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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookI've been vegan/high raw for about a month, but after 3 weeks on my new diet, I had to go to a family thanksgiving which required travel. As much as I tried to plan and bring lots of food, I ended up eating more sugar than I wanted, having some butter and some alcohol. I let my self have some freedom because this was my first vegan Thanksgiving and I didn't want to stress too much, but I am suffering now. =( My joint pain came back full force when I was on vacation and now that we are back home and back to work, I'm EXHAUSTED. I felt so great at the start of the trip with endless energy and by the end I was headachy, sore and exhausted. I realize that part of the exhaustion is the travel itself. I was visitng family in California where the air is pretty toxic, traffic is insane and the overall energy of the area is stressful and tense. I felt super sensitive to all of that this time...more than normal.
I'm back to a good diet this week. I'm still getting headaches. I have dark circles under my eyes and my muscles are sore. My nose has also been plugged with drainage that is making my throat itchy. My joints have been flaring up as well.
Has anyone else experienced change this quickly?
How long does it take to get toxins out of the body?
Over the last couple years of nutrition searching, I've become more and more sensitive. I believe that conscious eating goes hand in hand with enlightenment (which I'm working towards!) and I'm feeling like I'm becoming more and more sensitive to emotions and energies. The cleaner I eat, the more sensitive I become.
Has anyone experienced this?
Thank you!
Comments
hey! so i've been doing this raw thing since i got back to chicago from a trip to phoenix on the 18th of november. i've been full of energy and lately it's all gone. i'm kinda the same with the dark circles under my eyes and my emotions have been all over the place which really suck being a guy and all. some one that was very dear to me started this back in august and i supported her through the entire first month and she's the reason i started this as well. As for how long this detox take i have no idea, but i am trying to be hopeful and think that i will feel better than what i did when i first started. unfortunately i don't really have anyone to support me either because she is no longer talking to me and everyone else i know are big meat eaters like i was. i tried my first recipe today which was going to be this portobello mushroom sausage and it's simply ghastly. so my hopes are slowly diminishing. seeing that you've made it a month already, keep it up. It'll only get better from here on out.
Hang in there! I think it is normal for you to feel this way. It could simply be detox, again, after the alcohol and sugar (it's amazing what that stuff will do to your body). I had similar issues when I first started with RAW, I let myself break RAW and ate and drank with friends and felt TERRIBLE for the entire next week (diahrea, headaches, swollen joints)! Needless to say, I won't be doing that again.
Also, I don't know your reasons for going RAW but I was in pretty bad shape health-wise. I was in a lot of pain and dealing with a lot of chronic conditions. I recently read somewhere that when true healing happens, you will experience a flare up of your most recent health concerns. It's the body's way of reversing the damage. It could take some time to truly heal, depending on how severe your issues, but eventually you will feel much better.
I'm giving my body some time to do what it has to do, and making sure I treat it better now by not sabotaging it. I expect it will take a good deal of time to truly heal (I didn't get here overnight) and I might have many periods where I feel absolutely miserable, but I am going to push forward and hope for true healing. Good luck to you!
Check out this link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman/dont-confuse-real-healing_b_360747.html
To the newbies - KEEP IT SIMPLE! If you're feeling like crap, start making smoothies! - they're super high in nutrition, full of calories and natural sugars, and are super easy to digest and assimilate. Same goes with raw soups. And, as always, drink loads and loads and loads of filtered or mineral water :)
JimmyTGreek - Don't get bogged down with recipes, especially if you're just starting out. They can frustrate you (as you've obviously experienced) and end up leading you away from raw. It sucks because when you're starting out, you want to try everything that resembles your old way of eating but truth be told, raw versions (apart from desserts) are always markedly different than their cooked counterparts and can be disappointing if you haven't given your body enough time to forget cooked foods. Don't get disheartened - you're starting an awesome path!
Salad, smoothies, soup (raw), simple, simple, simple, simple.... :D x
Simple helps!!!! :)
To the OP, I hope you feel better. Just give it a couple days and get plenty of hydration and rest :)
Thank you everyone who commented. The support helps me so much!
Genesisone29- I've had health problems my whole life. I ate HORRIBLY growing up: junk food, candy, soda, nothing green and very little fruit. It's amazing that my body was able to deal with it as well as it did. For the last 3 years, it's been a transition to becoming a vegetarian, then no diary, then recently vegan and now I'm going raw. I've had lots of health problems, nothing major that puts me in the hospital, but there were times when I felt REALLY sick. I've slowly started to feel better as my diet has changed, but I want optimum health. About 4 months ago my joints started hurting and that's why I chose to go vegan and raw. Honestly, I've known that I should go vegan and raw for over a year now...unfortunately it took my body screaming at me for me to take the next step. I have been drinking green smoothies and juicing as a supplement for about 2 years so becoming vegan and raw hasn't been hard for me...I'm just ready to feel better. =)
JimmyTGreek- I think Bushcrazyraw is right. I'm just starting out as vegan, but I'm going with simple recipes like wraps and lots of salads...juicing and smoothies. It definitely takes time for your body to adjust. It's a huge change for your palette as well, but you'll find that after a while, the healthy, vibrant foods look, taste and feel better compared to what you may be used to eating. This is coming from someone who could eat a whole package of Oreo cookies in one setting. ha!
It's taken me time to get to this point where vegan and raw foods actually taste good to me. My mom went vegan for a while and was making very time consuming, difficult meals and she got frustrated and quit.
Try this website http://www.choosingraw.com/
This blog has been very inspiring for me and she has lots of great easy meals that I love!
It's encouraging to hear that you have been going through some of the same health issues that I have. It's nice to know that I'm not alone. Keep with it!