--- Fredrik Murman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I guess you had a mild food poisoning, or in the
> terminology of some raw meat eaters: detox.

Is there _any_ scientific basis for the "detox
theory"?
In a nutshell, according to the proponents of detox,
the body cannot eliminate all the toxins that it is
exposed to. So whatever was not eliminated right away
is stored in the body until it is healthy enough to
deal with the accumulated toxins. In the case of
toxins like mercury (e.g. thimoresal in vaccines,
amalgams), it makes sense that the body would try to
isolate it if it is unable to eliminate it at once.
I don't know if I buy the "cooked meat" as a toxin
idea. If _widespread_ cooking is dated between 40,000
to 125,000 years ago (see
http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/hb/hb-interview2g.shtml#Updates
Part 2), much adaptation to cooked foods is very
likely, especially if you consider the "influence of
human culture on genetic selection pressures" (see
http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/hb/hb-interview2c.shtml).
However, one can make a similar argument for
adaptation to dairy in populations who began milking
6,000 years ago, especially if the time span for gene
prevalence due to cultural influences is estimated at
about 1,150 years. Then, the question becomes
_how_well_ are we adapted to a particular food. In the
above example, we should be much better adapted to
cooked meat due to the huge time difference. But are
we _ideally_ adapted for cooked meat vs raw meat??
There are hundreds of thousands years of raw meat
eating history..
Moreover, it seems like many people on this list, and
other nutrition lists that I'm on, do pretty well on
raw/rare meat despite the probable bacteria/parasite
contamination. I find that my digestion is much better
with raw vs cooked meat. However, there are many
stories of 100% raw foodists (who include a large
amount of raw meat in their diet) feeling constantly
sick, bloated, etc. As Fredrik pointed out, they
attribute it to "detox". Also, some raw nutritionists
claim that _any_ cooked food will stop this desired
removal of stored toxins. So, enzyme theories and raw
gurus aside, what do y'all think about the "detox
theory"?

Hope this is not too far OT for paleo,
Max

P.S. The same 100% raw foodists do much better when
they include some cooked meat in their diet. Are they
stopping/slowing down their detox? A more paleo
explanation would be that we're not ideally adapted to
100% raw meat...


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