Clear for Life

This is weird.

For the last couple of days I’ve been sticking to a 100% low fat, raw vegan diet. And what does my body reward me with?

Cold!

I have a sore throat and my nose is blocked.

Moral of the story? Eating healthy doesn’t pay?

That’s what it looks like at the first glance, but there’s a logical explanation for why I got ’sick’. And I hope that by sharing my own experience and take on it, I can help you to ride through your own trials and tribulations.

My body decided to start detoxing a bit heavier and that triggered this ‘cold’. I’ve also been extremely tired during the past few days. I have trouble concentrating. So in this stage it’s a bit hard to work. And that’s why I’m struggling even with this simple blog post.

Last week the laundry service didn’t do such a good job with my pillow cases. They had residues of laundry detergent (and I’m sure here in Thailand they don’t use 100% natural stuff). So the skin on my throat got horribly irritated. It got flaming red and I managed to develop a good set of pimples there. Initially I didn’t bother about it since I knew it’s going to pass as I changed my pillow cases. But shaving everyday irritated it even further, so it didn’t budge at all.

That’s why I decided to get rid of it with this 100% raw diet. My throat starts to look normal again, but now I’m down with cold.

For me this is a normal detox reaction. It happens to me almost every time my body decides to kick up the detox process.

So don’t freak out if something like this happens to you when you change your diet. Different people react to this different. So you may get different symptoms.

Just understand that these are a normal part of the healing process, and a sign of progress. In the natural health field this is called ‘healing crisis’.

The best way to deal with this is just to take it easy and give your body time to heal. Rest as much as possible and eat lightly. It’ll be over in a few days.

With that, I’m going to hit the bed and hope to get a good 12 hours of sleep.

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Clear for Life - The Fun, Easy and Delicious Solution to Permanently Clear Skin.

Last night was rough.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a need to empty my bladder. As I made my way back from the toilet I suddenly started feeling dizzy and my eyes started blurring out.

It was not a nice feeling.

It seems that my blood sugar levels went too low.

I made my way to the kitchen and had a spoonful of honey and two small apples. After sitting down for a while it passed and this morning I’m feeling just fine.

This sort of thing can happen during the early stages of a water fast. The body changes from burning carbs (glucose) to burning waste material and fat for energy. It usually happens during days 2 and 4. After the body switches to burning completely fat (day 4 and onwards) you should have less problems with low blood sugar levels.

Anyway, this is one example of why you shouldn’t do water fasts unsupervised. It’s possible to lose consciousness if your blood sugar levels go too low.

So keep an eye on how you feel and in no case should you ignore symptoms of low blood sugar levels (dizziness, eyes blur and feeling weak) and think they’ll pass. Grab a bit of honey or something sweet that raises your blood sugar levels. Simple sugar dissolved in water also does the trick.

This is less of a problem with fasts where you eat something, though still possible in longer fasts (7 days and more).

Evening update

Feeling ok today. Not great, but not bad either.

On the negative side I have to say that I’ve been pestered by constant cravings. I just want to put something into my mouth all the time. It was not as bad today as it was yesterday, but it’s still there.

Very annoying. And it makes it difficult to remain positive. Physically this has been one of the easiest fasts, but mentally it has been a tough battle.

Let’s see what tomorrow bring.

Click here for day 4.

I’m surprised.

Today has been far easier than I thought. I expected to be confined in bed and feeling miserable. Instead I’ve been up most of the day and feeling… ok.

Sure I’ve been feeling a bit weak, tired and sluggish. Plus it has been a major test of willpower. Still compared to my earlier fasts, and my expectations, this has been quite easy.

I’m sure it’s because I’ve been eating predominantly raw for close a year now. My body has had time to throw a lot of toxins out. So there’s less to throw out.

Still, the bed looks pretty inviting. Better go to sleep and hope tomorrow will be less of a test to my willpower. Detoxes where you can eat something, even if it’s just apples, are definitely much easier than pure water fast.

Keep that in mind when you think of detoxing.

Click here for day 3.

Ok, I’ve been putting off this for too long. It’s way, way too long since my last proper fast. Not to mention recently my diet and lifestyle have taken a hit. Once a year I come back home to Finland to meet my friends and family. And you know friends. Most of them are not compatible with healthy lifestyle.

So I’ve decided to do a 7-day water fast, starting right now.

To give you an idea of what it feels like to go through this I’m going to share my experiences here.

If you have any questions about fasting or detoxing please post them as comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

So this is going to be a simple 7-day water fast. No supplements, colon cleanse powders, enemas or anything. Just pure, simple water.

As a word of warning, if you have little or no experience on fasting, please don’t try this at home. Water fast is way too rough for beginners. In Clear for Life I share many different fasts and detox diets that are suitable for beginners, along with how to prepare for a fast. Anyway simple 3-day apple fast, any other mono-food fast or even a raw food cleanse (where you eat nothing but raw fruits and vegetables) are all good for beginners.

As a preparation I ate predominantly raw diet the whole last week. Again catching up with friends messed that up a bit. Anyway, screw that, I’m going to do this now.

Coffee is one of my last bad habits and I drink way too much of it (2 to 3 cups a day). Unfortunately I continued that the whole week. So to soften the blow I’m going to drink a bit of coffee during the first 2 to 3 days of this fast. Not much, about 1/2 a cup a day. I know caffeine withdrawal gives me a blinding headache and that’s why I want to soften it a bit. It’s not ideal but life rarely is.

Kinda like the joke my friend’s boss made of his own wife. "I know she’s not the best possible, but she’s the best of the possible."

Nasty. I know, but we’ll go with the same principle here.

I’ve noticed that especially beginners tend to be very idealistic about detoxing and fasting. They are often afraid that if they slip a bit or don’t stick with it 100% that it’s going to be of no use.

Luckily that’s not true.

Detoxing is not like an on/off switch. It’s more like a dial. Your body detoxes 24/7. It has to because your own cellular metabolism produces toxic waste the body has to eliminate.

The only thing that changes is detox speed. The more stress you put on the body (be it digestive, mental, physical or any other form of stress) the less it has time and resources for detoxing. And if your diet is not that healthy toxins often accumulate faster than the body can throw them out.

So the point of a detox is to maximize the detox speed by reducing the intake or toxins and stressing the body as little as possible.

So my taking a bit of coffee (or any other slip) is just going to reduce the detox speed a bit. But that’s not a big deal because I’m still eliminating far more toxins than I’m putting in.

That pretty much does it for the intro. I’ll post more once the fast really kicks in.

Any questions you have, just post them as comments and I’ll answer them.

Click here for day 2.