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Raw Paleo Diet Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: Joy2012 on September 25, 2012, 12:37:03 pm

Title: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on September 25, 2012, 12:37:03 pm
My doctor prescribes an iron supplement for me because I am excessively deficient in iron and he said I need to bring up my iron level quick. I tried 2 iron supplements and I could not stand the stomach cramps side effect.  So I am trying to take in iron through food.   My research told me that clam and oyster are exceptionally rich in iron. Now I have always had the notion that raw shelled seafood (clam oyster mussel) are particularly prone to parasite problems. I would lik to know the view of people here.

BTW, I know liver also carries a lot of iron. But I am afraid of Vitamin A overload. (My doctors wants me to take in 500% of RDA iron for several months). I also know chicken heart has a good amount of iron. But I have to eat well over one pound of chicken heart to come close to the iron contained in the iron supplement my doctor prescribes. I cannot do that everyday.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: eveheart on September 25, 2012, 01:15:13 pm
I grew up eating raw oysters and clams. Nowadays, I eat raw oysters several times a week, and I also enjoy liver. While that does not prove their safety, I advise you to find a good, clean source of one or more of your iron-rich options and eat it/them in reasonable amounts.

Here is a guide I use to locate nearby oysters: http://www.oysterguide.com/oyster-finder/ (http://www.oysterguide.com/oyster-finder/). I am not sure about your area, so if it's not listed, just find oysters from clean, cold waters.

Iron supplements are well-known as stomach and bowel irritants. That makes sense because nowhere in nature is iron ingested by itself - it is always part of some food.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: TylerDurden on September 25, 2012, 03:24:37 pm
The parasite-issue is nonexistent re oysters. I've eaten raw oysters and raw mussels in very large quantities, and raw clams in much smaller amounts,  for over a decade, and never once had an issue.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: ys on September 26, 2012, 12:07:04 am
Spleen has even higher amount of iron and very little of vit A.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Iguana on September 26, 2012, 01:03:07 am
The parasite-issue is nonexistent re oysters. I've eaten raw oysters and raw mussels in very large quantities, and raw clams in much smaller amounts,  for over a decade, and never once had an issue.
Yes, me too and for over a quarter century. More of various kind of clams and scallops but less mussels than you, though - I think.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on September 26, 2012, 06:25:48 am
Joy - Port A Cafe has wonderful oysters. The rest of the food is Cajun deep fried and deadly - but their oysters - yum! I only feel terrific from them.

On the other hand I've tried oysters from Central Market and Whole Foods - YUCK!
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: cherimoya_kid on September 26, 2012, 07:07:16 am
I've never heard of any clam, oyster, or mussel parasites.  Crabs occasionally have parasites than can pass to humans, but it's pretty rare.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on September 26, 2012, 10:27:43 am
Many thanks to all who responded. Now I will try these shelled seafood... I hope I will find them palatable,


Dorothy, I seldom spend money at restaurants, now that I know how to be picky about the quality of foods--thanks to all you who are on this forum. Besides, I am already spending big bucks buying seafood from WF and I want to be a little bit frugal in other areas.  [According to my research, shrimps at HEB and Fiesta all carry preservatives. The shrimps at WF seafood counters do not have preservatives. So now I only shop most seafood at WF.]  Thanks for the Port A Cafe tip though. I will keep this in mind. If some day someone will take me there then I will know what to order.  ;)


BTW, do you guys  think one might absorb more iron from raw foods than from cooked foods?  It seems mission impossible to me to eat that much raw animal organ/clam  in order to take in iron in an amount that is  anything close to the 45 to 90 mg of iron (daily) my doctor prescribed. [I might eat one pound of cooked pork liver without distaste, but I could only finish a couple of bits of raw liver at one seating.]
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: TylerDurden on September 26, 2012, 01:34:42 pm
Iron-rich foods:-

Eggs - especially the yolk
Oily fish e.g. tuna, sardines, pilchards, cockles and mussels
Kidney, liver, heart **
Lamb, game, beef **

Nutrients in raw foods will be far better absorbed than the same nutrients within processed supplements. Still, if it's an emergency, take some iron supplements for a couple of months, and then discontinue them once you have plenty of iron-rich foods available.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: goodsamaritan on September 26, 2012, 03:27:29 pm
BTW, do you guys  think one might absorb more iron from raw foods than from cooked foods?  It seems mission impossible to me to eat that much raw animal organ/clam  in order to take in iron in an amount that is  anything close to the 45 to 90 mg of iron (daily) my doctor prescribed. [I might eat one pound of cooked pork liver without distaste, but I could only finish a couple of bits of raw liver at one seating.]

In my country we pound raw kamote leaves tops for iron.  http://www.myhealthblog.org/2010/12/02/alkalize-quickly-how-to-make-raw-kamote-tops-juice-sweet-potato-tops/ (http://www.myhealthblog.org/2010/12/02/alkalize-quickly-how-to-make-raw-kamote-tops-juice-sweet-potato-tops/)
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: svrn on September 26, 2012, 09:19:15 pm
iv gotten to the point now of completely disregarding anything about bacteria and parasites. they are natural and i am not worried at all.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: CitrusHigh on September 26, 2012, 09:31:43 pm
Freeing isn't it Troll?
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on September 27, 2012, 04:53:11 am
If I were you Joy I'd get some ionic iron drops Joy. Iron is very hard for the body to absorb in any kind of pill form.

If you find a place that has good oysters in Austin that isn't WF, Central Market or HEB - I sure would like to know. Those places the oysters tasted truly terrible to me. Right now oysters have to be a very rare treat when we go to Port A. When it comes to raw animal foods I will only eat things that taste really good to me.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: eveheart on September 27, 2012, 09:24:54 am
If you find a place that has good oysters in Austin that isn't WF, Central Market or HEB - I sure would like to know.

I don't know Austin from a hole in the ground, but yelp came up with this one: http://www.qualityseafoodmarket.com/ (http://www.qualityseafoodmarket.com/)
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on September 27, 2012, 10:36:47 am
Thanks to all for good suggestions. I will keep them in mind.

If I were you Joy I'd get some ionic iron drops Joy. Iron is very hard for the body to absorb in any kind of pill form.

Will  this liquid iron supplement cause the same kind of stomach pain and cramps as iron pills?  Right now I am less worried about how much iron can be absorbed from a particular form of iron supplement than that  iron supplement irritated my stomach and bowels.   If any iron supplement has a reputation of not disturbing stomach/bowels, I will take it--it is better than nothing.


I don't know Austin from a hole in the ground, but yelp came up with this one: http://www.qualityseafoodmarket.com/ (http://www.qualityseafoodmarket.com/)

The question with QUALITY SEAFOOD is its quality: Does it add preservatives to its seafood? Its website does not say it does not. I think that means it most likely adds preservatives.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: svrn on September 27, 2012, 11:07:34 am
Freeing isn't it Troll?

its a lot less to worry about. makes me more relaxed. dont have to wash hands all the time or do stupid stuff like that anymore. i feel like its a workout for my immune system anyway.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Polyvore on September 27, 2012, 11:42:43 am
I still have to worry about germs because of the people I live with.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on September 28, 2012, 03:45:16 am
Quality Seafood has some nice frozen yellow tail/hamachi that you can't get anywhere else in Austin that I've found and some fresh tuna  - but I don't think it's the place for oysters - I didn't try them when I was there at least - I must have not felt comfortable about something. Very good for deep fried food though. ;)  The website makes it look bigger and better than it is - but the part where they sell the raw fish is actually small. It's more of a restaurant than a quality fish monger if you ask me - but this is the first time I've lived this far from the ocean. It's also a long drive to get there for me.

There are some raw oyster shacks in town that I haven't tried.

Joy - I, nor anyone I know who has taken it, has ever felt digestive upset from ionic iron. I found something for you that might help you to understand iron better. Go to the second post - it's by Andrea - at the link below:
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4110318/low-iron-questions/ (http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4110318/low-iron-questions/)

 
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on September 28, 2012, 12:43:13 pm
Joy - I, nor anyone I know who has taken it, has ever felt digestive upset from ionic iron. I found something for you that might help you to understand iron better. Go to the second post - it's by Andrea - at the link below:
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4110318/low-iron-questions/ (http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4110318/low-iron-questions/)

You give me hope!  Now is this ionic iron an over-the-counter medicine or do I need a doctor's prescription to get it?
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on September 30, 2012, 12:30:31 am
You can order it from the internet. I got all my ionic minerals from the following company:
http://www.essense-of-life.com/product_M-110/Iron+Concentrate.htm (http://www.essense-of-life.com/product_M-110/Iron+Concentrate.htm)

..... but it comes in a plastic bottle. I bought it from this place because I needed other things from this company that I could get nowhere else, however there are other vendors of ionic iron. 



Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: goodsamaritan on September 30, 2012, 12:46:43 am
Hamachi are delicious.  Careful though if they come from Japanese waters, Fukushima and all that nuclear reactors leaking.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: TylerDurden on September 30, 2012, 01:03:34 am
GS, can you please stop with these  absurd anti-raw conspiracy theories? The Fukushima business is of a minor, harmless  nature and not to be worried about.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Brad462 on September 30, 2012, 06:03:07 am
Tyler, I don't think radiation from food is something one should be concerned about, but if I was living in Japan I would be pretty damn terrified right now.  Nuclear radiation is far from minor and harmless.

Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on September 30, 2012, 06:15:32 am
Dorothy, Thank you! I definitely must try ionic iron supplement.

GS, hamachi is called yellowtail fish here. I tried it a few times over the years but did not like it. But what does hamachi have to do with iron? It has 0 mg of iron.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: CitrusHigh on September 30, 2012, 07:54:24 am
How is that anti-raw? Or conspiracy theory?
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on September 30, 2012, 08:22:46 am
Joy - I mentioned hamachi when talking about Quality Seafood. My husband and I LOVE hamachi GS!
Nothing to do with iron Joy. Too bad there is no place to buy blood. That would probably fix you right up. ;)

I just read about one of the oldest living people on the planet having lived right near Hiroshima when the blast went off. Makes me wonder if she ate a lot of seaweed. That's what I do - and then choose to relax about radiation. I've started to put my water in a sun tea jar with lemon in the fridge - yum! I got the idea from watching a movie about the Brooklyn Bridge. They interviewed a water boy who said that he had to always add salt and lemon to the water. They were smarter about such things back then. I thought to myself that seaweed would probably be better - and it is! It's quite delicious - at least to me. The seaweed falls below the spout - but there is still a slight taste of it in the water.

Besides - I know how to prevent and cure cancer - which is the real worry with radiation. With our diets here and a little protection of the thyroid with seaweed I bet we all would be the survivors pretty much anywhere. ;)
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on September 30, 2012, 08:59:54 am
Joy - I mentioned hamachi when talking about Quality Seafood. My husband and I LOVE hamachi GS!
Nothing to do with iron Joy. Too bad there is no place to buy blood. That would probably fix you right up. ;)


Actually almost all Asian supermarkets (include the big one on North Lamar in Austin) sell blood. It is sometimes called "bloody tofu" in Taiwan. It tastes tasteless like regular tofu and one will have to add spices to make it taste good.  (I am talking about cooked dishes of course;  for generally speaking Asians do not drink raw blood. :o)  It is commonly eaten by Taiwanese. I actually used to like it (and still do  but I just do not eat it anymore because of concern for its cleaness.)   100 grams of pork blood contains 45mg of iron, which is twice the amount of  iron contained in liver (without Vitamin A overload) and it has other minerals in balanced amounts. One can eat a big bowl of it at one sitting .  It is considered a nutritious food item traditionally. 
 
 I have been debating with myself as to whether I should eat it for a couple of months (in cooked form, since the supermarket blood is from unhealthy chicken/pigs from crowded animal farms) just to bring up my body's iron storage.  Is it worth it? I mean to think of all the unhealthy stuff that might be in the grain-fed pigs...
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: TylerDurden on September 30, 2012, 09:16:14 am
Tyler, I don't think radiation from food is something one should be concerned about, but if I was living in Japan I would be pretty damn terrified right now.  Nuclear radiation is far from minor and harmless.
Everyone has been evacuated from the dangerous area around Fukushima, other than 1 or 2 die-hards. Everyone else in Japan is quite safe. When Fukushima happened, many Westerners fled Japan, causing the Japanese, unsurprisingly,  to view Westerners as insane cowards.

We already had the Czernobyl hoax in which Irish farmers pretended that their sheep must have died from radiation poisoning despite them living 1000s of kilometres away from the site. I even had one neighbouring couple invite a Czernobyl "survivor", who was 100% healthy - of course, the couple were Libtards.

Point is that Japan had rather more serious past incidents such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and survived quite well without having their whole population die of radiation-poisoning or their children all becoming mutants or whatever, so, clearly, it is absurd to worry about this issue.


Re raw blood:- I found that raw blood from intensively-farmed, grainfed animals to taste disgusting and raw blood from grassfed animals was pretty bland in taste.  However, raw blood from wild game was amazing, I felt an instant rush of energy therefrom. Sadly, not all producers like to sell it and want to sanitise the meat etc.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Inger on September 30, 2012, 07:25:52 pm
Yeah.. wild animals organs / blood have different energy that is my one N1. too for sure. Big difference.

I am not that afraid of radiation really. If one eats a diet high in Iodine one gets a pretty good protection!
So.. one more reason to eat lots of seafood and seaweeds.. :)
Japanese people traditionally have a diet very high in Iodine.

I never had digestive issues eating raw oysters and mussels so far... I never heard about them having parasites either. It is very common all over the world to eat raw oysters.. people that normally eat a SAD I mean.. I would not worry one bit.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: TylerDurden on September 30, 2012, 09:44:35 pm
How is that anti-raw? Or conspiracy theory?
it is anti-raw to suggest that raw foods might be radioactive when the evidence for this is totally bogus. It's like the anti-mercury claims  designed to scare people away from eating fish. And a conspiracy theory is one in which there is a lot of hype but no actual evidence, so radiation scares re Fukushima fit right  into into this concept. I mean, there are far  more harmful, actually real, dangers involved in cooked, processed foods, so it's irresponsible to get others to needlessly worry about fictional media-scares like mercury or radiation.

I should add that all humans already have natural levels of uranium in their bodies(along with tiny doses of all other elements). These microdoses are too small to have any effect on human health.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on October 01, 2012, 02:14:07 am

I should add that all humans already have natural levels of uranium in their bodies(along with tiny doses of all other elements). These microdoses are too small to have any effect on human health.

Really! I did not know that.
May I ask if your career is in the scientific field? Just curious.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: TylerDurden on October 01, 2012, 02:29:36 am
Really! I did not know that.
May I ask if your career is in the scientific field? Just curious.
No, due to long-term illness in pre-rawpalaeodiet days, my ability to concentrate etc. was, sadly, smashed during the critical period in my youth when I could have trained to be a scientist.  I do love science, though, and  was always a bit annoyed, in the past,  at the frequent, New-Age-like anti-Science stance of many rawists. I thought we would gain more credibility by citing studies/data that supported  our own experiences.

I just got the data re uranium  from  past random googling:-

https://apps.who.int/environmental_information/radiation/depluraniumexecsume.htm

"Uranium is a naturally occurring, ubiquitous, heavy metal found in various chemical forms in all soils, rocks, seas and oceans. It is also present in drinking water and food. On average, approximately 90 µg (micrograms) of uranium exist in the human body from normal intakes of water, food and air; approximately 66% is found in the skeleton, 16% in the liver, 8% in the kidneys and 10% in other tissues."
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Iguana on October 01, 2012, 02:33:18 am
There's uranium in seawater too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium)
Quote
Uranium is a naturally occurring element that can be found in low levels within all rock, soil, and water. Uranium is the 51st element in order of abundance in the Earth's crust.
(...)
An additional 4.6 billion tonnes of uranium are estimated to be in sea water (Japanese scientists in the 1980s showed that extraction of uranium from sea water using ion exchangers was technically feasible).[57][58] There have been experiments to extract uranium from sea water,[59] but the yield has been low due to the carbonate present in the water.

PS: Oops, I neglected to have a look at your last post before posting mine, TD !  ;)
I do love science, though, and  was always a bit annoyed, in the past,  at the frequent, New-Age-like anti-Science stance of many rawists.
Me too!


Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Brad462 on October 01, 2012, 02:58:04 am
Science is a strange religion.  The religion of materialism. 
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: TylerDurden on October 01, 2012, 03:07:47 am
Science is a strange religion.  The religion of materialism. 
Not materialistic at all. There is the transhumanist religion which is all about how humans should aim to liberate themselves from the human body and become AIs, energy beings/posthuman gods etc.. There is even talk about the Omega Point, as talked about by a Jesuit priest/scientist wherein humans/the universe etc. eventually become so advanced that they effectively become God:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point#Technological_singularity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point#Technological_singularity)

For an insight into Transhumanism and similiar religious/scientific but non-materialistic ideas, read Frank Herbert's book "Dune" or the 2 movie adaptations, and watch the film 2001. Oh, and Bruce Sterling's book "Schismatrix" is another example of what I mean.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on October 01, 2012, 11:50:40 am
Actually almost all Asian supermarkets (include the big one on North Lamar in Austin) sell blood. It is sometimes called "bloody tofu" in Taiwan. It tastes tasteless like regular tofu and one will have to add spices to make it taste good.  (I am talking about cooked dishes of course;  for generally speaking Asians do not drink raw blood. :o)  It is commonly eaten by Taiwanese. I actually used to like it (and still do  but I just do not eat it anymore because of concern for its cleaness.)   100 grams of pork blood contains 45mg of iron, which is twice the amount of  iron contained in liver (without Vitamin A overload) and it has other minerals in balanced amounts. One can eat a big bowl of it at one sitting .  It is considered a nutritious food item traditionally. 
 
 I have been debating with myself as to whether I should eat it for a couple of months (in cooked form, since the supermarket blood is from unhealthy chicken/pigs from crowded animal farms) just to bring up my body's iron storage.  Is it worth it? I mean to think of all the unhealthy stuff that might be in the grain-fed pigs...

My mistake Joy - I should have said raw blood from grass-fed animals. I guess you could try what they have at the Asian markets. I'm not that brave .... but I also don't have iron deficiency. ;)

I did find that raw hearts that I got from the farmer's market did bleed a lot - so you could drink that maybe?

Why do you think that you are iron deficient Joy?  I'm surprised that anyone would be iron deficient on a raw paleo diet ... unless you have Chron's, Celiac, cancer or hookworms or some such that would prevent you from absorbing what you are eating??? Has your doctor given you a reason?

Oh - and Dune is s great book! The movie was sad in comparison. I suggest skipping the movie and getting the book if you are going to pursue Tyler's sci-fi suggestions.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on October 01, 2012, 01:01:50 pm
Dorothy, I did not get iron deficiency from RP diet. I adopted RP diet only this year.  I was on a near-fruitarian diet for years before that, which I think is responsible for my iron deficiency. I had my first physical one month ago and the doctor said I am excessively iron-deficient.  (I am fine otherwise.)   No wonder I have felt a lack of energy these past several years.

Is Dune a good science fiction? Then I may read it. I love great fantasy books.

I will go get ionic iron drop tomorrow.  Natural Grocer carries it.  An HEB pharmacist told me it is eaiser on GI than the pill form but it will still cause GI upset. I am going to try it anyway. If unfortunately I cannot tolerate it, I will devise other solutions.

I have been eating raw chicken hearts from Slankers. I am a cleanliness freak so I wash my meat well before I eat it--not much blood is left after the washing. Even if I could get raw grass-fed blood I would probably cook it.

I went to a farmer's market this morning and asked a lamb farmer what he did with his lamb blood. He said the butcher place got it. It sounded like it is illegal for the butcher place to give back the animal blood to the farmer. I wonder why.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: goodsamaritan on October 01, 2012, 01:19:41 pm
Joy, all that meat blood plasma is good for you.  Helped cure my son's TB when he was 9 yrs old.

Try same day killed red meat unwashed, never refrigerated... Delicious.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: TylerDurden on October 01, 2012, 03:16:50 pm
Actually, I found the Dune 1984 movie to be very uplifting. There were certain scenes such as these two which were just great:-

Dune - Shai Hulud - David Lynch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrG4g6yNLJU#)

Dune - Navigator Scene Redone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSV9S2Ol3bc#noexternalembed)

Admittedly, the book is way better, though.

Re Fantasy:- Fantasy is a quite different genre from Science Fiction. Fantasy involves swords and sorcery, dragons and other  guff. There is also a travesty called "Science Fantasy" where the two genres are mixed in an unholy combination.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on October 02, 2012, 02:46:07 am
Joy, all that meat blood plasma is good for you.  Helped cure my son's TB when he was 9 yrs old.

Try same day killed red meat unwashed, never refrigerated... Delicious.

Thank you. I will try to wash less.   I have been a cleanness freak all my life though. ;)
Actually, I found the Dune 1984 movie to be very uplifting. There were certain scenes such as these two which were just great:-

Dune - Shai Hulud - David Lynch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrG4g6yNLJU#)



Re Fantasy:- Fantasy is a quite different genre from Science Fiction. Fantasy involves swords and sorcery, dragons and other  guff. There is also a travesty called "Science Fantasy" where the two genres are mixed in an unholy combination.
 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSV9S2Ol3bc#noexternalembed)

I see you have a scientific mind. I am a literary major and I just enjoy a good story. I cannot care less how the books are classified.  :)

By the way, I checked my city library's catelogue.  They have a number of books titled "Dune" by Frank Herbert but the books have different publishing dates (like one is 1984 and one is 2001...) Which "Dune" book are you guys talking about?
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on October 02, 2012, 03:14:28 am
The problem Joy are the laws in Texas. All farmers are by law mandated to send their animals to a slaughterhouse if they are going to sell any part of the animal to the public. Then, legally, the slaughterhouses are only allowed to send back to the farmers or the distributors the muscle meat and 4 organs. Literally half the cow is kept by the slaughterhouse (hopefully it at least goes into dog food and not just thrown away). Also - all the meat comes out of the slaughterhouse frozen - so doing what GS suggested I have yet to be able to accomplish. I have never tasted unfrozen raw fresh meat. :(  Buying grass-fed blood from Texas farmers is very sadly not possible. You can buy pre-made dishes at the Asian grocers that contain blood though. Maybe in your case it would be worth taking the chance regarding the hormones, pesticides etc. and worth eating the cooked versions of traditional Asian foods containing blood since you are such a clean freak and are so deficient? What would be better I think would be to wash a frozen heart while it is still frozen and then let it thaw and for the blood to come and be caught and drink it. That way you will be able to make sure the organ is clean and still get the raw grass-fed blood. I doubt that anything would be as good for you as raw blood. People here say that mixing it with raw milk is quite delicious if you do milk.

Now that you are eating raw paleo - I am still surprised that you are iron deficient. Iron deficiency should have gone away fairly rapidly when adopting a diet so rich in iron as the raw paleo diet. I can't help but to wonder if you did some damage to your ability to absorb nutrients on that fruitarian diet you were on. You need extremely easy to digest and absorb forms of iron I would think. The ionic will be good as it is the most easily absorbed form of supplement - but I still think blood would be even better. If you just can't stand the idea of drinking blood, then I think I would go to the Asian market and eat the cooked versions available to you. Iron deficiency really can zap all the energy from you and it can be a dangerous condition if you are indeed that low.

If eating blood, and taking ionic iron isn't enough or you can't tolerate either of those - you might want to consider getting an IV drip of iron directly. You wouldn't believe how fast that can make you feel better. Once your iron levels are back up to normal and you are eating a raw paleo diet rich in iron - if your iron levels go down again - it would mean that you have other issues that have to be diagnosed and addressed.

Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on October 02, 2012, 03:21:04 am
True Tyler - that was a great scene! That's the one that I remember when I think of the movie. But it still pales to what I saw in my mind when reading the book. The book was really that good.

They have a downloadable ebook at Austin Public library if you like listening to books Joy. The recent books are the 40 year anniversary editions.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: TylerDurden on October 02, 2012, 05:08:37 am

By the way, I checked my city library's catalogue.  They have a number of books titled "Dune" by Frank Herbert but the books have different publishing dates (like one is 1984 and one is 2001...) Which "Dune" book are you guys talking about?
  There is only one "Dune" book, though it may be published at different dates. There are a dozen sequels and prequels, but only the ones written by Frank Herbert himself are any good, imo.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on October 02, 2012, 06:45:40 am
Dorothy, thank you for your response.  Yes I think it might be worth it to eat grain-fed blood for a couple of months just to bring up my iron level. Actually I just bought some pork blood from the Asian market on North Lamar. A box (about one pound) of pork blood is $1.18.     BTW, how come this Asian market can get pure blood from the butcher in spite of the Texas law?   It appears very fresh, because some blood is still liquidy, not congealed.  There is even the name of the butcher on the box.  [Don't tell Texas law enforcers please. ;) ]

BTW, WF claims that their grass-fed beef from local farms has never been frozen.

Tyler, thanks.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on October 02, 2012, 06:59:08 am
Someone in the know told me just recently that WF used to do their own butchering but stopped a while back. Hmmmm. Maybe they have a deal with their particular slaughterhouse not to freeze the meat and they go and pick it up in refrigerated vehicles? I'll have to look into it. It's not illegal to go pick up the meat before it's frozen - it's just that the slaughterhouses automatically freeze the meat. WF would have enough clout to get them not to freeze maybe. So, perhaps I have had unfrozen raw meat and didn't even know it! Ha! All the small farmers I've spoken to say the same thing - that they can't get back the whole animal - just certain parts. It's a big loss for them. WF doesn't sell any organs that I've been able to find. Have you? The WF near me gets in their shipment of red meat on Wednesdays. I don't trust them to turn their meat to properly air it so I will only buy from them on Wednesdays.

So the farm on your package is a local Texas farm? I wonder if the fact that it's cooked has something to do with it? Strange. Perhaps the cooked food is prepared on the farm and there are different laws for cooked vs raw meat? I've never asked anything about cooked or prepared foods since I'm not exactly interested in those. ;)

I'm glad you got yourself some blood in whatever form you feel comfortable eating it. When do you get your iron tested again?
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Joy2012 on October 02, 2012, 11:13:07 am
Dorothy, if you ask for it, the WF downtown store will order raw grass-fed beef liver for you. Call on Monday to place an order for the coming Wed.  It is frozen though. About $5 a pound.

The pork blood the Asian market sells is fresh raw blood by a Texan farm situated near Austin.
Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: Dorothy on October 04, 2012, 12:14:00 am
I have a WF that opened a few minutes from my house so I doubt if I'll be going downtown to Whole Foods ever again! lol  I think I'd rather go to the farmer's market generally. But I WILL ask if they can order me any organs at my local store. Thanks for the heads up on that.

I wonder if there is a different law for blood? I also wonder if it might be a similar situation that someone goes to the slaughterhouse to pick it up because there is enough of a market for it at that massive Asian market up north?  Really good to know it's available. 

Question for the group though: Is pig blood something that generally carries parasites?  I know little about pork except the usual scare mongering. The problem with pigs is that they are so rarely allowed to forage naturally - and can be fed so atrociously - so I've generally stayed away.

Title: Re: clam and oyster have parasites?
Post by: LePatron7 on October 04, 2012, 04:30:23 am
I have a WF that opened a few minutes from my house so I doubt if I'll be going downtown to Whole Foods ever again! lol  I think I'd rather go to the farmer's market generally. But I WILL ask if they can order me any organs at my local store. Thanks for the heads up on that.

I wonder if there is a different law for blood? I also wonder if it might be a similar situation that someone goes to the slaughterhouse to pick it up because there is enough of a market for it at that massive Asian market up north?  Really good to know it's available. 

Question for the group though: Is pig blood something that generally carries parasites?  I know little about pork except the usual scare mongering. The problem with pigs is that they are so rarely allowed to forage naturally - and can be fed so atrociously - so I've generally stayed away.


I recently ate raw pork. For a few weeks after I felt like a pinching feeling in my butt area. Followed by random unexplained nasuea. It went away on its own.

I think it couldve been a parasite. I remember reading on the forum there's a pig parasite that gets out of the system in 14 days.