QuestionI've been experimenting with different versions of raw animal food diets for 7
years now. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2001 and IBS a few years
before that. Raw foods, primarily raw animal fats and protein (to a lesser
extent) have provided me with complete relief from this disease. My best
results have come from a similar method to eating that you follow. I too
didn't fair well with dairy, the exception being I got sick (diarrhea) hours after
each consumption of dairy. Since all cooked food that I've tried has lessened
my health to some degree, I can't digest raw vegetables, more than a handful
of raw fruit or tablespoon of honey doesn't digest well (with total allergies to
specific fruits), more than a couple of egg yolks a day doesn't digest well, and
raw dairy didn't digest at all, I came to the conclusion that my primary source
of calories must come from raw animal food (organic, grass-fed, wild, etc.) in
order to maintain good health. I've realized this for about 3 years, in that time
experimenting with different fat:protein:carb: ratios and different organ:
muscle meat ratios. If I eat more protein than my body needs, which is about
1/2 pound of meat (muscle meat/tongue/heart/etc. estimate) a day, I feel the
effects of excess protein consumption. Since proper digestion is of the
utmost importance to me, having a history of digestive disorders (minor
dietary "cheating" ruins my health quickly), this basically leaves me with
having to eat raw animal fat as my main fuel. Within that I'm left with the
different types of fat (suet, tongue fat, etc.) which to me are basically the
same and bone marrow. So to me that's like 2 different sources of fat, as far
as taste, (3, if you count the 2 different types of marrow) in the entire
kingdom of food to choose from. Within that, I never been able to stomach
more than a 1/4 pound (if I'm starving) of cavity fat a day or about 1/2 pound
of marrow. You see the problem is that both of these health giving foods are
becoming increasingly disgusting to my sense of taste, even after trying every
recipe searchable on the internet or imagined by myself. So, while my
physical health is better than before, I'm still underweight (by my standards)
and increasingly pissed off with my lot in life. My questions are as follows (in
your opinion of course):
1. Why does the most healthful food(s) taste bad? (taste is subjective, I'm
aware, but do you honestly ENJOY the taste of bone marrow or cavity fat?)
2. Have you tried kefir or cultured butter from goat,yak,etc.? (not cow, the
excess lactose and other possible allergens are apparently eaten by the
bacteria)
3. Is consumption of opioid peptides necessarily a bad thing, if the food itself
is health giving? (reference to tribes and cultures that relied on large amounts
of raw dairy for calories and were apparently healthy)
I'm curious of your opinion as I'm fed up with the mass consumption of fat
from animals for taste reasons as well as sustainability (consuming more
dairy and less animal would be taking less life, karma, blah blah.) I also enjoy
the taste of dairy, even though so far I haven't found it to be digestible (I
haven't tried raw kefir or cultured butter yet). I want to believe that my ideal
health giving food would also be enjoyable to my taste, instead of just barely
tolerable. Don't forget that I've been eating this way for many years now, so
please keep this mind if you're going to give the "pickled tongue" or old
cooked food habit taste arguement (no disrespect intended to you).
Thanks for doing what you're doing, John
AnswerRe Healthful foods:- Yes, I really do ENJOY the taste of raw marrow! With raw suet, as I抳e said before, it really depends on which source I get it from as to whether it tastes good, OK, or really bland.
Re kefir/cultured butter from non-cows:- I抳e had some fermented goats and sheep抯 milk which I left out for many days before consuming. Didn抰 work for me and was just as bad.
. That抯 about it as far as fermented non-cow dairy, though I抳e tried unfermented water-buffalo raw cheese/milk. I抳e drunk various kefir-drinks at Turkish restaurants abroad, which I抦 pretty sure were from goat, but they were probably pasteurised. Oh, and I抳e eaten unpasteurised water-buffalo yoghurt, which is fermented, I guess ?but still no less damaging.
While I do think that some people can tolerate fermented dairy, generally speaking, if you抮e already suffering from non-fermented dairy, then fermented dairy is not a better option but a 搇ess worse?option, so still not really good for you. Note that lactose etc. is not removed, merely reduced in kefir.
Re opioid peptides:- The point of opioid peptides is to keep the relevant infant drugged, quiet and asleep ?it really isn抰 a food designed for adults. Plus, judging from mine and others?experience, the very addictiveness of raw dairy can cause cravings and lack of interest in other non-dairy raw animal food sources.
http://www.13.waisays.com/zombie.htm
http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/allergies/developmentaldisordersprotein7.h...
shortened to:-
http://tinyurl.com/6mj284
I know that Weston-Price et al point to the Masai, but what they forget is that sick people in such tribes didn抰 live very long as there was no modern medical support of the kind that we have today(so only the healthiest survived), plus they went in for far greater amounts of daily exercise, which must have helped. I抦 therefore highly scpetical of the notion that all native-tribes were 100% healthy, no matter how much grains they ate etc.
Re taste:- All I can sugest is the following:- reduce the amounts of fat, but don抰 change the protein amounts much(that often increases appetite ?1 big problem I found on my short-term raw zero-carb trials was that my appetite and taste for animal foods went down to the point where I had to struggle to eat my marrow/suet or any other animal food) and I eventually gave up on that type of diet to avoid starvation.
Other than that, try berries(blueberries/raspberries) and cherries, they tend to be
easier to digest than most fruits.
Re pickled tongue-comment:- I presume that means that you wouldn抰 like me recommending 揾igh-meat? Yet, when I had serious digestive-issues at the start of the diet, aged, raw animal foods were far better digested than anything else. Even now, when I occasionally eat cooked-foods like sushi, eating a little high meat works wonders.
Another possibility is a lack of variety, which is all too common among Primal Dieters. Near the start of this diet, I felt forced to go in for as much variety as possible. If I had had to depend on raw meats/organs from just 1 animal, especially grainfed, I would never have been able to carry on with it. Grassfed meat is fine, but without things like raw wildcaught oysters or my wild hare carcasses, I wouldn抰 enjoy the taste of this diet as much as I do. If you抮e unable to get hold of wild meats, you could always change grassfed-meat-suppliers ?grassfed meat can have widely different tastes, depending on the supplier, and one shouldn抰 just buy raw beef/beef organs.
Another possibility is that you may just have been eating too much each day. I found, after a while on this diet, that as raw food was more nutritious, that my body simply didn抰 need to eat every single day, and I found my appetite went until I started having a day off food,, here and there, to give my digestive system a rest. Healing, anyway, seems to slow down if the body is undergoing constant digestion. I抦 not suggesting you do IF(Intermittent Fasting) but having 2-4 (non-consecutive)
fast-days every fortnight might be an idea.
Lastly, have you considered trying enzyme-supplements? Most RAFers wouldn抰 need them, but someone with serious digestive issues might well.
(NB:- Forgot to mention 1 thing before sending off my rawpaleodiet answer) Inability to digest animal protein is one aspect of adrenal burnout/adrenal exhaustion. It would be a good idea to take some raw adrenal supplements(plus some raw thyroid and maybe other multi-organ supplements as well?). Dr Ron's website is the only reliable one I know of(being trans-fat-free etc.), but it's hideously expensive, you'd probably be best looking for such raw grassfed glands at various farms like NorthStar Bison. Here's Dr Ron's website:-
http://www.drrons.com/
HTH,
RPG.
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