Strange DETOX Symptoms on Raw Food

They say you detox in waves, feeling great for several days and then like hell for a couple of days then great.. then hellish.. etc and I have found it's true for me.

In the past I have had strange detox symptoms but this beats them all.. I SWEAR I am detoxing thru my EYES!

I woke up last night with tons of tears rolling out of my eyes.. no bad dreams or such just water all over my face.  It kept on until this AM and now has cleared up.

Last night I had a really bad headache that was close to a migraine.  I had to finally just close my eyes and go to bed.. light and sound was just too much. 

This AM the headache had waned but not totally.


Most people that are interested in Raw food and Juice Fasts are fascinated with detox symptoms so here are a few I have dealt with;
DETOX SYMPTOMS of the past:
-One time I was awakened in the middle of the night with a very scary, sharp stabbing pain under my right breast that took my breath away.. it lasted maybe 2 minutes but it was the longest 2 minutes of my life.. I am sure it was my body working on ball stones or cleansing my gall bladder.

-I detox mostly thru my sinus.  It comes and goes but for YEARS I had no idea I was actually hardly getting any air thru my nose.  Now that I have days my sinus is totally clear it's amazing.

-Last Summer I had really deep aches in the backs of my upper arms that lasted for a couple of days.. it was really bad and I almost went to the Dr. but I was so sure my body was working on something I just put up with it and it did go away and has never returned.

-I wrote above about the latest, I swear I detoxed thru my eyes!!

-I have had flu symptoms so bad that I would have been totally SURE I had freaking the worst flu I have ever had if I didn't know it was one of the most common signs of detox.  I almost gave up on my second juice fast because it was so horrid.

-Emotional detox has been strange too.  I have had days were I felt darkness bubbling thru me and thought I might be surrounded with evil or something if I didn't know this was another sign of detox and cellular memory.   Trust me even if you think you have let it all go.. there will still be crap come up.  My advise it to feel it, let it roll thru you and release it and it's bad energy.

DINNER LAST NIGHT:
I made a great salad last night with lots of yummy heirloom tomato, cucumber, fresh basil and these truly raw olives I had ordered online and then ruined it with a Raw dressing that I made!!!  I used oranges, jalapeno and zucchini in it and it sucked.  I keep trying to find good Raw dressing recipes because I get tired of them quickly and REALLY think they are important to keeping salads constantly on the menu.  It had zucchini in it as the thickener and... just no.  At least I have not found one I like yet with zucchini... its easy to make a thick creamy dressing with nuts or seeds but i want to save my fat for actually an ingredient in my salad.  I do have a recipe for a Raw low fat Caesar dressing that has zucchini... I will try it next... maybe.

Tonight I am making a salad with strawberry, blueberry, butter leaf, almond, coconut and mandolin thin sliced yellow squash.  I will use EVOO and balsamic as a simple dressing... YUM balsamic and berries!!

Got a Little Groove Going On...

Well in the last week I have seen great days.. good days and a couple of not very healthy cooked meals...  one being a Pizza Hut pizza (no cheese) and apple pastries they sell for desserts (probably not Vegan). 

I do see myself doing progressively  better with much less desire for junk and more desire for the awesome salads I have been making but the desire for junk is still there.. it's just getting slowly crowded out a little at a time.  I have been being more kind to myself when I don't make great choices which is such a wonderful change.  One of the reasons I am still so overweight is undeniably because of my militant thinking.   For the last few years it was if I didn't do fabulous why bother.. and the entire day was seen as an excuse to just say fuck it and pig out.  I've not been doing that. 

I find myself actually fine with fruit till like 2pm..

 My kitchen table... lots of fruit for me every day till 2-3PM.

Then when I am hungry again a salad or veggie wrap with maybe some homemade Raw vegan nut/seed cheese or nuts in general.  I have been honoring my hunger and letting myself eat the higher fat Raw if I need.

Romaine wrap with carrot, raw portobello, red bell, onion and Raw vegan "sharp cheddar" cheese.

Apple, Romaine, Walnut, Celery and Grape

I have had several 100% Raw days but I have stopped writing stuff down.. I did that for YEARS and it has never helped me... if anything it helped contribute to my all or nothing thinking.


STAYING IMMERSED IN THE LIFESTYLE IS KEY FOR ME!
I'm flooding my consciousness with many videos a day on raw food healing and those by people who just have made it their lifestyle.  I am not taking anyone as a "Guru" and not falling for any dogma either.  I have been in and out of the Raw food lifestyle long enough to know many people think their way is the only way and to me.. any way I can eat much more Raw is a step in the right direction, PERIOD.
 
I am planning another juice fast, just not concrete on when but I will know when the time is right.  The hubs has even shown an interest in doing 3 or 4 days with me.  I have completed three juice fasts..  3 days.. 7 days and 10 days.  I am aiming for 14 days for my next.

GOALS MOVING FORWARD:
Planning my menus and making other Raw besides a good salad needs some work and that will be a goal for the next few weeks.  Right now I am keeping it fairly simple with fruit till 2 or 3 pm or so and then salads or romaine wraps with nuts and Raw cheese or heavier dehydrated foods like crackers and raw bars.  

I recently made chocolate, orange, macadamia nut bars that were pretty good but not great so I won't post the recipe yet.  I have been buying Lara Bars but like most Raw foodies I know I can make them much more affordably.  Here is a pix though:

THE SCALE:
OMG I have not had the desire to weigh!!  I don't know what has come over me!!!  I spent the LAST 10 YEARS WEIGHING EVERY DAMN DAY!  It's strange.  I obviously want to lose weight but that's moved to 3rd place in priority under MY health and MY husband's health. 

I do plan on weighing the morning I start my juice fast though.


VEGAN:
All of my meals have been Vegan except maybe the apple pastry dessert things I had... That's ok.  a ridiculously HUGE improvement over just a couple of months ago!

FAVE RAW MEAL THIS WEEK:


Pecan, Raw Brussels Sprouts salad with Maple Vinaigrette.!  BEST salad EVER!  I say that every time I come up with a new salad LOL!  

Three Dinner Size Portions:
One head of Romaine shredded, about 25 brussel sprouts cleaned and shredded in food processor, 1/2 cup soaked, dehydrated pecans, 1/2 cup onions of your choice it's really good with Vidalia onions if you can find them. And right before serving (so they don't turn brown) I chop 2 green apples. 

DRESSING: 1/3 C good quality maple syrup, 1/3 C Braggs apple cider vinegar and a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  I have been craving salt for some reason lately. I added a little pink Himalayan salt to the dressing also.. #RawFoodForTheWin !!


So that's it for now!  I'm feelin' fine.  Hope you are too.

MORE DETOX, Feeling More Loving and Great Salads

80% raw for 5 weeks now.. tons of fruit and totally Vegan except for one meal (cheese on veggie pizza lunch).

WEIGH IN:
I have not had the desire to get on the scale which is SO STRANGE!!  I used to live or die by that damned thing.  I think this change is because I am doing this for myself.. meaning it's just going to be what I do.. period.  I know for a fact my body will release weight so I am just letting it do what it wants to do.  I also don't want to turn this into a diet in any mindset.  This is so much more to me that just about getting into smaller jeans.  On that note though I do feel smaller and am into a smaller pair of jeans.  I have like (4) sizes of jeans so I won't need to actually buy any until I get under a size 14.  

DETOX:
Well I am having more detox.. today my sinus is really yucked up and draining and I have an ear ache and the lymph glands in my neck under my ear are swollen.  I also had a bad day of breast pain two days ago where on and off all day I had stabbing pain in one of my breasts.  I have fibroid cysts in my breasts and I am sure my body is working on that.

IMPROVEMENTS!!!
A few things that have improved..
My hip and back pain are almost totally gone unless I am just on my feet all day.  I also have much less nerve pain down the front of my thighs (self diagnosed siatica).  It's about 70% improved.  I KNOW as the weight is released it will totally go away.

My depression has lifted a bit.  I look in the mirror and don't absolutely hate what I see anymore.. I feel more loving toward myself.  I also have wanted to be outside a bit and just this past weekend we bought me a new chase to layout in for sun because I have been wanting to get outside more which is a true improvement in my mood... I have spent months not wanting to leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary and have totally let my back yard rose garden practically die.  I have a home based business so I never REALLY had to leave very often anyway.

I bought some herb seeds and seeds for greens (spinach, arugula, chard and kale!) and am slowly working on getting them potted up.

They say when you go high Raw you really get an interest in growing what you can yourself because of a closer draw toward nature.  I think I am starting to feel that.  I would love to some day have a huge, amazing veggie garden and this year we are planting an avocado and a mango tree.

Another improvement is that my skin feels SO SOFT!   It feels silky.  It's interesting.

FOOD:
Well I have been about 75% Raw.. usually raw till after 4 or so... and a few times a week a Raw dinner too.  I am working up to a higher percentage but not being militant about it.  I am having fruit in the AM.. a green smoothie here or there.. the other day I made a spinach, cacao, frozen organic cherry and hemp seed smoothie that the hubs really loved.

I am having SALADS very often..

I have always loved a good salad so this is fairly easy.

This particular salad above was for "Taco" night.. black beans, mango salsa, corn, spinach, avocado and my homemade Raw vegan "Sharp Cheddar" cheese I dehydrated for sprinkling on top.

Salad above again has my favorite (right now!) Raw vegan "Sharp Cheddar" cheese crumbles.. and I made the "Crazy Cracker Lady's" recipe of her BBQ chips.  (you can find this recipe several places  online.)  The chips were more like crackers but good.. my only complaint was they took like three days in my Excalibur to get crisp and chip-like at 115deg.  I am still getting used to planning ahead of time enough.

 Salad above was so good!  I had found truly raw, fresh peas at the store and decided to give them a try.. not bad especially with raw corn and avocado.  Pretty salad that made me smile.

Tonight I am making one with Napa cabbage, carrot ribbons, thin sliced red bell pepper, pineapple, jalapeno, black sesame seeds and purple onion.. it will be gorgeous.  I am making a balsamic, ginger, honey, lime and sesame oil dressing.

I am having the occasional Vegan dinner.. I love beans of all types and brown rice.. the other day I also made a huge baked potato filled with guacamole and topped with kale and sundried tomato I had sauteed in coconut oil, it was THE BOMB!!