Importance of variety in animal foods

[LePatron7]

Howdy raw paleo peoples.

I sat down today to see how much a raw meal (excluding fruits/veg/nuts) would cost if I bought my food exclusively from White Oak Pastures.

If I eat 1 oz of beef fat, and 8 oz of chuck roast, it would cost about $3.16 per meal. Which IMO is very cheap. If I wanted a quick snack at a fast food joint, it would cost me roughly $2.14-$3.21 if I got 2-3 dollar items.

Any way. I'm considering increasing the amount of animal foods I consume since I'm already spending the money on other, not so healthy foods. But my question is this - how important is it to eat a variety of different animals?

Say I eat exclusively beef, but I eat some liver, heart, kidney and marrow bones in addition to the muscle meat and fat. Is it that necessary to also throw in some lamb, buffalo, eggs, etc.?

[jessica]

i think variety is important.  i like to keep a little bit of this and that around.  lamb tends to be more fatty so if i am looking for fatty meats lamb is my go to.  buffalo tends to be the opposite so if i am super craving for protein ill eat that(or deer).  eggs are always good to have on hand to sip down a few yolks for a small meal or add to other meals for extra fat and nutrients.   just see what your body says.  these days i cannot eat the amounts of red meat i used to, so i eat small portions of chicken or turkey and sometimes a little liver.  i mean for a few years i was eating around a pound of beef/elk/buffalo a day with a half pound of liver, and it was great.  now i dont really have an appetite for it.  i would say keep open to variety and if you find yourself not wanting to stick to raw, see if it isnt because you are stuck in a rut with what meats your eating.

[TylerDurden]

Years ago, I used to just buy raw meats/organs from one animal or similiar restrictions, and I would eventually get bored with such a lack of variety after 4-8 months or so. I would then lose my interest and taste in such meats until I started finding more variety.

[Iguana]

Yes, variety is very important, exactly as Jessica and Tyler say. Otherwise, after some months you'll probably get bored of eating always the same food. Not only other mammals meats, but also poultry, eggs, shellfish, fish... and insects if possible... anything except of course neolithic and modern foods!

[LePatron7]

So say I was to eat mainly beef. But also throw in some salmon, lamb, buffalo and eggs.

For example 10.5 lbs of meat per week. 6 lbs beef chuck roast, 2 lbs heart and kidney. 4 oz beef liver, 4 oz salmon. 1 lb buffalo, 1 lb lamb. And some eggs.

Would that be better?

[van]

why only one ounce of fat,,   too little

[LePatron7]

why only one ounce of fat,,   too little

Per meal, 1 oz isn't enough?

http://www.nutritionvalue.org/Beef%2C_raw%2C_separable_fat%2C_retail_cuts_nutritional_value.html

1 oz = 191 calories x 3 meals = about 600 calories

Plus 1.5 lbs of chuck roast (not doing the math for all the various foods) -

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/3683/2

About 1,650 calories per 1.5 lbs. Although I imagine grass fed would be a little leaner. But still that's about 2,000 calories right there.

Not even facoring in some fruits, veg, and nuts.

How much fat do you eat per meal?

[eveheart]

I agree that 1 oz if fat is too little. In my case, I eat about 1/2 pound of meat/fish per day and all the rest of my calories come from fat. Even when I go to restaurants with friends, I eat raw oysters or fish plus a whole bunch of butter (like 6 "servings").

I, too, do variety to keep from being bored, too. I split between beef, seafood, fish, lamb, egg yolks, butter. I don't really know if variety is a tastebud thing or a nutritional thing, maybe both, but I'm happiest when I have variety.
 

[Iguana]

Certainly both since it is correlated.

Butter, Eve ?? 

[TylerDurden]

I agree that 1 oz if fat is too little. In my case, I eat about 1/2 pound of meat/fish per day and all the rest of my calories come from fat. Even when I go to restaurants with friends, I eat raw oysters or fish plus a whole bunch of butter (like 6 "servings").

I, too, do variety to keep from being bored, too. I split between beef, seafood, fish, lamb, egg yolks, butter. I don't really know if variety is a tastebud thing or a nutritional thing, maybe both, but I'm happiest when I have variety.
 

I thought you'd said you were allergic to raw dairy?  I know some people have claimed to me in the past that they did fine with raw butter but not  with other raw dairy, but most of them reported back after some years that they actually did develop small problems even with raw butter, over time. Just saying.

[TylerDurden]

Iguana, you mentioned insects. Have you gotten to the stage where you can eat maggot-infested aged, raw meat? I still haven't crossed that threshold yet as I'm too squeamish. I will admit that I did once eat a cooked grasshopper or seven, but that was all.

[LePatron7]

I just got even BETTER news from WOP. They send at least 2.5 lbs of the food you order. I just weighed the heart, liver, kidney, fat, marrow etc. And only one package weighed exactly 2.5, the rest were average .25 more than I ordered.

[van]

I'll eat almost equal size portions of fat and meat together.  One way to tell with fat is try eating it first.  You'll have a stop when you've had enough, then try the meat, same thing with the stop.  Eaten together, it's hard to know.  I don't do that only but once in a while now, just to check what I think I want. 

[eveheart]

Butter, Eve ?? 

When all else fails, yes. Same with egg yolk, because I can only get CAFO eggs most of the time. Animal fat and marrow is always #1, but butchers sometimes give me excuses instead of fat and bones. Nuts irritate my innards. Bottled oils never appeal to me. I don't have a great source for olives. My experience says any fat is better than no fat, so I have my fall-backs that don't noticeably inflame or irritate beyond the point of no return.

[goodsamaritan]

I believe in variety.

Re fat amount, try Van's advice.  You need to know how much fat you need first.  Over protein consumption is a problem.

[eveheart]

I thought you'd said you were allergic to raw dairy?  I know some people have claimed to me in the past that they did fine with raw butter but not  with other raw dairy, but most of them reported back after some years that they actually did develop small problems even with raw butter, over time. Just saying.

Any milk kills me; even very ripe lactofermented milk kills me. But, every winter, my butcher has no grass-fed beef fat to offer, and the CSA has no good eggs for sale. I manage things like binge-eating disorder and crippling arthritis with very-low carb RPD, and my basic criteria is this: if I can walk, sleep well, have energy to work and play with grandchildren,  and if I do not binge-eat, I'm eating right. I am really pleased with how I feel, and the few things that I don't do "perfectly" can be improved another day. I'm not into competitive raw paleo.

[William]

But my question is this - how important is it to eat a variety of different animals?

Not. If you get all the nutrients from one animal it tastes good regardless of how long you've been at it.
Note  also that taste varies with cuts from different parts of the same animal.

[LePatron7]

Realistically, can you get to much nutrients from eating to much organs?

When I was ordering brain, I typically got diarrhea when I'd eat over 5 oz.

Does the same apply to liver, heart, kidney? I just got 7.5 lbs total of liver, kidney, and heart. It's really cheap, and I was hoping to eat about 1 lb of heart, and 1 lb of kidney weekly, along with 4 oz of liver. Unless you guys think I could eat more without problems.

[TylerDurden]

I also got diarrhea after eating too much raw liver. I never had issues with eating too much raw heart or raw marrow etc. though.

[LePatron7]

I also got diarrhea after eating too much raw liver. I never had issues with eating too much raw heart or raw marrow etc. though.

Good to know. It's likely from over consumption of certain nutrients. Ie. brain - cholesterol, liver - vitamin a.

[Iguana]

Iguana, you mentioned insects. Have you gotten to the stage where you can eat maggot-infested aged, raw meat? I still haven't crossed that threshold yet as I'm too squeamish. I will admit that I did once eat a cooked grasshopper or seven, but that was all.

No, unfortunately. I'm disgusted by maggots and I admire Sabertooth who can eat them with pleasure. A friend of mine also told me he has eaten meat with maggots and he said it's tasty...

But I could once catch a grasshopper and I ate it. Also, once in the desert in California, I was a bit hungry and I tasted an ant. It was too small to feel its taste, so I caught some more and put them all together in my mouth; it was not good, quite acidic.     Bee brood is tasty but difficult to find. 

I think if we were hungry sometimes, we would try much more to eat various insects. Our ancestors certainly ate quite a lot of them.  Bruno Comby launched a research long ago in view to find out which insects are palatable and himself was regularly eating insects. GCB also thinks insects are missing in our food range.

[LePatron7]

Does prefrozen meat get smelly really fast?

I literally just partially thawed some heart and chuck roast to cut it up and prepackage it into 8 oz bags. And the amount I left to fully defrost to eat later smelled weird.

[TylerDurden]

Does prefrozen meat get smelly really fast?

I literally just partially thawed some heart and chuck roast to cut it up and prepackage it into 8 oz bags. And the amount I left to fully defrost to eat later smelled weird.

  The freezing destroys the cell-membranes/cell-walls of the relevant food which leads to rapid nutrient-loss as soon as it thaws. No wonder it starts to smell quicker after thawing.

[TylerDurden]

But I could once catch a grasshopper and I ate it. Also, once in the desert in California, I was a bit hungry and I tasted an ant. It was too small to feel its taste, so I caught some more and put them all together in my mouth; it was not good, quite acidic.     Bee brood is tasty but difficult to find. 

  That may have been  due to the formic acid in ants.

[RogueFarmer]

  That may have been  due to the formic acid in ants.

I'm sure. Some ants are more edible but I ate some carpenter ants that were about the sourest things I have ever tasted...more than a lemon, more than a warhead candy. Regular black ants are less pungent. Ant eggs are a traditional staple in parts of south east asia, from what I have been led to believe, even in modern times.

My favorite insects are cicadas. Big mouthwatering morsels. I think people eat those giant water bugs. I have read that tomato horn worms are edible, but I would do more research because tomato plants accumulate various poisons.

I accidentally killed a preying mantis last summer and wasn't about to waste it. It was really good, though chewy. Tasted green!

There is a maggot called a black soldier fly. The flies are nocturnal and poor flyers compared to houseflies so they aren't a nuisance. They eat fresh produce (unlike regular maggots that eat rotten produce) and meat and are really easy to grow!

They have a whole contraption that is basically like a compost bin only that it has a collection ramp and trap that allows you to effortlessly harvest the maggots. http://www.blacksoldierflyfarming.com/