Return to index | Return to list of articles in: WisdomExperience
Raw versus cooked meat
Monday, May 31 2004 - Filed under: General
The choice of eating cooked or raw meats is a quite difficult one. Here are some factors to consider:
- Increases strain on the liver
Our digestive effort
must be greater with raw meat. Also, the fact that no heat denaturation
has taken place probably means that more polypeptides, rather then simple amino acids
, will be transported to the liver, which then must further digest them, because certain polypeptides are not welcomed in the blood. Both liver and blood contain many enzymes which remove polypeptides rather fast, but that means that when we eat raw meat the liver must work harder.
+ Uncooked foods contain more solar magnetism than cooked foods
The more directly food comes to us from the soil, the more solar magnetism it contains. Consequently, it ''stays with us'' the longest when eaten uncooked. When food has gone through the process of cooking, a part of the ether it contained is lost, as a number of the finer particles are dissolved by heat and ascend in the kitchen as odor from whatever food it comes. Consequently the cells of cooked food remain a shorter time as a pert of our body than in the case of an uncooked food, and food which has already been assimilated by the animal has very little chemical ether of its own (except milk which is obtained by a vital process and has a greater quantity of ether than any other food).
- On the other hand, in the dead flesh of animals this solar magnetism is gone
Hence with regard to the flesh of animals it may be said that most of the chemical ether in the fodder has gone into the vital body of the animal before it was killed, and at its death the vital body leaves the carcass. Therefore flesh putrefies very much quicker than vegetables and ''stays with us'' only a short time after we eat it.
+ Heating proteins cause them to cross-link and form mutated proteins
Due to heat, preparing food originates new substances. Most of these new substances originate from proteins reacting upon carbohydrates. Some of these substances cause cancer, or brain diseases, and impair neurotransmitter function and metabolism.
To be able to grow old and healthy, you need to consume as little prepared food. (prepared proteinacous food in particular).
+ Raw foods contain the naturally available enzymes
Raw foods are on the other hand easier to digest because they contain the natural enzymes. Heating destroys these enzymes. However, it's uncertain if these enzymes survive the stomach acid.
+ Raw fats have better properties than heated fats
Raw fats have much better cleansing / detoxification properties than heated fats. Also all poly-unsaturated fats (and also mono-unsaturated) fats are damaged by heating and cause massive amounts of free radicals.
+ Raw foods contain less free radicals
Heating increases chemical reaction speed and significantly increases the forming of free radicals.
+ Raw foods contain more vitamins
Heating destroys specific vitamins, so raw foods contain more vitamins
- Heating de-activates certain anti-nutrients
For example, raw egg-whites contain anti-nutrients (avidin www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/eggwhite.htm
) which hinder the absorption of B-vitamins. When cooked this anti-nutrient is deactivated.
+ Eating raw means no risk of nickel/aluminium or Teflon poisoning
There seems to be no safe metal/material to cook in without risking poisoning
I received the following notes from a Live-Food subscriber:
1. ''Increases strain on the liver.'' Can't agree with the idea that the
overall digestive effort is greater for raw meat - it's actually much
less effort / easier. Most people who switch to raw meat lose their
indigestion quickly. By the way, it is, perhaps, an oversight to
isolate one food (raw meat in this case) from others in a diet in an
effort to quantify and qualify the effects and properties. Most of us
do not eat raw meat alone - but also other foods and many drink green
juices or eat many dark greens to heal and nourish the liver and balance
the diet. Ref: Food is Your Best Medicine - Beiler. So perhaps your
list should include the necessary other changes in the diet. Example:
when I was eating cooked meats I had to use herbs and spices to aid in
my digestion and nutrition balance. On raw meats I need none of those.
2. ''uncooked foods contains more solar magnetism...'' Well, I would also
mention that the flesh of ruminants, for example, contains chemical
ether (as you call it) and is created by the same process as the milk
(eating grass and digesting it, etc.)
3. re: ''..in the dead flesh of animals this solar magnetism is gone'' My
observation is that vegetables rot more quickly than meat. Also,
uncooked meat does not putrefy in the sense that the bacteria that comes
in the uncooked meat is beneficial and desirable. When cooked foods are
attacked by bacteria those bacteria are potentially non-beneficial or
dangerous. I think of these dangerous bacteria when I think
''putrefaction.'' Example: Pasteurized milk can putrefy and become
dangerous sometimes (it can kill), raw milk does not putrefy - it sours
- and has never been shown to be dangerous. It is the same with raw
meat that has been raised in a healthy environment - it ''sours'' but does
not putrefy (in the sense I use). Additionally, my experience has been
that the beneficial effects (the ''staying with us longer'' effect) of raw
meats seem to be as long-lasting to me as fresh vegetables. I'm not
sure that there is any real difference between meat and veggies in that
regard. As far as the concept of ''vital body'' or essence, I think we
agree that the fresher the food, the more vital it is when eaten. For
example, no tomato sitting on a shelf in a store can compare to one just
pulled ripe off the vine.
4. The one about ''heating proteins... mutated proteins'' should not have
a plus sign - needs a minus I believe. Cause cancer - not good, right?
5. Raw fats have other than cleansing and detoxification properties.
They are also an important energy source and thus support a balanced
6. Regarding the example of anti-nutrients (as in eggs). Check me on
this but I believe that *fertile* eggs contain an ingredient(s) that
nullifies the anti-nutrient. What you say is correct about non-fertile
7. I'm not certain about this but I always believed that copper and
iron and stainless steel cooking pans were not toxic to us when used to
cook foods. Certainly copper kills bacteria (not necessarily a good
thing on a raw diet) but I don't think it becomes toxic to us when
ingested in the amounts we would get from cooking foods in it. Copper
and acidic foods (citrus, vinegar, etc.) might increase the amount
ingested to higher levels. Certainly the things you mentioned (nickel,
aluminium) are known to be poisonous in certain forms and, well, Teflon
is just plain ugly.
8. You might bring up the subject of cooking oils, etc. Many people
cook meat in butter or oil if pan fried or sauteed. Or the meat cooks in
it's own fats. As you probably know ingesting cooked oils/fats can be a
big problem in the grand scheme of things.
9. You might mention somewhere in your list that it is important to
obtain healthy raw meat - not just any raw meat will do (it may not be
safe). Naturally ''organic'' is the ideal (no antibiotics, growth
hormones, pesticides, etc.) We tend to use the standard of: range free,
grass fed bison and cow (and any food animal must be fed its natural
foods); range free, omnivorously fed chicken and eggs; non-farmed, deep
sea fish. Wild meat must come from places where the available food and
water for the animal is known to be untainted by toxins, pollution, etc.
Also, fresh raw meat (as I described above) poses no problems for most
people. However, when that same meat is older (or aged), beneficial
bacteria (which comes with the meat from the host animal) blooms on the
meat. It is important, I feel, to ease into eating aged meat. After
the body becomes accustomed to the new strains of bacteria they are less
likely to cause imbalances. This is much the same as with drinking raw
milk (full of excellent, live bacteria) after having drunk pasteurized
milk (dead) for a long time. The whole topic of beneficial bacteria
should be revealed to the reader - for all fresh foods contain
beneficial bacteria that are (in my humble opinion) symbiotic with
humans (and as important or more so as the solar magnetism you cite as
I also received this interesting link from another live-food subscriber:
It seems to be offline, so check it here:
Check out the many other interesting articles on my website
The information on this website is not a recommendation for treatment. Anyone reading it
should consult his/her physician before considering treatment. The author and publisher can't be held responsible for anything. Use on your own risk.