A "detoxing reaction" or "healing crisis" is a natural, significant body initiated process that can occur when accumulated toxins are being eliminated from the body. These toxins come from unhealthful foods (primarily), impure air, tap water, electromagnetic radiation, negative thoughts, etc. This internal body detoxing is absolutely essential to maintain or regain health.

Detoxing reactions can occur for two somewhat opposite reasons:

1.) Ingestion of toxins. The body has accumulated/is still accumulating toxins at a faster rate than it can eliminate them by normal means. It reaches a point of "enough is enough" (toxic overload). In this scenario, the body will create a detoxing reaction when you are eating or living unhealthfully.

2.) Increased vitality. When detoxing foods/practices are undertaken, such as eating more raw, whole, vegan, health-promoting foods and many superfood supplements, the body's vitality increases, as does its ability to throw off toxins. In this situation, the body will create a temporary detoxing reaction because you are eating healthfully. The elimination of old toxins is commonly mistaken as "this health food made me sick."

Symptoms of a detoxing reaction can include lethargy; temporary all-over muscle aching; mucous or other discharge; a coated, pasty tongue; light-headedness upon standing and in general; headaches; and flu-like symptoms in general. A detoxing reaction/healing crisis may take the form of old symptoms that have been previously suppressed. You may think you are sick. However, this detoxing process is absolutely essential to achieve health and should not be suppressed with drugs. The mainstream medical establishment has completely closed its collective mind to detoxing and assumes that any symptoms displayed by the body are caused by a microbe, so antibiotics are usually prescribed even if they think the causative agent is a virus. Medical antibiotics have no effect on viruses, other than weakening the immune system so viruses can replicate more. Antibiotics and other drugs suppress detoxing and the immune system as well.

Since healthy, raw, vegan (no animal flesh, dairy or eggs) foods are relatively non-toxic and contain nutrients which help to detoxify your cells (as do superfoods), they can initiate, and allow the body to initiate, beneficial detoxing reactions. This is a very good thing.

If a detoxing reaction does occur, I recommend consuming lots of healthy fluids such as raw vegetable juices, raw fruit juices (diluted 50/50 with purified water), fresh watery fruits, and purified water; along with superfoods such as wheat grass, barley grass, spirulina, certain herbs such as Ginkgo Biloba, plant source enzymes such as Digestion Enhancement Enzymes™, HealthForce VitaMineral™ Green (a superfood complex), etc., to assist in the detoxing and apprehending of toxins. In addition, certain homeopathic remedies can assist the detoxing process and make it more comfortable without suppressing it. Consult with a Homeopathic practitioner, or of the many book on homeopathy, and/or a local health food store for more information on homeopathic remedies. If possible, avoid homeopathics that are in a base of lactose. I do not recommend true fasting, meaning that nothing is consumed but water. I feel strongly that a mostly liquid diet of fresh juices combined with bio-compatible nutritional supplements™ (including those listed above), and either enemas or a mild herbal laxative, is superior to pure water fasting. I feel this type of cleanse allows for deeper, more effective detoxing and greater ease on the eliminative organs (more detoxing with less severe, more comfortable and effective detoxing reactions.)

The detoxing process may be slowed down or stopped by eating heavy food (cooked or raw) such as tofu, tempeh, nuts and seeds (especially unsoaked or roasted); or worse, bread, white flour and sugar, processed foods in general, animal flesh, or dairy products (which I don't recommend). Prescription or over-the-counter drugs are often taken to stop the symptoms of a detoxing process. However, in addition to halting this beneficial detoxing process, the body now has to deal with the added toxicity of the drugs. Suppressing detoxing reactions/healing crises leads to lethargy, sickness, and eventually, to life threatening degenerative diseases, even if suppressing the detoxing makes you feel better in the short term. Obviously, assisting the detoxing process is preferred and the only way to achieve actual health.

Without knowing the preceding information, many people have mistakenly concluded that healthy raw foods and/or superfoods made them sick, and unhealthful foods or drugs made them well. If you do experience outwardly noticeable detoxing symptoms, remember that they don't last forever, and once through them, people often feel better than they have in years.

Some individuals (that are aware of the validity of detoxing reactions) hold the firm position that microbes have nothing to do with being sick, and that all sicknesses are actually detoxing reactions. Based on my extensive research (including actual lab work with microbes), I have concluded that both beneficial detoxing reactions and microbial illnesses do exist. To ignore either one these, is, in my view, a very bad and dangerous idea.

Cleansing and microbial infections (bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic) have similar symptoms. However, having symptoms of detoxing does not, by itself, mean that you are having a beneficial detoxing reaction. You might be in detoxing because you ate something or were subjected to something that was toxic, and caused you to go into detoxing (see point #1 above).

I am not generally in favor of pharmaceutical antiobiotics and they are widely over-prescribed, misused and abused. They are often prescribed for viral conditions, for which they essentially have no positive effect. However, I have seen irrefutable cases where pharmaceutical antiobiotics have clearly and dramatically improved health in both companion animals and humans, and quite literally saved lives. I would not have been caught dead saying this many years ago, when I was fully intrenched in triditional raw food theories. I am also aware of people who have died due to their refusal to take antiobiotics, even herbal ones. If pharmaceutical antiobiotics become necessary, I strongly urge you to consume protiobics (friendly bacteria) such as acidophilus and bifidus, and to take liver protective and regenerative herbs or foods such as dandelion greens, beets, and Milk Thistle extract (as found in Liver Rescue™ II+).

I suggest you seek out a health conscious, open-minded, nutritionally aware health care professional (who understands the difference between genuine sickness and genuine detoxing, and is aware of non-toxic alternatives to antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, and anti-parasitic drugs), and/or educating yourself.

Jameth Sheridan, N.D.

HealthForce Nutritionals