At 5/24/2002  02:22 PM, you wrote:
>:-) I have to say I am really enjoying this thread.  The truth is I
>was raised in an atmosphere of total dread of "germs" and disease and
>my family is still like that, so it is so deep in me to freak out
>about descriptions such as the above.
>
>Yet I am learning that we live in a "sea" of bacteria, whether we like
>it or not, and the best defense is to live with it and make our immune
>system strong naturally.  I am so drawn towards eating raw foods and
>raw meat and making friends with the sea of bacteria.
>
>I just wanted to say that I am learning loads from this list and
>experimenting myself and using my nose to tell me what to eat, and not
>listening to my upbringing as much; I find a lot of it just isn't
>working for me.  I know others on the list won't agree with me, but I
>know that a lot of the problems we have caused for ourselves health
>wise have come from pasturizing/ irradiating/ sterilizing our food, and it
>still hasn't solved the problem of people getting sick.
>
>Crossing my fingers and hoping I don't die from an infectious disease
>tomorrow,
>
>Jana

I think you are safe. I have been eating raw meat and raw fish since 1996.
I finally began aging my meat in 1997. I now buy 10 to 15 pounds of NEVER
FROZEN meat at a time and let it age on an uncovered plate in my
refrigerator. I just start cutting off pieces and eating them until my body
tells me that it has had enough. I can't see the bacteria but it is there.
The only cooked food that I eat is in social situations. I have gotten
restaurants to serve me raw steak however I have found that the meat I buy
is tastier. Usually I can get grass fed buffalo (both muscle meat and
organs) from a ranch in Nebraska and I fill in with beef in between buffalo
orders. The worst difficulty that I have had is loose bowels.