hi wise ones,

It's been 5 wks since I had the flu and I continue to feel the worst I ever felt in my life. I can't do half of what I did - working out, even after 1 minute leaves my legs shaking and me wanting to cry. Prior to the flu I was raw for about 13 days. (usually had at least 75% living foods in my diet before that) After those around me got the bug, I knew it was more than detox. In any case, I ended up eating some cooked, because my temp dropped low and I was too dizzy to drive, live etc! I have been back to my 75% regime, "waiting" for my normal energy to return before jumping on the raw wagon again.

Just had blood work done, because I was curious and miserable, and just as I figured everything was fine. thyroid, etc. I know it's not just because I am eating cooked, as I never had a long enough time raw to justify me feeling like this. I have severe muscle exhaustion during / after working out and fatigue that is unbelievable. Also, my eyes are twitchy and puffy and feel sore.

I would love all your opinions - I wonder if this is adrenal fatigue? After researching, it seems those regular docs don't test for this/don't believe in it, but holistic ones do a saliva test. My doc did mention Chronic Fatigue and wanting to rule out everything else. I believe I can fix my ailment with raw, but I am not sure I can handle more detox on top of this right now.

Any ideas on adrenals and if short term supplementation might be wise? Thank you for all your ideas and theories

Hmmm....just a thought. Instead of focusing on giving a name or syndrome to whatever is wrong in your life....ask yourself: are you fully satisfied that you are eating the highest foods that YOU have determined? Are you living a life of passion and joy? Are you following the dreams that YOU are motivated and prepared to follow? If all the above is true....what difference does it make what happens? ACCEPT whatever happens.....as the stage on which your dreams are moving toward you like a locomotive.

-On the practical side: You might be going through mild detox (depending on how long you ate/lived unhealthily) for years....slowly changing. ACCEPT this.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

" It's been 5 wks since I had the flu and I continue to feel the worst I ever felt in my life. I can't do half of what I did - working out, even after 1 minute leaves my legs shaking and me wanting to cry. Prior to the flu I was raw for about 13 days. (usually had at least 75% living foods in my diet before that) After those around me got the bug, I knew it was more than detox. In any case, I ended up eating some cooked, because my temp dropped low and I was too dizzy to drive, live etc! I have been back to my 75% regime, "waiting" for my normal energy to return before jumping on the raw wagon again. "

--- Sounds like you went raw, and then the "flu" you had came. The "flu" is just a massive detox, just like a runny nose. All the mucus in the body is flushed out, and renewed. Thats why raw people dont get the "flu", they have no mucus in thier lymphatic system. I had something like this the first time I went raw. My muscles ached so bad as all the acids were getting flushed from the body. Its also why people who are very congested do not get sick... because if thier body did do a detox, it would probably kill them.

"Just had blood work done, because I was curious and miserable, and just as I figured everything was fine. thyroid, etc. I know it's not just because I am eating cooked, as I never had a long enough time raw to justify me feeling like this. I have severe muscle exhaustion during / after working out and fatigue that is unbelievable. Also, my eyes are twitchy and puffy and feel sore."

--- All signs of detox. Your muscles ache because the body is expelling acids. Your are also short of breath, because the body is trying to expell acids through your lungs. Your blood oxygen levels are lower than normal too... because your detoxing. And you know what else... it is not good to exercise why your detoxing. Atleast not working out anaerobicy and weightlifting. Because your body is already acidic, and your just doing damage to your body... trying to force it to do stuff. Your body also tries to keep a blood pH of 7.364. And will digest your bones and joints to do it if necessary... so if your already acidic, and working out. Your only doing more damage to your bones and joints.

Quit trying to force your body, and just accept it as it is. If your hungry eat, if your sleepy sleep, and when you finally have bounds of energy and have finished detoxing... then go exercise. And dont go to the Gym... that place is nothing but full of insecure people who do not enjoy life. I mean if it is winter... maybe, but for the most part... go outside. Go for a run, or to a local play ground and do some exercises there. Maybe even join a local volleyball team, or take up ball room dancing. I love even just throwing around a frisbee or playing hacky sack. Aswell while your detoxing and have low energy... I think you should only do workouts that are aerobic, and gentle. IE stretching, walking, rebounding, stuff like that.... take it easy on yourself.

Not to mention when you are outside you are getting FRESH AIR and SUN LIGHT. There is a diet called the Sun Diet that healed thousands in the 1800s. It only involed a mono diet of living foods, and guess what... getting sunlight every day before eating. RAW FOODS are made up of Sunlight, Fresh Air, Rain Water, Soil, and LIFE.


"I would love all your opinions - I wonder if this is adrenal fatigue? After researching, it seems those regular docs don't test for this/don't believe in it, but holistic ones do a saliva test. My doc did mention Chronic Fatigue and wanting to rule out everything else. I believe I can fix my ailment with raw, but I am not sure I can handle more detox on top of this right now."

Chronic fatigue is just a symptom of a toxic body. Keep on going raw, and let the system flush itself out. Maybe even a good juice fast is in order. As well regular doctors are just people who focus on the symptom, and are payed to do so. They dont look at the body as being whole, where one part affects all parts.

"Any ideas on adrenals and if short term supplementation might be wise? Thank you for all your ideas and theories "

The sun is very much related to the endocrine system, so if you have a problem with adrenals... consider sun gazing, which is known to help the pineal gland which is the "master gland". (http://www.solarhealing.com/about.htm) What ever you do... dont take lugols. If you think you need to take iodine, get it naturally from seaweed... or even better black walnut hull extract. Aswell raw foods are concentrated sunlight.

Read this... its good. I cant remember who recommended the site, but I read this book and it made alot of sense.

[www.soilandhealth.org]

Aswell David Z. is absolutely correct... listen to your spirit, and dont get confused by the illness.

hey David and Context!

thank you kindly for your responses! Love both of your wisdom/images - thank you for sharing

I never usually want a name to "what I have" because it is transitory and fleeting anyhow IMO - I guess I got hung up because I wasn't used to feeling so awful. And I've been at the 75% raw for several years now, so figured it wasn't detox.

I am not a fan of docs or western med, but for some reason am fascinated by the blood work results (to see changes in this and that as I have gotten healthier) and this happened to be around the time I get a physical. I suppose it'd be more interesting to do one of those holistic 'live blood cell analysis' test from what I hear.

NO gyms for me! You can't drag me in a place like that

Thanks for the info too on sunlight, Context, I don't get enough, as it's been gray and cold and overcast where I am at. But I went out today - and I bought seaweed on an instinct a few days ago after hating it for years. Truly, when we turn inward we hear alot of what we need- thanks for the reminder.

I don't think you've told us enough info. about yourself to really understand what may be going on. Age, health before the raw foods, how you felt when you started raw foods, what cooked foods you ate before raw, during raw..etc.

Massive detox is hard and it happened to me the first 2 months of my going raw..with earaches you wouldn't believe..I was never prone to earaches..makes sense to me now but I was just learning then about detoxing. I felt I also had to see a dr. and he of course gave me anti-biotics..but it probably slowed down the detox and got rid of the very painful earaches. That was just the tip of my iceberg though. I still went thru more detox and still have a lot to go thru and I've been on this raw food road for over 5 years now.

You may want to eat easily digestible raw foods easy on your system such as high quality nicely ripe fruits, light green juices (leafy greens like dark green lettuces, spinach, celery, cukes) in combo with carrots. You can use a blender also to make fruit smoothies, take probiotics in some manner but on a daily basis for at least a month, then go off if you want then go back on later for another month etc. Green leafy salads and other salad items depends on how healthy your digestive tract is. They may be best in a blender for a while, and during that time you can ease into the fresh salads, nuts, nut butters, etc.

You can add avocado in your smoothies, or make a dip or sauce or eat plain..but start slow with that also, as it has a lot of fat in it and it's harder on the liver, and will have the liver dumping bile which could be somewhat painful due to what it needs to cleanse itself as it cleanses the blood.

If you eat cooked, make it as healthy and whole foods as you can, like steamed yams and your fav. veggies, etc.

Dump the regular salt and use only Moist Grey Celtic Sea Salt, or Redmond Salt or other 'natural' salt that contains the many minerals salt should have.

Also if you are drinking any tap or municipal water I would stop and drink only distilled for now. Spring water from an actual spring would be next best imo.

And gently bounce..get an exercise ball or mini-trampoline and just sit on it or stand on it and just 'gently' bounce. When I'm at the computer the only thing I sit on is my exercise ball..and I can bounce when I feel like it..probably not enough even with as much as I'm on it, but at least I get some in.

While Iron, Lugol's Iodine, Magnesium, and Vit-C..have been the best supplements I've utilized..each person has their own issues and I think that balancing your mineral intake is very important and getting rid of heavy metals that most of us have more than likely. Finding food sources for a mineral balance is your best bet, then supplements if required for short term and sometimes used to see quickly if that's what is required then find food sources. Greens/plants have minerals in the right proportions if quality for human intake usually.

One last piece of learned and shared experience from me to others is, you might consider a parasite and worm cleanse. But that is a whole ball-game itself..so just take what you want for now from all posts here, and research the rest later.

Love,
Prism



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2008 04:39PM by Prism.