Hi everyone,

I'm a 25 year-old male who just began a 80% raw vegan lifestyle about four days ago and I'm really excited. However, my body has been feeling a little weird for the last couple days. I feel slight out-of-sync with myself and overly hyper inside making it hard for me to focus throughout the day. Towards the evening yesterday--after the hyperness wore away--I felt a little lethargic and sluggish inside.

I'm not sure if it's mild detox symptoms or if it's the type of foods I'm taking.
My day usually looks like this:

-a small glass of fresh carrot/apple juice for breakfast
-a big salad for lunch
-blended or sauteed veggies with a starchy food (Ezekiel bread/potatoes) for dinner

Other info: I drink lots of water; I haven't been able to exercise at all yet; I haven't really been eating any nuts yet but plan on a eating a few here and there.

Does anyone know what wrong with me? What can I do to end my sense of disorientation? Thanks in advance!

You said it: Nuts (fats) will slow your detox a little. And exercise. I heard that if you go on Douglas Grahams Bootcamp, you will not get any detoxsymptoms. rumors rumors..

Thanks for the input healthybuns. I might have to eat a couple more nuts and hit the gym. Before the that though, I'm not really sure if the detox symptoms are the issue or if its the fact that I'm drinking too much juice (or if I should avoid juice). I'm really stumped...

Thanks again!

Are you getting enough calories? You can check that on line on fit-day or nutrition data, among others. It doesn't sound like you are getting enough - do you eat fruit also? I get disoriented when I don't eat enough, so maybe it's something like that.... a lot of people don't get enough calories when they first start out, you have to get used to eating a lot more than you did on cooked.

Good luck, and let us know how that works out for you!

Hey, I'm also a 25 year old male and went seriously raw this year...

My personal experience with detox was pretty horrific. I came out in a really bad rash which lasted for about four months. I didn't feel very disorientated but my friend who is also trying to go raw seems not to get any detox reactions but he gets quite depressed. I got a little depressed but I think that was more down to the rash...

Detox symptoms is different for everyone. I ate a lot of nuts going raw and now I'm going to be trying out frutarian so hopefully I won't go back into too much of a detox but if it does, oh well...

My best bit of advice which is the only way I was able to go 100% raw is the importance of a transition diet. If i messed up, I would go back to gluten free and then after a few days, I was able to go back to raw again. In gluten free, you can drink goats milk and eat crisps (or potatoe chips for you americans) and chips (fries for you americans), so I don't feel deprived at all...Yet before going raw when I went gluten free, I had more of a detox from going SAD to gluten free than from gluten free to Raw, so don't underestimate the good you are doing.

All I can say is best of luck to you.

you say you feel overly hyper inside: I also feel that way when I drink fresh juice - it gives me a burst of energy that i don't know what to do with, but I've never felt that was a bad thing. Raw food really awakens you. Maybe if you did some kind of yoga or meditation it would help you re-focus. Or, like you suggested, exercise. It takes time for everything to fall into place -- I'm still working on it! good luck!

I agree with Sapphire, I think you need more calories--probably a lot more.

Generally "detox" = inadequate calorie consumption.

Less often, "detox" = food intolerance/allergy.

There isn't any other reason for "detox" and it isn't a term that a scientist would use regarding diet. If a person writes a book about diet as "detox" it means they are making stuff up.