Interesting, my lips peel all the time, I never thought it was related to eggs. My limit is about the same, 4-5 eggs won't give me an issue. I think I will find some duck eggs and experiment. My diet is already so restrictive, giving up all eggs would be devastating.

I just tried some raw beef fat today, the taste was noticably cleaner than the rendered tallow. I was afraid it would be all tough and sinewy but it was just buttery and awesome. Blows pemmican out of the water. I don't think I will lose my taste for a nice quick pan sear on a steak with the inside still cool, I say the flavor it adds goes well with the raw meat but anything past rare just tastes worthless now, even rare has lost most of its appeal. That charred taste on grilled meat bothers me now as well. I can't imagine seasoning raw meat, it just seems silly. Maybe some raw egg yolk or drawn butter for dipping.

Funny you mentioned its worse with the pot. I used to have the same problem, and now that I think about it I haven't had it since I quit. Never made the connection, very interesting. There are cannabinoid recepters all over the body so it could be related.

Yes, and yes. The brain will quickly recognize and memorize the flavor that brought in the drug-like high and constantly seek it out without a concious effort to cease the behavior. Even if the flavor is nothing special or even off-putting on its own like alcohol. I've been off the grass for a while now but to this day I still get turned on when I drive past a dead skunk. And its not only opioids, meat produces compounds that act like benzodiazepines (valium/xanax) dairy produces casomorphine, cooked gluten is another opioid, and some cooked starches produce compounds that activate dopamine receptors like cocaine. Many plants in the nightshade family contain nicotine before they are cooked.

I just read a study that said beef and eggs have twice the mercury of wild salmon. If thats true then this is a game-changer for me. I haven't eaten fish in years to avoid the mercury. Instead I've been taking a distilled fish oil that I just found out has phthalates and synthetic polymers in the enteric coating on the capsule. The numbers were 50ppb or less for the beef and eggs and the wild salmon was 0.022ppm avg. I'm guessing this has something to do with the fertilizer for the grains they are fed, but still, I haven't been avoiding grain-fed products with the same dedication that I would turn down fish. Sashimi this weekend for sure.

Jessica, I am caucasian with family from Armenia and Bulgaria. Right now I lift weights once or twice a week, no cardio, but that was not the case for many years. I've been morbidly obese since the age of four. I started doing Atkins induction at 280 when I was 10 and switched to ZC at 400 when I was 23. I used to suffer carb cravings and hunger on Atkins because I never ate any fruits or vegetables and would try to get my 20g from grains, starches and sugar. This was the main reason for starting ZC, also I hoped it would get me past plateaus without having to reduce fat or protein (it didn't). Basically, given my previous diet of only meat, dairy, grains, starches, and sugar, doing paleo and doing ZC were one and the same. My lifestyle is healthy right now, though not perfect. I used to smoke and was into partying a lot. Surely, I would be type 2 diabetic like most of my family were it not for VLC. So ZC is definitely something that suits me for unique reasons but I am a firm believer in ketosis as a superior metabolic state. I also recently started doing weekly 100 hr water fasts to get my weight under 275 (im now under 250 for the first time in 18 yrs). I tried doing IF every other day as well as calorie restriction but both of these drove me insane.  I'm not worried about muscle loss from the fasting because I was well adapted to ketosis before starting and I stay ketogenic during my feeding days. I actually got the idea to try this by researching the feeding pattern of lions after a large kill that took 2-3 days to eat. I hope I didn't spam this thread with too much about me, but thanks for asking.

I've been doing ZC for years, I never felt unsatisfied. Once you adapt to the ketosis the cravings disappear on their own and you won't be hungry in general unless you see food or don't eat for a day. Two things help me feel extra satisfied are lots of animal fat and not cooking the food at all. IMO your body can better detect the nutritional content of what you eat when it is raw and will start sending you "full" signals much sooner. With cooked food, even lightly cooked, I stay hungry until I'm literally full and my stomach is stretched. Also ZC doesn't need to be absolute zero. I think the important point is to be zero plant foods. You can get a good deal of carbs from eggs and liver and it is in the form of glucose and glycogen. This won't trigger the same hormonal cascade as when you ingest sucrose, fructose, or polysaccharides. It is much harder to break ketosis and trigger cravings on animal products alone. I doubt it is even possible without huge amounts of milk.

I'm actually about half way through a 5 gallon pail of rendered grass-fed beef lard that I bought a few months ago. I guess I was hoping someone would say I haven't been doing myself any harm by eating this with every meal. Maybe I'll start making some pemmican when I get the dehydrator going.

As far as getting used to it I think I'm there taste-wise. But some of the "unique" textures (like spleen) are still hard to swallow. Kidney and liver take a bit of focus. Actually I think raw liver is much better than cooked liver. Muscle meats and heart are a non-issue. I enjoy the fattiest cuts of steak and chewing the fat raw, but I've never gone in for straight suet yet. One thing I found that helps me a lot is just putting down the fork and knife and going in like a savage when nobody is looking. Especially going outside and tearing pieces with my hands and teeth and sharing it with my dogs. Is that weird? I get the feeling I'm not the only one doing that on this forum.

What about the animal fat specifically? Some people suggest it is still healthy and undamaged up to its oxidization/smoke point. If I made some clarified butter or rendered beef lard have those been damaged somehow at 212, neglecting the milk proteins and cracklins left behind in the process? Are there enzymes for digesting fat?

Does anyone have any tips or guidelines for this? What temperature would you consider cooked? I would think 108 because that is the temperature that fever causes brain damage. I know AV said something about 105 for denaturing certain enzymes. But since fever is for killing infections I would think anything higher than 99 would kill any beneficial bacteria in the meat. Say I wanted to warm a room temperature steak in a 170 degree oven and bring the inside to 99 degrees. How long would that take? How much of the steak is sterilized and how much has cooked? I would just get a sous-vide but I hesitate because of the plastic. I see claims of food-safe plastics but I am skeptical.

Hey just introducing myself. I've always been overweight since having my tonsils out at age 4. My highest weight was 425 at age 16. I had no luck with traditional diet and exercise regimes, but I saw the light 18 years ago when I read atkins and started low carbing. I got addicted to the ketosis high and abandoned all interest in high carb or low fat diets. 6 years ago I discovered zero carb at the Bear's forums and became interested in the evolutionary aspects and theories. This was also when I stopped asking for medium rare and started asking for black and blue. I recently found out about Aajanous after seeing him eat raw chicken on TV. Now I'm trying to transition to raw zero carb paleo with organ meats and I'm here to learn about everyone else's experiences.