For anyone doing The Raw Food Detox Diet, please note these helpful pointers:

(If you have additional questions, take a look at the Frequently Asked Questions page)

1) If you were not a vegan/vegetarian before undertaking this program, I do not recommend you eschew flesh completely. I'm getting lots of emails from people asking me where they are getting their protein from if they don't eat flesh. Well, there are of course much better protein sources than flesh, but why are they giving up flesh? I do not recommend giving up flesh for prior flesh eaters in the beginning at all. I do not believe flesh should be eaten more than once a day and preferably not at lunch time, but for those of you who come from flesh eating backgrounds, you can still eat high quality flesh (preferably fish) every night for dinner with raw salad and steamed vegetables if you wish.

2) Please do not try on a more advanced level of the program than the test in the book has suggested to be your level. There is a very important reason that this test is in the book and that there are 5 levels. If you discover you are a level 5, you will not do as well if you take on the program of a level 3 or 4. Those of you who are getting bloated or feel like you are gaining weight could avoid these symptoms by sticking to your TRUE LEVEL.  Don't let your ego sway you. Doing a more advanced level is not going to make you progress faster in most cases. It could in fact hold you back.

3) Remember that fruits, while ideal food for mankind, are extremely cleansing -- meaning they awaken old poisons. But, some of you are not "clean" enough for fruits. You'll know this because when you eat fruits you will swell. If you swell for a moment and then have a great big bowel release then you're fine with the fruits but if you swell up and do not release, you should temporarily steer clear of fruit (with the exception of small amounts of blueberries, grapefruit and green apples which are almost always safe). Instead, have the sprouted grain bread for breakfast, or if you're able, just the Green Lemonade (sweetened with Stevia or just one apple).  Even a baked sweet potato would work in the A.M. or try avocado slices with green apples. Many of you will have fantastic success with abundant fresh fruit in the morning but this is for those of you who do not respond well to it.

4) Remember that while portion sizes are not an important measuring tool for this program, overeating is not helpful either. Use your intuition -- you know how much is too much. Nuts, also must not be overeaten. You don't have to count out a specific number of nuts, but don't sit down and eat a pound of cashews and think you're eating a cleansing meal!

5) Some women simply will not lose weight eating grain, even if it is sprouted grain. So, if you're feeling a stall in your weight loss, try nixing the grain and see what happens. This grain problem usually goes hand in hand with the fruit problem and is often indicative of candida (or too much yeast in the system) so you'll want to tailor your detox diet accordingly.  Do take your personal needs into account. We are all after all coming to this with very different life experiences and nutritional pasts.