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My husband and I are very excited about this raw organ meat diet. I have had major health problems for my whole life, including almost constant fatigue, allergies and sensitivities to almost every food/airborne/chemical substance, skin rashes and acne, and joint aches and muscle fatigue (by reaching the top of a flight of stairs) just to name a few. These all are fairly hidden (except the allergies and sensitivities and skin conditions) when I eat as most do - high carb, adequate protein and low fat, but when I go even a little low on carbs (not even raw) these symptoms really emmerge (especially fatigue and muscle/joint problems). I know very well that these are the result of toxins being released, but I become so debilitated in the process.
My question is, for those who suffer from major health problems, what is suggested for the devestating toxin die-off and release? How long does the "healing effect" usually last?
Any suggestions or personal stories is greatly appreciated! I find it very encouraging that I may have somewhat of a normal life if I follow this plan.
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I'm a bit sceptical about this issue of detoxes, as it's a controversial idea. A genuine detox should,(IMHO) ideally, be short-term in nature(2-7 days?), and not too painful, and you should feel better after the episode, compared to the time just before the detox happened - detoxes should also, over months/years, gradually lessen in terms of their frequency,duration and severity to zero - and the slight boost in health gained by each detox should be permanent, at least until the next detox episode. If the "detox" is continuous, getting worse and worse in its effect, then it could be due to an allergy, rather than a genuine detox. In my own case,early on in my diet, I'd been told by other RPDers that I was supposedly experiencing a detox when I started constantly suffering from a multitude of side-effects. I quickly found out that, in fact, I had a severe food-intolerance/allergy towards both raw and pasteurised dairy, and sorted out the problem completely by removing it from my diet. I did experience genuine detoxes afterwards for c.2 years, before they stopped completely once I fully recovered, but they were very minor by comparison(2-7 days in length, only incorporating mild flu-like symptoms(fatigue/heat on the forehead etc.).
Now, of course, everyone is different and you may very well be experiencing a proper detox, especially if you have very serious health problems. I just thought I ought to give an example from my own experience, as a cautionary tale.
Re quick detox:- The quickest method I found to encourage a release of toxins from the body was to eat some clay. French Green Clay is supposed to be the best kind, but make sure you get the edible kind, not the kind used for cosmetic purposes - also, you're only supposed to use a teaspoon or so a day, as too much of it will clog your system. You can also put clay into a heated bath. Clay is a natural remedy used by many wild animals to bind with toxins in Nature, and is very effective. However, I found that constant usage of clay was not needed(or that effective), in my own case, so I'd just recommend using it occasionally for a few (consecutive) days at a time.
Other than that, raw animal fats are very effective at binding with toxins (with the exception of raw dairy, which is commonly a very serious problem for RPDers; and the fats from raw eggs, which, while useful as an energy-boost, aren't all that great for healing purposes). One of the best habits I took up on this diet, was to always eat a small chunk of raw marrow at each meal, whenever possible(it's almost pure fat). It really helped in terms of health recovery. Unlike with clay, it didn't induce a detox soon after consuming it, but it contributed far more to my own health-recovery, in the long run, than clay did.
Okay, well it sounds like I'm either a walking dead person or something else is up because when I have zero carbs, I literally can't move. I feel like I weigh 300 pounds. My fatigue just gets worse and worse without hardly any relief. It doesn't matter what animal I eat, this happens. I have no dairy at all, no veggies, no fruits, no honey, just animal meat/fat. Sometimes I just think that I'll have to buckle down and suffer my way through this and hope in the end that I can feel like a healthy person full of energy.
AnswerI see that you're trying for a raw version of Stefansson's diet, after perhaps having done a cooked version thereof. I ought to mention, in this regard, that I've, at various times (early on in this RPD diet), tried a raw version of Stefansson's all-meat/fat diet (and a cooked version pre-raw diet), and my health-recovery-rate would increase in the first three weeks or so(especially if I also did some Intermittent Fasting) but, after a certain period of time on the diet it became increasingly difficult to maintain it, as I just started feeling worse and worse.
When I first started experimenting with diets, I did much the same as everyone else, and carried out almost every detail and instruction in each diet's guidelines. After a disastrous experience with Raw Vegan, Fruitarian diets, and my unfortunate experience with raw dairy/veggie juice on the Primal Diet, I finally worked out that it was better to examine several different types of cooked and raw palaeolithic diets, and use those elements within those diets which I'd found had worked, via experimentation, while discarding the rest which caused problems. The result is that I've borrowed ideas from the Primal Diet re avoiding all processed supplements while discarding the raw dairy element, I've taken on some ideas from the cooked-Palaeolithic diet researcher Loren Cordain re the need for organ-meats but totally rejected his advice re cooking food, and so on.
In the case of Stefansson, I've personally found that a 90+% raw animal food/10% fruit/honey combination works for me, better than a 100% all- raw meat/fat diet, and I disregarded some of his comments criticising organ-meats. There is a theory called the acid/alkali balance which states that it's best to have a neutral PH of 7 in the human body. Cooked-meat/fat is highly acidic so requires much more alkali food consumption to balance it out - however, raw meat/fat is only very mildly acidic, so only needs a small amount (5-10% of diet?) in alkali food form to balance it out(alkali food being, of course, raw fruit/honey - raw veg is a no-no due to indigestible cellulose in it etc.)
I guess what I'm saying is that you should listen to your body's needs rather than following too strict a diet. If adding a little raw fruit will help ease the pain, that's fine. I certainly don't recommend having more than 10%(?) raw carbs in your diet, but it may be necessary to have a small amount - after all, you've no doubt been eating a standard junk food diet for years before this, and processed foods are notoriously highly acidic. After fully regaining your health, a 100% practice of the Stefansson diet may well be doable, I just don't think this is the right time.
(Sometimes RPDers can get a food-intolerance towards raw eggs, but it tends to occur usually only if one overdoes raw egg consumption.(Raw eggs are usually grain-fed,not fully grass-fed which can give problems to a few people))
Other than that, make sure that the food you get is 100% organic or from wild sources(or, at least, free-range in the case of turkey and other meat from fowl). Also, meat/organ-meats really have to be 100% grass-fed for best results. Farmed fish/shellfish is a no-no, of course as well. - only wild varieties are OK.
Also, if you're taking any processed supplements such as vitamins/minerals or pharmaceutical drugs, I should warn you that they may cause some side-effects. In my own case, I carried on using some processed herbal supplements early on in the diet, and found that my digestive system became rather sensitive to them over time, so that I had to stop taking them.
One other thing:- A couple of RPD diet gurus recommend constantly eating small meals of raw food throughout the day. This is a really BAD idea. Digestion places a burden on the system so that you're more likely to be fatigued if you eat all the time. A lot of RPDers report doing better if they restrict food to just one large meal a day, with the occasional full day's fast.This shouldn't be a problem with you, though, as from my own experience, eating a fully zero-carb diet greatly reduces one's appetite, over time.
(By all means ask further questions re RPD diets, but please ask a new, separate question each time - it makes things easier for me. Follow-up questions are best used only if a previous question/answer was only a few lines long.
Cheers,
RPG
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