Raw Paleo Diet Forum for Russian speaking cavemen.

Oftentimes when asking for liver in the market I was told it wasn’t good. Neither butchers nor meat inspectors could provide me with any reasonable explanation. They just wrote it down to parasites.

Since I wasn’t parasite phobic I disregarded theirs warnings and consumed the BAD but discounted livers from time to time. I noticed a pattern that only grass fed and non-dewormed animals (especially sheep) had inferior livers. There always has been a dilemma for me whether to go for CLEAN commercial meat or choose from much better but infected sources.

This issue haunted my mind for quite a while. Finally I cracked this mystery the other day when I was cutting yet another spoiled liver. I found the whole number of Fasciola hepatica in the bile ducts. I surfed the Internet and got all the desired answers.

Here is the most general info on Fasciolosis.

The Merck Manual also provide some insight on common liver fluke.

Why animals rarely if ever have liver flukes in the wild?
Control measures for F hepatica ideally should involve removal of flukes in affected animals, reduction of the intermediate host snail population, and prevention of livestock access to snail-infested pasture. Prevention of livestock access to snail-infested pasture is frequently impractical because of the size of the areas involved and the consequent expense of erecting adequate fencing.

How it correlates with my condition?
Chronic or obstructive phase: This phase may develop months or years after initial infection. Adult flukes in the bile ducts cause inflammation and hyperplasia of the epithelium. The resulting cholangitis and cholecystitis, combined with the large body of the flukes, are sufficient to cause mechanical obstruction of the biliary duct. In this phase, biliary colic, epigastric pain, fatty food intolerance, nausea, jaundice, pruritus, right upper-quadrant abdominal tenderness, etc., are clinical manifestations indistinguishable from cholangitis, cholecystitis and cholelithiasis of other origins. Hepatic enlargement may be associated with an enlarged spleen or ascites. In case of obstruction, the gall bladder is usually enlarged and edematous with thickening of the wall. Fibrous adhesions of the gall bladder to adjacent organs are common. Lithiasis of the bile duct or gall bladder is frequent and the stones are usually small and multiple.

So many familiar symptoms… But they are our FRIENDS, the parasites, AREN’T they?

Hi friends,

As I understand, butter is not in high favour with rawpaleo dieters. I'd like you to assault it, state why it is inferior to any other animal fats, why it's consumption is considered to be unhealthy and point to its main nutritional disadvantages in general. On my part, I'll try to defend it and, if possible, provide contrarguments.

What do you think about purine disorders?

http://www.pumpa.org.uk/diet.php

What would you choose for your carb intake, imported fruits (possibly unripe and inorganic etc. quality of which cannot be checked or verified) or exceptional unheated honey from bees living in the forest?

I would be grateful if anyone could help me here with my dilemma. The thing is that I am not certain with my meat choices. So I need a kind of advice.

I’d like to start that I live in Ukraine. We don’t have the term “grass-fed meats” here. It is just non-existent. Don’t even mention the grass-fed or wild meats itself. The animals are well cared after and are fed a good mixed diet. It changes seasonally.

In general, I can get beef, pork, lamb, chicken and rabbit. Sometimes, goat, horse and different fowl are available. Cows, lambs and rabbits are mostly herbivorous, grains are not the part of their natural diet. Pigs are omnivorous, i.e. starches and grains are their natural forage. The distinction is clear and obvious.

The whole problem comes down to feeding issue. I know that wild meats are best, grass-fed come at second and natural grain fed at distant third. As I mentioned above, in my country the diet of animals is mixed one and varies seasonally. The question arises, what meat would be better, one that comes from animals fed on grains and little grass, whereas their natural diet is herbivorous, or one that is absolutely starch and grain fed, but comes from omnivorous animals?

You see, when I first started raw paleo diet, I decided that I wouldn’t eat pork meat because pigs are fed grains, corn, swill, potatoes and other domestic waste. Moreover, they are contained in pigsty for life and never see the light of the day. This decision was harsh, especially because until the age of 20 pork meat was the only that I ate. Sometimes I may have had some domestic chicken, but I NEVER consumed any beef, lamb etc. I was so used to the pork’s taste that initially it was rather hard to get used to the new flavours.

So yes, it was about two years ago when I tried beef and lamb for the first time in my life. I knew that cows were on mixed diet, composed mostly of beet-chips (a leftover from beets after sugar is extracted), grains, corn and some hay, but I was thinking that this meat was still better because cows graze in the season and eat grass when available. The situation with lambs and rabbits is a bit better, but not significantly.

Now I am not sure at all that the mentioned decision was right from the start. What do you think, if pigs are genetically adapted to eating such mixed diet, maybe their meat would be nutritionally superior to that which comes from cows, which are forced by circumstances to live off the forage, which is unnatural to them?

Some time ago I have found in the live-food group archives an interesting suggestion. A certain Daniel Kane claimed that his “blood chemistry indicated that he needed to eat turkey and pork and cut back on chicken and beef. He believed it was because all the raw beef was overactivating his adrenal glands and the pork contains Thresine (an important amino acid in adrenaline function).” He also said that “proponents of all-raw diets attributed his unsatiated appetite for beef to anemia, however, according to blood chemistry it was his body desperately trying to get the amino acids it needed from red meat, which it couldn’t, no matter how much he ate. Whatever Thresine, if any, is found in other raw meats is miniscule compared to pork or compared to its utilization in pork.”

It would be nice to know what you think in this regard.

Hi everyone

Primarily on Lex's advice and also by my own decision I will post here with your permission my efforts to get healthy again.

I think a lot of people on some stage of their lives go through rather harsh and rough times. I believe this is exactly where I'm at present. I'm really confused because I just cannot find out what is wrong with me.

Here is my story in a nutshell.

As little as three years ago I was in very good physical form and had what I considered an excellent health. Over the following two years a several huge stressors (unexpected and shocking death of my mother, graduation from the University, new job search etc.) pushed me initially to raw vegetarianism and further to raw veganism. Three months of the latter, when my diet was exclusively plant based and extremely high in fruit, were enough to make me dreadfully weak and exhausted. In hindsight I admit I was incredibly lucky to rather timely come across AV’s studies which literally saved me from death. That helped me tremendously. I can't begin to think what would have happened hadn't I tried the raw meats…

Over the first four months on the Primal Diet I added a massive 60 lbs of weight (from 110 to 175 lbs). And despite it was mostly fat I cared little as I was feeling so much better back then. Now I think that shortly after that I had made the second major dietary mistake of my life (the first one of course was my abstinence from animal foods), I decided to try intermittent fasting.

As much as 10 months of eating single meal daily or even every other day must have significantly damaged my already compromised body and organs. All this time I have been trying hard to find the answers why I had felt so miserably. I fiddled with the diet quite a bit during this period. I eschewed all dairy and fruits and gradually progressed to all meat (mostly organs) zero carb diet.

At present, my raw diet basically consists of fruit, honey, meat/organs and dairy (cream). On a daily basis I consume around 60g of carbs, 80g of proteins and 100-140g of fats.

I cannot ignore obvious facts as I understand that something is wrong. I don't know what I can do to fix this because I don't know the initial reason. I was thinking about parasites, lack of calcium/minerals, excess fat or organs in the diet, over-acidity, low carbohydrates intake, absence of salt, intermittent fasting, not enough calories, over-exercising, too much iron, too little sleep/rest, lower levels of the hydrochloric acid etc. Lately I began to suspect that something is amiss with my thyroid and/or adrenals. I happen to think I may be hypothyroid or have the adrenal fatigue because I have all related symptoms (the most obvious being increased recovery time. Any cuts I have take longer to heal, swelling stays around; increased effort to do every day tasks; always hungry, every hour; dark under eyes circles; thermal chameleon (hot when it's warm and cold when it's cool). Poor thermoregulation. Cold Intolerance. Cold Hands/Feet; light sensitivity; tired, sluggish, low motivation; light-headed when getting up to stand from laying or sometimes, even sitting; pain in upper back and neck; fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue…).

I think I may have exhausted my adrenals through either, several or all of the following:
1) too much stress – I may also classify as stress my past eating habits, I mean stress related to infrequent eating, social stress from eating unhuman foods, contrast showers, overtraining etc.;
2) intermittent fasting – I think adrenals are involved in the process of maintaining blood glucose at proper level which is consistently at its lowest during fasting;
3) past high fruit vegan diet – clear as a day;
4) parasitic invasion – it is commonly believed that adrenals are hugely affected by various toxins. And there are number of direct links between the parasites and adrenals;
5) current (a year and a half long) limited/inappropriate raw meat diet – mineral imbalances, too much acidity, inappropriate absorption, lack of salt etc.

As a result I feel like I have a severe case of adrenal fatigue. I also perceive I have hypoglycemia and mineral deficiencies. I came to this conclusion more than three months ago after processing hips of information online. I thought I would be able to correct this with wise nutritional approach but now I seem I was mistaken.

In order to reverse my condition I decided to take some supplements. In the first place I will aid my adrenals with Isocort (Freeze dried Adrenal Cortex). Besides, Lex generously helped me with getting quality mineral supplement, so I will also take magnesium, calcium and iodine. I will report here on my improvement or decline. In the process I may also change my diet to a certain degree, trying to stay close to the paleo principles.

With every good wish,

Yuri