raw, dehydrated meat

[Ioanna]

I've seen posted recommendations for dehydrated (low temp, raw) meat, and I definitely see the convenience of this in terms of storage, socializing, and making raw meat more palatable to a newbie.

However, I'm finding that the more dehydrated my meat, the worse off that I am.  I have no idea why, or how this can make sense... my dehydrator is set at the lowest setting of 85F degrees.

Completely dehydrated meat (24+hours), even processed to a powder as in pemmican, will cause the return of my IBS symptoms of severe stomach upset and bowel distress.  One hour to bring meat to room temp or so has been okay, but even four hours I can tell a disturbance in my digestion.

So be it, I must eat fresh meat and that makes it a little more difficult because I then will not eat around anyone (difficult in the work place), but I know what I have to do.

Just seems odd??

[cherimoya_kid]

Dried fruit is a terrible, terrible food.  It will make you old and sick quickly.  For some, dried meat may have the same effect.   

[William]

Every time I've eaten dried meat, I've scooped some tallow onto it, same as PP.

If there is not enough tallow, I get headaches.

[TylerDurden]

It's not odd at all.One theory as to why raw meat digests better is because it has a much higher water-content than cooked meats. My suggestion is simple:- eat 1 large, (grassfed/organic)raw-meat-meal a day in the evenings, and eat only raw(organic) fruit during the day if in the work-place.

[Nicola]

It's not odd at all.One theory as to why raw meat digests better is because it has a much higher water-content than cooked meats.

What does the water-content do for digestion? Digestion starts in the stomach; have you had a luck in your stomach and intestines? Why do people report about feeling bloated, having cramps and very loose stools?

I eat raw meat but could not say I NEW what is going on in me - you seem to be so shore so you may be able to give more details

Nicola

[TylerDurden]

What does the water-content do for digestion?

The idea, I think, is that the extra water prevents inflammation. As for the silly claims re bloated/cramps etc. , naturally, people who've been eating cooked diets for ages will have built up large amounts of heat-created toxins, so that when they turn to raw-meat-diets, they will initially have detoxes involving those symptoms. If those cooked zero-carbers were remotely intelligent, they would stick to the rawpaleodiet for longer and they would stop having those symptoms once the cooked-food-derived toxins left the body.

[Tom G.]

Completely dehydrated meat (24+hours), even processed to a powder as in pemmican, will cause the return of my IBS symptoms of severe stomach upset and bowel distress.  One hour to bring meat to room temp or so has been okay, but even four hours I can tell a disturbance in my digestion.

Just seems odd??

 I have eaten pemmican for 4 days in a row a few times in the past. Almost 2 months ago, I wanted to try living off it for 28 days during my vacation. If everything went well, the time period would have been extended to 6 months to 1 year, just to see how it goes for long periods. Mainly the experiment was for potential survival situations. well, I didn't even last 1 week. I had been zero carb for over 1 week prior to the event. What I have found so far is that suet tends to give me indigestion. 1 meal of suet pemmican is no problem, but more than that has a cumulative effect, and I can't eat more than 6 to 8 oz per day. I can eat 12 to 16 oz of pemmican made with muscle fat. I haven't tried this for more than a day though lately, so I don't know for sure. More experimentation and lots of time is needed.

 The pemmican I had eaten for 4 days in the past ( about 4 or 5 years ago ), with no problems was dehydrated at 140 F or more and also made with muscle fat. The failed experiment pemmican was low temperature dried meat ( 90 F ) and mixed with suet. In the next few weeks, I'm going to try drying the meat at 140 F and mix that with suet. I know that is not raw, but I want to identify the variables that are causing the stomach problems. I have no problems digesting raw meat.

 Another factor could be that the meat is very dry, and that it needs a certain amount of water to digest in the stomach. It could be a combination of all 3 factors together that makes it worse. In regular raw meat, 2 potential factors are removed. The meat has more moisture, and the fat is less saturated than suet. I'm going to have to figure out if it's more one factor than another, or all together.

 Now, I suppose it could be suggested that I just bite the bullet and continue on until I have adjusted to it. The problem with that is I don't intend on living off of pemmican, but may have to one day for emergency purposes only. That would pose a problem in the way of having to adjust for several weeks if this were to ever happen.

 Maybe this is not a matter of detox. It could be more like a training affect. Running will build cardio but will do little for building muscle. Weights will build muscle but have only a small effect for cardio. Switching from one form of exercise to another would cause problems if one wanted to jog 10 km, but has been only lifting weights for the past year. I think it may be similar for eating. The body may have to be trained to eat a certain way. Switching quickly from one style of eating to another may cause temporary adjustment periods. Perhaps after eating pemmican for a few weeks, the digestive system will recognize the meal as "the dry stuff", and will compensate with more water, or slower travel through the intestines, and maybe even different digestive enzymes.

 All the above is only my own speculation. I can't figure out why I can eat 2 or 3 lbs of raw meat or the same amount cooked, but can't get more than 6 oz of pemmican without my stomach doing flips. Pemmican is just a steak that has the water removed. Theoretically there should be no problem.


  Tom

[William]

A very complex subject indeed. My take is that we all start with very different digestive abilities, and necessarily have different reactions, complicated by the fact that dried meat varies so much.
For instance the dried meat I make from ground grassfed beef is quite different from the dried meat I make from whole super lean muscle (the muscle tastes better). I think that this is because of all those white specks in the gb, and I don't know what they are - assume connective tissue of some sort.

So we are all different, with different metabolic abilities, attempting to digest different stuff made at different temperatures and with different means and calling it all "meat" and/or "fat". Confusing, isn't it?

I still think that pemmican is the perfect food, for those who were in something like the physical state of the voyageurs of the fur trade 200 years ago, but we are not. Nevertheless, it's as close as I know right now.

[Ioanna]

My suggestion is simple:- eat 1 large, (grassfed/organic)raw-meat-meal a day in the evenings, and eat only raw(organic) fruit during the day if in the work-place.

Tyler, this actually sounds perfect and appealing for me!, except that fruit still gives me digestive problems.  I tried eating a freshly picked organic apple last week, but still not working for me.  Maybe I could try berries, but they're not in season and I don't know that I would tolerate them or not. Is this how you eat, generally?

[TylerDurden]

Tyler, this actually sounds perfect and appealing for me!, except that fruit still gives me digestive problems.  I tried eating a freshly picked organic apple last week, but still not working for me.  Maybe I could try berries, but they're not in season and I don't know that I would tolerate them or not. Is this how you eat, generally?

I eat mostly raw meats(including lots of raw organs like raw tongue and raw marrow). I also eat some raw fruits(mostly strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, but also oranges, nectarines and melons of all kinds). I have a food-intolerance towards raw tropical fruits, which makes sense since I'm of Northern European descent. I also eat a little raw veg in the form of raw seaweed from the raw mussels I eat, plus some raw radishes, raw samphire,  raw carrots and raw salads, but this is rather rare, to put it mildly, except for the raw seaweed element. If you can handle raw zero-carb, it seems you should try that, but otherwise try a variety of raw fruits to see which appeal to you.

Oh, and bear in mind, that many people on long-term VLC diets, tend to develop food-intolerances towards raw carbs. This is simply because the body requires different enzymes/bacteria to handle the different foods, so that when you eat hardly any carbs for long periods, your digestive system starts to badly digest them, given the lack of carb-digesting bacteria etc.. Same applies, in reverse, to those who've been raw vegan/fruitarian for long periods and who then suddenly start eating large amounts of raw meats.Of course, that may not apply to you if you've not been VLC for long, in which case by all means try raw zero carb.