How much meat are you guys eating on a daily basis?

[Michael]

Hey guys,

I know this has been discussed before but can't find the information I need from the archives.

How much meat and fat are you eating on a daily basis?  Also, what ratio of protein/fat does this constitute?

I'm suddenly thinking that the 1kg of beef/lamb and 250g+ of suet I'm eating daily is way too much bearing in mind 1g protein = 4 cal and 1g fat = 9 cal !!!  Am I right thinking that's over 6000 calories?!?!

As well as enlightening me with your own daily rations - can someone please point me in the direction of Lex's previous calculations on this subject?  Thanks

[rawlion]

For the past several years Lex has been eating meat and fat only with a ratio of 68% fat to 32% protein. His 150 g of protein and 150 g of fat yields around 2000 calories daily. In terms of weight that would be two pounds of fatty meat.

My recent dietary intake was more or less in the above ranges.

[Josh]

Yikes..according to my envelope calculations, 400-500g of meat will give me 90 or so g of protein which is the daily requirement for an active man. That's standard nutrition though..may well be different for Paleo.

[Michael]

Thanks for the information rawlion.  That's very helpful and it appears that I'm not eating way too much in that case.  My brain seems to be misfiring a little this week!  I was foolishly thinking that a 1kg cut of meat was split (depending on the cut) between, say, 80% protein / 20% fat and would therefore be 800g protein / 200g fat.  Doh!    I guess I wasn't really thinking at all!  

Now, I guess I just need to somehow find out or work out the fat content of my meat and make a few calculations to realise how much suet to add to find a 68%/32% fat to protein ratio.

I'd still be interested in the quantities others are eating?

[djr_81]

Maybe 2-3 pounds of meat as well as a chunk of suet (1/4 pound?) throughout the average day.
I find that a lot of mental work results in an increased need to eat rather than physical exertion. Once I start getting unfocused I need to eat another meal or I just stay that way when thinking hard.

[lex_rooker]

I'm currently eating 600 grams of food (that's 1.3 lbs) total in one meal per day and I find this to be more than enough.  Due to an elevated HBA1c of 6% I dropped protein to 85g and raised fat to 210g.  Total calories around 2,200.  I will have another HBA1c test done in December or January to see if glycation products drop.  I can say that in one month BG has dropped from an average of 100 to around 85 so I expect A1c will show improvement as well.

The reason I'm doing this is that A1c and blood levels of vitamin D seem to be more closely linked to death from heart and artery disease than HDL and LDL.  From what I've read, people with low levels of Vit D and an A1c level of 7% have a 19% chance of dying over a 12 month period.  People with adequate levels of vit D and a 5% A1c level the mortality rate drops to 3% in a 12 month period.  Vitamin D also plays a critical role in maintaining bone density.

Sooooooo, I'm back on the high fat protocol but with a twist.  This time I'm controlling protein and by extension the opportunity for gluconeogenisis of excess protein, and just making up the lost calories from fat.  Current diet is about 85% of calories from fat.

In addition, I'm stripping down to gym shorts and getting as close to full body sun exposure as possible for about 45 minutes during mid day. This is how our body is designed to manufacture its own vitamin D which I prefer over taking supplements.  I will have to increase the exposure time during the winter due to the lower intensity of the sun.  I'll be requesting a vitamin D level test at my December/January visit to the doc as well. 

I suppose that now that the cat is out of the bag I should probably post this to my journal as well.

Lex

[Hannibal]

I eat about 1 kg (0,8-1,2) of organ-meats (mainly) and muscle-meats. Apart from tongues they are quite lean. Re suet - over 300 g.
I calculated that I usually eat 130-180 g of protein and 300-400 g of fat.

[TylerDurden]

I never eat more than 1kg of raw meat a day, usually quite a bit less.

[razmatazz]

I usually eat about 250-300g meat (steak usually) and about 150g suet (v little i know but then again I'm a 5"2 female, 109 lbs), and thats with not much exercise. Once i get back in the habit of doing more weightlifting and sprinting I'm sure it will be more.
I usually log what i eat into fitday, the average for the past couple of weeks has been about 1,600 calories, 80% fat 20% protein.
Some days I have 85% fat like lex, especially since i finally found a reliable source of grassfed suet which i find really tasty.
I average about 75g protein a day, but I have no idea if this is too much for my height/weight. But if I were to eat less my stats would probably be something like 90% fat at least....hmmmm

[Neone]

Id say my wife and i eat about 2-4 pounds of leanish meat a day (each) and then mabye a lamb sausage or two. We dont count anything, just eat what we want. We go by a 'how do you feel' approach. If im hungry ill eat whatever I have. Ill go weeks on lean cuts then feel like i want something fattier so ill get some lamb for that week. when im not feeling like eating lamb ill get whatever other animal i feel like eating.. its been working pretty great so far.. like losing the fear of dying from parasites ive lost the fear of dying from protein poisoning haha.

[Michael]

Thanks to all for sharing.  That's all very helpful and interesting.  Everyone seems to be eating quite varying amounts and ratios.

I think I'm going to cut down on the amount of meat I'm consuming since, like you Razmatazz, recently securing my reliable source of grass-fed raw suet.  Over the last few weeks since starting on the suet, I've noticed that my muscle definition has lessened and suspect I've been consuming too many calories overall.

Sad as it sounds, I've now written a little spreadsheet to help me calculate suitable quantities and ratios.  I'm going to experiment with a regime similar to Lex's in that I'll be aiming for 85% calories as fat.  With the cuts of meat I'm using, I calculate that this will mean consuming 400-450g of meat per day with 140-195g added suet providing 2200+ kcal.  I'm 5'11 and 170lbs and suspect I'll be a little hungry on this but will adjust accordingly.

[The Barbarian]

Well I'm an athlete with rigourous training and over 220 pounds of very lean body to feed and I eat probably 3plus  pounds of fatty meat a day. And I'm getting leaner.

[Nicola]

I am finding out that those who eat raw meat & fat on the zerocarb forum are the members with problems - those that change and try cooking have all reported better digestion...

Are you all just eating raw meat or have you had both (not just a few days!) and can say for shore, that things feel and work better with raw meat? How many of you have been eating cooked meat and fat (like those members on zerocarb) and can report better digestion with raw meat and fat (from start to finish + mental health)?

And for those of you eating 1 meal at night - how can that be healthy; cooked or raw...

We do not have one study which will support eating raw meat vs. cooked meat showing digestion from stomach to annal.

Nicola

[ys]

I am still experimenting with different things but here is what  I have so far.

I eat my cooked meat rare or very rare.  It appears to digest easier than well cooked.
I eat egg yolks, internal organs, and suet raw.  I particularly found that raw liver goes down way easier than cooked liver.

I also do not consume loads of butter anymore, only when suet is not available.

Due to problems with digestion I eat 3-4 smaller meals a day.  Big meal will just sit in my stomach forever.  If a person has strong stomach big meal should not be an issue.  But for me it is.  So I do what works best for me. 

I also include 1-2 fruits per day especially when I workout.

My goal is to gain weight.

[ys]

And I'm also browsing ZC forum time to time, especially those who are struggling to gain weight.  I have not ran across a successful story yet.  If you do please let me know.
Thanks.

[William]

I am finding out that those who eat raw meat & fat on the zerocarb forum are the members with problems - those that change and try cooking have all reported better digestion...

Are you all just eating raw meat or have you had both (not just a few days!) and can say for shore, that things feel and work better with raw meat? How many of you have been eating cooked meat and fat (like those members on zerocarb) and can report better digestion with raw meat and fat (from start to finish + mental health)?

And for those of you eating 1 meal at night - how can that be healthy; cooked or raw...

We do not have one study which will support eating raw meat vs. cooked meat showing digestion from stomach to annal.

Nicola

Eating one meal in the evening allows time to detox. Some of us need a lot of that. I suspect that those who have difficulty with this (intermittent fasting) are not eating enough pure animal fat with their meat.

We do have one study showing that raw food digests better: Kouchakoff, Switzerland ~1930

Most of my raw meat is pemmican, which is very thoroughly dried (jerky) and does not taste raw.

[TylerDurden]

There are several studies showing quite clearly that raw meat digests better than cooked meat. Here's two of them:-

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1897402

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3748129?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

taken from:-

http://www.beyondveg.com/tu-j-l/raw-cooked/raw-cooked-2a.shtml

The ZC forum is dominated by absurd dogma and propaganda. Their anti-carb emphasis is more religious-based than anything.

[majormark]

...
My goal is to gain weight.

I remember reading in one of Ori Hofmekler's books about an advice to not mix nuts with honey or with carbs because it makes you fat.

You can try that (the opposite).

[RawZi]

I remember reading in one of Ori Hofmekler's books about an advice to not mix nuts with honey or with carbs because it makes you fat.

You can try that (the opposite).

    I gained lean muscle years ago, when any other way I had tried before that hadn't worked, by soaking nuts, peeling them, blending them with my rejuvelac and culturing them.  Honey was allowable by that diet (Living Food LifestyleTM), but I didn't eat honey.

    I'm probably averaging daily now about four to five ounces of lean meat (buffalo, chicken, pork, fish, goat etc).  My cats eat several ounces each also.  No other human in my house touches any kind of meat.  I think I might eat more meat and feel more well if I had a larger number raw meat eaters here.

[djr_81]

I am finding out that those who eat raw meat & fat on the zerocarb forum are the members with problems - those that change and try cooking have all reported better digestion...

Are you all just eating raw meat or have you had both (not just a few days!) and can say for shore, that things feel and work better with raw meat? How many of you have been eating cooked meat and fat (like those members on zerocarb) and can report better digestion with raw meat and fat (from start to finish + mental health)?

I ate only cooked meat for a couple weeks. I then switched to raw and had a tremendous boost to my well-being including digestion and mental health. I've been eating only raw meat for the last 10 weeks or so and have nothing but good to say about it.

The ZC forum is dominated by absurd dogma and propaganda. Their anti-carb emphasis is more religious-based than anything.

I don't know if I'd have said it so bluntly but I tend to agree. You either agree with the common mindset or you're treading dangerous ground.

[Michael]

An update for those interested with regard to the original thread subject:
  
I have now been following my reduced meat/fat regime for about 5 weeks and must say that it's going extremely well.  As planned, I have been eating nothing but fatty beef or lamb with suet and a few herbs for flavouring.  I calculate out ratios to give me around 2100-2200 calories per day, 85% calories by fat and keep protein around 85-100g per day.  

This has been a huge reduction in quantities but, incredibly, has worked a treat.  I'm satisfied on 2 small meals a day (breakfast and evening meal), go 12 hours at work without food and without blood-sugar problems, have much improved digestive powers and am noticing a much improved lean and muscular physique.  My skin has also been improving with dryness reducing, dandruff disappearing and hives no longer a problem.  Of course, some of these improvements are related to going zero-carb but many are more due to the quantity changes.  And all this after following a RAF diet for almost 9 years!!

It's also proving much easier as I'm able to prepare 5 days worth of food within about 1.5hrs preparation (incl cleaning up).  I bag up my 'meals' in airtight Aloksaks and keep it in the fridge with the joyous knowledge that I have no further food preparation or cleaning up tasks for 5 whole days!!  

[William]

And I'm also browsing ZC forum time to time, especially those who are struggling to gain weight.  I have not ran across a successful story yet.  If you do please let me know.
Thanks.

Someone was pleased that she grew a bum on ZC. Name of thread forgotten, but you could ask.

[PaleoPhil]

I am finding out that those who eat raw meat & fat on the zerocarb forum are the members with problems - those that change and try cooking have all reported better digestion...

Well I know that's not completely true, because I am a member on the ZC forum, I eat raw meat and fat, and I am improving. I also find raw meat digests better for me, though some cuts of beef are tough when raw--but even they digest more easily raw than cooked. Who are the members that you're talking about?

Are you all just eating raw meat or have you had both (not just a few days!) and can say for shore, that things feel and work better with raw meat?....

I recently went to one of the ZC group's "meat ups" and joined in a large meal of cooked meats. I did not get the same feeling of well being after the meal that I get when I eat raw, and I felt much more stuffed, though some of the meats did contain plenty of salt and I didn't have any major negative side effects. The next day I ate plentiful raw meat and got the well-being feeling again.

I ate a majority of cooked meats when I started ZC/carnivore and improved when I converted to mostly raw. I don't know for sure whether this was due to raw or to continuing improvements from carnivore, so I plan on trying cooked carnivore again at some point in the future.

[Nicola]

PaleoPhil I found a picture of you in the "meat ups". Many members have mentioned in the journals (I could name 20+) that they don't digest raw meat (found in the journals, cramps, maldigistion, candida).

I am looking into something new because I do not believe in just one factor - our body needs many factors in balance to function...

http://www.nimbuswater.com/

It just kind of upsets me when you find both sides with the cooked/raw and it does not give the full picture.

I do not eat at night because the body and mind do not need to fill up at night; are we not able to deal with the night/peace in any other way?

Nicola

[ys]

You are probably right, everyone is different.  Each and everyone of us would react very differently to the same menu.
I would experiment with different variables to see what works best for my body.
Mix and match things like:
- Raw, cooked rare, medium, well
- Different meat/fat ratios
- Different meats, beef, goat, chicken, etc.
- Internal organs, marrow, etc.
- Different meal volume/frequency
- Maybe add a little carbs, some fruits, or non-starchy vegetable

I would not look at everyone's specifics, instead I'd try to figure out what works best for me.
The basic idea is simple, it's animal meat and fat.  It's up to me to figure out which specifics my body likes the best.