain and emotional turmoil?
To me, eating this way is the most natural thing in the world. What did Adam and Eve eat in the Garden of Eden? Fruit from the trees! There was no mention of campfires and pots of oatmeal or pans of cooked chicken. I'm not saying eating meat is wrong, I'm just saying that the bulk of our food, in my opinion, was meant to come from God's natural creations, eaten straight from the tree or vine. I really feel that I am in tune with my body, and eating the way God intended, and I've never felt that way before.
With God's help, I truly hope that I will eat this way for the rest of my life. Even if I never lost a
pound, I would eat this way, just to feel like my old self again--but better!
Update: It's a little embarrassing sharing with you a post that talks about how I'll "never go off raw," knowing I've been on and off it a dozen times in these last three years since that post was written. However, I've decided to lay it all on the line here, no matter how embarrassing, in the hopes that this will help someone else going through the same things I have. You may be wondering why I haven't been able to stay on raw all the time. There are many reasons, but it usually comes down to one main reason. I plan on doing a full post on this after I finish this serious of re-posts.
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