Annie - Kudos for endeavoring on a raw food detox. I'm all about cleansing and giving your digestive system a break in order to get rid of anything that has been hanging around for a while.

About a month ago, I went to my doctor (Dr. Hugo Rodier, a holistic M.D. who practices in Draper, UT) for a check-up to make sure my thyroid was functioning normally. The blood tests came back as normal, but in the meantime, he had me do a detox. So for two weeks I ate nothing but raw vegetables, nuts, and seeds. And, luckily, I took some pics. So, if any of you are joining Annie in her raw food detox, the recipes below might come in handy.

Before I give the recipes, I want to mention that there are many different types of detoxing diets. If you are eating the Standard American Diet (SAD), eat a lot of cooked food, or have recently deviated from your healthy diet, then a raw food detox will serve you well(nuts, seeds, fruit, veggies, sprouts). My diet consists of about 70% raw food already, and when I did my detox, I wanted to take a break from sugars in any form, so I chose not to include any fruits so that my body, especially my pancreas, could take a bit of a rest. (Also, some fruit is naturally slightly acidic, and on cleanses I prefer to eat/drink alkaline foods. )

If you want to go a step further, you could detox with a green smoothie diet (no solid foods). Even more intense is the combination of juicing greens and drinking green smoothies. You may choose to include, or not to include, fruits, depending on your preference. I prefer not to include fruit, but many people choose to do so - it's whatever you deem the most effective or feel the most comfortable doing.

If you take it even further than that, you're on a juice feast. Remember, I am not a doctor, but juicing, especially juicing green vegetables and green leafy vegetables, will allow your body to not only get rid of old waste stuck in your gut, but will enable it to pull toxins from your tissues and eliminate them, all the while flooding your body with phytonutrients and promoting healing.

I just finished reading the blog of Chris Sherry, who was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and chose to reverse it by juice feasting. He juiced for 92 Days!!!! He followed the book, There is a Cure for Diabetes by Gabriel Cousens, M.D., and David Rainoshek, two amazing people who promote raw food and natural healing. Personally, I have only done detoxing by taking herbs and eating alkaline veggies, seeds, and nuts, but my husband has done a juice feast twice (once for 14 days and once for 3 days) to help heal his arthritic body, with much success, and I have always wanted to try it. I believe the time has come and I shall embark on a juice-feast for 7 days in the near future. I haven't decided when, so I'll keep you all posted.

When beginning a cleanse or detox, some people will experience detox symptoms (and some won't). One of these may include a skin rash, in which the body is trying to eliminate toxins through its largest organ, the skin. It also may include a fever or flu-like symptoms, or even a headache. Usually these symptoms will last only a short while and then subside. Some people like to get enemas or colonics on a cleanse to rid the body of toxins more easily. However, if you want to endeavor on an extended juice-feast, if you have poor health, or if you just want to make sure you're doing things correctly, consult a doctor or other professional to help you through this process.

With that said, here are a few recipes to keep your motor running while on a raw food diet:

Sundried Tomato Spread on Kathy's Krackers

I just recently found Kathy's Krackers at Harmon's grocery store and Good Earth Natural Foods. I love these crackers because they are made locally (Laverkin, UT), they taste WONDERFUL (especially the Salsa flavored ones), they are thicker than other flax crackers and can even be used for an open-faced sandwich, and are less expensive than other brands. I just received an Excalibur 9 dehydrator for Christmas, so I'm excited to make my own, but until then, I'm munching on Kathy's!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5, 2010 at 12:51 AM and is filed under Health Issues . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.