Thomas wrote:

>So, this a support group so I ask a support question.  Are there more of
>you out there with real live experience eatin' meat raw?  >
 >
>I intend to continue my own research, however any type of experience or
>thought on eating any meat, raw or close to raw, esp. from this list, will
>be welcomed by me.   >

Hello, all!

I am one of those people that got sick (E coli) from Jack-in the Box
hamburgers. I remember clearly that the taste was off, but being a
foolhardy teenager, and ravenously hungry,  just back from a day at the
beach, I ate it anyway.

Although I lived through it, when  I was sick, at times I felt as though I
wanted to die. I have no permanent damage to my knowledge.

I have personally eaten raw animal food (RAF) from an early age, but have
in the past been made to feel like it was some dirty secret not to be
shared with society. My father is German and gave me shavofleisch (sp?)
-raw ground beef- when I was quite young. I loved it. My mother was
horrified, however, and we had to eat it in secrecy on the back porch, or
when she wasn't home. He also took me to Japanese restaurants to eat sushi
and sashimi (which he discovered in Japan during the war).

Although I crave meat and particularly raw meat and fish,  I foolishly gave
it up in an attempt to be "ethically enlightened" and became a vegetarian
in my early twenties. My health steadily declined until I got a wake-up
call with a cancer diagnosis in my mid-thirties.

I went back to my carnivorous ways after that slow death march trying to be
a vegetarian. A meat intensive diet including RAF has given me renewed
strength and vitality. Paleo eating of course, fits right in. I am fully
recovered.

I now eat an abundance of raw foods and have never gotten sick from
anything raw (OK, twice I was sick from contaminated milk, but that is
another story) I regularly eat raw certified fertile organic eggs, aged
beef, all kinds of fish, and always feel great afterwards. I love it! I
find I have to eat twice the amount if it is cooked, and feel much less
satisfied.

As an aspiring Holistic Nutritionist, I am more deeply exploring the issue
of raw animal food, but  I don't feel confident enough yet to "go public"
with my beliefs until I find enough solid research and evidence supporting
it to back me up. (I guess posting on the Internet might be considered
"public", so never mind, I suppose I just did)

Although I feel confident in the benefits from raw food personally, I am
reluctant to advise anyone else to try it, for fear their immune system may
not be primed for it.

However, I find the discussion on "germs" to be fascinating- that germs are
our friends and we need not fear them. It appeals to me in the "holistic"
perspective. I have yet to jump on the bandwagon, though.

I am currently pursuing any relevant info in this regard, anecdotal or
empirical.

As I am sure you all must be aware, with the tide of the current
germ-o-phobia in this society, there is a lot to overcome in the
embracement of RAF. Not to mention the revulsion mind-set of most people...

There is obviously little support in *most* nutrition circles and I am very
glad to have made the connection to the PALEOFOOD  list serve and people
such as yourselves, where this can be discussed intelligently.

The more info we can all get our hands on, the more truth we can unearth,
the better for us all.

Louise Anderson