I quit eating cooked meat about five years ago.
I was quite strict about it for two years. Then my boyfriend (my partner, my man) Julian started to rub off on me and I ate cooked meat again. I’ve gone off and on with it ever since. I am usually off with it but somehow always manage to go back.
Tonight I told him, “NO MORE!”
This doesn’t mean that I am going vegetarian! I’m not replacing meat with legumes and corn. That doesn’t work for me. Instead I eat fish and/or raw meat. Many years of experimentation has proved to me that I am better off without cooked meat.
Eating cooked meat makes me tired. I am liable to overeat it. My mood is never as fresh and cheery. I need more sleep at night. I get stomach aches and bloating. It’s not huge stuff. It doesn’t even touch on my old laundry list of symptoms, but I am a perfectionist.
I like the way I am without it. My skin becomes clearer and less wrinkly. My energy is higher and I feel light as a fairy. I sleep less and I do more.
So bye bye cooked meat. I think it’s finally sinking in – while you taste delicious, you’re not my friend.
I just wanted to mention it. You can all hold me to it. 
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November 30, 2012 at 3:57 am
It is always wise to listen to your body and act accordingly. I like my meat very rare and would eat it raw most of the time if, I could manage to get it hot to and keep it raw. I understand your wanting to do what your body says it needs and the challenge that can be.
I struggle with dairy not milk but, cream and cheese. I am lactos intolerant and have tried every tweak out there and when I do endulge I get raw, pasture raised organic blah,blah,blah…. but, I still bloat, and buff up like one of them Macy’s Day Floats.
Point is if, you know you have no business eating something that is not in accord with your being then don’t eat it. Be in harmony with nature and the universe. Plants and animals what they have recieved. That is why grass fed or wild caght is best becaue it is most in line with nature. The same can be applyed to humans. Do what you need to do to be in accord.
You have my congradulations and support.Now how about some raw meat recipies!!!
November 30, 2012 at 6:14 am
Does this mean you’ll be able to Vulcan mind-meld again?
November 30, 2012 at 12:10 pm
I definitely think so.
November 30, 2012 at 6:48 am
Peggy, I’d love it if you could do more posts on raw meat. I love making steak tartare and I cook my steak blue-rare, but when I think about switching fully, or even mainly, to raw I feel like there aren’t enough ways to prepare it.
How many times a week do you eat it (vs. fish, shellfish, eggs)? What do you make with it (side-dish, dipping sauce, etc)? Or do you just sit down to a plate of raw meat sprinkled with salt? I’m just trying to conceptualize it.
I definitely feel some minor discomfort when I most cooked meat. The only exceptions are 1- steak, because it’s raw inside, and 2- meat off the bones I use to make bone broth (beef), which is cooked for about 10 hours. Anything in the middle makes me a bit bloated and, yeah, kinda tired.
I’ve been noticing lately that I just don’t really cook meat much anymore. The stuff off the bones lasts for days because I need so little to feel nourished, and between shrimp, fish, eggs, and liver I seem to be doing just fine. But it would be nice to incorporate more raw meat. I just don’t want steak tartare every couple days.
November 30, 2012 at 12:17 pm
As big a fan as I am of eating raw meat and fish, I am not creative with it at all. I don’t like cooking, or food preparation. My diet is as simple as can be. I rarely season with anything other than lemon juice and sea slat. Occasionally I switch it up with something exciting but I’m just not that into it.
When I don’t eat cooked meat which, like I said is most of the time, I eat cooked fish, raw eggs, raw fish, raw steak slices, and oysters mostly. I used to experiment with everything but that is pretty much what I have leaned towards in recent years. Typically I eat something raw every day but not always.
And like you, I don’t stuff my face with tons of protein. A serving a few times a day is all I feel I need.
December 13, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Do you eat raw eggs whole, or just yolks?
Thanks for the blog, love it!!
November 30, 2012 at 6:55 am
Me too! I do not do well with cooked meat. I eat raw meat, fish and oysters. Whenever I eat cooked meat, besides becoming more lethargic and cranky, I get headaches. The rest of my diet is raw too. I would like to eat some cooked food and still feel good. Peggy, do you find you are able to eat some foods cooked with no ill effects, like your paleo starches or eggs or veggies or bone broths?
November 30, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Definitely Lya. 100% raw is totally unnecessary for me, and believe me, I’ve done it.
Starches, bone broths, and even cooked fish are fine for me. Cooked eggs are yummy but they make me super bloated and even hungry.
November 30, 2012 at 5:13 pm
But would you feel better on 100% raw diet vs. having some things cooked?
December 1, 2012 at 5:51 pm
Trina,
I have done 100% raw and I can’t say I felt any better than adding in some cooked non-meat foods. Everyone is probably different though.
November 30, 2012 at 10:32 am
Thanks for the reminder about raw meats, Peggy! Also, thanks for being out there with your preference for and practice of eating meats raw.
I too notice a big difference with my energy the next day after eating raw meats.
Currently I am making lots of meat stocks and bone broths as I am on GAPS. It is helping my gut heal. However, I still consume raw meats with my warm broths.
November 30, 2012 at 12:09 pm
You’re welcome! I do broths too on a regular basis. I just skip the meat.
November 30, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Whats your take on dried meat? It’s as primal as it get. Dried salmon is great in soups
November 30, 2012 at 11:25 pm
I’d also like to know if you consider dried meat raw. And what temperature (that the meat is heated to) would be ok before it’s start causing problems?
December 1, 2012 at 5:55 pm
I’m not really sure. I have done dried meats for lots of years, dehydrated in my oven on warm with the door propped open. But it never seems to digest as easily as raw meat.
There are a lot of people out there that think cooked or dried meats digest better than raw. I guess it depends on the person.
November 30, 2012 at 12:21 pm
I thought it might be worth mentioning that I didn’t do cooked meats most of the time while I was pregnant. in case you’re wondering…
November 30, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Is this how you ate during pregnancy too? Are you zero carb or do you eat veggies?
November 30, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Ah….just saw you did eat raw but what about veggies and the like? Also I am guessing you aren’t eating plain grocery beef raw but rather grassfed?
November 30, 2012 at 3:05 pm
I don’t eat grocery store beef at all. I don’t think highly of feedlots.
While I was pregnant I ate lots of veggies. I enjoyed them quite a bit. But I do have to be careful about which I eat since many of them have fructans and I am sensitive to that.
November 30, 2012 at 3:03 pm
I haven’t been zero carb for about a year and a half. Just adding veggies to meat, would pretty much still be a zero carb diet. Carbs have to come from starches or sugars. Most veggies have very little of either.
I started my transition away from low carb with glucose powder and then found some starches that work well for me.
November 30, 2012 at 3:23 pm
What are the starches that work well for you?
Also, what is your opinion on hydrogen breath testing for fructose malapsorption diagnosis. Reently, my boyfriend was diagnosed with bipolar 2 (he doesn’t fit the DSM criteria and isn’t changing at all in response to the medication for bipolar they have put him on) and I don’t think he actually has it and I have this inkling that it’s fructose malapsorption making him depressed a few days a week. We’re already paleo but he would never just agree to go FODMAPS free without some kind of measure/diagnosis first (especially on his depressed days, he would definitely lose the motivation) so I told him about the breath test and the idea appeals to him. Do you think the test works though? What do you think the limitations would be?
December 1, 2012 at 5:50 pm
Not many. White rice is the best. A couple of years ago an allergy test came up positive for rice and so I quit eating it but since getting really strict about fructans and fructose my food allergies are a thing of the past.
Corn starch, tapioca starch, and potato starch are fine too but I don’t really know what to do with them.
I suppose the breath test is a good way to know for sure if you’re intolerant to fructose but there is a 15% chance that it will show a false negative.
I would say the best way is just to eliminate fructose and fructans and watch the belly shrink and the gas go away.
I wish him luck with getting to the bottom of it. Food is very likely the culprit behind his emotional issues.
December 5, 2012 at 11:47 am
I am not sure if this question belongs in this post or not but I am struggling with texture of some meats (especially organ meats). We own a dehydrator, would I be defeating the purpose of raw meat if I was to dehydrate it first?
December 5, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Hello! First time poster, but I have been following your site for a while. Curious your thoughts on recent studies that prove cooked meat has more nutritional value than raw meat…cooked meat is safer, easier to digest, and provided more energy than raw meat. Thanks!
December 10, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Napoleon – will you post the link to the study?
December 9, 2012 at 6:37 am
I’ve heard about this and feel it is right for me. I wasn’t healthy as a vegetarian or vegetarian raw. Soy, and other stuff, is no good for me. When you say the cooking is the problem my stomach and spine feel good and strong. But I’m chicken shit. I need a demo and a teacher. Is there anyone by new york city who runs classes/ lessons?
cheers, victor
December 11, 2012 at 11:16 am
Hello, Where do you get your raw steaks? I am a college student so my diet is sadly laced with gluten, processed cheese, and fried everything. Is it possible for me to eat raw meat on a college campus? Thanks, Tim
December 15, 2012 at 5:19 pm
i like to hunt, but concerned about parasites from wild game. The idea of raw beef doesn’t bother me but I am going to wait to buy have cow of grass fed beef from a local farmer
December 15, 2012 at 5:20 pm
half a cow….ooops
December 30, 2012 at 12:06 pm
I definitely want to start eating more raw meat. I actually prefer the taste and texture of rare meat and fish and usually prepare my food that way when it’s only me eating. I really appreciate your approach, it inspires me to care less about doing the ‘socially accepted’ thing when it comes to food. Thank you!
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