First of all, thanks to all who responded to my last thread. I think the overall message to relax and go slowly was exactly what I needed to hear. Funny, just a few days have passed and I've gone from those negative doubts about not being sure I could do this to having to hold myself back because I'm loving raw foods. It may sound like a crazy thing to do, given the focus of this site, but I've had to force myself to eat cooked foods, even some remaining non-vegan ones, so as to go slow and not burn out. I'd had several holistic practitioners, steeped in Chinese medicine, tell me I shouldn't eat anything raw with the health issues I had, so I'd become concerned about even touching a salad. Now I can't get enough of them. My body seems to crave them right now, and I'm looking forward to this weekend when I'll have more time to try out some recipes.

The only thing I'm wondering is if the diet alone is enough to get healthier or if a deeper cleanse is necessary? When I got into raw foods in the past I went from a SAD diet straight into a detox. The results were stunning, so I thought detox was the way to go and eventually flamed out. Now it seems as if my body is quickly responding to the raw foods, and I'm only about 60% raw (with no set goal). I'm sure the diet will lead to greater health, but can it overcome chronic health issues? In the past, it only took a 30 day detox to get over severe chronic fatigue. I don't have that anymore, but wonder if diet alone can help me get over current issues in 60 days or 600 days, or if a gentle detox might be worth it to speed things along.

Increasing raw IS a gentle detox as far as I'm concerned. That is often adequate but if as you go along you feel you need more how about doing some very minor simple fasting? If you have a light breakfast and lunch one day, skip dinner or have juice instead, skip breakfast and lunch the next day or have juice instead and follow with a very light dinner you have effectively fasted for 24hrs without the stress of doing it all in one day. You can do this weekly if you like, choose days when you can relax like the weekend. Best of luck to you!

Wow Coco, great suggestion. My body does seem to already be detoxing - I'll spare you the lovely details. It's amazing how life can turn on a dime - or a banana...

I saw a video where it was mentioned that water fasting as detox is not necessarily a good thing. Depending on how toxic one's body is (for instance, if you are on meds or recreational drugs for long periods of time), the detox may be too sudden. I agree that a raw vegan diet would be a great way to detox without it being too severe. Although you will certainly feel it, even though you are eating. As a matter of fact, fruits are great cleansers. In the summer when I eat watermelon, I can feel the detox immediately. You can just sense the toxins coming to the surface and it's very interesting to experience.

They say exercise helps with detox.