I eat raw aged meat for the bacteria. Oh well I guess I am just backwards.
-Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: Sheryl Canter [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2001 8:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: raw meat


Christy wrote:
> Actually all the sterilizing is what makes us so vulnerable to disease.
Not
being
used to exposure of bacteria left us without defense. It is perfectly normal
and
healthy to eat aged meat, full of bacteria. I've drunk water in the woods
that
was just running over the ground after the rain (a little upstream from my
dog
because she stirred up mud) and I'm still alive.
Sterelizing and thorough cleaning was something that we learned to do the
last 50
years and drs are taking a different point of view now. In fact they advice
NOT
to dust childrens rooms every day in order for them to build up some
resistance.

I wouldn't exactly say that sterilizing things makes us vulnerable to
disease--that's an overstatement--but there is truth in what you say.  Our
paleolithic ancestors didn't die of the sames things we die of today--the
immune system diseases, heart disease, cancer, etc.  They died of either
trauma or infection.  Our habits of cleanliness have saved far more lives
than they've cost--that's beyond doubt.  The sickness and mortality
statistics across cultures and across time are very clear.

At the same time, it's true that without exposure to disease agents, we
develop fewer defenses.  I've heard the advice you mention about not being
too compulsive about cleaning your kid's room.  Apparently there is some
sort
of balance needed.

As for drinking water out of a stream in the woods... The big risk there is
Giardia, which you definitely don't want to get.  I bring a water
purification system with me when I go camping.  Maybe our bodies are less
capable of fighting Giardia today than they were, or maybe there's more of
it.  In any case, I don't want to get it.  I know someone who did, and her
digestive tract was never again the same.

     - Sheryl