To begin, I wanted to point out an experience Dr. Morse had along his own detoxification journey.  Upon one of his long fruit fasts, he had intense cravings for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  The cravings got more and more intense along the duration of his fast that he ended up going into a 7-eleven and scarfing down a few before he went straight back on his extended fruit fast.

There is another instance of a client Dr. Morse was working with that was doing fantastic on the fruits, until she had a severe craving for chicken noodle soup.  Her progress was stalling and she felt such guilt for craving chicken noodle soup.  Dr. Morse granted her some soup, and immediately after her progress skyrocketed.

I hope these cases can help illustrate this principle of Detoxification: It's a process with ups and downs, and it's by far a perfect formula.  

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It can be really easy to get carried away with your health.  Maybe you're in pain, maybe you feel awful, or maybe you just want to fix the very genetics that are negatively impacting your life.  Whatever your motivation to get well and live up to your potential, it can be so easy to get carried away and use detox as a noose around your neck.

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It can be easy to get on a high horse and pronounce yourself as a certified raw foodist and never go back to cooked foods ever again.  Reality will kick you in the face so hard that you will realize that balance is the key to life. 

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Never say never when it comes to eating cooked food, or even meat and dairy.  It's so easy to adopt a vegan mindset as veganism is naturally on the path to wellness.  Veganism will still not detoxify you, but it is a great starting point and safety net should you ever need a more maintenance diet.

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The problem is that we may even treat a maintenance diet like veganism just like a religion to strictly follow.  

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If you treat avoiding meat, dairy, and even seed oils like a mission, that will be an emotional lock for you.  By stating you'll never have unhealthy food ever again, you are trapping yourself in a box that will wear you down emotionally, especially if you've eaten the typical American diet for decades.

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You cannot afford to stress yourself out by a lifestyle of trying to get well, or else you risk shutting down your adrenal gland functioning, thereby shutting down kidney filtration.  You push yourself too hard in your attempt to detox, and you can systematically shut down your kidneys and negate any benefits from raw fruits and herbs.  It sounds counter-intuitive, but the reality is that we can strive so hard to try to eat healthy to our own demise.

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Going Down the Rabbit Hole

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I took detoxification a little too seriously from 2017-2019.  It took Covid-19 to really wake me up that my lifestyle of trying to find the best fruit for the best price and trying to stay as raw as possible was becoming an emotional burden on me, especially during the lockdowns.  Instead of pulling back, I wanted to push even deeper in my detox journey and I went in over my head.

 

I completed fasts for lengths of time I never anticipated I could reach, but instead of boasting about it, I will honestly tell you that pushing too hard for too long can and will take its toll.  A lot of the fasts simply weren't worth the stress they put on me to perform them.  Sometimes its better to eat cooked vegetables for a week than it is to go for a week long fruit fast if that fast is done without preparation, with poor quality fruit, and during a very stressful season.

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I can easily recall how many fruit fasts I completed during extremely busy seasons at my prior job.  I absolutely saw benefit to the fruits, but I also saw the additional stress it put on me to sustain.

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The longer you go on this health journey, the more you will appreciate not being so strict with yourself and lightening up.  It's ok if you eat cooked green beans for a month over eating fruit.  It's ok if you stay in the vegan zone for a season and just throw in some fruit here and there.  Anything you do is better than what you were doing a year or two or even 5 years ago.

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A great sweet spot to stay in for the long haul is the 80/20 rule.  Have 80% of your diet be raw fruits, berries, and melons, and have 20% be your cooked meals that could incorporate cooked fruits, cooked vegetables, or even some vegan meals like steamed sweet potatoes.

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You can modify that ratio of raw to cooked down to 70/30, or possibly even 60/40, but try not to go below that for too long or else you will reap a whirlwind of acidosis, dehydration, constipation, and pain.

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You'll find it very easy to have your fruits for breakfast and lunch, and then naturally gravitate to some cooked foods for dinner for comfort, taste, and variety.  This routine of raw throughout the day and cooked in the evening is a great sweet spot to get just enough detoxification in without taxing you too much.

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Detoxification is an art in the sense that you have to listen to your body to understand how deep and far you can push yourself without suffering blowback.

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Just like in poker, you have to know when to go all in and when to back out to fight another day.

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Slow and Steady Wins the Race

 

We are running a marathon and not a sprint.  So many people put so much emphasis on a week-long retreat in Costa Rica or a summer in Thailand to detox and get their mind right when they forget the other 9+ months out of the year and their stressful lifestyles and poor diets.  You have to think long term about how you are going to live your life while altogether focusing on the here and now.  You need a mindset of health for the rest of your days and for many miles, rather than put so much emphasis on a short stint to only crash and burn and not be prepared for what lies after that fast.

 

You and I are not Superman.  You're still human and I'm 100% sure you have adrenal weakness on top of a host of other genetic weaknesses.  You are impacted severely by lymphatic stagnation, and your doors of elimination are locked.

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You sometimes have to take things much slower than you realize.  When I heard about all of the people doing 40 day grape fasts on Dr. Morse's videos, I got really insecure knowing how difficult that could be and how I was not as hardcore as those people were.  What I failed to realize in my immaturity was my continued growth in this lifestyle and how it was better to take gradual steps in detoxification rather than taking giant ones.  

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If you're really hurting, then it would be advisable to jump all in like your life literally depended on it.  For everyone else, take things one day at a time and go slow and steady.  Love and reward yourself more with breaks from Detox.  Now don't jeopardize your health by going to a Brazilian Steakhouse or AYCE Sushi Bar, but learn to live a little and relax.

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If you're going to treat Detox with strict seriousness for long periods of time, then you may be wasting your time.  Enjoy the fruits, enjoy the herbs, enjoy the lifestyle of health, but you must not be so serious about getting healthy to the point where you never want to eat another piece of fruit ever again. 

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We are in this for the long haul.  We're not here to adopt some fad detox diet and then drop it after a month and get severely burned out on health.  The last thing we want is for anyone serious to detox go too far in and then swerve the complete opposite direction and live a Carnivore or Keto lifestyle.

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Use the fruits and herbs as tools to clean and strengthen your body, but also listen to your body along the way.  Assess your mood, assess your thoughts, and ask yourself if pushing deeper is the best course of action.

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You are not competing with anyone else.  You are running your own race.  Yes, sometimes we do have to challenge ourselves and dig deeper.  sometimes we do have to dust off our hands and get to work. 

 

Sometimes our zeal can also get the better of us.  Remember to love yourself and remind yourself that it's all going to be ok.  You've done a fantastic job getting this far in life, especially during these modern times.

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Don't be afraid of food, whether it's cooked or not.  Embrace every flavor and texture.

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Life is meant to be enjoyed.  We are trying to get healthier to enjoy more life, but if our struggles for health cause us to be unhealthy, then it's time to change things up a bit.  Rest is key in this lifestyle and for detoxification, that is sure.

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I'm here to encourage you along your journey and to remind you that's it OK to fold your hand.  You may be enhancing your detoxification more than you can imagine.  Your adrenal glands will thank you.