Detoxification, or "Do I really want to go through that?

Successful individuals do not mind making sacrifices if they feel they will be rewarded eventually for those sacrifices. People truly seeking health have to decide to sacrifice their old comfortable diet patterns and habits to be rewarded by good health.
It doesn't take long before they discover that after improving their diet, they sometimes feel much worse (for a temporary period). "Do I really have to go through that?" is a common complaint. They're going through what we call detoxification.
Why should the recovery of health and improvement of the diet cause unpleasant symptoms? Why shouldn't we be rewarded with immediate good health and radiant well-being as soon as we change our evil-ways?
Unfortunately, good health is not immediate -- but then again, neither did poor health occur immediately.
Think about this. Didn't you feel healthy and free from pain as a young child? Have you noticed how small children have an endless supply of energy and are oblivious to physical discomforts, such as cold, that would make an adult suffer? Now look at some of your older citizens. Some of them are so crippled with arthritis they can hardly move. Every day is the discovery of some new pain or some developing crisis in the body.Poor health and illness is progressive; it does not occur overnight. Good health and well being is also progressive; it may take weeks, months, or years.

The Body Works in Cycles

Like all aspects of the cosmos, the body has its own individual cycles. There are biological rhythms within the body that dictate periods of tissue repair, tissue growth, waste elimination, and so forth.
You will soon discover that healing occurs in cycles. Some days the body has a high-energy level and it rebuilds damaged tissues. On such days, we may feel great. On other days, the body must do its detoxification and remove accumulated toxins. When this happens, we may experience low levels of energy or even depression.
Most people lead a lifestyle and follow a diet that inhibits the body in its cyclical work. For instance, when the body is trying to cleanse itself via a cold, people become impatient. They try to suppress the cleansing cycles with drugs or food and the body must abandon its efforts.
The body behaves in a sort of roller coaster fashion as it conducts its detoxification process. One day it may cleanse heavily and we feel bad. The next day, the toxins have been removed and we feel great. We feel so great, in fact, that the body decides to dig a little deeper and remove some of the older toxins, and then we feel worse. This is a continuing cycle in the process of healing, but do not despair: Once a certain level of health has been reached, we do not notice the cycles as much and they cause progressively less discomfort.
Another noticeable aspect is the way the body goes through increased detoxification and healing crisis with every change of season. Notice how people seem to get sick at those particular times of the year. This is why Paul Bragg fasted for 7-10 days, four times a year with every change of season. This seasonal cyclical healing period occurs for mysterious reasons.

The Infinite Wisdom of the Body

Your body wants to live forever; it wants to be free from all pain and illness; it actively desires complete healing to take place within it at all time. Your body is your friend and partner in your effort to regain health.
The body has the innate capacity, knowledge, and wisdom to heal itself at any time -- if it is allowed to do so.
The body possesses its own healing ability and the wisdom to direct this ability. The only thing we must do is let the body conduct its work with as little interference as possible. We can furnish it with the highest-quality raw foods when it needs it or abstain from food when it doesn't desire it. We can exercise and rest the body, and give it fresh air and sunshine.
Other than that, all we can do is wait intelligently and not become alarmed by the symptoms of its healing or try to suppress those symptoms.
If you have faith and trust in your body's ability to heal itself, the unpleasant symptoms, which may accompany this healing, become more bearable and are not a source of fear or misgiving.
Ultimately, we must let our body perform its health-restoring work at its own pace. We must believe that the body alone is capable of performing all the needed healing functions.
The cellular intelligence driving the body is infinite in its capacity. We need not have any fears about its wisdom or ability to restore itself to the highest-possible level of health and well being.

Body Awareness

It has been noticed that a lack of body awareness accompanies a sickened condition. In fact, it is this absence of consciousness that permits the body to degenerate. If a person is in tune to his/her body need, s/he becomes aware when something is going wrong and s/he can fast, change diet, etc.
Increasing good health also increases our awareness of the body. As the major pains and aches disappear, we become more sensitive to all the body's needs. The minor irritations that were not noticed previously may now enter our awareness.
You will notice on a raw-food diet that your body awareness and sensitivity will increase. Little indulgences will cause strong reactions. Overdosing on certain foods will throw your body off balance. You will become aware every time you do something wrong -- your body will let you know. We call it "The Raw Curse," when you cannot indulge anymore.
You will also become more aware of the minor pains that may have plagued you for years.
In fact, these little aches may have been around so long that you grew used to them. After you start a raw-food diet, these aches may enter your awareness again.
This new sensitivity is not really a curse but a blessing. Now your body can tell you what it needs, what to avoid, and what habits to discontinue.

Some Unpleasant Symptoms and Their Causes

So you have made the decision to change to a raw-food diet. You understand how the body heals itself and you are more aware of its needs. Yet, you may not have complete faith in yourself.
A splitting headache, chills, nausea, a dripping nose, increased body odor, reappearance of old aches and pains, rashes, boils, drastic weight loss ñ all are symptoms that can shake the faith of the most sincere health seeker.
Without proper understanding or support, you could panic over these symptoms and believe your new diet is the problem.
It should be realized that everybody is a walking bomb. Each person carries within themselves the seeds for diseases and illness. These seeds are stored within the body and may spring full force into disease.
What are some of these toxins, and where do they come from? How can we get rid of them? What symptoms can we expect when they start to leave the body?

Drug Toxins

One of the largest sources of body toxins is the drugs people take to fight disease (or so they foolishly think). Medicinal drugs are very strong -- they have to be to overcome the body's natural defense system.
When such drugs are taken, they must either be eliminated from the body or stored within for later elimination.
As a person's health improves and all such medicines and drugs are discontinued, the old toxins may enter the bloodstream for elimination. The circulation of these old drug toxins in the system may produce bewildering symptoms that can be alarming.
As these drugs leave the body, you may taste them in your mouth. I personally have tasted aspirin and other drugs I couldn't recognize when undergoing short fasts.
Every drug used, whether legal or illegal, leaves its mark upon the body. As the body regains health, the drug deposits are put into circulation for elimination. Since a combination of past drug deposits may enter the bloodstream at once, disconcerting symptoms may arise. Drug detoxification can be a lengthy process, but it will be aided by fasting and a diet high in fruits and green juices.
Be Forewarned: old drugs that were taken even many years ago may reappear in the bloodstream as they leave fatty tissues and the organs. Drug toxin elimination may express itself in a series of rashes as they leave the body through the skin.

Caffeine and Nicotine

Heavy smokers or coffee drinkers may experience similar symptoms when they withdraw from their drug. Nervous irritability and emotional outbreaks are common symptoms of these drug addicts when they are detoxifying.
Nicotine and caffeine damage the nervous system and upset the vascular system, so symptoms such as headaches, edginess, extreme lassitude or mental cloudiness (feeling spaced out) are expected. Such symptoms from these drugs usually lessen after three to ten days. Raw-foodists who still drink coffee and expresso are fools committing serious offense on their bodies. Sooner or later they'll pay the price.

Salt and Other Condiments

Once salt use is stopped and the health improves, old salt deposits in the body exit through the skin and kidneys. Sometimes the elimination is so intense that a person may have a continual salty taste in the mouth.

White Sugar Withdrawal

Eliminating sugar from the diet may make a person feel slightly nervous and hyperactive until the energy levels adjust to a raw-food diet.
Mood changes, however, are usually more noticeable than any physical symptoms when sugar is eliminated. Reformed sugar addicts may feel periods of unaccountable depression as their blood sugar level tries to right itself. Getting off the sugar roller coaster, with its rapid rises and falls in blood sugar levels, is easier when a raw-food diet high in salads and avocados is followed.

Heavy Metal Elimination

Almost every person is poisoned by deposits of heavy metals in the body. Lead, aluminum, mercury, copper and arsenic collect in organs throughout the body. Because of their heavy weight, they are difficult to eliminate, and may cause discomfort as they leave the body.
As these metals come out, headaches and a general achiness all through the body may occur. The gums may hurt and the kidneys may throb as these metals leave the organs and bones.
Heavy metal poisoning can make you feel uncomfortable all over, and it is very common due to all the environmental toxins. As you eliminate these metals, bear the uncomfortable body aches and realize that they are leaving your body forever.

Meat Eating and the Acid Body Condition

Meat eating creates an acid condition in the body. When meat is eliminated, the body tries to reestablish its naturally healthy, alkaline condition. As the acid condition of the body changes to one of alkalinity, symptoms may arise that may confuse the new vegetarian.
A sour, disagreeable odor may emit from the body as the acids leave or are neutralized. The breath may turn foul. Urine may be very dark and a sharp, bitter taste may be in the mouth.
Weakness of the arms and legs may occur. Many people confuse this weakness for protein deficiency. Instead, the weakness has resulted from a consumption of too much acid-forming protein in the past. The body's energies are directed toward neutralizing these old toxins and so you may feel weak for a temporary period. Once the toxins are taken care of and an alkaline condition is reestablished, then strength returns to the limbs.
Most people who change to a raw-food diet and improve their health may experience one or more of the symptoms described below. Depending upon your past health, these symptoms may be mild or intense, short-term or long-term, temporary or recurrent.
As you improve your health, however, and stay on a 100% raw-food diet, all symptoms will gradually disappear.
Under no circumstances should these symptoms be halted by drugs.
Also, you should not revert to cooked food or overeat as an attempt to stop these symptoms.
Relief from some of these symptoms may come through fasting and rest primarily. Vigorous exercise is also indispensable. Sleep and freedom from stress is vital. Sunshine and fresh air is also a powerful help that you should seek at all cost.

Headaches

A headache is the body's chief warning signal of body toxicity. The toxic load in the body has increased so fast that poisons are circulating in the bloodstream and cause irritation to the brain and nerves.
A quick way to get rid of a headache is to go outside for a vigorous run of 10-15 minutes. This will increase elimination and provide much needed relief.

Upset Stomach and Diarrhea

When food is not being digested properly or is passing right through your body, then it is time to fast. This is your body's way of telling you it doesn't require any nourishment at this time, but instead is busy cleaning.

Constipation

A new diet may occasion temporary constipation. A vigorous run of at least one-mile a day will help end this problem.
Dry fasting for 36 hours and breaking the fast with a high water content fruit (such as a melon) is also very effective.

Weight Loss

Weight loss is entirely normal when going on a raw-food diet. Some individuals become alarmed when their weight falls rapidly. From five to fifteen pounds of water alone may be lost when salt is completely eliminated from the diet. In some individuals, five to twenty pounds of old fecal matter may be eliminated from the colon. All this crap is your false body leaving and you should say 'Good riddance!'
The body will also try to eliminate all diseased tissue in an effort to rebuild a healthy body. It will try to strip itself down to the bare foundations and then begin to add on only healthy tissue. Weight loss may occur for six months to a year. Exercises for muscle growth, such as weight lifting (described in the book Raw Power!) will help rebuild the body with lean, muscular tissue. Eating large green salads with avocados will help you gain weight. Other strategies for gaining weight and building muscles on the raw-food diet are to be found in the book Raw Power! by Stephen Arlin.
Almost all the symptoms experienced during a transition to a raw-food diet are due to the body's efforts to detoxify itself as rapidly as possible.
You can help this process by fasting, exercising, and getting plenty of rest and sunshine.
Have faith in yourself! The end result will amaze you as you become a new person, healthier and more alive!!! Keep yourself motivated and educated by reading books on the subject of raw-foodism, Natural Hygiene and fasting. Look for the great chapter on detoxification in David Wolfe´s new book The Sunfood Diet Success System.
Above all, just eat an apple and don't worry about it.

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