Audrey,
Many of us have come from a vegan/rawvegan/vegetarian background. I stupidly followed raw vegan for about 20 years, even as it was clear that my heath was declining.
I have some cherished beliefs about what works and what doesn't. Understand that these are my beliefs not facts. I think I have experiences that supports my beliefs and the choices I've made, however, diet, much less a paleo diet is not a black and white issue.
My current personal choice is totally zero carb - no plant foods at all. I didn't arrive here over night however. It took time for me to work through various transitions phases and I suggest that you take the same approach.
My first phase was to eat only the "types" of foods that would have been available in the paleo period. So the first thing I did was cut out all grains, beans, potatoes, etc and substituted lightly cooked meat for these. I then ate large amounts of fresh fruits and green vegetables - remember, I'm coming from a vegan background and still believe that I must have large amounts of plant foods for fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. I also had a fat phobia and eating much fat would make me gag. Essentially I was eating mostly plant based foods (large salads and lots of fruit) with maybe 8 oz to 12 oz of lean meat per day.
My health started to improve, but it wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be based on all the fabulous stories and claims I'd read on the web for going paleo. I continued reading and studying and finally came to the conclusion that I had the ratio of plant foods to meat reversed. I should be eating most of my calories from meat and fat with small amounts of fruits and veggies to supplement - (because you need all that fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals). This was phase two and it took me a while to transition - maybe 6 months or so - as I cut down on fruit and veggies and increased my meat intake and started eating more fat (yuk!). I finally got to where I was eating one small piece of fruit OR a very small salad (but not both) each day and got most of my energy from eating about 1 1/2 lbs of fatty meat.
My health improved dramatically eating lots of meat and very limited amounts of fruits and veggies (for the fiber, vitamins.....etc). I then started reading about the differences between grass fed animals and grain fed animals. Grass fed animals have between a 1 to 1 and 4 to 1 ratio of Omega 3 fatty acids. Grain fed animals have 30:1 ratio - in other words almost no omega 3 at all. This got me looking for a source of grass fed meats. There are several suppliers, US Wellness Meats, North Star Bison, Slankers et. al. Today I do most of my ordering from Slankers as I've found their prices consistently lower than the others. I still cooked my meat lightly, say medium rare most of the time.
Then I ran across the RVAF forum on Yahoo run by Geoff Purcell. Wonderful resource and you won't find a nicer person than Geoff. He masquerades on this forum as TylerDurdan and does an incredible job of moderating this forum as well. Anyway, there were some links to some articles written by Steffannson in Harper's around 1936 or so. In it Steffanson talks about his adventure with the Inuits and surviving on meat, fat, and water for years at a time while maintaining perfect health. This was a bit hard for an old raw vegan to swallow. After all you need fruits and vegetables for fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and .... you get the idea. Steffanson discussed his test under medical supervision of Bellview Hospital in New York, where he and an associate only at meat for a year. Bottom line is that they were healthier at the end of the year than when they started.
This got me to have the courage to try this same experiment myself. I told my doctor what I was going to do and he about had a cow. I was suffering from early stage diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and a few other maladies, and he was sure a diet of all meat would give me a quick send off to the great beyond. I told him I was going to try it and that was that. I left him shaking his head.
As I started into the meat only phase, I felt that grass fed was critical. I figured that I should be eating animals that were eating their natural diet of grass if I was to get proper nutrition. I also began to feel that no other animal eats its food cooked and figured that we should be eating our food raw as well. This raw thing was not easy. I was still having a lot of trouble eating much fat as any piece that was very large would cause me to gag. I also found that regular finely ground meat was like eating paste. Raw meat doesn't have a lot of flavor and when ground with a good bit of fat is like eating thick oatmeal - not very appealing. I added spices, (salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili) in an attempt to make the meat more appealing.
When I found Slankers, they had a very course ground meat that they called "Chili" meat and this turned out perfect for me. The chunks were big enough to chew and when the meat wasn't cooked it was difficult to tell the difference between the fat and the lean. About this time I also felt that there was probably a need for some organ meats and Slankers has a Pet food product called "Dog & Cat" that is not USDA inspected and not sold for human consumption, but does contain all the cast off organ meats. I started ordering this and mixing a bit in with the Chili meat. The D&C is very strong tasting so a little goes a long way when you are first starting out. I'm no longer convinced that the organ meats are as vital as I once thought they were so if you don't like them don't agonize over it. I still include the D&C in my daily food but this is more as "insurance" than really being convinced of their necessity. I've also become very accustomed to the more robust taste that the organ meats add and find plain meat very bland.
The fat level in the Chili meat is also too low so I order about 12 lbs of suet with 50 lbs of meat and then chop and divide the fat equally for each meal. This adds about 3 1/2 oz of fat to each pound of meat and brings the overall fat content up to about 20% by weight which is 68% to 70% of calories from fat, which I find works well for me.
I go to my doctor for a checkup each year and he's been amazed by the results of my dietary adventure. My diabetes condition went away, my cholesterol dropped from 237 to 189, my weight dropped from 215 to 160, my blood pressure dropped from 145/95 to 110/65, and every other health condition either went away or dramatically improved to the point where no medication is needed.
The above is generally the way I moved through the various transitional phases from vegan to carnivore. Might I suggest that you take a similar approach and go one step at a time. Read my journal and the journal of others here and you'll get a very good feel for what to expect. Zero Carb has ended up working well for me but then to be honest, a small serving of fruit OR a small "dinner" salad daily is probably fine as well and would produce similar results. I haven't eaten any plant foods for several years now and I know others who have eaten only meat for many years and none of us have any deficiencies and we don't miss the "fiber" in our diets either. I'm also not "married" to Zero Carb. If I find that it is creating unforeseen problems in the future, I'll change whatever is necessary to plug the hole.
You will experience challenges along the way as your body adapts to the changes you decide to make. I think you'll find a great amount of support which will help ease your way, and may even give you the courage to try things you'd never even considered before.
If any of us can answer specific questions for you please just post or PM.
Lex
