Getting Started

[Topper Harley]

I'm new here. Eating raw flesh foods makes sense to me.

Many plants have a hard cell wall made of cellulose. Humans don't digest cellulose well. Cooking can break down this wall, hence cooking some plant foods is necessary if they are to be eaten. However animal cells only have a cell membrane. So why cook, if there is no need?

Anyway, how does one get started? I know raw eggs. That's easy, though not that appetizing.

How does one eat raw meat. I have some frozen beef (london broil) that seems like it might be good for a start. Is there anything special I need to do to it? How do most people eat their raw meat? 

On another note. I come here from a raw vegan perspective. I never adhered to a raw vegan diet, but it's what got me into the idea of raw food as being generally healthier. But I have noticed the same fanaticism sometimes associated with raw veganism is present here. Some people here make some pretty strong claims against plant foods that go too far. Some plant foods are definitely bad. I see how grains might all be slightly bad even when prepared in the best possible way. But many plant foods are clearly very good for us. Many people thrive to old age on plant heavy diets. It is probably not whether we eat meat, or whether we eat plants that matters so much as it is the kinds we eat, and how they are prepared. It's not until people eat the horrible western civilization style junk diet that things start to go horribly wrong.   

[TylerDurden]

Anyway, how does one get started? I know raw eggs. That's easy, though not that appetizing.

How does one eat raw meat. I have some frozen beef (london broil) that seems like it might be good for a start. Is there anything special I need to do to it? How do most people eat their raw meat? 

On another note. I come here from a raw vegan perspective. I never adhered to a raw vegan diet, but it's what got me into the idea of raw food as being generally healthier. But I have noticed the same fanaticism sometimes associated with raw veganism is present here. Some people here make some pretty strong claims against plant foods that go too far. Some plant foods are definitely bad. I see how grains might all be slightly bad even when prepared in the best possible way. But many plant foods are clearly very good for us. Many people thrive to old age on plant heavy diets. It is probably not whether we eat meat, or whether we eat plants that matters so much as it is the kinds we eat, and how they are prepared. It's not until people eat the horrible western civilization style junk diet that things start to go horribly wrong.  

Here are two texts from the child boards of rawpaleoforum which go into detail on how to get started, where to find raw animal foods of high quality etc.:-

http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/important-info-for-newbies/sticky-advice-for-newbies-wishing-to-slowly-ease-into-a-raw-animal-food-diet/

http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/important-info-for-newbies/where-to-buy-cheap-raw-animal-food(please-don't-post-in-this-thread!)/

Re how we eat raw animal foods:- All I needlike most RAFers) is a meat-knife, a knife-sharpener, an oyster-knife for opening raw oysters, a walnut-cracker for opening raw mussels, and, once in a blue moon, I might add some raw spices to the meats. I generally don't mix raw foods together on the same dish as I don't feel the need and dislike wasting time on food-preparation, though some RAFers like making complex raw recipes.

Re fanaticism:- You have to bear in mind that many people go rawpalaeo after having suffered a very great deal from various aspects of standard processed diets. I (and many other RAFers) have had awful side-effects from consuming raw and pasteurised dairy, so I have, understandably,  written some very vehement anti-raw dairy posts in the past. Similiarly, others have had horrendous issues with raw carbs of any kind(such as Candida sufferers), so tend to make strong comments re this. I guess what I'm saying is that while specific raw and processed  foods don't necessarily affect everybody in the world in the exact same way, most rawpalaeos have suffered a very great deal, healthwise, and naturally rail against the foods that have harmed them the most in the past. And, anyway, zero-carbers form only 1 segment of the Raw Animal Food movement, there's way more people who follow a rawpalaeodiet consisting of both raw animal and raw plant foods(although raw animal foods are usually 50-90% of the diet).

Anyway,

[RawZi]

However animal cells only have a cell membrane. So why cook, if there is no need?

Anyway, how does one get started? I know raw eggs. That's easy, though not that appetizing.

How does one eat raw meat. I have some frozen beef (london broil) that seems like it might be good for a start. Is there anything special I need to do to it? How do most people eat their raw meat?

    I can understand it freezing in Antarctica, Harley.  Eat it with a lot of raw fat- marrow, suet, hide fat, etc.  I have a refrigerator, nearby store and deer, geese and possums roaming around here, I'm lucky.

    I know some Toppers IRL, nice name.  Welcome. 

    What kind of eggs are you talking, penguin?  What's the omega ratio in that?  Duck is pretty rich.

[Raw Kyle]

Hey Topper. You'll find a lot of us came from raw vegan. I can't speak as to whether this or that plant food is healthy or not as I (like everyone else) have only incomplete information, but I can say that the food I feel best after eating is raw muscle and fat. By best I mean easiest to digest, steady energy, no crazy cravings before or during eating and crashes afterwards (like junk food, especially carbs give many people).

I could eat a little plant food and feel fine, but the test is that when I eat enough for a meal (a comparable amount of calories as I do with meat for instance) then I feel not so good as when I eat meat. In some ways I feel better after cooked veggies than raw, and raw veggie juice always left me feeling a tad bloated and a weird dry mouth sensation. A plate of fruits is a lot of sugar, and I remember back in my 8-1-1 days of huge banana smoothies lasting a few days on a diet of them before feeling fuzzy and binging on some SAD food. I wonder what that fuzzy feeling was? Maybe candida growth? Who knows. The point is that for me the test of what is healthy is what food gives you the best health when eaten as your primary food source, not what food can you eat a little of and still feel ok. I would consider plant foods perhaps medicine or condiments, but not food in the sense of a primary source of energy and micro nutrients.