detoxing - Raw Food Chat

rawitup · 01-04-2008

okay so this morning around 6 am i woke up and i was aching all over, expecially my back and head. so i couldn't sleep for awhile and just kind of sat in my bed and drank some water because i was also really thirsty. that's another weird thing i was really thirsty all last night and this morning. i just couldn't drink enough water. okay but i'm getting off track. then around 6:45 i tried to go back to sleep and actually did get back to sleep for about 25 minutes. but then i woke up. i was laying on my side and tried to turn onto my back when i got this sharp pain in my abdominal area. it hurt really bad, so i turned back onto my side and tried to go back to sleep for about 15 minutes. then i woke up again and the same thing happened when i woke up, but this time the pain was not only in my abdominal area it had spread part way up into my chest.
so by this time i wasn't tired anymore and wanted to get up so i got up. but i continued to have that sharp pain for about another hour until just about 10 minutes ago when it subsided.
so my question is- does anyone know what that was or has anyone experienced that before?

RawFoodGrl · 01-04-2008

I'm having all kinds of strange emotions, aches and pains too. Far as I know, it's part of the detox process, but ifyou're really worried about it, I would see a doctor.

I've had horrible pains, but they usually go away in less than 12 hours.

rawitup · 01-04-2008

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was just part of detoxing. I was just kind of wondering if anyone knew what causes that kind of pain when you detox. Is it something to do with your bloodstream cleansing itself? Because it's not in a specific area that it hurt it was just kind of all over the place.
Thanks for the reply rawfoodgrl, it's nice to know that there are others out there going through the same type of healing process.

Double Helix · 01-04-2008

Sounds like it to me. Give it 3 days without change before you get too concerned, with any symptoms when you clean up your diet.

RawFoodGrl · 01-05-2008

One of the books I read (Hooked on Raw by Rhio) said that what happens is our organs typically store the toxins, so when we detox, the organs release toxins into the bloodstream. In the blood, the toxins travel everywhere, so we can have pain everywhere. Eventually it goes into our liver and bladder, sas well as intestines, then gets eliminated in typical fashion.

Then, it can take a while to fully detox depending on what kind of detox process we're doing, for instance if we're doing a juice fast (more intense, shorter period, faster results) or simply eliminating coffee from our diet (less intense, longer period, slower results).

Also, if you have a lot of toxins built up, then the symptoms can be worse and/or also take longer to pass.

She said with a lot of toxins in the body, going through a juice fast could be too hard to deal with, and that a more gradual detox would be better, as a for-instance.

I have gone through several "mini" detoxes going from eating all kinds of meats and foods to becoming raw food, first by eliminating processed foods, then red meat, then chicken, then fish, then going vegetarian, then going vegan now raw. Each time I've felt a variety of aches and pains, and a bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride.

I can't imagine what a shock to the body it would have been to instantly switch from where I was last year to where I am now!!! I don't think I could have handled all that in one big dose!

rawitup · 01-05-2008

Wow that makes a lot of sense-that whole thing about organs releasing toxins and it going into the bloodstream I'm pretty sure my body is cleaning out something because of that whole thing that happened this morning. And then the whole day today whenever I would laugh or tense up my abdomin for any reason my lower left stomach would hurt. Also within about an hour about 5 red pimples appeared on my left cheek, but now they're starting to disappear. It's so amazing how quickly our bodies can change.

This is really becoming a spiritual experience for me, especially as I began meditating every morning a few days ago. I used to meditate only every once in a while. My whole outlook on life and how the world works is really getting a complete revamping. I'm more positive and things are just becoming clearer. I'm beginning to see how our world really is in a global crisis and that we really need to take care of mother nature if we are going to live happily on this earth. Also whenever the sun is shining I find myself just wanting to stand or sit in its sunshine. I never used to do that, but now I just can't get enough of it. I was always a big night owl and still kind of am. I can feel myself changing though. I've started to go to bed earlier and get up earlier, so that I can enjoy more of the daytime.

I'm so content right now, even if I am going through this detox process. The detox is not making me want to quit, it's actually making me believe more in this whole raw living foods and believe more in myself. It continually amazes me what our body is capable of and how all things from mother nature can heal us. I want to thank you all for all of your feedback and thank you for all of your stories about what's going on with you. I'm just so happy. Thank you.

RawFoodGrl · 01-05-2008

Isn't that amazing?

I'm glad you brought up pimples - I completely spaced yesterday on the fact that toxins can come out of our mouths and skin too.

It's also fascinating to me that while everyone can certainly say their detoxing process is not comfortable, everyone has a different experience!

Like you, while the process is definitely uncomfortable for me, I'm totally committed to it because I know it's extremely beneficial! And, for me, this time around the discomfort is manageable.

rawitup · 01-06-2008

Yeah, it's so personalized. I found that pimples and stuff on my tongue was one of the first things to start happening. I was happy with that cause it kind of gradually got me into the detoxing and let me kind of get a feel for what was ahead. I'm happy to hear you're chargin' on through it too!

Yesterday I went out to lunch with my aunt and I was a little concerned with having to tell her that I only eat raw foods now because I knew it would come up one way or another even if I wasn't planning on telling her. But it turned out to be great. She ended up remembering this restaurant she had gone to with a boyfriend when she was young. It's called The Good Earth and they have a lot of raw food along with cooked food, so I had a copabanana smoothie and a sesametahini romaine garden salad. It was delicious. My aunt asked me all kinds of questions about raw foods and what I can eat. She was actually interested and was even considering doing something like this because her cholesterol is too high. So that was a fantastic experience!

RawFoodGrl · 01-06-2008

That's really great!

I'm finding once I'm really committed to something, secure in my own mind about it, then everyone else is pretty open to it, and it doesn't matter what it is. It can be about food or a new job, but the principle seems to work the same.

I had a similar experience at Thanksgiving - being cooked vegan at that time, the only option for me was the side salad, which prompted some interesting conversations, and lead to finding some fabulous vegan restaurants!

For charging through, well, yeah, I feel that on the one hand, but today feel like I'm slogging through knee-deep mud. As Double Helix has said, detoxing brings up emotions you have to face without being able to numb out from food or drink. Well, I'm facing it, and it's not too pretty!!! It's all I can do to just make sure I eat right and stay on track that way. The rest of the day is a wash.

I'm pretty much not accomplishing anything except restraint!