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B complex and vitamine C with flavonoids work wonders for me. Bs are better if you take them in the morning since they may produce insomnia. They also may change the color of your urine to a intese yellow. :)
what are your symptoms? I actually don’t even know what detox symptoms are…
durianrider – I started 811, but I’ve transitioned from very extreme SAD to 811 cold turkey.
rawlizard – hm, I’ll look into those things. Thanks.
chicory – nausea (I assume from all the toxins in my system) & headaches.
p.s. durianrider – I ate 2 lbs. of mango for breakfast, 3 lbs. of pineapple for lunch, & 3 medium cantaloupes for dinner.
sweat! yoga, saunas, raising your heart rate… it’ll get the toxins out much quicker than if you let them fester inside you.
breathing deeply works wonders too.
good luck!
durianrider – Not enough calories? I’m 19, 5’5 & 185 lbs (attempting to lose 60 lbs or so). I use CRON-o-meter to estimate my calories and it says that the day I posted about reached 1833, which I would think would be TOO much for someone my age and size looking to lose weight! Any advice would be appreciated x
I agree with your CRON-o-meter’s estimate of the calories. For the amount of fruit you ate, that sounds closer to accurate. Perhaps you are sensitive to something in the pineapple, mango and/or cantaloupes, but it’s not evident unless you consume large quantities of them. My first suggestion would be to aim for more variety for your 1,800 calories. You can still eat mono meals, if it makes you feel better, but eat (different) smaller mono meals and more often. My second suggestion would be to add some detoxifying greens to your diet. If it’s your intention to be fruitarian, then consider some sprouted seeds, particularly sesame, for calcium, iron and fat. Your body will hold on to its weight and fat if you deprive it of fat via your diet. Don’t be afraid of a little bit of fat. You may not want to use oils, but eat the whole (sprouted) seeds, plus eat some fattier fruits, like avocado, raw olives and durian. Make sure to get at least 45 minutes of cardiovascular activity 5-6 days a week. Strength training is also a good idea (2-3 times per week). You WILL see results. It took time for you to get to 185 and it will take time and effort to lose the excess poundage. I eat very well. I drink lots of water. My diet is ideal, yet I can’t lose the 5 or so pounds (of a 10-15 pound weight gain) that are lingering after a lazy summer of SAD eating. Why? I have only been sporadic in my exercise routine. I have a couple of good weeks, then a few weeks of no exercise. I’m positive that had I been consistently exercising during this transition to RAW, I’d have lost all the weight by now. During this detox period, I haven’t felt like doing much exercise. I’m hoping this will change … soon. Until then, I won’t try to eat only low fat fruits and vegetables, in the hope that I will lose weight. I won’t. My body burns calories only when it is fed enough calories to have the energy to burn it. Think about that. It makes sense. You can lose the weight, but it could take a year or more, if you’re doing it properly (read: permanently). This is not a quick fix diet. You don’t want to drop 60 pounds only to gain back 70, which is what happens with fad diets. Do it right, and you’ll only have to do it once!
Large amounts of sweet fruit make detox quick & often “painful”. Green juices help get rid of toxins & minimize detox symptoms. I drink a quart or more per day when I need to detox – I start with a base of cucumbers and/or celery, then leafy greens of all types, & sometimes I add lime & ginger for flavor. Cucumbers really help mellow out the flavor of bitter greens. Daily yoga, water, & warm water enemas (or colonics if you have access) can help, too. All these help get the toxins out of the system faster so they aren’t just stirred up & causing problems by hanging out in a new place in the body. :)
Also, eating nuts &/or oils will slow down detox.
Thanks for the advice, angie.
1sweetpea: Your advice was spot-on! It makes perfect sense. As far as exercising goes, I used to be obsessed with exercise like almost to the point of disorder… that said, I must be careful. I haven’t had any determination to exercise since starting this detox, but like you, I hope this will change soon!
KAIT, Nearly 13 years ago I was 5’2” and 186 pounds. I was vegetarian then, but subsisted on a diet of pure crap. I had Graves’ Disease, which is an overactive thyroid, but I should have been losing weight, since my resting heart rate was 120 at the time. The thyroid disorder was probably brought on by my terrible diet. My endocrinologist told me then that I was a prime candidate for Type 2 diabetes. It took me another couple of years of being fat and miserable before I decided to change my life. I started a diet to end all diets. It was reasonable at first, but over time, I cut out all fat, counted calories obsessively, exercised up to 2 hours a day, every day and, while I lost a ton of weight, I became extremely unhealthy and disordered in my thinking. Starvation quickly led to bulimic episodes, which became full-blown bulimia until 5 months ago. Trust me when I say there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. I lost 100 pounds in 10 months. At 85 pounds, I was a wreck. Over time, I got to 105, which I felt looked good, but I was still a raging bulimic. I’m struggling with the fact that now that I am no longer bulimic, my well-hydrated and well-fed “ideal” weight might be closer to 115. This number seems high to me, but I’m trying to let health dictate my ideal weight, and not my scale or my mind, which still plays tricks on me when I look in the mirror. As someone who is prone to overdoing things, be it exercise or diet, I can honestly say that moderation is key. It’s tough for me, but I’ve learned. For me, I have to be careful what I eat and how much, but I have to be equally careful not to be too restrictive. I’m reversing nearly 13 years of damage to my body. My hair and skin are finally starting to look nice again. My heart doesn’t beat irregularly anymore and I don’t suffer extreme edema when I travel by airplane anymore. I feel like it’s all coming together, finally, but exercise is the last link to my puzzle. I don’t know why I’m so hot and cold with exercise. I know I feel best when I’ve done it. It’s just silly to try so hard to eat well, then not exercise. Let’s make a pact to try to do a little bit, even if it’s just taking a walk. It’s a start. BTW, the Graves Disease is in remission and has been for several years. I never developed diabetes, thanks to that doctor, who scared me straight. I took charge of my own destiny by changing my lifestyle. I’m even healthier now that I eat well, needless to say. I thought it best to share all this with you since you mentioned that you’ve excessively exercised in the past. Please don’t go that route. An hour a day is plenty, provided you use that time well.
yeah, i didn’t mean to overdo it. i just meant, when you DO exercise, it’s good to sweat. i do 1 hour 15 minutes yoga a day which gets me dripping wet… i can’t live without it. it stretches, strengthens, and it’s FUN! when it’s fun, it becomes its own motivation. but you need a few days of doing it to remind yourself how much better you feel.
I know some people say “well, you didn’t gain the weight overnight” and that’s true. BUT in my case, I haven’t been accumulating weight over a long period of time. I am normally and have maintained my weight at 108 until I was 18 1/2 years old. I was put on depression meds that royally screwed up. I went from 108 to 185 in about 6 months. I am now off the meds and just trying to get back to where I have been. I have been raw on and off for about 2 months.
Does it matter that I gained the weight in such a short time? Does this mean I will be able to lose it faster since I haven’t been accumulating weight all my life? Or does it not make a difference?
Weight put on from medication side effects may not come off the same way wieght would come off if it had been put on by eating too much, but at 18 or 19 years old, even if you have a small frame, 108 seems really skinny. Like 1sweetpea said, maybe focusing on a certain number would be counter-productive for your best health? I don’t know what’s right for your body, of course; just throwing out ideas. Something I read about ideal weight said that “ideal weight” is the weight that your body naturally settles into when you consistently eat a nutritious diet and exercise regularly.
I’m not focusing on losing down to a certain number. I just want to feel more comfortable in my skin. That’s why I mentioned that I was hoping to release 60ish pounds, which would have be at 125. I agree that 108 is on the skinnier side, but still healthy for my height. I never mentioned a time frame either…
I assume that once I detox all the medication from my system that my body will be able to react to food the way it used to?
By the way, to get back to the topic at hand. I drank a gallon of water this morning before eating anything and I’ve felt much better.
Good! Water is awesome – and sorry I didn’t pay attention to everything you said very well. :P I don’t know how that all works or what it takes to overcome all the effects of the medication – it probably depends on what the medication did that caused the weight gain (like if it damaged your thyroid, it may take a while to heal it, etc.), but I’m glad you’re finding things that work well for you! :)
lol that’s okay, angie. Yeah, my medication was for depression and it just “adjusted” (aka screwed with) my hormone levels. I’m not positive how that all works, but I don’t think it damaged anything!
Hopefully, without the meds in your system, your body will respond to diet and exercise as it would if you had never been on the meds at all. I don’t think you’ll necessarily lose weight any faster just because the weight gain was quite rapid. It’s possible, but you should still expect to have to burn the caloric value of every extra pound in order to reduce to whatever turns out to be your “ideal” weight. Burn it off, without starving it off. You’ll produce a lot of endorphins this way, which are a far better treatment for mild depression, IMHO, than drugs. Also, all the newfound energy from eating a balanced vegan diet, hydrating yourself, exercising moderately and sleeping well at night should put you in high spirits. The best prescription for mild depression is positive change. You’ll be even better off since the change was masterminded and executed by YOU—great self-esteem booster! You can do a lot more for your health on your own than can standard western medicine. That said, if your depression is/was severe, healthy living might not be the whole answer. Obviously, many illnesses require medical intervention, but I do think brain chemicals can be balanced if the rest of the mind and body are in balance.
Pianissima—you’re definitely inspiring me to grab my yoga mat and start sweating. Are you sweating in a Bikram studio or are you just working your butt off with a more traditional style of yoga?
yup yoga worked for me too, really helped the detox symptoms go away. Bikrams Yoga of course ;)
There is a yoga studio right near my house and I plan on commuting next semester so I will definitely look into purchasing a monthly unlimited pass!
1sweetpea – My “depression” is and never was severe. I’m not depressed, but I was having anxiety/stress issues when beginning college and transferring colleges so my doc put me on anti-depressants :-S
Typical response by a doctor. Don’t listen to the patient and prescribe medication for everything! It sounds to me like you weren’t depressed at all. You probably could have relieved a lot of that anxiety and stress with the help of a pscyhologist (not an MD—can’t prescribe drugs). I hope that’s all in the past. Yoga (meditation, breathing, etc.) sounds like it would be a perfect fit for you.
Hey KAIT – make sure you get greens in – daily if you can. I’ve noticed (and I’ve been pure fruitarian for as long as 3 months in the past) that greens are GROUNDING – they help detox and are essential for the 811 plan, I’ve noticed. I still have days when I only want fruit – but I now realize how important greens are even in a high fruit diet.
Ever since I started a hot yoga class, my detox has been happening MUCH faster – I concur!
Oh and great job and congrats for how far you’ve come! :-)
THANKS, durianrider – I didn’t even consider disregarding the “non-edible” part. That makes it very difficult to calorie count, but I’ll have to just estimate.