Mary Craddock wrote:
> i am curious about all the raw meat talk and if eating raw is so much better
> for your health...then i would like to try to somehow eat raw meat....for the
> person that was a vegetarian and now eats raw meat...how were you able to
> start to like it...what mental prompts did you give yourself...i know...you
> just eat it, but..for me it is not that easy. i feel afraid to eat raw
> meat/blood, eggs, etc.
> what about pork...do you eat bacon raw?
> someone said they "ripen" meat in the fridge....to me this is akin to
> rotten...meat left in fridge after a while smells bad...to me anyway...in
> ripening...does the meat not have a decomposed odor?
>
> any *advice* would be appreciated....i am just trying to learn about eating
> raw meat.

I have been eating raw for about 14 years. I started out as a vegan
(no animal
foods). In late 1995 I read an English translation of Guy-Claude
Burger's book
on instinctive eating, "Instinctothérapie, Manger Vrai". I realized
that I had
started being a vegetarian based only because of what others had said
rather
than a deep conviction on my part. I did it because I was told that it
would
give me better health. I learned all of the vegetarian arguments and
could
repeat them faithfully. I did very well as a raw vegetarian and
assumed that I
had found "The Way". After reading the instincto book I started
thinking about
my diet and decided I needed to find out if I would do better
including raw
meat. I started out buying some raw tuna and eating it for my lunch.
It tasted
(good) like I remembered it. I thought that this would be a great
shock to my
body and that I should fast until the next morning. I went off to hike
in the
hills for about 8 miles. When I got back I felt hungry and decided to
eat
dinner. My biggest problem was that I felt that I needed to hide this
from all
of my vegetarian friends (later I got kicked out of the house where I
had been
living because of my dietary change). I ate raw fish for the next
year. Finally
I was told by another "nutritionist" that I should eat raw red meat at
least 4
times a week. This changed my life. I gained about 20 pounds almost
all of it
muscle and felt so much better that I never considered going back to
vegetarianism. My body had been starved for protein. I had no
refrigeration
where I lived so I bought enough meat each day and ate it. After about
6 months
of this I had to go out of town for three weeks. I bought a lot of
meat to take
because I was not sure of my source of supply. I had been buying meat
that was
free of hormones and anti-biotics. Along the way I was able to find
some good
meat and ended up back in Los Angeles with a steak that I had bought
three weeks
before. I opened it up and looked at it and smelled it. It had
darkened on the
outside and the inside was red. The smell was a little different also.
I decided
to try it. As I went to cut it I pressed on it and the meat stayed
depressed. I
liked the flavor and felt good after eating it. I had no trouble later
either. I
started buying roasts and aging them on a plate in the refrigerator.
It turned
out that there is less odor this way than if I kept it wrapped up. I
keep my
meat this way for weeks now. I have had no problems with bacteria or
parasites.
I maintain a natural balance in my body as all animals creatures in
the wild do.
I have learned to trust my body to take care of itself. I have been
eating this
way for about 4 years and am stronger and healthier than before. I
occasionally
eat cooked meat and other food but the bulk of my diet is still raw.
When I do
eat cooked I have no trouble. I eat probably 5-7 pounds of meat a
week. I have
eaten some raw pork but no raw bacon. I have also eaten raw chicken
legs. I eat
raw organ meat when I can get it. A group of us raw meat eaters have
been
ordering beef and buffalo organ meat from grass feed animals. This
expensive but
the quality is excellent. I have been buy unrefrigerated eggs at the
local
farmer's market and the aging them on the counter for a few weeks
before eating
them. I eat in way that is totally counter to everything that I
learned in
school and from other people. My mother would be shocked at my diet
but she did
not live to see this change.

I discussed eating raw meat with Ray when he was here in LA. He seems
to be
worried about bacteria, etc. He might have something to say about this
( Hi Ray,
your pemmican was good. Thanks). Every species on this planet except
for us eats
all of their food uncooked. It seems to me that they look healthier
than we do.
Do they know something that we don't? I have tried supermarket meat
raw and I
didn't find as good a flavor as the meat that I have been eating. I
also have
been able to go to some restaurants that will serve me raw meat. I
have gotten
some looks and questions but I got my dinner the way that I wanted it.

We all must decide what we will eat. This way works for me.