A reader asked me about the likelihood of experiencing some detoxification when starting to eat raw foods. He explained that he has experienced food detox and doesn’t like.
The short best answer is: It depends.
Expanding on that answer a little: Yes, it’s likely, but everyone is different. Besides the differences in individuals, there are many other variables: what you were eating before, how quickly you make the transition, what foods are in your raw diet, what you’re doing to moderate the detoxification symptoms.
Common Detox Symptoms and How to Think About Them
Not everyone has all or any of these symptoms. Here are some, just to give you an idea: (1) headaches, (2) grogginess, (3) fatigue and/or sleepiness, (4) sleep problems, (5) cravings for the familiar foods, (6) releasing from the releasing organs, such as runny nose, coughing, shift in bowel function, (7) increase in aches and pains, especially old injuries or conditions, (8) stress or irritability, (9) and others.
I name these to give you a broad perspective, and to more easily say this … when you notice symptoms such as this, think of them as part of the "healing" and not as a "sickness."
If think of yourself as sick, you might be inclined to reach for some over-the-counter remedy to lessen the symptoms, or stop the raw food eating. The symptoms are uncomfortable, for sure, but there are healthier ways to deal with them, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
If you think of yourself as now providing the nutrients to clear your system of toxins, you are well on your way to optimal health. With a perspective such as this, you are more like to reach for truly healthy ways to moderate the symptoms and stick to the raw food eating.
Transition May be the Key for You
I speak about transitioning gradually in Eating Raw: Must it be 100%? This one strategy alone can make a difference for many people. As you add more organic, fresh, uncooked food to every meal, you will likely have fewer detoxifying symptoms.
The transition can continue for many months until you reach a high percentage of raw, living foods, maybe even to 100%. Not many people achieve that, as it’s not easy socially. But you can still experience enormous health benefits at a lower percentage, and you are likely to have fewer or less intense detox symptoms if you take your time.
Your Pre-Raw Food Eating and Purpose for Eating Raw
Some people decide to adopt a raw food or mostly raw food eating plan for general well being; others for specific health conditions, especially losing weight. A raw food diet plan is a way to release unwanted pounds. The excess pounds are filled with toxins. When you get rid of toxins and waste from the body, you lose weight.
Many other conditions — related to excess weight or not — occur because of the body’s toxicity level. So if your purpose is to release the toxins or to lessen the negative impact of the specific condition, you must be prepared for some toxic release.
When you understand that you are purifying your body, the discomfort can be easier to endure. You might even be able to say (happily!), oh, goody, it’s working!
You want to feel better on the inside and look better on the outside. A raw food eating style can do that for you, over time.
Moderating the Discomfort of Detox
Simplify Your Meals. For example, combine similar or compatible foods at one meal.
Minimize Fruit. Fruit is an acceptable food for a raw foodist; however, by its nature, it’s a cleansing food. If you’re detoxifying too fast, reducing fruit may slow it down.
Do Not Combine Fruit with Other Foods. Certain food combinations can be distressful to the digestive system, and be counter productive to the detoxification you want. However, apples, cucumbers, and lemons usually combine well with non-fruit foods.
Drink Lots of Good Water. When you’re on a 100% raw food eating plan, you may find you need less water (because the foods contain water). However, if you’re still consuming or detoxifying from processed foods, drink plenty of water. The prevailing formula is: take your body weight in pounds, divide by 2, and drink that many ounces.
Eat Small Meals. Eating very small meals is much easier on your system. Many raw foodists eat 5 smaller meals rather than 3 larger ones.
Balance Rest and Exercise. Exercise is important, and so is rest. That’s true anytime, but especially when you’re detoxifying. Meditation is also powerful.
A Nice Blended Raw Meal
Here’s a wonderful raw meal you can prepare quickly. In any blender, add some water (1/2 cup – 2 cups depending on desired liquidity) and then add:
1 head romaine lettuce
5- 6 leaves of dark leafy green vegetables (examples include kale, spinach, collards, dandelion greens)
1 celery stalk
1 whole lemon, juiced with at least some of the rind
2 apples, cored
If you’ve read very much on this blog, you already know that I respect the work of David Wolfe. He’s brilliant, dedicated, and has the ability to draw from vast amounts of information to make the raw food eating lifestyle accessible to any who are interested.
Inflammation is a NATURAL response of the body to protect itself (and its parts) against harmful stimuli. The inflammation is like a cushion or protective shield that allows the impacted part of the body to heal.
BUT — and this is a BIG BUT — when the body contains too much inflammation over long periods of time, many different symptoms and dysfunctions can occur. As with many dynamics in life, a good thing is a good thing in the proper amount. Too much is no longer a good thing.
On David Wolfe’s pod cast, he talks about the foods that are most likely to increase the inflammation in your body: for example, foods you’re allergic to and foods high in protein.
Just as important to know are foods that are anti-inflammatory, for example, sulfur-containing foods, aloe vera, whole fresh noni.
But, don’t take my word for it. Please listen to his podcast directly, as he says more. In only THREE minutes he gives enough information to help you to change the amount of inflammation in your body just by adjusting your food intake.
In our household, we easily and daily consume dark, green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, swiss chard, and the like. The darker the better! My own personal favorite is kale, which I didn’t eat while growing up.
Many people dislike the taste of dark, green leafy vegetables; others don’t understand the value of them. Many who eat (or try to eat, or want to eat, or think they should eat) them in large quantities, often want to camouflage the taste. I understand and have great compassion for that.
If you’re new to increasing your raw food consumption, I encourage you to find ways that help you to eat these nutrient-rich foods easily. If that involves camouflaging the chlorophyll taste, do it! If you don’t eat them, you won’t benefit from them. As long as you don’t cook these foods, the nutrients won’t be lost.
In our family, we rarely make juice from our vegetables and fruits any more because so much is lost in the juicing process. Instead, we make raw soups and raw smoothies in a blender. Any blender is suitable, although if you make smoothies regularly, you will prefer a high speed blender.
Do you have food cravings? The minerals in dark, leafy vegetables and other smoothie ingredients will stop the cravings quickly. Do have have digestive problems? Many people find that the enzymes in raw plant foods help rather quickly. Are you overweight? Give green smoothies a try and watch yourself get slim and strong!
Below are (1) a video with a demonstration making a green smoothie and (2) a recommended book, Green for Life.
Green Smoothie with
Victoria Boutenko and Adrienne Martin
Victoria Boutenko and her family are well-known proponents of the raw food lifestyle. They lecture. They write. They appear on shows and videos. They inspire.
This book provides encouragement, recipes, and testimonials. She includes the science behind the choices she makes and suggests to readers.
My early memories of Valentine’s Day include those sugary little hearts with sayings printed on them. We passed them around with childish joy. We even ate them.
While the origin of Valentine’s Day is associated with romance, love is relevant in all relationships. Families and friends celebrate in many different ways all around the time of February 14. While the random acts of love and kindness may not be as ubiquitous as at Christmas time, this day is filled with flowers and sweets and connections.
Offices fill their candy dishes and some businesses give free candy. Individuals send cards, often accompanied with treats as a means of expressing appreciation.
As you’re thinking about how to express your love this weekend, perhaps you will consider healthy treats. Keeping your food simple and healthy will be the most loving thing you can do for yourself and others. Finding ways that are heart-felt and playful will mean more than foods laden with sugar and processed foods.
You can choose fruits for sweets and nuts for decadent treats. Agave nectar and stevia are healthy choices to sweeten your foods. Cacao dipped in agave nectar is supreme, as is cacao all by itself!
Many raw food purists say that the raw lifestyle requires a commitment to 100% raw. While there are enormous advantages to eating 100% raw, there are also enormous challenges.
Transition Gradually
For someone new to exploring a raw food lifestyle, just “adding more raw foods” is a great strategy. Later you can decide percentage, but “more” will make a difference in your life, especially if you add “more” on a regular basis.
And speaking of more … the more nutrients you consume, the less food you need. Raw organic plant foods have more nutrients than cooked foods.
It is not necessary to eat 100% raw to benefit from raw foods. Often a little shift will be easier to maintain. For example, if you are eating cooked jams/jelly with sugar, change to whole berries without any added sweetener. If you use sugar in your coffee or tea, substitute raw organic agave.
Organically grown plant foods taste better than those treated with pesticides, so avoid conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. Instead of regular packaged crackers, look for raw, organic flax seed crackers. Simple adjustments like these are easier to make than strict rules that make you feel like a failure when you can’t or don’t follow the rules.
Drink the best water available to you and you will have less of a craving for bottled juices or soda or milk. Want a little flavoring in your water? Add some fresh lemon or cayenne pepper or cinnamon. If you want a sweet drink, select some of your favorite fruits, prepare for eating, put in blender with some water, blend and enjoy.
Honor Your Preferences
Your own habits and preferences are important. If you like the idea of a raw food eating style, honor your preferences, take your time, and transition slowly.
As you are discovering the proper percentage for you, ask yourself this question repeatedly: how does this taste to me? As you regularly have more raw foods in your meals, your tastes will change. Likely you will find that raw foods become more delicious and cooked foods become less delicious. Or perhaps, you will find that everything you choose is tasty and perfect for you.
Remember: if after one bite the food does not taste good, stop eating! If it tastes good at first and you continue to eat and it begins to not taste good, stop eating! Let your feelings and taste guide you.
Meal times are often social times for most people. You may find that by deciding to eat raw foods at home and cooked foods when you are with friends or on a business trip that you find the right balance for you.
Find Your Way
Experiment. Read. Ask questions. Find your own way. Be gentle with yourself. Enjoy the process. Keep a positive attitude. When you decide that your own well being is the priority, you will find the right balance or percentage.
What is the best percentage of raw for you? The one you can maintain!
I’m so delighted that so many people are writing about raw and living foods. Here’s an article at the Weekly Albertan by Jenn Silver. The article begins:
"When you think of food in its most healthy and beneficial state, as something green for the body, mind and environment, you may likely think of fresh and natural raw foods.
"The raw food diet appears at first to be just another crazy and intense food diet, but for many it has proved beneficial and has thus transformed into a lifestyle."
I have long been aware of the power of mushrooms. Recently, I’ve been studying them more extensively. Paul Stamets is a leading expert, articulate and knowledgable.
Paul is especially focused on Mycelium, which he says are the "Internet of the earth." His visionary insights help us to understand how these mushrooms balance and regulate the earth’s ecosystems.
Please enjoy this fine presentation.
Six Ways Mushrooms can Save the World
By Paul Stamets
Aloe Vera is widely known as a healing substance, or the medicine plant. My family has grown it for many years, on a window sill in our pre-California days, and now outside.
Aloe Vera is part of the lily family rather than a cactus, although nursery salespeople usually just refer to it as a succulent. Aloe is a very large species of plants, and not all Aloe are Aloe Vera.
It is raw healing at its best, internally and topically.
The Aloe Plant and Leaves
About a year ago, I became curious about the large Aloe Vera leaves from SunFood.com. I initially ordered them because I didn’t like the butchered look of my Aloe plants in my yard. For the occasional cut or burn, a severed Aloe leaf was acceptable; multiple cut leaves required for greater consumption create a truly unaesthetic look.
I had quite a visceral reaction when I opened the first package of these large leaves. "Wow, they are alive!" I don’t know how else to describe my reaction. I almost expected them to wiggle off the paper. (They didn’t.)
The plants these leaves come from are much larger than the typical household or backyard plant. The grower breaks or cuts off the whole leaf from the base of the plant rather than cutting into the leaf.
Eating the Fresh, Raw Aloe
Regularly, we use a slice of a leaf — gel only — in our smoothies, raw soups, salad dressings, and assorted savory and sweet dishes. Aloe is a nice semi-liquid with a slightly tart taste. Sometimes it seems bitter; other times it seems sour.
Aloe is great in a pesto. I fillet a chunk, put it in a small glass container with some Celtic sea salt while I prepare all the other ingredients. The Celtic sea salt helps to "liquefy" or "activate" the aloe.
Once I tried putting Aloe through the juicer for a green drink. That was not very satisfactory because of its gelatinous texture. However, the "salt trick" works well, so that I add the liquefied Aloe to the prepared green drink. The blender loves Aloe Vera.
Fresh, raw Aloe Vera supports the immune system, digestion, and liver. It is rich in vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals. It seems to enhance the nutrients when combined with other superfoods, as well.
Using Now and Freezing Aloe Vera for Later Use
When we purchase the large leaves, we refrigerate all but one leaf. We use one at a time by slicing a chunk and filleting it as we need it. We either eat it fresh or freeze it within two days, three at the most. Often we use 2-4 chunks fresh and freeze one chunk, as that is usually the proper ratio to use the whole leaf in two days.
When freezing it, we cut it in serving-size pieces and freeze each piece in a small plastic bag or wrap. Once frozen, we place all the pieces in a larger freezer bag for easy grabbing.
Freezing Aloe Vera breaks down the fibers somewhat so that it blends even better in combinations. I think it’s also a little sweeter. Likely, the freezing reduces nutritional value somewhat.
When we’ve consumed the fresh supply, we start using the frozen bits.
If we have lots of company or extraordinary needs for the Aloe Vera, we skip the freezing for that leaf. Somehow, it all works more easily than it sounds.
Topical Applications for Fresh, Raw Aloe
To complete and go beyond the culinary experience, we end with the best skin treatment ever. We rub the inside of the green outer part on our skin and hair.
Several years ago, I acquired a wicked bruise and found that the Aloe Vera greatly reduced the discoloration and accelerated the healing. For that, I used — and learned for the first time — the Celtic sea salt trick. Using Celtic salt on Aloe Vera and applying both to a bruise were suggestions from my Latina housekeeper whose father used to grow Aloe Vera to mend and repair his active children.
Other Thoughts and Tips
Most of the bottled Aloe Vera products are likely to be processed in some way to stabilize and standardize the Aloe Vera gel. Read labels carefully so that you are confident of the contents. I’ve never seen fresh Aloe Vera in airports or hotels, so I have to find alternatives from time to time.
If you work with the larger leaves and make a cut without finishing the whole leaf, place a little piece of paper towel on the cut. This serves the same purpose as when a man cuts himself shaving and puts a piece of tissue on the cut.
After my experiences with the large Aloe Vera leaves, we now separate the outer leafs of our own plants and use the whole, smaller leaf right away. The plant loves this approach because it’s sustainable gardening. And no more butchered Aloe Vera plants!
There are no poisonous aspects to warn you about for the grand Aloe Vera medicine. This sturdy plant comes in many varieties and shapes and sizes. Remember, if you are purchasing, be certain it is Aloe Vera and not just any Aloe plant. Water it, but let it go dry thoroughly before watering again.
If you’ve had experiences with this plant treasure, please share it by adding a comment below.
While I am generally not inclined toward sensationalism or toward ridiculing the choices of others, I think this video is important enough to share on this blog.
