Considering there was an Ice Age in Palaeo times, that does support the notion of a near-zero-carb or all-zero-carb diet. Although, there's other conflicting evidence against that idea, as well.

How did you come to taste maggots dare I ask    and perhaps eating 'dead' ants would be best 

How about snails? That's another I have yet to try, fresh or canned. Any reviews on snails?

All I remember, as a child, was my family cooking snails, taken from the wild, and getting food-poisoning as a result.

I'm sure, though, that the kind of snails you get in French restaurants are fine - I've tasted such, later on in my life(al;beit cooked), and they're excellent if used with various green herbs.

In the early stages of rawpalaeo, I would leave outside some  pieces of raw tongue so that they would age a little and become easier for my (then severely-weakened) teeth to handle. As a result, in the summer, flies would leave little larvae on top, which I would eat, regardless. I also would buy live maggots(meant for pets) but they didn't taste too good as they were meant for pets, and also had wood-chips in the tins with them, which would not have helped the taste at all.

Charles has pretty much shot himself in the foot re the whole raw issue. First of all, he claimed that the Inuit didn't eat much raw animal food(in fact most sources, other then Stefanson's, attest to the fact that they ate large amounts of it in their diet). Plus, it's not mentioned that Stefansson had an ulterior motive in promoting the notion that raw meat wasn't needed for health:- he wanted to promote a cooked animal food diet because he knew damn well that advocating a raw(or partially-raw)-animal-food diet would never be
as popular , given hysteria re bacteria/parasites in his day. Then there's the point, mentioned on this forum, that not only was the Bellevue experiment far too short in duration(just 1 year), but also there was the fact that some of the food Stefansson ate consisted of raw animal food, such as marrow.

How funny that you know about this...it was only mentioned on one of our rubbishy news stations (TV). The cook looked unhealthy and was smoking during the interview. He thought it would be a way of making money but he got put down by the Swiss authorities (thank goodness!!!)

Nicola

Well,  mother's milk is so much healthier than cows' milk, even if pasteurised, that it would have been interesting to see this sort of novelty in a restaurant. Besides, there's an increasing trend towards eccentricity in the restaurant-industry as hey tsrive to be ever more innovative and compete against their rivals- this trend should be encouraged as it will inevitably lead to raw-animal-food restaurants - at the moment, the best we have is a few restaurants offerin g 1 or 2 raw meat dishes, and the Japanese Sashimi restaurants who offer from 1/3 to 1/2 of their meals in the form of raw fish.

"If" is a rather absurdly idealistic poem written by Rudyard Kipling, in a sort of self-help style. Here it is below, along with a few parodies of the poem below it(I just find them rather  amusing and thought I ought to share them with the board):-

"If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!"

If parodies:-

"If you can get yourself a fancy title,
    Though no one knows just what your job’s about,
If you can screw up projects that are vital,
    Then shift the blame before they find you out;
If you can treat a rival like a brother,
    Then stab him in the back each chance you can;
If you can steal the program of another,
    Then take the credit that it was your plan;

If you can rig expenses that are phony,
    While everyone believes that they are real;
If you can take long lunches with a crony,
    And make your boss believe you’ve closed a deal;
If you can get the office staff to love you,
    When in your heart of hearts you think they’re dirt;
If you can look alive to those above you,
    When nine to five no effort you exert;

If you can seem free-thinking and courageous,
    Yet always end up siding with your boss;
If you can get a mammoth raise in wages,
    Yet make him feel you’re working at a loss;
If every line that’s written here you’ve noted,
    And every rule and precept you obey,
Then to the highest spot you’ll be promoted,
    Unless, of course, you’re knifed along the way."

"If you can keep your wealth when all about you
    Are losing theirs from paying income tax;
If you can make quite sure that no one doubts you
    By selling to the networks your own “facts”;

If you can reap the harvest that is waiting
    For those who fight both sides of one same war;
If you spend hours televised, debating
    For bussing and for “welfare” for the “poor”;

If you can trade with Reds, and all the while
    Be charging what they owe to our own banks;
If you can have us lose a war, then smile,
    Because you know you’re only getting thanks;

If you can hold an office, but each minute
    Be out afloat, and calmly goin’ fishin’,
The U.S.A. is yours, and all that’s in it,
    Because, my son, you’ll be a politician."

"IF
Advice to an Applicant


If you can back your boss and keep on smiling,
while toning down his brash absurdities,
if, having watched the man manhandle filing,
you rearrange the folders pretty please,
if coy and charming, beautiful, beguiling,
anticipating all contingencies,
you manage new accounts, contacts redialling,
correct crass spelling, cover vagaries...

If you can keep your head while he’s resiling,
evolve successful counter-strategies,
if ‘mum’s the word’, discrete, effective tyling,
from busy-bodies safe when he agrees.
If you can spend your time in reconciling
his intellectual inanities,
never upset his fragile ego, heiling
whene’er he feels the need, or profits sneeze...

If Windows easy comes, while modem dialing
to DSL migration’s not a tease,
if firewall free from viruses hostiling
you clean can keep, recalling password keys,
if the above you show him recompiling
the data lost when he lacks expertise, -
yet know your place as cypher, never riling,
remembering to bow before ‘big cheese’...

If you can stand him publicly reviling
your good ideas, then claim them his with ease,
can watch while rival’s ruin he’s compiling
so coldly that a lizard’s blood would freeze.
If when betrayed by his ambitious wiling
you triumph through innate abilities,
ignoring basic scheming, baser guiling,
you seize the precious point he never sees! ...

If you won’t blush when, rash, he’ll rush, exiling
your intuitions as freak fantasies,
but confidently while free-time he’s whiling,
circumvent his incapacities.
Surpassing him in brains, tact, versatiling,
you never strive to swap your salaries,
but both feet on the ground, still patient, smiling,
can counteract his incoherencies...

If you are sure his image needs restyling,
select the suits that suit down to the tees,
if you are ever ready camomiling,
or sprinkling sugar, creaming, coffee, teas,
if you can trick his wayward infantiling
and censure not his immaturities,
ignore his clumsy tries at fond defling,
yet fondled, tactful, rise from off his knees...

If you take three degrees while reconciling
your private life to further Ph.D.’s,
if you can children bear without work piling
and keep them free from trouble and disease,
if you can spring his quick promotion – vile thing –
and play the game of happy families...
Your’s is the job, the rest’s cosmetic styling,
the prized princess and pride of... secret’ries! "

"If
If you can keep your head when those who manage
Have lost the plot and need someone to blame,
And bust your gut to minimise the damage,
And know you’ll never blush to find it fame;
If you can knuckle down and get the job done,
And be content with knowing it’s done well,
And seek no more reward - then you’re a mug, son.
Don’t work so hard – but push yourself like hell!

If you can boost your key performance metrics
With “competencies” that you never had,
With HR unaware that you’ve sussed their tricks
And found the loopholes in their latest fad;
If you can keep your boss, and his boss, happy
While letting lesser liveware do the work,
You’ll seem, to those who count, a clever chappie.
(Ignore the nobodies who think you shirk.)

If you know nothing practical – just bullshit!
(Don’t worry, no-one senior will know.)
You’ll have your share of luck, my son, so push it!
You’ll be surprised how far and high you’ll go.
If you can meet redundancy and head-hunts,
And in the face of each be just as bold
(You’ll find it’s not so hard when it’s been done once
- But don’t forget your parachute of gold!);

If you do nothing useful, but can witter
About key tasks, rightsizing, and team roles
You’ll find that you’ll be seen as all the fitter
For more promotion up the greasy pole.
If you can talk the talk and walk the walk, son,
That’s all you need, to be a plutocrat.
Grab all you want; let others do the work, son,
And if you don’t – well, son, you’ll be a prat."

OK, this is really offensive, but rather funny, so apologies in advance, I'm NOT posting this for political reasons, but solely because it's the most appalling of the parodies(I'm actually somewhat sympathetic to the Taliban(though with some misgivings re their philosophy) as they kicked out the Russians before them and now have to go through the whole business again):-

"
If— (you want to be a true jihadi)
If you can hack the head off from a hostage
Who 's kneeling bound and helpless on the floor;
If you can purge yourself of each last vestige
Of decency, morality, and Law;
If you can hate and never tire of hating,
Or, faced with truth, still hold fast to your lies,
Or, while you 're hard at work decapitating,
Show no trace of pity in your eyes:

If you can teach your kids the “victim” story,
Stir Muslim losers trapped in English slums,
Fill youthful heads with crackpot dreams of glory,
And urge them on to fiery martyrdoms;
If you can use religion as a cover
For deeds no man could pardon or excuse,
Or claim that all the ills we humans suffer
Are machinations of the evil Jews:

If you can use the fruits of Western science
(A science that your culture cannot match)
To broadcast all your hatred and defiance,
Or carry out your crimes with more dispatch;
If you can put aside sectarian violence,
Co-operate with Shi'ites from Iran,
Unite Islam; intimidate to silence
All Muslims who won't sign up to your plan:

If you can fly a plane into a building
Filled with harmless folk you 've never seen,
Or seize a school that 's full of little children
And murder them when rescuers break in;
If you can fill each precious living minute
With sixty seconds' worth of evil done,
Yours is heaven, and all the virgins in it,
And then you 'll be a real jihadi, son! "

"You're rnd
If you can keep your head when all around you
is shot and shell and bomb and poison gas;
If you can keep your watch though dugout tempts you,
As round your post death's missiles fiercely pass,
If you with calm can face the hellish war-tune
If you can fight, though fightings not your aim;
If you can meet with vic'ry or misfortune,
And treat them both as part of the great game,
If you can bear the risks and daily terrors
Of frontline trench or billets nightly shelled,
And serve the staff as though they've made no errors,
Though often, perhaps, quite different views you've held;
If you can speculate upon your chances
Of winning through, and count them ten to one,
And take the lot on counting deaths last dances
Where duty calls or honour to be won;
If you serene can face the shell made curtain,
and through it merge, with courage undismayed,
Nor turn right nor left to make more certain
You're not alone-not alone being unafraid;
if though you wish for peace, you've yet decided
You will not sheath the sword you wear today;
Even though in arms you may have long abided,
You'll carry on till foes shall own your sway;
If you can kill the Huns and keep on killing,
Until at length they cry aloud, “you've won!”
Yours is the corps whose glories send hearts thrilling,
You're justly proud—you're rnd, my son. "
If (after Rudyard Kipling)
If you can join the Group whilst fellow workers
Are hanging back and leaving it to you—

If you can pay your sub. and show the shirkers
You 're out to beat “Old Nasty” and his crew—

If you can urge them to the resolution
To sign the form and undertake their share—

If you can raise your weekly contribution
Another sixpence here, a sixpence there,

If you can watch your savings ever growing
With more Certificates at fifteen bob,

 And watching them, can feel a pride at knowing
They go to help Old England do her job—

If you can keep your book and all that 's in it,
Nor seek repayment till the fight is won,

Peace shall be yours, for you will help to win it—
And what is more, I know you can, my son! "

"If
If you can keep your computer on, while those about you
Are crashing theirs and blaming it on you.
If you can run a game while all men doubt you
But make allowence for their doubting too,
If you can wait, and not be tired of waiting
For the 5megabyte program to load
When you know its you thcomputers hating.
Its because of you the computer slowed.
If you can dream of an ultimate anti-virus
If you can think, but fix compiter is your main aim

If you can meet with the computer pirates
Who infected the Win 95 mainframe.
If you can bear to see thprogram youve written
Destroyed by the millenium bug.
Or your desktop pet, your kitten
Meet its maker, and you only shrug.

If you can make one heap of all your software
And risk it on one game of Quake
Then lose, and say I dont care
But,oh, dont gloat, for Petes sake.
If you can force your monitor and modem
To serve your turn long after you have ceased to be.
And have you made a game that showed em
You can program in AED?

If you can make a site and keep your virtue
Deal with a bug, nor lose the common touch.
If neither your PC, nor anyones can hurt you,
If all computers count with you, but none too much.
If you can say In a minute!
Fulfill your promise, and still stay sane
Yours is the Web and everything in it.
Oh no, my modems crashed åÇæìñ"



 
 

 

Here's a funny article about a Swiss Restaurateur who wants to provide his guests with dishes containing (pasteurised) human milk:-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article4776425.ece

I am still wondering:

- do you eat that liver/lobster and then decide to fast (8 figs is not much but carbs again)?
- do you eat that liver/lobster because you know that you plan to fast?
- why do you do better if you fast?
- why do you eat that much in the first place - isn't it ideal for you to eat a portion of meat&fat every day?
- what if you didn't drive to work and had a hard job?
- does your metabolism slow down when you fast or do you experience any form of detox?

If I don't eat then I have to rest; I am trying this again today (the last times I did feel very low the next day and when I ate meat and fat it made me feel real sick and I had to go to bed).

I am asking all this to understand what drives people to do what they do - why do we do what we do ?

Nicola

1) I don't really "plan" to fast. It's just that I get various projects, here and there, so know when I'll be feeling less hungry than usual.

2) I don't detox during fasts as I don't eat the vast amounts of cooked c*** I ate in the past. I don't feel tired or have a lower metabolism(in fact I feel refreshed and have better concentration by far for my various projects, which is in line with Intermittent Fasting theory. It's only when I go in for long-term fasts that I feel very tired(and ravenously hungry).

3) I don't like rigid schedules, so I vary the amounts I eat, all the time. Eating the same amount of food-mix every day  like Lex and other zero-carbers would be hellish and very boring for me. I like variety in all things when it comes to diet.

4) When I do a lot of physical activity, I tend to vary between eating very little and eating a lot - it all depends.

*Eating this much liver is pretty  rare for me, by the way, I just wanted to finish it off*

There was a guy on another raw paleo forum who ate a ton of fish, he seemed to of taken some of Aajonus's advice and run with it without thinking for himself and ate fish to excess. He got into serious trouble I think he lost weight and his teeth started to fall out? he did take it to the extreme but provided some evidence that fish maybe not all what it's cracked up to be.

The guy you're referrring to had been eating lots of dodgy, very unhealthy  foods such as raw dairy and lots of raw honey(far more than would have been obtainable in Palaeo times) - he also followed Aajonus' advice in his 1st book(not the revised edition?) and ate vast amounts of raw food every day. So, given that he was following strict Primal Diet guidelines, it's highly unsurprising that he developed health-problems, much like many other ex-Primal Dieters before him on veggie-juice, raw dairy etc.  So, this is a FAR more likely explanation than the absurd mercury-issue. Besides, why is it that the Japanese, eaters of lots of raw and cooked fish in their diet, manage to so figure highly in terms of IQ scores, worldwide - if the mercury-claims were remotely true, one would have to expect neurological problems/IQ deficits in the Japanese population, yet there's no evidence for this whatsoever.

Whenever people bring up this tired, orthorexic topic, and I respond with the various damning scientific studies etc. which oppose this ludicrous theory, the usual response is that the effect of mercury is so small that it doesn't show up in short-term tests, but only in real-life after years of fish-consumption. Yet the Seychelles study ironically shows a very slight increase in neurological performance for those children eating lots of raw fish, and they eat 10 times as much seafood as Americans do.Actually, that slight boost would be in line with the old Hormesis theory.

I would not over do it. I was eating a heap of fish at the start of going raw. I've gone totally off it and prefer the taste of red meat. It's what were designed to eat.

Evidence from Palaeo times shows that while Neanderthals ate only meat for their animal-foods, our cavemen ancestors would eat a more varied diet of fish, fowl and meat(and berries etc., of course):-

http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news202.htm

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=early-modern-humans-feast

Someone should investigate if Aajonus's mercury theory has any science to back it up?

Well, if the raw-foodist theory re cooking rendering substances in food inorganic, is correct, than AV might have a point. Otherwise, probably not.

thanks Sully for the link....

yes, TylerDurden I think I can avoid that...


Back in India the organic grass-fed meat is very difficult to get and I have been relying more on coconut cream and cook lightly the chicken, mutton etc.

Granted, I haven't a clue about India, but I would hazard a guess that, while there's no official organic-food industry in India yet(other than organic fruit and organic chicken(much like Italy), I suspect that, India being a developing country, is highly unlikely to have the kind of mass, intensively-farmed grainfed animals found in the US. I'm sure it's possible to find many small-time Indian farmers who simply can't afford to convert to official "organic" status and who, similiarly, can't afford to use growth-hormones/chemicals etc. or feed  their animals on grains, and who just let their animals graze on pasture all year round.

I've come across several  instances where some nonorganic farmers have actually provided me with much higher quality raw meats(re taste/nutrients) than I've had from organic, 100% grassfed farmers(an example being Italy, where I managed to find some excellent 100% grassfed raw horsemeat, which was not even labelled "free-range" or "naturally-reared", let alone "organic"(and it turned out to cost much less than the equivalent grainfed beef, kilo by kilo, because horsemeat isn't as popular).

Mutton should be fine, as sheep are generally fed higher amounts of grass(often 100%)  than cattle. Cook it as little as possible.

Re zero-carb:- I also failed at zero-carb when I tried it, and am a sceptic of such a diet.

 Checking the adrenal burnout info on the web, it seems that not only does adrenal burnout make it more difficult to digest cooked animal food(one reason why it's a good idea to gradually edge towards raw as much as you can), but also, too many or too little carbs in one's diet is also recommended against.

(You may not like this, but I thought I should mention that I found it easier to digest meats when I aged them for a few days -high-meat was the easiest of all to digest). It's probably best, though, that you first get used to eating fresh, raw meats first!

This topic has been moved to General Discussion.

http://www.rawpaleoforum.com?topic=564.0

Here's an exhaustive  archive on the harmful aspects of grains:-

http://www.gluten-free.org/hoggan/

Here's Cordain's comprehensive  treatise on the dangers of grain-consumption:-

http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Cereal%20article.pdf

A 2-part article on the harm done by grains:-

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/page/dark-side-wheat-new-perspectives-celiac-disease-wheat-intolerance-sayer-ji

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/page/opening-pandoras-bread-box-critical-role-wheat-lectin-human-disease

Ya know, I should at least get a flash drive for backup or I should sync my Mac and Linux/Windows machines.
I read something about remote backups over the web. Are these reliable/secure?

That's what I've decided to do:- keep 1 flash-drive for transfering data, and 1 for storing essential backup files, so that when my PC goes fut once again, I'll be able to restore it back to its original state, quickly.

Could you give me some links?

That was a reference to Pangaia, I suppose. It's got its own website.