my so called journal

[sabertooth]

Wouldn't it be more economical to just study indigenous tribes of raw meat eaters like the Eskimos or the Siberian reindeer herders.

Take a group like that and keep statistics on disease rate and even yearly blood test and within one generation of relatively expensive research you could scientifically prove the safety and health benefits of a raw meat based diet.

There already is conclusive scientifically valid data supporting Raw Animal Food diets, and its been completely ignored by the medical establishment, so I doubt that even if a credible study is done that the results would be integrated into the corrupt Establishments system of disease management.

[TylerDurden]

Those Arctic tribes do eat some cooked meat(half of diet?), albeit boiled meats, so it would mean a lot less than if someone like Lex enrolled in such a study.

[Raw Kyle]

I've had a persistent weak ache around my navel for over a week now. I can eat and drink fine and it doesn't hurt when I cough. I don't feel anything strange in the area, however when I move or twist in certain positions is when I feel it. This is unusual for me and has me a bit worried. Anyone ever have a parasite?

[TylerDurden]

Well, I did. I suggest you look in your stools to see if there's anything different there.

[Raw Kyle]

Well, I did. I suggest you look in your stools to see if there's anything different there.

False alarm, it went away. I went to a doctor who said he thought it was skeleto/muscular. I was thinking it was an ulcer for a bit. Glad to be back to normal. If I ended up with a parasite I'd be eating a lot of crow over it after all the years of assuring people it's safe to eat raw meat.

[TylerDurden]

If I ended up with a parasite I'd be eating a lot of crow over it after all the years of assuring people it's safe to eat raw meat.

I suppose this remark was aimed at me. The only thing is that my one and only  tapeworm experience only involved a minor issue in the beginning, but turned out to be harmless in the end. This coincides with other scientific data showing that tapeworms are generally harmless. So, I feel justified in reassuring people that parasites are harmless and can be gotten rid of with ease with the help of certain drugs, anyway.

[aLptHW4k4y]

For example, I am pretty sure, given my own experience, that the body needs to produce much less stomach acid when eating mostly raw foods.

I'm not so sure. Stomach acid is necessary to denature protein. Cooking already denatures protein, so that effectively less stomach acid is needed?

I mean the stomach essentially is like an oven, except it breaks food down chemically, not by heat. I'm not a chemist, but logically at least equally or likely more acid would be needed for raw food.

edit: found a nice article which may help (it helped me) understand: http://ecologos.org/denature.htm

The conclusion is that high heat results in structures that are harder to break down, so in this case more acid and longer stay in the stomach may be necessary. Heating to 60-70C though, just enough to denature most protein, would lead to needing less acid and easier digestion, in my opinion.

[TylerDurden]

The problem is that denaturing via cooking is not the same kind of denaturing caused by stomach-acid or even the denaturing caused by marinating in lemon juice. It's also been pointed out that cooking alters the structure of the proteins etc. in foods, making them more difficult to be dealt with by the body's enzymes.

[Raw Kyle]

I'm fairly certain that some vitamins can be damaged by prolonged high heat that wouldn't be from stomach acid but protein denaturing I don't quite see the difference. Ultimately they're all broken down to amino acids, anything larger than tripeptide cannot cross the intestinal border and even they are broken down into individual amino acids in the enterocytes. Seems to me like the only way to mess it up would be to burn it enough to break down individual amino acids, I don't think most cooking methods can do that kind of chemistry.

[cherimoya_kid]

I'm fairly certain that some vitamins can be damaged by prolonged high heat that wouldn't be from stomach acid but protein denaturing I don't quite see the difference. Ultimately they're all broken down to amino acids, anything larger than tripeptide cannot cross the intestinal border and even they are broken down into individual amino acids in the enterocytes. Seems to me like the only way to mess it up would be to burn it enough to break down individual amino acids, I don't think most cooking methods can do that kind of chemistry.

Thorough chewing is pretty effective too.  Eating softer body parts and chewing thoroughly is pretty helpful, I think.  Letting meat become a little bit high also works well, and gives you the added benefit of useful bacteria.

[PaleoPhil]

I suppose this remark was aimed at me. The only thing is that my one and only  tapeworm experience only involved a minor issue in the beginning, but turned out to be harmless in the end.

Yes, that's how I remember it. What was the worst of the symptoms you experienced? Paul Jaminet is warning people to cook their foods thoroughly (http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=5650), including even bone marrow, so I thought I'd point out that no one here has reported any serious repercussions from raw Paleo, Primal or Instincto.

[TylerDurden]

I just had a pain in the bladder so it hurt quite a bit when I urinated. This stopped after 2 days or so, then I started getting those tapeworm segments in my stools. But that part was all harmless, just being somewhat unaesthetic. Tapeworms are almost always harmless, according to reports.

[Raw Kyle]

Guess who got a speaking spot at this Summer's Ancestral Health Symposium? This guy.

[cherimoya_kid]

Guess who got a speaking spot at this Summer's Ancestral Health Symposium? This guy.

Congrats.  Talk us up. ROFL