USA
Self-experiment: Instagrammer only eats raw meat – “until I die of the bacteria”
Raw meat can contain pathogens
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Others give up meat in January – an American gives up everything else and eats only raw fish and meat. Can that be healthy?
January was a “veganuary” for many people – for a number of years, those who have not yet been able to fully commit to veganism have been trying to eat a diet without animal products for at least four weeks at the beginning of a new year. It’s good for the environment, it’s supposed to be good for your health and it’s definitely good for your conscience. However, a man from the USA has reversed this trend – according to his own statements, he has been eating only raw meat since November.
The American, who doesn’t reveal his name and just calls himself “rawmeatexperiment” (“raw meat experiment”) on Instagram, has always eaten “normally”, including processed foods, he says. But he didn’t feel good or fit. He then became a vegan and ate completely meat-free for ten years. That was better, but eventually he decided that veganism wasn’t best for his body either. The Instagrammer said he occasionally got dizzy from carbs during that time. Once again he completely changed his diet.
Do-it-yourself paleo diet: meat, meat and more meat
The man reports that he asked himself why humans are the only creatures that have to cook their food before they eat it. He wanted to try to feed himself the way prehistoric people did before the discovery of fire – raw meat and raw eggs. He also drinks water and untreated milk, which would have been a no-go for the real primitive people, since they still lacked the gene with which the body can process lactose. In his Instagram bio, the man sarcastically wrote, “I eat Whole Foods raw meat every day until I die of the bacteria.”
“Whole Foods” is an American organic supermarket chain. After all, the meat lover values organic quality. He also pays attention to “variety” by alternating minced meat, liver, lamb testicles, fish and steak in order to absorb at least a few different nutrients. Plus shakes made from countless raw eggs. He shares photos and videos of himself eating the raw meat on his channel. He doesn’t always look really impressed.
Healthy eating? Paleo diet can cause disease
However, since he started his extreme paleo diet, he is said to have felt better than ever and is always full, the man says, even if he looks a bit pale around the nose. So far it has also been spared from those pathogens that often occur on raw meat (salmonella, worms, BSE, parasites). At first, however, it took his body a while to adjust to this unusual diet, which was hard.
No wonder: people have been cooking their food for probably 250,000 years, and since then the body has naturally adjusted to it. Cooking makes our food easier to digest, we can absorb more nutrients from it and have more energy that we don’t use for digestion. In addition, the heat from cooking also kills dangerous pathogens.
Actually, the American planned his nutritional experiment to last 80 days, but he’s now reached day 90 and seems to want to continue. But his diet is definitely not healthy in the long run – and not just because he lacks certain vitamins. In addition, there is the very real risk of bacteria, which in the worst case can have life-threatening consequences, and the much too high protein content of the diet, which can cause too much acid and too much ammonia in the body. It remains to be hoped that the man himself will recognize when his body wants fruit and vegetables again.
Sources: Instagram, “O’Connel”