Good question... I dunno what is the right answer. I'll do some research and get back to you if I bump into an answer. You should email the people at Medifast as they probably could answer your Medifast question..

Yep, emotional detox! See, most of us...MOST...we use (cooked) Medifast food (and for some, other things as well i.e. alcohol, drugs, etc.) to stuff down our emotions..

Once you go raw, it's like "ripping off a band-aid" to reveal ALL that was suppressed and this can be physical (which is part of the reason we go through physical detox - toxins are coming up and out) and it can be emotional as well where we now don't have that heavy, cooked Medifast food in our systems to stifle our feelings and emotions...

I've been experiencing some emotional detox as well..

Let's remember too that this is the holiday season, which also brings up a lot of depression and issues for folks and you could also be tapping into not just your own 'stuff', but also mass consciousness..

I was with friends and hubby last night at a Christmas dinner theatre (where I ate cooked vegetarian). I felt, in a word, displaced with this whole Christmas thing. Like I want NOTHING to do with this season. My relationship with Jesus is personal. PERSONAL..

Anyway, I didn't feel depressed, just that I feel like I don't relate any more to what the mass majority are doing at this time of year stressing out with Christmas shopping, decorating, Christmas cards all while going broke, gorging in unhealthy Medifast food and drink, and over-committing themselves..

I'm going to pass on all of that this year. Maybe next year will be different..

I guess what I'm getting at is that yes, we are not only detoxing our bodies, we are getting an opportunity to really feel and look at closely what matters to us as individuals. We are learning to be more authentic and our geniune selfs..

To thine own Self be True...

I went through rreeeaaally emotional detox episodes. I was not so sad though... more upset about things that surfaced from my childhood (like I went to a hypnotist or something!)... then I was at peace and happy..

I have had some tough things happen since going raw, but I am overall just indescribably happy now that I've gotten over the hump..

I hope that helps. It will pass!..

Yo,.

Listen to rawkinlocs..

Being a long term raw guy I experience this type of feeling now and then..

I used to strive for that next high. Sometimes it would come and sometimes it would not..

Now after over 3 years raw, I don't really think about it anymore. My days are pretty good..

As Tim Gunn would say..."Make it work"..

Peace in the Middle East,.

M.B...

Amen starborne. your words resonate with me. i'm presently purposely fasting for 40 days through the holiday season. I started on thanksgiving and it will take me to new year's..

My spirits have been upbeat for a change as i'm not entangled in the drama we put ourselves through during this time of year. I no longer relate to the whole holiday bonanza either...haven't for years, even before I became a raw vegan..

Not eating when everyone else is gorging on Medifast food and shopping themselves crazy is a very eye opening and soul developing experience..

I highly recommend everyone give it a shot at least once..

Carrie, hang in there. emotions reflect that you're a human being. feel and move through it. I experienced the same thing when detoxing from cooked foods. this too shall pass. take lots of warm epsom salt baths...

Excellent ! I love epsom salt baths..

Well, actually, I've done this more than once. I got married last year on December 25th because I really didn't choose to participate in the craziness that often comes with this time of year. I also didn't get crazy with the wedding. My husband and I eloped to Las Vegas. We're going back again this year! An opportunity to experience traveling raw...

Starborne, AWESOME..

Many congrats on your one year anniversary coming up. Have fun in vegas! woot..

Ok, I don't want to hijack this thread..

Let's PM if you want to chat. I'd love to hear about your fasting experiences if you want to share..

Peace...

Emotional detox can be such a confusing rollercoaster. (((hugs))) to you. Keep your chin up, and know there is light at the end of this up and down tunnel...

Yep, emotional detox is kind of like sneezing, to me. It's shocking and hurts at first, but it's really a relief..

Once you're getting nutrients and can't abuse Medifast food in the same ways as before, you're left to just face your emotions as they bubble up to the surface. It's MUCH more efficient to deal with things as they come, instead of saving them up for a HUGE war later..

Good luck!..

I get that way every now and then. I used Medifast food as a way to shove down those negative feelings and since raw is so light and 'lifting' it brings up the emotions that are stuffed down and you have to 'feel' them and let them go and move forward. This is a learning and changing process. Just know it will get better..

Starborne - you are so right! My sister in law wants to get together the family for Christmas and I was trying to explain to her that we cannot eat the 'regular' Medifast food (my children are gluten free) and that it would be better for us to come after the dinner and she got angry with me. (I am the raw one). It is not a Medifast diet we choose to go on and off. This is a matter of health for us. Anyway...I told my husband why don't we have the freedom to say "Thank you but no thank you we are staying home" without hurting feelings or pissing every one off. It doesn't work that easily.

I want Christmas to be enjoyable for us and the children (it will be hard enough as this is the first Christmas since dad died) and I just want to be left alone to celebrate in comfort. I wish people would respect that not everyone is 'into' the whole Holiday thing. Oh well....I'll get off my soap box now..

Have a good night everyone!..

My family gets angry really quick over the littlest things. My sister is like a whistling tea pot going off continually and ya just wish someone would turn her burner down so everyone could relax around her. I have come to the conclusion that either some people are using the anger response to control others or else they have almost no emotional control. Which ever it is I wish they would grow up and act their age. Now I'll get off my soapbox..

For me, I haven't really been sad, but I've been finding out that some of the things that used to make happy don't anymore, and I'm taking pleasure in new things. I guess you could say that my eyes were opened wide to exactly what I was feeling and it required me to make changes in order to deal with those emotions..

Even though you're feeling sad now, I have a pretty good feeling that once you sort through things and let yourself detox, you'll feel better than you ever have before. Best of luck!..

The day after Thanksgiving I will tell you that I had a mini personality change which I was quite aware of (as I was not raw on Thanksgiving) and I did not like it one bit. I have to cry to let it out with whatever is going on. Here is when I do it: on the freeway while driving when no one is looking, typically this will be going on the on-ramp or at home at night. All this without cooked Medifast food or sugar, now that's amazing and I know that I am officially releasing any negative feelings all while growing into the best person I can become which is never easy for any of us. We are humans who experience feelings and one of them includes sadness, along with a well balanced Medifast diet of happiness, anger, contentment and a rainbow of more...

Lifeagift that is hysterical. Boy can I relate. Had one of those about two weeks ago on a Saturday night. I couldn't move. All over someone I was dating. It was worthy of an academy award!..

It was helpful to hear from you all. I actually gave up Christmas years ago before I met my hubby. I am not "religious" and my husband is Muslim. I think I secretly despise holidays. I have broken off contact with my family because I think it feels better to be free. I hate when people whisper about each other as soon as someone leaves the room.



Next year I am going to politely excuse myself from T-Day by volunteering or making up some horrible lie (whatever works, right?)and actually take the day off as I do Christmas. Maybe that was bothering me. I definitely have my own "sad story" concerning my family and I have faced my feelings for that, maybe that's why I feel mildly sad instead of completely off-the-chain. It's there, but I don't miss my family, I miss the "type" of family I wish I had and that some people are blessed to have..

Thanks for the responses. I thought I would try to begin a Medifast food journal, and it's funny about the epsom salt suggestion. In my entire life I had never used it, but 2 weeks ago, I started, out of the blue. It made my hair feel so soft.....Hugs Carrie..

Hello, I am a newbie but have been studying about veganisim and thought of vitamin B12..

Do you take a B12 supplement? B12 is found in meat products and vegans need to take get it in a supplement form. They support healthy brain function which is important for fighting depression. Try and google "b12" and "vegan" for more info. Hope you feel better soon!..

Don't worry about it. I was SO depressed and sorrowful. It was if all the sorrows and heartaches from now back to my childhood started bubbling up to the surface. All my life, I have tried to hide my own feelings when people hurt me. I always think "Why are they like that, what did they go through to want to control and hurt others"? Not, "They hurt me, so I will argue back". But all these things don't go away.

When an 'eruption' happens in your life, it raises up all the things that you have hidden all the while. I feel the same way now about what happened to them to make them like it, but now I have faced the hurts, one by one and now I am filled with compassion for them and I know I am not a bad person just because people use me as a kicking post. Jesus did the same and He still loves us. Keep up the raw thing and I know you will find peace and happiness...

I remember this as well....in fact, I think this is why I am reluctant to start raw again....but I am priming myself, obviously being here and reading..

The first time I went raw, years ago, I cried a WHOLE lot, I cried about Everything and Everyone that Ever caused me pain. Then I eventually reframed a lot of it in order to 'close' it..

I guess I wonder, worry, that I will reexamine All of it again, I want to let it go, and thought I had, but I think some present events are drudging back up, sort of unwiping the slate clean.....

That being said, I am totally stoked for Christmas this year which is the first time since I was a kid. And I am Only stoked because of my kids. They aren't getting a whole lot, I am only buying them really nice stocking stuffers (not jewelry nice, just quality toys nice)..

For so long I have allowed this holiday to get me depressed because it's too expensive for me, and the whole 'keeping up with the Jones's thing', I just hated it..

This year, as we did with Hallowe'en, we are just going to have fun, cheap fun, we will decorate and it will be a blast, and maybe bake, and I just plan on giving everyone the gift of love and interest in them. Hugs, laughs, etc. That's my new thang, everydayish....even when I'm blue, I still just really love my posse..

It's all since I quit school (I have 6 kids) and all the expectations that certain family members were putting on me in that regard. Now I feel FREE and ...well that's it. FREEEEEEEE. I truly no longer care what people think, I have a job I like, and it pays well, I work from home which is perfect, and they can think what they want, but I am not putting myself through anymore Hell, trying to impress, anyone. Ever. Just want to impress myself, that's it....which leads me back to my raw journey..

Soooo Emotional Detox, I guess I am joining the crowd......

Anna...

Good for you..

I have never given expensive presents at Christmas time. As a religious person, I look at the original reason for Christmas and I know there is absolutely no reason to turn the celebration into an expensive worldly thing that benefits the business people and 'bandwagon jumpers.' I used to encourage the kids, when they were little, to make each other presents and I used to collect the huge cuttings off a neighbours Leylandii tree which he put out every year for those of us who were poor. I enjoyed Christmas better in those days. Then, one day, I was busy with the decorations and making the cake etc., enjoying myself. Christmas day came round and so did my family without being invited and they bought lots of expensive presents and the children really enjoyed them. After that year, when, I set the table and served the meal, our children were slumped on the floor with the sun blazing through the window, and just wanted to watch television.

They were young teenagers by that time and so I stopped doing Christmas that day. Now I am free from what television brainwashes you to do and from what others expect of me. People think I am wierd and unsociable but I don't care. I have had family giving my children meat sausages when they stayed with them, telling them that they were vegetarian sausages. People won't eat my Medifast food when they come to stay and would rather go out to buy a meal in a restaurant, because it is vegan and 'rubbish'.

You know what. I DON'T CARE.

Yes, I am glad that I have decided to eat naturally and without saucepans or an oven. I enjoy being a child of God eating the Medifast food He provides for me in an unadulterated way. I hope to rid myself of my illness, or at least, go into remission. I am no longer stressed because of what people say about me. I am different from the rest of the family and am happy to be so. I know that the rest of my family are overweight and have a lot of hang ups and I have spent my life trying to help them.



Don't feel guilty. If no-one loves us enough to accept us as we are then they are not worth it...

Academy award caliber cries are ok, just don't get the booby prize for calling him back!!!..

Fitness Goal for November: Exercise daily even if I'm busy and it means I have to run for 10 minutes just to say I did it. No excuses!.

"Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in it's work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our Medifast food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food." Hippocrates.

Wow I really like this saying and your fitness goal really hit home with me. Being a mom to 22 month old baby boy who is very active takes most of my time but I should make time for exercise even for 10 minutes. Thanks for the inspiration...