- Introduction: What is the
importance of eating raw? Specifically, what is the importance
of raw meat and other animal products like eggs and milk? What is
the background of this kind of eating, and what success does it
have?
- How do you start eating raw animal
foods (RAF) / What do you eat?
- Are you crazy? Are raw animal
foods safe? You must be a lunatic!
- What symptoms can I expect relief
from?
- What symptoms might I expect from
this diet?
- SOME EATING AND COMBINATION
GUIDELINES
- WHAT IS SAFE TO EAT? HOW DO I
PICK FOOD THAT IS SAFE FOR ME? WHAT DO I NEED TO BE
AWARE OF? (includes safe dairy, beef, chicken, fish, produce)
- Introduction:
What is the importance of eating raw? Specifically, what is the
importance of raw meat and other animal products like eggs and milk?
What is the background of this kind of eating, and what success does
it have?
Many people recognize the importance of eating raw foods and see the
health benefits from not cooking or "denaturing" foods.
But, many of us have tried vegetarian type raw eating and found over
time that it did not sustain us and even had bad effects, from food
cravings to poor bones and muscles. We found that plant
products often had the ability to "clean us out" but did
not rebuild us or keep our systems healthy. Yet, because of
the bad health effects of eating animal products cooked, this was
not an option either. Many people think that we have evolved
for thousands of years eating raw foods and that our digestion is
not prepared to handle cooked foods. We don't have the
digestive enzymes for cooked foods, and their effect in our bodies
is not beneficial like raw animal foods are.
The nature of proteins and fats is altered when exposed to heat. The
effects can be quite opposite when consumed (cooked animal fats
cause heart disease instead of nourishing, cleansing and rebuilding
the body). Many native societies have eaten raw animal
products for many many years until their habits were changed by
those thinking they were more "civilized". Some still do
eat raw animal foods (RAF). These societies had health unknown to us
today. One good book documenting this is Native Nutrition by
Ron Schmid, or Price/Pottenger's Nutrition and Physical
Degeneration.
This web site and mailing list is specifically about the diet
detailed in the book, We Want to Live (often referred to on these
pages as WWTL) by Aajonus Vonderplanitz, who spent the majority of
his life experimenting with raw foods, and most recently raw animal
foods, and has had astounding success (usually near 100%) in helping
people to dietarily cure themselves of illnesses ranging from heart
disease to cancer to chronic fatigue syndrome. The author is
NOT in any way involved in this site, and is not liable or
responsible for any information herein. We are people who have
followed his diet, found amazing success, and wanted to share it
with others. For more information regarding the book, look
here: www.primaldiet.com.
To order the book, you may call toll free, 1-888-777-7930.
Other sites which contain some of the understandings centered on in
this paradigm, are the paleo-diet page found at: http://www.panix.com/~paleodiet/,
and the raw food archives, found at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/raw-food.html.
Neither of these are in any way sponsored by this site, but may
prove useful to those interested in other points of view.
- How
do you start eating raw animal foods (RAF)/ What do you eat?
Many of us have found the transition to eating raw animal foods
(RAF) easy because it made sense to us, or our bodies responded so
positively. Others have eased into it a bit. Some
people start out with foods other than meats, such as raw milk,
cream, cheese, butter, and eggs. French bread with raw butter
and raw milk and cream and raw, unheated honey is a delicious way to
ease yourself in. Smoothies made of raw eggs and fruit and
honey is another way. Eating little pieces of raw meat will
awaken your body to what it needs, and you often start developing a
desire for raw meat after doing this. (Please see section
seven for what to eat, good and safe raw foods, combinations, etc.)
People find that on this diet, you will eat what it is you are
craving, so meals vary from person to person. Part of the
understanding of this diet, though, is that the body functions best
on raw animal foods, more so than plant products. So, there is
a switch from carbohydrates (bread, pastas, rice, and vegetables and
fruits) to meats (including beef, chicken, and fish), and some dairy
and eggs. Even mainstream research is starting to bear out the
deleterious effects of eating a high carbohydrate diet, based on the
evolutionary understanding that carbohydrates like pastas and breads
were not available to us during our digestive/metabolic evolution,
and are responsible for many of our diseases today.
While fewer carbohydrates and more proteins and fats are becoming
recommended, more often the percentages recommended on this diet are
much higher than anything in mainstream recommendations, and of
course, they are raw. It wouldn't be uncommon for a person
following this regime to need to eat a pound or more of beef a day
on this diet, and you can and should consume as much fat (raw) as
you want. Raw fats found in meats, eggs, dairy, and to a less
extent vegetable oils, are essential for good health,
detoxification and rebuilding. For example, if you eat a slice
of bread, it's best to eat a half of stick of butter with that! :)
Sound too good to be true? Your body has craved this all
along. Your body is right. For more ideas on recipes,
join the mailing list and experiment with us. Also, at some
point, Aajonus is coming out with a recipe book. AND, we will
be adding a page just for our new-found recipes. :) You can
help us!
- Are you crazy?
Are raw animal foods safe? You must be a lunatic!
It is your decision what to make of the information you discover
over time. Doctors will surely tell you it is lunacy to think
RAF safe, and RAF are becoming outlawed very rapidly (raw butter is
illegal everywhere but California and it is under attack right now
and may soon by outlawed there, and they are wanting to irradiate
meat to make it "safer" for us - a process known to cause
bad health effects like cancer). BUT, there are those of
us who listen to a different school of thought and who read beyond
the scare tactics of industries who are trying to profit from
keeping us "safe" (for example, the plastics industry, the
dairy regulating board, etc.) Many of us believe that
there is far greater danger in not being aware of chemicals like
hormones and pesticides in our foods (please see section seven for
more information on that.)
The theory behind this way of eating is not entirely new.
Microbes have a POSITIVE effect in our bodies, not negative.
Louis Pasteur (that's right - the guy who is famed for pasteurizing
milk) even recanted on his death bed and declared that germs, in
themselves, are NOT the problem. Other scientists since then
have declared this true, too.
As detailed in the work of Aajonus, in his book, WWTL, bacteria and
virii, etc, feed off of dead and dying tissue, not healthy ones and
are thus desperately NEEDED in your body's natural cleansing and
rebuilding processes that it carries on every day. If you have
illness or disease, that IS your cure... so long as you are feeding
yourself the right nutrients that allow it to cleanse and rebuild.
IF you are feeding your body nutrients that clog this process,
disease will be very painful, and will not produce better health as
a byproduct. If you take drugs that stop this disease or
infection altogether (antibiotics), you will effectively stop your
symptoms, but disease will only fester and worsen later, as the
waste products in your body that it was trying to clean out through
illness remain stored, and interfere with your health.
You can ask any health professional and they can tell you that
salmonella, and all those "harmful" bacteria famed in the
press for destroying health, are WITH you everyday. They are
on and in our bodies, and cannot be gotten rid of. If you eat one
salmonella bacteria, this is not the problem. Even if you eat
a large quantity of them and have a "cleansing reaction"
by all the good work they are doing in cleaning you out, this is not
the problem. The problem is when you don't eat foods that
clean you out, but instead poison you. Cooked foods and
medications and pesticides have FAR WORSE possibilities for
devastating health that raw foods with natural bacteria. Bacteria
are already in you, all the time. You can't get rid of
them. Unless you cook yourself in high heat. Then
you'd be dead. This is what your food is when cooked. It
is dead of nutrition.
- What symptoms
can I expect relief from?
People seem to be able to cure themselves of nearly every illness
over time on this way of eating. Truly, the success of this
diet is amazing. Let it be known right now, that there is NO
scientific, double blind studies to back this up at this time, so
you are going on someone's word alone. BUT, if you are
interested in amazing health, you owe it to yourself to look into
this. It IS possible to live without headaches, allergies,
tummy aches, aches and pains, have amazing energy, etc.
- What symptoms
might I expect from this diet?
When you start this diet, most people find they experience improved
health and relief from many symptoms right away. Within one
month, nearly everyone experiences improved health. However,
the damage done to our bodies by eating cooked food, taking
medications and consuming poisons like drugs and pesticides is
great. In a study by the Price/Pottenger Foundation, it took
six generations of eating raw to repair damage done to bones,
muscles, organs, teeth, and genes that occurred from eating cooked
foods. Healing takes time and energy, and some symptoms
can be painful while your body detoxes. Depending on how compromised
your body is, the symptoms may be hardly noticeable, or may be very
noticeable and can go on for a long time. Fatigue, need for rest and
sleep, are common ones. However, keep in mind that disease
without proper nourishment is far more painful and enduring.
Other effects that are produced from eating this way can be
interesting and fun(ny)... Some people have found their
bodies "waking up" to instinctive eating and notice they
have cravings for exactly the foods they need to heal. If your
body has been deficient in a nutrient because it is inaccessible in
the cooked foods it has been receiving, you might find you
absolutely crave a food raw now until your body gets enough of it.
One person, for example, found that something in the raw, unheated
honey was providing her the nutrients she needed (enzymes, or
vitamins, perhaps) and craved and ate several pounds of it the first
few weeks on this diet.
Unlike cravings experienced on non-raw foods, though, they tend to
go away when your body has had enough. You don't need to be
afraid of them on this diet. If your body needs fat or
protein, for example, eat it!
- SOME EATING AND
FOOD COMBINATION GUIDELINES...
This diet is about eating instinctively and providing your body what
it is calling for. However, there are some general
guidelines that help us, as we have eaten cooked foods for so long,
our bodies can have trouble remembering what they do best on...
ANIMAL FOODS: are wonderful and can be eaten just as they are.
They are high in protein and fat, which is great. Some people
prefer to eat them just plain, and some prefer some recipe ideas.
For more help with recipes, refer to our recipe section which will
be posted soon. Help us add to it!
CARBOHYDRATES AND FATS...
Fruit: As this diet is primarily an animal based diet that is high
in
protein and fats, carbohydrates tend to adversely effect blood sugar
since they don't have much fat to slow them down. Fruit is a
wonderful food, but you don't need to eat much of it. As a
general rule, it is a good idea when eating fruit to have a raw fat
with it to slow down the rate of the sugar hitting your blood
stream. Raw fats with fruit seems to have a very different
effect than raw fruits alone, in maintaining health. You
can have raw, no-salt-added cheeses, or cream, or eggs in a egg and
fruit smoothie, for some examples.
It is also a good idea to consume some raw fat with fruit or produce
(veggies) that is not organic, as the raw fat will combine with the
pesticides or other chemicals and "contain" them, making
them far less harmful to your body. I don't it was stressed
adequately in WWTL just how dangerous non-organic produce is without
raw fat.
Veggies: Contrary to popular diet advice these days, vegetables are
not considered important on this diet because this diet is naturally
cleansing and the digestive tract of a human is not set up for the
cellulose in vegetables. If you do eat vegetables, consuming
some raw fats with them is especially a good idea if the veggies are
not organic, however.
Cooked starch: Cooked starch is one of the cooked foods that can
have some benefit on this diet. However, it is limited.
According to Aajonus, when you eat a non-whole grain starch (French
bread/ white rice) with a large amount of raw fat (raw butter, cold
pressed olive or peanut oil), it helps to combine and transport
toxins out of your body. Apparently, whole grains are
unnecessary and even counterproductive, as, like vegetables, the
body is not set up to digest them. Cooked bread and fat is
also especially helpful in absorbing overactive hormones, like
adrenaline, as it acts to sort of "soak it up" and detox
it out of the body. Aajonus recommends white sourdough French
bread made of only: non-whole-wheat flour, sourdough, and possibly
sea salt and nothing more added (not vitamin enriched bread, and no
oils added.) (Salt, according to Aajonus, with gluten, can
combine and exit the body without harm. Except in this form, Aajonus
considers all forms of salt to be harmful to the body.
However, the goal is to get off of bread as much as you can.
[I found I could do this easily once I introduced raw milk to my
diet.] - WB
VEGETABLES AND MEAT make a bad combination. They take
different juices to break down (alkaline vs. acidic) and counteract
the other's digestion. In addition, whole veggies in general
will actually constipate you on this diet and aren't necessary
because this diet is naturally cleansing. Also, veggies in
general, will limit your appetite for meat which is
counterproductive. Veggie oils like cold pressed peanut or olive
oil, with whole veggies are bad because the nutrients in the veggies
will be "washed away" with the oil (unless you eat starch
with that meal in which case the oil will combine with the starch
not the veggies). (ex: bread with salad and oil dressing = ok)
Tomatoes are an exception - they are ok. You CAN always eat
animal fat with ANYTHING - any combo. (butter, cheese,
etc with veggies are ok.)
VEGGIE JUICE: Apparently a totally different story than whole
veggies...Juice is much more beneficial to you than whole veggies
and if you crave the juices, it's ok to have them. Keep the
sugar content low (low carrot/beet content). You can mix
the juice with raw eggs to help if you happen to have constipation
and also to have some fat with that raw produce if it's non-organic.
Avocado with veggie juice is really yummy to some folks.
Here's a JUICE RECIPE: 25 - 30% carrot and or beet (roots,
potatoes, yam, etc) no more because they are too sugary and
adversely effect blood sugar. 60% celery, and 5 - 10% parsley.
Juice will increase your mental capacities, especially if they are
sluggish, and help your body and brain work better in unison. Many
people have found immediate benefits from juicing vegetables.
VEGGIE/ VS. ANIMAL FATS: Vegetable fats detox, animal fats
soothe, lubricate, etc. Detoxing, while essential, often
can cause symptoms of discomfort, while animal fats do the OPPOSITE.
It seems that it's a common misunderstanding to think it is
necessary to detox *before* you rebuild your body, and
therefor, people focus on detoxing in the beginning, but not
rebuilding. This can cause a lot of discomfort, especially in
someone who has a seriously compromised system (insomnia, for
example, can sometimes be a detox symptom because the body needs to
be awake often to detox heavy stuff). The goal is to BALANCE
detoxing and rebuilding/soothing. You could actually
spend a LIFETIME detoxing (whether it be general detoxing, or
chemical exposure, or detoxing cancer, etc) and never rebuild
(broken down tissue, glands, muscles, etc). You DON'T HAVE TO fully
detox to regain feeling strength, vitality, and health. Your
body will detox at it's own pace when it deems it's necessary. But,
you CAN start rebuilding right away and *soothing* your body in the
process with the raw animal products and fats. If your
symptoms are too heavy, back off on veggie oils that act as
cleansing solvents (cold pressed olive oil, peanut oil, etc) and
consume more cream, butter and meat. Also, coconut cream is
the only veggie exception. It acts as a cleaner, but ALSO as a
soother as do animal fats.
DIGESTION TIMES: Apparently raw meat is only in your tummy
about 45 minutes! (The first part of your tummy anyway).
Knowing this makes it easier to consume more of the foods you want
to consume in one day, without improperly combining them.
For ex, 45 minutes after meat, you can consume some veggie juice
without combo probs. Or twenty minutes after juice, you can have
meat.
- WHAT IS SAFE TO
EAT? HOW DO I PICK FOOD THAT IS SAFE FOR ME? WHAT
DO I NEED TO BE AWARE OF?
The question of bacteria is not the one to be concerned with, as
detailed in question # 3. The dangers you need to protect yourself
from are the man-made chemicals of today - the pesticides, hormones,
and other chemicals found in today's foods. Following, is a detailed
explanation, much of which is found in WWTL, of what foods are safer
to consume, and how they are eaten on this diet...
SOME WORDS ABOUT DAIRY...
Raw, whole milk has the most fat and is most
preferable on this diet. If you are allergic to pasteurized milk, as
both the authors of this site were, you might find you have
marvelous luck with raw milk.
On this note, it is unfortunately getting harder
and harder to find raw milk due to germophobic agencies like the
California Dairy Board, who, although they are supposed to only be
"regulating" the production and sale of raw milk, are
actually on an offensive to outlaw it. This is an outrage and if you
care to invest in preserving your right to raw milk and other
products, you can do something about it. Write to Aajonus
Vonderplanitz at optimal@earthlink.net and tell him you want to join
the class action suit he is waging. You can write the California
legislators, even if you don't live in California. Tell them you
have friends who live there who benefit from raw dairy and you don't
want to see it banned. California sets the precedent for other
states frequently, so it will be an investment in your own health,
too. We hope to have a page up soon just to address this issue in
more depth.
Raw goat milk is another alternative, and is often
more easily accessible through local small farmers who sell their
excess. Call your 4-H extension to find them (if you live in the
USA). For more information on this topic, read WWTL. We will also be
adding a FAQ site specifically addressing the issue of finding foods
on this diet that aren't readily available in supermarkets or even
health food stores. Aajonus said to ask any local farmer you might
be wanting to buy from if the cows/goats had any antibiotics within
the last 30 days which you won't want to be passed on to you through
the milk. After about 30 days, the danger is significantly less. Any
hormones at all aren't safe, though.
SOME USES OF DAIRY:
Some of this info is touched on in the book. Cream
is more relaxing than butter (about twice as much), and more
relaxing than just drinking whole milk, too. So drinking whole milk
is not the same as obtaining just cream if you are trying to get the
most relaxing, calming effect in your body. Butter is more for
lubrication of the body, but for nerves and jittery type feeling,
cream is way better.
[Milk SIGNIFICANTLY changed my health status when
I was able to find local goat milk. It also completely increased my
ability to stick with this diet. Within two days I was able to
DELETE carbos (bread) from my diet, and my sugar cravings (even
fruit) ceased completely on their own. Quitting the bread and adding
the milk eased my depression, my constipation, and totally enhanced
my energy and general well being.] - WB
Apparently, while cooked starch (bread) can be
beneficial in relieving cravings and even depression initially, one
ought to try to get off of it as soon as they can because the toxins
from cooked starch store in even a healthy body, and slow it down.
SAFE FISH: The book says not to use fish farm
fish, but it was unclear to me how one knows which fish is
fish-farmed. Aajonus says it's required to be labeled (in Calif?
can't recall), but I found out my local fish in Oregon wasn't
necessarily labeled. Ask your butcher to know for sure! My butcher
now so labels all fish after my requesting it. Safer fish tend to
be: tuna, swordfish, and salmon (if it is fresh trolled, not fish
farm. ASK!!)
SAFE BEEF AND CHICKEN: It is Aajonus'
understanding that toxins (like hormones fed to animals, and
pesticides they consume, etc) are stored in the glands and bone
marrow of large animals like cows. This is why he considers it safe
to consume the muscle meat of non-free-range, or non-organic meats
(ground round is ok). Some people vehemently disagree with this.
Whatever you decide about this, it would definitely be in your best
interest to NOT consume the glands or bone marrow of commercial
animals.
In addition, unfortunately, the life and death of
commercial beef livestock is atrocious and inhumane, whereas with
free-range livestock, their lives and well being are taken into
account. Unfortunately, as we all know, free range animals are much
more expensive.
Chickens, because they are smaller animals, do not
have the chance to adequately remove toxins from their muscle meat.
He recommends only organic chicken.
SAFE EGGS: On this diet, the understanding is that
eggs are best eaten if unrefrigerated, which means buying them from
a local chicken farmer. As many of us just can't do that, the best
alternative is to buy them as close to the delivery date as possible
at the store, and then keep them unrefrigerated at home in a cool
place. The amino acids are fragile and tend to be destroyed through
refrigeration. Fertile eggs have more amino acid content so that's
why they are preferable. They enzymes are less destroyed through
refrigeration, too, making them more utilizable in your body. Non
fertile IS ok although free range is better.
Eggs are added to smoothies and help
detoxification of medications and drugs. They can be eaten in the
evening to help with sleep. They are delicious with fruit and honey,
and a variety of ways.
How to determine they are safe to buy either
through store or privately...Ask if they receive drugs of any sort.
If so, no good. They will be passed on to you, and that's dangerous.
As is true with milk, drugs or antibiotics will be passed on into
the egg within 30 days.
SAFE FRESH PRODUCE: Yes! There IS danger of consuming produce that
is not organic, as pesticides (especially heavily laced ones) can
instantly destroy health. I don't think this point is clear enough
in the book - just how dangerous non org. veggies and fruit are.
It's a terrible realization. HOWEVER, you can protect yourself
simply by consuming some raw fat, like a pat of butter with or
before consuming non org. produce (before going to a salad bar with
a friend, for ex.) The trouble is trying to protect your friends and
loved ones without sounding too arrogant or food-police-ish ;)
[When I was learning all these precautions,
somehow I was under the impression that when eating meat, milk,
eggs, or produce raw, you have to be MORE careful because the toxins
can harm you more, whereas when they are cooked, they are sort of
"cooked out" or something. In fact, it is just the
OPPOSITE! Apparently, ANYTHING you eat raw is ALWAYS better than
cooked, no matter what the quality of the product, (in addition to
the reason because it is raw) but also because both plant and
animals naturally protect toxins to a degree (in animals, for ex, it
is bound through the fat supplies and in my understanding, won't
digest in your body when eaten raw - it's like it goes more safely
through your system undigested in the animal fat. I believe the fat
is also less available for benefit to you, thus organic is a better
option simply to get more use of the animal fat). So, it's like it
is encased more safely for consumption, whereas cooking the food
"re-releases" the toxins, in Aajonus' words, and it is
more dangerous to eat.] - WB
That's all for now, folks. We intend to add to
this as time allows, so keep looking. IF you have read the book,
WWTL, feel free to write us with more ideas of frequently asked
questions to add here. Though the temptation is great, please
refrain from bombarding us with questions if you have not first
read, We Want to Live, by Aajonus Vonderplanitz. ;) Really, we are
just real people here who have limited time too. MANY of the common
questions are answered in Aajonus' book, so we kindly ask your
cooperation with this request. Thank you!!
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