Ioanna: Thanks for your encouragement. I live in a converted garage behind my daughter's house. It was her look of concern that helped me decide that I'd better do some serious improvement. She never nagged me, but I could see the worry in her eyes.

TD: You answered my unasked question: am I detoxing or reacting badly to dairy? My other big questions are: Am I carnivore or omnivore? And if omnivore, how much carbs? Plenty of time and good guidance, thanks.

Thanks for sharing that link.

The terms beneficial bacteria and rot might require some clarification. Bacteria cause decomposition. Bacteria are part of a vast array of decomposers. Other decomposers are enzymes, molds, fungi, and so on. When we eat, we decompose our food.

You can introduce decomposers, e.g. adding a yeast starter to dough, but most decomposers are readily available in the environment.

The way I understand it, Bill Mollison is describing a way of letting the rabbit decompose without first getting eaten by maggots and bears. I'd paraphrase the article as a way of making week-old high meat.

If a rooster is kept with the laying hens, then I would consider the eggs likely to be fertilized.

If you were planning to hatch chicks, you would check the eggs.in front of a bright light (called candling) after a few days of incubation, to see if you can see the beginning of the umbilicus. The shell does not get cracked.

You can't do this if the egg has been gathered for sale - room temperature or refrigeration stops the growth process.

Yolk color and flavor are better with healthy hens, but there are still variations depending on breed, feed, etc.

I live in the city, but I have an egg lady who sells her own eggs. I've visited her little farm, about 20 miles from where I live. She commutes to the city, so I arrange to pick up my eggs here. I found her because she advertised on craigslist.

Homemade and store-bought kombucha is very popular here, and I've never known someone to suffer a bad effect.

I ferment kombucha. My adult daughter drinks it every day. It's her favorite thing to be addicted to, and it's much better for her than diet cola. I don't drink it regularly, but I let part of the batches go for 30+ days and use the resulting kombucha-vinegar for cleansing my body.

I am familiar with milk and water kefir grains, and also with wild fermentation of vegetables. As far as fermenting carrot juice with water kefir grains, I've never heard of anybody doing it. My skeptical side says that carrot juice (1) oxidizes almost as fast you juice it, (2) separates when it is left to sit, and (3) the grains go dormant in the refrigerator and room temperature might not be good for the carrot juice... but go ahead and try it. Successful food fermentation has a delicious smell, so if it stinks, throw it out.

Have fun!

Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz is a great book.

I'm a Sandor-kraut fan! I do all my own fermenting - fruits and veggies. It was in Wild Fermentation that I first heard about high meats. Indirectly, that's how I ended up here.

I read Aajonus' first book last weekend and made a decision to eat RPD for two weeks. The next day, last Monday, after about one day of eating raw, a co-worker noticed that I looked better. Yes, I've been visibly ill and noticeably declining for a few years. I have every reason to be well, a happy home life, a satisfying career; yet I had been waking up with morbid thoughts, wondering when I'd need a wheelchair and a personal attendant.

Aajonus' negative attitude toward medical science matches mine. I'm sure I could buy a scary diagnosis and a bleak prognosis. Then, I could consent to medical treatment and let the doctors document my decline. I have a good health insurance policy.

This is the end of week one. Thursday, another co-worker noticed that I had been losing weight. I replied that I had eliminated all processed food from my diet. I'd estimate that I am about 200 pounds overweight, and I can see that I don't look so bloated. I can also see that my mobility and range-of-motion has improved. My joints still ache, but there has been enough improvement so that I threw out the ibuprophen that I took several times a day.

I've been helped by reading posts on this forum. At first, I didn't know what to read besides Aajonus. Now, I've read Cordain, Wai, and Burger. In the past, I've been familiar with the raw-vegan writers, as well as the juicists, the non-juicists, the fruit-eaters, and too many others. I know all sides of the eating-disorder literature, too. All this reading and knowing has made me cynical, but not closed-minded. I know for sure that I do not tolerate grains and dairy, therefore, RPD makes sense.

One area of confusion that I share with many posters is what to eat, if anything, besides raw meats. The gurus add to this confusion by quibbling among themselves over what are the true nutritional needs of mankind.

I have decided to resolve my confusion with caveperson thinking. So, when confronted with a non-meat food choice, I ask myself, "What would a caveperson do?" For example, if I saw a squirrel nibbling the seeds in a field of ripe grasses, I'd try one and spit it out. Thereafter, I'd invent the game Spit the Seed. I wouldn't gather, winnow, and make a pilaf!

Another confusion-buster is availability, including seasonality. This is a better guide, IMO, that eating what a guru says to eat and fussing because I can't get it locally. I am not a cookbook cook. I prefer to buy what is available and then fix a meal from what I buy. I'll keep reading this forum and adapt my food preparation to the ideas that sound good.

Haunted by the question, "How do I know this (RPD) is IT?" I hear the answer, "Don't be a silly, this is not IT, and there is no IT!" Improvement does not require omniscient perfection. I will grow, learn, correct, refine and change my mind.

Then there's the relationship question, my intimate relationship with food. Breaking up with Fast Food was easy; I said good-bye and got a restraining order. But when I told my beloved Kimchi that I needed a few weeks to think this over, he went into shock. I can hear him in the refrigerator, sobbing, "You said you would love me forever." In my paleaeolithicity, had I stumbled on wild fermentation, or not? I'll decide later.

My rebellion this week has been over the loss of convenience by not freezing food. Providence has been symbolized by having a freezer full of meats and a pantry full of grains and legumes. I'll have to re-think this one, and probably put IF (intermittant fasting) into the picture. This is an eating-disorder thought: "What if I get hungry and I can't instantly satisfy my hunger?" Ironic - I was dying from eating, and now I'm worried that I'll "die" if I feel a little hungry.

I'm glad this forum has a section for my journal. Writing this morning has been very helpful.