Kirt and All,

This is something I've been musing on. I had a pretty remarkable detox
experience over the past two weeks on vacation, which I spent following a
purifying diet (almost totally raw, enormous amounts of fiber, vegan except
for a few raw eggs). I was also enjoying massage and hydrotherapy at a hot
springs resort. Within a day I was eliminating mucuos from my body after
each meal and experiencing aches and pains and 'colds', especially during
the first week. The second week was even more remarkable; after a week of
good bowel movements my stools started getting hard and mucousy. Then I
briefly became quite constipated and had to take a good amount of a senna
laxative. Two days ago, it all broke through and two very large bowel
mevements of pretty 'recent' stuff were followed shortly by elimination of
about 1/2 gallon of some very rancid greasy material; obviously stuff I
hadn't eaten for at least a few months or much longer! That night I
experienced severe pain in my right shoulder area, and an arthritic
stiffness along with it. It has since subsided. I suspect there is a lot
more of this stuff that would be beneficial to flush out.

I kept a food diary and notes about the provocative effects different foods
seemed to have - for example was grapes resulted in a definite
arthritic-type aggravation (I already knew cheese and tomatoes do the
same); several others (red onions, garlic, bitter greens and ginger)
promoted mucous. Carrots were actually pretty neutral. Anyway the net
result has been very beneficial, although I'm quite drained (partly from
the long red-eye from San Franscisco to Boston this morning) I now feel a
deep-down sense of wellness and peacefulness I didn't have.

My view is that certain elements in some foods, like solanine or citric
acid, or turpenes in some bitter herbs, have a disturbing and even toxic
effect on the body, but in the right circumstances can actually 'provoke'
the body into a healing reaction. It is definitely not cut-and-dried. I
think once I've healed my body moderate amounts of certain of these foods
should be of little consequence.

James Gordon MD in his book 'Manifesto for a New Medicine' tells a
remarkable story of his own dramatic healing of a chronic back ailment
following a one week pineapple diet. In healing-crisis style his ailment
got excruciatingly worse before better. Pineapple is one of those
provocative foods that some people would be advised to avoid to prevent a
'flare-up' of whatever their chronic condition was (be it candida, fibro,
arthritis...). It makes you think.


Paul ([log in to unmask])


PS I enjoyed three great meals at the Raw Experience in SF. It was nice to
have cake and pie for the first time in years! Thanks to whoever it was who
posted a reference to it on this list!