Raw foodist/vegetarian turned carnivore page

[fusarium]

I never thought it would happen. I've been on a personal quest to get healthy for the past 2 years, and it's taken me in some weird directions.

I'm 5' 10", male, and my body hangs out around the high 190lbs when I'm being lazy. I tried vegetarianism for 18 months, even doing 30-days as a raw foodist to see how that felt. Sure, I lost a ton of weight, but it was NOT sustainable. I dropped to about 174, never seeing the 160's. That's my new goal.

A friend of mine eats Paleo, and trimmed down pretty quickly. He spent a lot of time drinking protein shakes, and I never thought that was cool. Something about it being overly processed and not natural.

I found this site, and took all of your vegetarian-bashing to heart. What the hell. I dove in, feet first and had my first piece of chicken about a week ago. Now, I'm eating meat at every meal. The cast iron skillet is being issued a handful of bacon for dinner, with some eggs to follow. I still have some tempeh to cook, so I'll throw that in the scramble.

I totally agree that grains are bird food, and shouldn't be eaten by people. I can't say I'm 100% sold on the need for so much meat, but I'll give it an honest go. If I get the body composition I'm looking for, and the food is natural/organic/whole, then I'm game.

Keep ya posted!


- Casey

[iniQuity]

Nice, I love seeing posts like these, even if at times I fear it may be an intruder from a vegan board trying to pull a fast one.

Sounds like Casey is for real though, best of luck to you!

To clear up on the meat, I'll speak for myself here but I eat FAR more vegetables than I do meat. Meat might be the most calorically dense thing on my plate (next to fat, sometitmes) but by looking at my plate I usually eat more veggies by volume than I do meat. Sometimes though, it's totally carnivorous! depends on how I'm feeling.

If you don't want to have meat at every meal there's no issue with that, but definitely get some meat in there everyday. Good luck on your journey, trust me, you're eating way more naturally now than you were before. Good to see you left the bird food for the birds (and even that is arguable)

[fusarium]

Well, I'm learning. 4 eggs fried in the bacon grease from 5 pieces, plus a yellow pepper. A little too much grease from the bacon, made the eggs and peppers float. I'm on the road, so I can't bring out the fancy ingredients. Delicious meal though.

Yeah, don't worry. I'm no vegan going crazy. I do have some serious questions that bug me, like:

1.) Mothers milk is 6% protein by calories. When we're infants, we need the most protein for our growing bodies. Why such a low percent?
2.) Doesn't the protein in meat get 'denatured' when we cook it, making it difficult for the body to know exactly what it is?
3.) What should proper digestion look like? In my opinion, it should be a quick visit to the bathroom for elimination, because anything else would put us at a prime position to get eaten by a cougar. Is this experienced for long-term Primalers?

I'll continue to stick with some other basics from my health journey, like:
Frozen bananas blended into a cream make for delicious ice cream. Even if you add chopped up celery (as peanuts). It's amazing.
There is no place for Brussel Sprouts in my mouth.


Food today: Aforementioned (4) eggs (natural, clean) & bacon (non-nitrated) and whole yellow pepper, plus a tuna steak from lunch. 2 meals, as I've been in front of the computer all day.

Just FitDay'd today's food. Looks like I'm low on calories. My BMR is 1962 and I ate 1135 cals today. 800 is a pretty big drop, and I don't want to wake up uber-hungry. Think I'll enjoy some banana tonight to get a few hundred more cals.

[Dragonfly]

1.) Mothers milk is 6% protein by calories. When we're infants, we need the most protein for our growing bodies. Why such a low percent?
2.) Doesn't the protein in meat get 'denatured' when we cook it, making it difficult for the body to know exactly what it is?
3.) What should proper digestion look like? In my opinion, it should be a quick visit to the bathroom for elimination, because anything else would put us at a prime position to get eaten by a cougar. Is this experienced for long-term Primalers?

Welcome!
1. Read this.
2. Haven't a clue--hopefully someone else will chime in.
3. When I am sufficiently hydrated, my Primal "elimination" is fast, clean and compact--very different from my vegetarian or pre-Primal experience. I've only been Primal for 5 weeks and noticed the shift after 2.5 weeks.

[jrherring]

Take a trip over to Sungrazer's journal and enjoy his food p0rn. Most of the contents on his plate are veggies.

For me, I eat most of the meat rare. Chicken, yes, I'll cook a little longer. But beef and some pork, I cook sparingly.

Enjoy the journey!

[fusarium]

Dragonfly, thanks for the link. It says that because we feed often as babies, we don't need a ton of protein and fat at each meal. Interesting. Also, we don't grow at the rate that rabbits do, so we don't need as much as they do. Makes sense!

jrherring, is there any reason you eat your red meat rare? Favorite go-to recipes when you're on the move?

Does anyone actually use a microwave?! I've been anti-microwave for 2 years now, and still don't trust the damn thing. That, and Teflon pots. No thank you!

[fusarium]

Yesterday: Eggs & bacon w/ yellow peppers, 2 beers and 2oz of 1800 tequila, 2 cans of tuna w/ yellow pepper and sriracha. The booze was late at night, and it made me hungry. I did well to stay away from the Mrs. Fields cookie that was in the kitchen.

Today, I got a blackened chicken burrito at Tijuana Flats. It was BOGO, so I had 2, and just ate the 'guts'. Delicious! I didn't even touch a chip... but I had one flauta of my buddies to try. Greasy, and not good. Tonight, I'm making green peppers stuffed with ground pork. A cup of tea to warm my hands, too.

When I woke up this AM, I was a bit groggy. Maybe too much booze? What do people usually drink when they do? The beers were microbrews, and the tequila was pure agave.

[Diana Renata]

I'm happily microwave-free at home. I still use the one at work to warm up my leftovers, however.

[jrherring]

i eat my meats rare because I enjoy the tenderness, juicy-ness, flavorfull-ness of the meats cooked that way. As well, I believe, that the meats retain more of their goodness when not charcoaled. IMO,

don't use a microwave except at work.

on the go protein: boiled eggs, jerky, canned tuna/sardines (still working on eating sardines.) cold chicken wings.

[fusarium]

Got back on the road yesterday to explore a bit. Drove from Gainesville, FL to Nashville. Had some eggs & bacon for breakfast, then grabbed what I had left in the fridge and hit the road. I munched about 3/4 of a pound of raw spinach, as I didn't want to go hunt down a shopping center. There was a little 85% cocoa bar in the car, so that got inhaled as well.

Got to Nashville and had a burger with a fried egg on top. Sure, the meat wasn't the best, but the clawhammer banjo made up for it! I had a few beers and didn't even try to get a slice of pizza.

Today, I enjoyed half of a rotisserie chicken and a nice salad. Looking forward to dinner here, as soon as I can map something out. I'm using CouchSurfing.org to find hosts, and have had incredible luck. I've been on the road for the past month, staying with amazing hosts and really enjoying myself.

On my mind -- moving to New Orleans. Thinking March, just in time for Mardi Gras. Anyone going to be there? Anyone live in NOLA?

From snowy Nashville...