majormark - so far so good

[majormark]

I want to record my progress here so far because I think I'm going in a good direction.

For several months I've been eating a mostly LC raw diet with about 20-30% cooked on social situations and this year I went through the first Autumn of my life without a cold, not one!

In the beginning of this year I started on a health journey to find out what works for me in terms of nutrition and lifestyle and looking back to where I started, I can just say WOW. I did this because in the last three years my health seemed to be deteriorating (frequent colds, lots of dental problems, lack of energy, freaking mid day energy drops to the point where I could barely concentrate after the huge standard lunch).

I had my beliefs about what I was going to do and mostly leaned toward vegetarianism because several years ago I listened to Toni Robbins program "Energy for Life". At that point I was convinced that vegetarian/vegan was the way to go, but did not make the switch and just left it in the back of my mind with the intention to come back to it when I thought I actually had "real" health issues. It's funny when I think now that I went for several weeks with only rice, potatoes, fruits and salads, thinking it was "good enough".

I had no clearly defined plan of action, which I think was a good thing because it allowed me to eventually consider the RAF diet. I have to say that I felt blown out of the water when I discovered the concepts of disease and the reasons behind the dietary protocol in the Paleo Diet for Athletes book and later the Primal Diet. It took me some months of reading to finally consider trying it.

So I made some good and bad decisions about my health this year.

Bad decisions:
- doing 3-4 Kg of watermelon, 2-3 liters of pasteurized milk, whey protein and other cocked foods/day for 3 months. I think this lead to my dermatitis outbreak and frequent muscle cramps because they gradually stopped after phasing out those foods.
- accepting 3 amalgam fillings. I did not know better. The bad thing is that one of them is at the root of the tooth which means I'd have to pull it If I want it out.

Good ones:
- experimenting with the warrior diet which totally got read of the mid day energy drops.
- doing P90x and an qi gong type of daily energy routine, good stuff. I think this also contributed to my increased energy levels.
- starting a more raw oriented diet resulting in more energy, better cold tolerance and improved ability to concentrate and probably others that I didn't yet notice.

Next, I will be focusing on going 100% raw and keep an eye open for new things I can learn about health and nutrition. This forum is a great resource.

[TylerDurden]

You know, it's funny, reading Tony Robbins' books got me started on a raw vegan diet. I had been doing the Hay Diet(80% raw plant food, 20% cooked animal food) for some time, and reading Tony Robbin's usual nonsense made me start realising finally that cooked animal foods were very harmful to my health, so it was useful in that way.

[goodsamaritan]

Thank you for that genuine story.  It is amazing not to catch a cold on raw paleo diet.

[Hannibal]

I don't know if it is good not to catch colds at all. It depends on many factors.
IMHO these kinds of illnesses are the best way to detoxify oneself, so from time to time it is good.
Tonsilitis, for example, is the natural way to genetically cleanse DNA in our bodies.
But it is of paramount importance to go through diseases in a natural way, without any medicaments.

[djr_81]

I don't know if it is good not to catch colds at all. It depends on many factors.
IMHO these kinds of illnesses are the best way to detoxify oneself, so from time to time it is good.
Tonsilitis, for example, is the natural way to genetically cleanse DNA in our bodies.
But it is of paramount importance to go through diseases in a natural way, without any medicaments.

I don't think we're immune to the common illnesses around us but just process them better than SAD eaters.
One of my classic signs I'm getting sick is an irritability I don't exhibit at most other times; any little thing gets me grumbling when it would normally not bother me. In the ~4 1/2 months I've been raw carnivore/ZC that I've had this same symptom twice but both times it resolved itself during that day (~6 hours "down" time) and then life went on like normal. I'd wager that was me dealing with the "cold" floating around my office that week.

[Hannibal]

I'm on low-carb diet for almost 3 years and on rawpaleodiet for over a 2 years and I catch colds from time to time. Lately I've got really sore throat with fever up to 39,5 degrees C and I fasted and rested for 4 days and the recovery was immediate. I do not take any medicaments, supplements, etc.

[TylerDurden]

 I did get 1 case of severe flu  catching it from my brother. It only lasted 2-3 days, and that was the only time throughout the whole diet.

[majormark]

It's probably good to catch a cold every once in a while, but for me it used to be 3-4 times in Autumn and probably more in Spring. So this is quite impressive as I've been around people with severe cold symptoms lately (including drinking water after one) and din not experience it myself so far.

I noticed that after I eat something salty or some other junk food, the next day I have to spit a little salty tasting gelatin like mucus a few times. This looks like detox.

Overall I do not tend to form a lot of mucus in my nose ever since I started eating a lot of fat. Previously I used to do oil pulling and sometimes salt flush my nostrils to keep them clear. I guess it was the fat in the oil that was doing some good.

[Hannibal]

It's probably good to catch a cold every once in a while, but for me it used to be 3-4 times in Autumn and probably more in Spring. 

But did you go through those illnesses in the natural way?

[majormark]

Of course not, I used to take antibiotics in mega doses until I did not notice any symptoms. I remember one time I was in Italy and did not find any, so the cold lasted for 2 weeks.

And I cant get Tonsillitis because I had my tonsil removed when I was a kid by a doctor who thought he saw some little scar or cyst on one of them. To this day I believe that it was probably not necessary.

[Hannibal]

Of course not, I used to take antibiotics in mega doses until I did not notice any symptoms.

That's the worst thing to do. The bacteria, viruses are crucial, as they detoxify our bodies. If we kill them with antibiotics than the whole degenerative tissues and toxins will accumulate.

And I cant get Tonsillitis because I had my tonsil removed when I was a kid by a doctor who thought he saw some little scar or cyst on one of them. To this day I believe that it was probably not necessary.

It was not only unnecessary but also deleterious. Tonsils are very important re health.

[TylerDurden]

That's the worst thing to do. The bacteria, viruses are crucial, as they detoxify our bodies. If we kill them with antibiotics than the whole degenerative tissues and toxins will accumulate.

I had a horrific experiencea with antibiotics the one main time I took them, in my teens. It was a disaster with me already ill, just before, and then projectile-vomiting for half an hour afterwards with stomach-issues etc. Felt like death. Yet the nurse assured me it was impossible to get a bad reaction from antibiotics.

It was not only unnecessary but also deleterious. Tonsils are very important re health.

My father always regretted having his tonsils removed and said their removal caused numerous health-issues. Trouble was that during his childhood it was considered perfectly normal and even healthy to remove the tonsils, as they didn't see it as a useful organ at the time.

[majormark]

I just realized that organs can age 2-3 times faster than muscle meats.

In the picture there is beef heart and liver that have been in the fridge for 5 days and they smell... not good lol. I have to eat them before they turn too stinky. I'm not sure I will be able to eat the liver because the taste seems even worse than the cooked one (which I absolutely hate).

I also got about 5 Kg of frozen beef suet. It's a lot cheaper than butter but it does not taste nearly as good. They were very surprised that I came to buy it and asked me if I will use it for cookies lol.

[Nation]

I just realized that organs can age 2-3 times faster than muscle meats.

Can anyone experienced with high meat confirm that?

[roony]

Can anyone experienced with high meat confirm that?

Organs age ridiculously fast, but in a good way lol, they also smell pretty quick


I eat aged organs all the time, as they age so quickly, after about two weeks, they taste almost the same as fresh organs

[van]

Just to make sure,  keep the organs exposed to air in fridge, ie,  hanging, wire racks, or with liver, flipping it over in a glass or ceramic bowl.  Heart should dry out nicely, and liver gets a little tart, my preference. 

[majormark]

They had air all the time in the fridge as I had a lid over them which does not seal tight at all, plus I took them out every day to get a piece.

My concern is that I would not be able to eat them before the smell spreads in the whole house. The liver smells the strongest and tastes the weirdest. I never understood how some people actually like liver.

[roony]

They had air all the time in the fridge as I had a lid over them which does not seal tight at all, plus I took them out every day to get a piece.

My concern is that I would not be able to eat them before the smell spreads in the whole house. The liver smells the strongest and tastes the weirdest. I never understood how some people actually like liver.

Most peoples taste buds are severely deformed & under developed from eating a cooked diet, the massive amount of nutrients simply overload the senses, creating the unpleasant sensation/flavour etc.,


I know plenty of people who chew down on liver & kidneys & love the stuff lol

[PaleoPhil]

...I also got about 5 Kg of frozen beef suet. It's a lot cheaper than butter but it does not taste nearly as good.

You're comparing apples to oranges. A fairer comparison would be to tallow. I just ate some of the cultured pasture butter I bought and I much prefer my homemade tallow. I also didn't get as much of a feeling of well being after eating my ground beef with butter as I do with tallow, though I've only tried the butter twice now, and I'm gradually increasing the amounts to see what I can tolerate. Some people claim that after you've avoided gluten for a while you can handle dairy products better, so I'm testing that.

[van]

There's good liver, and then there's liver I can't eat

[miles]

What do you think determines the difference?

[van]

I don't know.  Mary at North Star  bison wanted to know when I would get a bad tasting one to check out with that particular animal, but it never happened.  It could be any number or things.  But typically they were kind of rubbery, not as dark and rich looking and rather bland.

[majormark]

Well I bought the organs from a supermarket (if that counts) because I cant find any butcher store that sells cow organs here. They only have pig or chicken organs.

[majormark]

You're comparing apples to oranges. A fairer comparison would be to tallow. I just ate some of the cultured pasture butter I bought and I much prefer my homemade tallow. I also didn't get as much of a feeling of well being after eating my ground beef with butter as I do with tallow, though I've only tried the butter twice now, and I'm gradually increasing the amounts to see what I can tolerate. Some people claim that after you've avoided gluten for a while you can handle dairy products better, so I'm testing that.

Tallow is heated, right?

I used my slow juicer to make some suet into a very fine paste and it's about the same texture as butter. Still doesn't taste as good, as for the well being part I can say that I feel better with butter. I only tried suet instead of butter yesterday, and not as a paste, so this could improve.

[PaleoPhil]

Tallow is heated, right?

I used my slow juicer to make some suet into a very fine paste and it's about the same texture as butter. Still doesn't taste as good, as for the well being part I can say that I feel better with butter. I only tried suet instead of butter yesterday, and not as a paste, so this could improve.

Yes, tallow is heated, though I have found that as little as 130 F is sufficient, and I'm hoping to get that down further with a rheostat. Some people apparently consider 130 F to be sufficiently raw, but Tyler does not and I want to see if even lower temps provide additional benefit. Heating and filtering works wonders in removing the strong taste from the suet. William has also reported this. I can't imagine just juicing it would have the same effect. In the longer run I plan on making a mix like Lex's, which should mask the taste of the suet. Have you tried mixing the suet with beef?

Was the suet you used grassfed or grain-finished? Was the source Slankers?

I ended up developing nausea after eating the room-temp cultured pastured pasteurized butter last night and found it pretty disgusting to eat, so that ends my experiment with that. The results were not as negative as in the past, so that does suggest I've had some GI healing, but they were still negative. I think I'll try making it into ghee to see if that makes any difference, since some people here and elsewhere have claimed that ghee doesn't trigger problems in people with sensitivities to casein and whey. Some day I'll probably try raw cultured butter too, because I found a local source of raw dairy that might have it--assuming they'll sell me a small test quantity. It's even more expensive, of course, so this will just be a scientific inquiry rather than a search for a practical food source.

I like the taste and mouth feel of heat-melted butter, but not the more solid room-temp butter (I find the mouth feel to be particularly unpleasant), whereas I prefer tallow in soft solid form over it's liquid form. If pastured cultured butter were cheaper and I didn't react negatively to it I would probably use it as a secondary or tertiary source of fat, probably in its heat-melted form, but there are just too many negatives in my case for me to use it.