At 08:05 PM 6/4/2002 -0500, Theola wrote:
>I can't fathom eating raw chicken, but raw hamburger is mighty tasty.  :-)
>My soon-to-be-85-year-old father turned me on to it when I was about 11.   I
>wouldn't even think of eating it now, though, because the very nature of
>hamburger is that it's an overprocessed meat and been handled and re-handled
>several times over with the potential for contamination too great.  I don't
>think it's a good idea to challenge my immune system too much. :-)

If you find good sources of red (or other) meat then you can be more
assured that the contamination is little to none.  The good quality,
grass-fed, organic meat and milk has it's own, beneficial bacteria that
keeps external, opportunistic bacteria at bay.  This is the same with other
foods.  Knowing your food sources is the way to go.  I would not consider
regularly eating any meat unless I knew all about the sources.  Of course I
still "take my chances" when I dine at a restaurant.

I look for high quality meats and ask how the animals are fed and do the
research before I buy.  For example, my local Wholefoods store has New
Zealand beef and lamb that is grass-fed and organic and arrives
unfrozen.  It is available as whole cuts or ground.  The only time it is
processed after being slaughtered and cut up is at the store if it is
ground or cut into smaller portions.  There are private farmers in the U.S.
who offer excellent quality meats for pickup or mail-order.  Another
example: a local, free-range, organic chicken farm that produces the best
eggs and chickens I've ever had.  Their chickens can eat what they want as
they roam (they are omnivorous creatures) and are quite healthy and tasty.
They are at all of the farmer's markets around the L.A. area.

These meats last a long time and resist unwanted bacterial growth even when
kept in the refrigerator.  My experience with these types of meats,
especially when aged for the extra bacteria, is that there are no negative
effects (save a strong odor) and, quite the opposite, I feel stronger
(immune-wise too) and have more endurance from eating them.  They really
make we feel good.

I started slowly eating these meats and mixed cooked foods with them.  By
slowly increasing the amount of raw food I gave my body time to adjust to
the new foods.  Took about 6 months to get up to about 80 percent raw foods
in my diet.

Regards,

-=mark=-