Hi and thanks again for your comments.

JK98: thank you for your comments on supplements and food. I'm eating a lot of garlic at the moment (hubby tells me I reek!!). Good advice also on the supplements - I will check that my multivit includes all of the above. Out of curiosity, with CFS & MCS, do you find that you sometimes have very extreme reactions to supplements which dont suit you?

Birdlady; I should clarify; my problem with Ian Solley had nothing to do with the content of his eBook, the diet he promotes, or the supplements. Clearly it worked for him, so I dont doubt that it CAN work for others.

My problem with him is that he refuses to warn already ill people that this protocol might cause them to become even more ill. He paints a very rosy picture on his website of how wonderful this protocol is, how GENTLE it is compared to other methods. How quickly you could see results etc etc. When I bought his book 3 years ago, there was no mention either on his site or in his eBook about possible side effects of detox, whether from mercury or candida die-off.

That is just plain wrong, particularly when he had first hand accounts from someone who had experienced horrible side effects from what he sells.

Its that mis-representation that I find so wrong and deceitful. And that is my sole problem with him.

Like you, I agree that a vegan/vegetarian diet is probably not the best choice, especially for a sick body. But I dont think you should rule out vegetarian sources of protein completely. They have a role to play too.

I realise that we need oils in our diet, but I disagree with you that the level of animal fat which this diet introduces is healthy. The body needs fat, but we in the west eat too much animal fat and not enough vegetarian or fish oils. Numerous studies exist which show that the healthiest populations in the world eat gain their oils primarily from fruit/veg/seeds/nuts. Fish oils are next in the list of priorities while animal fats are way down on the list. Yes, we need animal fats, we just need to balance it a bit better.

About 5 months ago I changed my diet to one which comprises about 80% raw fruit, veg and seeds. The remainder is foods such as wholegrains, meat/poultry and eggs. I did it as an experiment, having read so many reports of people curing themselves from all sorts of ailments with the help of a healty diet.

For me, this approach has been helpful. I never expected that it would remove the heavy metals from my body (that wouldnt be reasonable), but it has made me strong enough to even contemplate attempting it again.

I'm not advocating this for everyone. I dont suffer from candida, so I have no problem with the fruit content. I was already on an exclusion diet (processed foods, sugar, dairy and caffeine) but that didnt cure my migraines, whereas this diet has.

We all know that each individual is different; every day on here we see people who respond well to a dose of DMSA which would cripple another person. Its all about our individual tolerances and needs.

In my case this way of eating works. It has made me stronger. I'm not saying it would work for everyone.

So while I agree that cutting out unhealthy foods and drinks is a MUST, I also think that just as we each respond in a different way to various detox supplements, we probably each respond in a different way to various foods.

Again, going back to my experiences with the other detox protocol, no-one considered that we each respond differently. Everyone was put on the same diet, took the same supplements and in the same quantities.

In light of my experiences I would say that any "program", be it a diet, a detox or whatever which advocates the same foods, medication/supplement types and dosages for every person, is doomed to cause some of those patients a lot of unnecessary pain. Any regime which treats us "the same" is not going to work for a percentage of those people.

The path to good health is one big experiment. We can follow some general guidelines and learn from those who have gone before, but ultimately we each have to figure out what works for us.