Hi! I am back from Palm Springs. Going you my packed mail box - an
overwhelming 953 messages - I found the recent posts from Michael and
Pat on the issue of parasites very interesting and believe that the
issue of infestations with various microbes from RAF's to be the
ultimate test of instincto type diets and feel the issue needs some
further scrutiny.
An excerpt on issue from page 67 of Aajonus Vonderplanitz's book "We
want to live":"Intestinal worms do not thrive in healthy intestines.
When an intestine becomes impacted or suffers another form of excessive
toxicity, worms can thrive. Parasites actually help eliminate dead,
weak and dangerously mutated cells. They consume these damaged cells
and break down into substances that the body can eliminate.
Or the body can produce a virus or infection to dissolve the toxicity,
but the process could take twice as long and be more debilitating.
Most often, parasites are the best the body can do to cleanse under
extreme toxic circumstances. Jeff's irises indicate that he is not in
any dander of parasites.
Now, regarding, salmonella and similar bacteria. Normally, foods that
naturally contain these bacteria produce a putrid odor when the
bacterial count gets harmfully high. That odor is the signal telling
your instincts not to eat it. Cooking interferes with the production of
this odor. The bacterial count in cooked meat and eggs will grow as
much as fifty times higher than in raw food before a putrid odor is
produced. That's why in our advanced society, bacterial food-poisoning
is from cooked, packaged or restaurant food.  I will not feed Jeff
stinky meat."
However, Ron Schmid has one caveat on page 225 of "Native Nutrition":
"Raw fish was central in the diets of traditional seacoast cultures
everywhere;" <Snip> "Parasites occasionally infect saltwater fish, but
are reported ( by A. J. McClane in "The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery")
to be harmless varieties that do not infect humans. In recent years a
few cases of problems have been reported to be cased by ingestion of
parasite-infested sushi and sashimi, but the severity and incidence of
these isolated cases has been blown all out of proportion. Freshwater
fish, however, may harbor various disease-causing parasites and should
never be eaten raw or undercooked."
Sally Fallon also an advocate of raw animal foods (RAF's) says on p.
212 in "Nourishing Traditions.": "Many researchers have recommended
that raw meat be included in the diet on a regular basis; but others,
citing the problem of intestinal parasites, insist that meat should
never be eaten raw. (No wonder most of us are confused about
nutrition!) Parasite infection occurs frequently among the Japanese and
Koreans, who habitually eat raw fish, so these warnings must be taken
seriously. Fortunately we can eliminate parasites in meat without
cooking it.
The problem of parasites in beef or lamb is easily solved. Simply
freeze the meat for 14 days. According to the USDA, this will kill off
all parasites. Needless to say, you should use only organic meat for
your raw meat appetizers. The problem with fish is trickier as fish
looses its firmness and texture when frozen. The solution - found
universally among ethnic cuisines, especially in hot countries - is to
marinate or ferment fish in an acid solution of lemon juice, lime juice
or whey. This will effectively kill off all parasites and pathogens,
and will serve to pre-digest the fish as well. We do not recommend
sushi, which contains raw fish that has not been marinated."
As a side note Aajonus Vonderplanitz advises against freezing foods as
he believes too many nutrients are lost in the process.
Last but not least here are Bruno Comby's comments on the issue from
page 116-117 of his book "Maximize Immunity": "A microbe such as a
virus, which is able to facilitate detoxification, may thus be
biologically useful. Is this the case for only a few strains, or are we
dealing with a law that can be generalized to all microbes? (Since we
are proposing an entirely new theory, it is necessary to define
accurately its field of application.) We will not be able to reply
precisely to this question until the development of all viral illnesses
has been observed in a sufficient number of individuals suffering from
the different types of illness and following an exclusively natural
diet for several years. At present, nobody is in a position to give an
exact response to this question. Our experience with natural diet has
demonstrated that a number of viruses regarded as harmful in classical
medicine, such as the AIDS virus and the influenza virus, are in fact
not harmful (or at least much less so) in the context of a raw diet.
The same thing can be said of certain bacteria and parasites. For
example, the tapeworm parasite is present in some raw meat. However we
have been able to observe that, despite the occasional consumption of
raw meat by human beings, parasites do not easily infect individuals
who follow a natural diet (approximately 15,000 over the course of the
last 25 years). More than once we have been able observe individuals
who begin a raw food diet after suffering several years from an
established tapeworm that has resisted conventional treatment. After a
certain period of time on the raw diet, the tapeworm is eliminated
spontaneously. It is as if the immune system can identify the presence
of parasites (thanks, no doubt, to the presence of specific molecules
which are either part of the parasite or secreted by it), and can eject
it once the immune system has returned to normal function. In our view,
it is the presence of an immune tolerance induce by he regular
consumption of denatured food which prevents both the recognition of
the antigens of the parasite, and its expulsion. Our hypothesis is that
a parasite, like viruses, performs the function of digesting some
abnormal molecules, i.e. a function which is entirely useful when the
diet is a natural one, since there are always certain impurities and
toxins to be eliminated. However, as with the viruses, this function
may become harmful when the diet is too denatured: the parasite must
then deal with such an avalanche of abnormal molecules that it becomes
too invasive, establishing itself on a permanent basis and sometimes
causing the destruction of its host. So long as the diet remains an
unnatural one, only very powerful medical treatment can dislodge the
parasite. And this is indeed the case. Again we see that illness
develops quite differently with a diet that is 100% natural (i.e. the
illness per se does not develop), and our simple and logical dietary
theory permits an understanding of the phenomenon."
If Schmid is on target regarding his caution on fresh water fish that
along with the instincto malaria issue shows that there are a couple of
exceptions to the beneficial microbe theory. I am not quite sure of
what to make to make of that.
Of the above Sally Fallon is the most prudent but also has the least
experience with RAF's, so I choose to believe that when eating high
quality raw animal foods, our taste buds will steer us away from any
potentially dangerous servings.

Best, Peter
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