I'm new to the whole Paleodiet idea, coming from a raw vegan (high fruit) background and have only just started including raw meat in my diet. I am glad this topic came up, because when I was completely raw vegan, I started becoming more and more aware of the effects raw plant fats had on me - made me feel groggy and heavy, interfered with digestion and ability to feel whether I was hungry or not. Sometimes a tight feeling in back of throat. I didn't eat a huge amount, the occasional half avo or small handful of nuts or a tablespoon of raw nut butter I would make myself. And always kept well away from when I ate fruit. Read from others' personal experience about how raw nuts can contribute to teeth sensitivity and decay (cause acidic environment in mouth?) so cut out all plant fats for a few weeks and I definitely had an improvement with my teeth, even tho eating more fruit.

However, I have now started eating raw meat - only beef steaks and lamb chops tried till now - and I have experienced none of the above-mentioned symptoms. Still no nuts or avo tho. But high (sweet) fruit and greens (mid-morning), then green salad prior to 200-250g meat about 4 hours later. Unsure tho about which way to take my diet now - high-carb, low-fat, or a sort of balanced carb-fat. i don't think I could approach zero carb. It  seems to be working Ok for now,as I have no health issues, but now very unsure about long-term effects of high sweet fruit diet say on liver etc. I know I need to experiment for myself, but perhaps I can have some opinions on the two opposing 'theories' as far as carb-fat goes? Also some ideas on the healthiest fats - plants of animals or a combo of both?

my understanding (simplified) of the two opposing theories is like this:
Raw vegan, high-fruit low-fat perspective - the 'simplified theory' is that it is the over-consumption of fat that interferes in the glucose-uptake process and causes/contributes to all the DOC that we see today. The 'carbs' referred to here are predominantly from fruit, and the glucose obtained from them would be the primary fuel source for the body. So these folk (incl me until I recently started questioning things) literally live in fear of fat. And in even more fear of the dreaded saturated fats from animals.
On the other hand, from the amount of reading I have been doing in the last few weeks on the other side of the extreme - low-carb, high-fat - the general idea I get is that it is directly the high 'carbs' that are the problem and that we should be eating fat to burn for fuel. I assume 'carbs' here refers to all foods of plant origin that aren't fatty (and I guess in a SAD diet it would be cooked grains as well).

Any comments would be welcome.......i am in conflict at the moment!!

Sounds like the fictional Navi of the movie Avatar.

But yes, I am thankful too to those animals who sustains my family.

I loved the movie Avatar.....but saw it in 3D and got the most terrible motion sickness, whopping headache when I left the cinema and by the time I got home was vomiting and doing diarrhea. Spent the whole night crawling back and forth to the loo as I was too weak to walk!! Hey, NOT a good experience.
Luckily I sleep on the floor anyway, so I didn't have to climb on and off a bed!
Still get queasy when someone mentions the name Avatar.

But yes, I would like to be like one of the Navi - we could learn a lot from them.

Hi - I'm new to raw meat, been trying it now for 20 days. But i don't feel new to the forum, as I have been literally 'devouring' all the different forums here for as much info as I can get and feel I actually know some of you quite well already!! A great forum ,and I have learnt HUGE amounts the last few days - a bit of overwhelm I think.

Anyway, some history...started experimenting with vegetarianism 30 years ago - mostly because I believed it would lead to even better health than I already had. Had a few years in twenties when I reverted back to eating some cooked meat (living in non-veg residence halls at Uni), but then switched back to vegetarian, to macrobiotic vegan, to raw vegan, to the 811-almost-fruitarian diet about 5 years ago. But could never actually sustain the high fruit diet for any length of time without eventually succumbing to cravings for cooked carb. Partly becuase I couldn't cope with the huge volumes of food I was trying to eat to feel satiated, so probably wasn't eating enough. And I feel it made me mentally a bit hyper, ungrounded. No particular health issues from it, but convinced that it DIDN'T actually feel like a natural way of eating to me, stuffing myself so full all the time. So started doing some deeper research towards end of last year into Natural Hygiene, long-term non-benefits of veganism/fruitarianism, conflicting issues over health benefits or not of meat/cholesterol/saturated fats etc etc. I knew about Instincto eating and decided to learn a bit more about that...came across a pic of some kids eating raw beef bones and suddenly my body was telling me EXACTLY what it was I wanted. Amazing!!
Also found Raw Paleo Forum in the process and started devouring info from here.....highly entertaining! Also entertaining switching between here and 30BAD!

Well, 20 days ago tried some raw egg yolk just to see how my system coped with raw animal - no probs, in fact just wanted more! So progressed onto raw beef (luckily I can get grassfed beef (and lamb) that's not fed routine antibiotics/hormones. Raw beef felt like heaven to my body. Only had 100g after a salad, but knew I definitely needed more than that. Have progressed from 200g every second day to now having it every day as that is what my body is telling me.
'
Still have lots of 'issues' to deal with - spiritual-ethical-environmental side of it....I am a yoga teacher and  have 'preached' ahimsa/non-violence for many years, so  finding that a bit of a conflict. But the weird thing is that even tho it's only been a few weeks now, I actually feel more connected to nature, more grounded, having deeper meditations and sleeping better eating this way. And I suddenly am more aware of the whole mystery of life in which LIFE gives itself in order to sustain other LIFE on all levels. and I can give thanks for that every time I eat.

Still have to figure out a way of eating that works - right now, fruit and greens mid-morning after my own yoga practice or teaching still feels good, then salad and meat late afternoon. Seems to digest easily enough before teaching. But every day discovering new things and making new changes.

Thanks for all the help and info on this forum guys!

Bronwen

Hi - Any South African paleos on this forum? Especially in the Gauteng / East Rand area. Just wondering where you get your meat.....