Go Green, Y'all! There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed. ~Mohandas K. Gandhi

Every raw food site I’ve seen will caution you against transitioning to raw too quickly. I’m not sure I can stop myself. I read a lot before jumping into raw foods, but once I jumped, I dove in. The first few days I felt so amazing that I was certain I wouldn’t cave in to sweet temptations or fast food conveniences.

I was loving eating raw. Now, when I say “eating raw”, I’m not 100% raw. The nearest Whole Foods is nearly two hours away and there are certain things I just can’t get around here. Nama Shoyu soy sauce for example. Sprouted grain bread. Seeds of Change pasta sauce. In recipes I use low sodium soy instead and I have had bread once since starting my new lifestyle, and I just had whole wheat. I paid attention to the ingredients, not the calories, when making my alternative selections.

But as far as my body is concerned, I might as well have gone 100% raw vegan overnight. I weigh a lot. More importantly, I was eating a massive amount of crap. Just… not food. After a couple of days on the diet, realizing how amazing things could taste and how they could be flavored so naturally and easily, I was like, “Oh well, forget it – I’m never putting that garbage back into my body!”

So for the past six days I have completely and totally eliminated from my diet:

All sugar – not one bit in anything I eat
All dairy – no milk, no cheese, nada

Red meat – I had a small amount of grilled chicken on two different occasions on a salad, but other than that, I haven’t had meat at all.

Any and all processed foods except for two slices of whole wheat bread in the past six days

Yesterday my body started really feeling the intense effects of such a rapid detox. I juiced for the first time. I was so excited! I got my juicer out and had an awesome time washing and lining up my vegetables to juice. I absolutely love cutting fresh ginger root. It smells amazing. I made green lemonade, which pretty much consists of a whole celery “bunch”, a few fist fulls of leafy greens (I used a mixture of lettuce and spinach leaves), an inch or so of ginger root, two apples, and a lemon.

Because I know that the juice is more packed with nutritious benefits the sooner it’s ingested, I gulped it down quickly. It tasted delicious. Tart, like lemonade, but sweetened just enough with the apples. Seemed like the very best hot weather drink ever. I had about 22 ounces or so.

Within 20 minutes I had to sprint for the bathroom. How can I say this without being too graphic? I just won’t. Use your imagination. This activity continued for about 40 minutes, during which time I would keep thinking it was over and it would hit me again. As soon as I could get easy, I completely passed out. I was zapped of all that wonderful energy I’d been experiencing over the past several days. I ran a fever. And before, during, and after that I have had headaches. I’ve also experienced irritability, bloating, insomnia, nightmares, and have been coughing up disgusting mucous so thick I almost choke.

I feel very, very sick. Sometimes it is hard to concentrate.

None of this sounds good, right? So I looked up my symptoms and The Raw Foods Witch’s website confirmed what I suspected: my body has been rapidly taken off of all of its “drugs” and is going through detox.

The Raw Foods Witch assures her readers that detox will not last forever, and will get better and better if you push through it. However, she – just like every other source I’ve consulted for help – cautions against a rapid detox. Most raw foodists or anyone into this lifestyle will tell you to make certain changes, one at a time. You may cut out dairy for a few weeks, then cut out red meat for a few weeks too, etc., and you build on those changes.

But I read everything, I believe in this lifestyle. I truly do not want to put junk in my body. I look at anything other than natural foods as Unfit for Human Consumption – I can’t bring myself to cave and eat them. I passed right by a box of Krispy Kreme donuts this morning in the kitchen. No temptation. There is not one single food I shouldn’t have that I want anymore. I know that sounds shocking. I packed on 20 pounds FAST when I moved back to central Mississippi, and Ben and Jerry’s had a lot to do with that. Now the thought of eating B&J Milk & Cookies ice cream doesn’t only fail to tempt me, it downright disgusts me to think of eating it.

How does someone like me give up dairy so quickly? When I think over all the foods I truly, truly loved I cannot think of one that I would rather have over a fresh raw meal. I am not tempted in the least – quite the opposite. I have got to fight the urge to go buy a home enema kit to facilitate the detoxing further. That is very unlike me.

I just want the gross feeling I have to go away, but I can’t fathom trying to help it by cramming junk into my body. I’m going to keep dealing with it and I’ll let y’all know how it’s going as the days progress.

I will tell you that at the end of Day 4 I had lost a little over 4lbs.