First raw meat meal

Question
Hello there, hope you can help...
I've been 'Paleo' now for around 8 months and feel great. This whole raw meat thing sounds fascinating, and I'd like to give it a whirl, but I'm a little unsure as what to try first? Is there an easy, palatable route, or do I just jump in at the deep end and try the first pece of steak I can get my hands on? What was your first raw meat meal?
I've a freezer full of local sheep and venison, I assume frozen (once defrosted) is no different to non-frozen meat?
As an aside, I get the impression you're based here in the UK (something I read): our meat is grass reared isn't it? I'm in Scotland if that makes any difference?
thanks in advance
Paul

Answer
Read the top thread of this section for info on a slow and a fast way to transition to a raw, palaeolithic diet:-

http://www.rawpaleodietforum.com/important-info-for-newbies/

The other threads in that section are well worth reading, too.

My first raw meat meal involved stealing bits of raw kidney from my mother's kitchen when she wasn't looking, around the age of 4. After that, I would occasionally have raw steak tartare in hungarian restaurants once a year or so, and have the very rare raw oyster or two. Once I went rawpalaeo though(decades later), I suppose my first raw animal food meal was of fresh raw, non-frozen, scallops. My first meat meal was 100 percent grassfed beef(stewing steak).

Prefrozen meat is slightly different to fresh, raw meats. There are some (unsubstantiated) claims within the RVAF diet community, that enzymes in raw foods steadily get harmed/destroyed after many weeks of freezing. A very, very few RVAFers have stated that they reacted slightly negatively to prefrozen meats. Aajonus Vonderplanitz, the raw meat diet guru, has claimed that freezing damages the enzymes by 25 percent, again an unsubstantiated claim.

That said, most RVAFers state that they do fine with prefrozen meats. The problem with prefrozen meats is that the freezing process shreds the cell-membranes once ice-crystals start to form - this means that once the meat starts thawing, nutrient-loss occurs a lot more rapidly than with fresh, raw meats. What this means is that, once thawed, you should eat once-prefrozen meats immediately, and NOT put them back into the fridge or freezer to eat at a later date.

Also, because of the process of freezing, the taste of thawed prefrozen meats is not as good as  the taste of fresh, raw, nonfrozen meats.  In short, my own view is that while prefrozen meats are not ideal, they are not harmful in the way cooked meats are - so it's fine to eat them, but, for reasons of taste etc., it's a good idea to also look around for sources of  fresh(or chilled) meats to replace them, if possible.

Yes, I am (usually) London-based. I'm afraid that  UK meat is often not grassfed at all. In the US, the situation is much worse, with a majority of cattle fed on 100 percent grainfed diets. In the UK, some of the cattle will be fed on grass as well. But for 100 percent grassfed meats you have to look online re your local region(the 1st link I gave has some threads with links to organic food directories or grassfed meat farm links in the UK) which might prove useful.

Correction:- I have been told (not sure myself) that Aberdeen Angus cattle are always 100 percent grassfed and that Scottish cattle are far more likely to be fed on grass. I would still recommend talking to any prospective farmer and making sure their cattle aren't fed on any grains - in England I have been sometimes lied to and assured that some cattle were fed on grass, but then I discovered they were fed on grains during the winter.

Of course, my own solution was simpler:- I just bought raw wild game from farmers' markets in London. I found raw wild game to be much cheaper than grassfed meat, unsurprisingly, and, besides, raw wild game is nutritionally superior to any domesticated meats, however grassfed/organic etc.

HTH,

RPG.  

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