AboutRawPalaeoGuy Expertise I can answer most questions on Raw Animal Food Diets such as the Primal Diet, an organic, raw-meat-based diet and a number of similiar all-raw or partially raw Paleolithic diets, such as the Instincto, Weston-Price, Neanderthin, Paleo and Stefansson Diets. Can also offer advice on
how to resist social pressure to eat cooked foods etc. For further info on Raw-Animal-Food diets, feel free to browse through this website:-
http://www.rawpaleodiet.com/
Experience I have been 8 years on a 99%+ raw version of the Palaeolithic Diet and experienced numerous health benefits as a result, being fully recovered from my previous symptoms from my cooked-food days. My own individualised raw, paleolithic diet routine is mostly based on Aajonus Vonderplanitz's Primal Diet(ie 99% raw, usage of "high-meat",no processed supplements, using primarily naturally-reared, organic or wild sources of raw foods) but, for personal reasons, I have also been, to some extent, influenced by ideas from:- Instincto(ie:- taste/instinct,no raw dairy/no raw veggie juice), Weston-Price(eg: preferring grassfed meat to grainfed meat, incorporating a wide variety of raw organ-meats into my diet along with the usual muscle-meats, and Vilhjalmur Stefansson(high-fat diet, pretty high proportion of (raw) animal food), but also eating some raw carbohydrates such as raw organic/wild fruit/veg/honeycomb etc.). I'm also a firm believer in the feast-and-famine idea (ie Intermittent Fasting) as regards boosting one's energy levels, and giving my body a rest from constant digestion.
Organizations Rawpaleodiet Community(Comprising rawpaleoforum , rawpaleodiet yahoo group and the rawpaleodiet.com website among others).
Publications Allexperts and Rawpaleodiet.com
Education/Credentials BA(German) 3rd; No nutritional qualification(I don't believe in standard(misguided) nutritonist doctrine, so I don't feel the need).
Question I'm interested in what you know about the effects of freezing on animal food. Are there any nutrients in particular that suffer extreme loss (like vitamin C with cooking)? Would eating everything previously frozen produce any negative effects on me?
Could you also give me a list of some of the sources you read discussing the preference of animals and primitive humans for organ meats as opposed to muscle?
Thanks again,
Chris
Answer The general concensus seems to be that freezing foods damages cell wall integrity as well as resulting in a loss of nutrients and vitamins(and a reduction in PH value, I seem to recall). The damage to cell wall integrity means that the nutrients in the food will deteriorate faster than normal after thawing. There is also a definite loss in the taste and texture of animal(and plant) foods after freezing, which is one of the main reasons why I avoid buying prefrozen organ-meats. Quick-freezing also doesn't damage the food as much as slow-freezing does(slow freezing would include putting food into your deep-freeze).
There's very little info on the actual extent of damage of freezing animal food(compared to damage of cooked food), but I've come across some info on the Net( that suggests an average 19% reduction of vitamins in food after freezing(obviously the percentage loss for each particular vitamin would be actually wildly different, as it is with cooked foods). Also bear in mind that many prefrozen foods, particularly fruit and vegetables, are dipped into hot water to destroy the enzymes prior to being quick-frozen.(the process is called "blanching").
Most articles I've read on the subject merely claim that freezing inactivates enzymes, but Aajonus claims that there is some loss of enzymes(25% if I recall correctly). I would have to agree. There was a time at the beginning of my diet when, due to lack of sources, I had to eat mainly prefrozen meats and I did notice a comparatively large reduction in the increase in my health, though I didn't deteriorate. Here are the tiny handful of articles/books I've found on the Net on the subject of the exact percentage of damage to frozen foods etc.
"Even if you eat foods rich in B12, be aware that cooking destroys many of the B vitamins in meat although broiling and frying tend to affect only those close to the surface. Canning and freezing food reduces the amount of B vitamins present by 30 to 60 percent." from http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0860/is_n3_v51/ai_7051832
I have had to put up with eating prefrozen organ-meats during holidays and the like where I had no choice. It's not the end of the world to do so on occasion, but I wouldn't recommend doing so all the time, as it will slow down your health recovery by quite a lot, though you won't suffer as such except perhaps in terms of loss of taste.
As regards the preference for organ-meats among humans, here's a list of sources:-
www.beyondveg.com (the whole of this website is highly useful, and in one sub-article contains the fascinating fact that our brains have reduced in size by 11% since the advent of agriculture 10,000 years ago).Unlike most diet sites, this has a serious bibliography to back up its statements. Here is the relevant subarticle:- http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/hb/hb-interview1f.shtml
http://www.organiclifestyle.net/WestonPrice.html (useful but bear in mind the warning that in the 30s this guy rather shamefully adocated eating grain as people were too poor to buy meat in the Depression).
http://paleodiet.com/ ( an archive with links to various (mostly cooked) Paleo sites.
"Actually, from what I heard a zoo director while working on a project for them is that dominant carnivores eat the internal organs first as they are have the most nutrition. They leave the muscle to the lessers in the pack.
Indeed, for many centuries the highest ranking noble at any meal was presented with the heart as the choicest piece of meat, and then lesser nobles would receive the other organs as their rank determined, long before anyone got the cuts of muscle. Our modern sensibility is the problem, not the snouts and assholes themselves." from http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:oMkqNlMlrJgJ:monkeyfilter.com/link.php/3965...
I have unfortunately never found reliable data on the exact amounts of vitamin and mineral content in organ-meats as compared to muscle-meats; this is obviously due to the fact that the nutrient value in all foods is wildly diefferent from animal to animal, and also depends on the quality of food an animal eats etc. However, generally speaking organ-meats have far higher EFAs(essential fatty acid content than muscle-meats, and also have far higher vitamin and mineral content in almost every respect(particularly A and B vitmains in the case of liver)
