A Gift From Lex
Monday, December 21, 2009 at 12:42AM 
Believe me when I say that I am truly grateful for Lex Rooker's friendship. Besides being a totally wicked dude, Lex always has great insight on whatever struggle I may be going through at the time.
When Lex saw pictures of my leg he graciously offered to supply me with meat as well as an invitation back into the wonderful world of raw paleo. Never being one to turn down free meat, I obliged and a few days later Lex dropped off a weeks worth of his patented mix of Slanker's high fat ground beef and pet food.
The ground beef is standard fair, but the pet food is where things get interesting. Slanker's website states that the mixture consists of trimmings from various beef cuts, heart muscle, jaw muscle, a little organ meat, tongue, plus a relatively small quantity of liver, kidney, and spleen. I'm excited to evaluate how I respond, given that I've only had rendered fat and powdered lean meat for almost a year.
Having had Lex's daily food before, I can say that I really dig the taste of raw meat. Having said that, the added pet food takes some getting used to, but I'm always up for experimentation. Does this mean I'm now RAW ONLY, NO PEMM ALOWED? Of course it doesn't, whether it be an all beef tongue diet or an all pemmican diet, I will always err on the side of how I respond and feel.
Thanks again Lex!
More pictures after the jump.
78/27 (protein to fat by calories) Slanker's Ground Beef
Slanker's Dog & Cat Food.
Mixing begins...
I packaged the mixture in heavy duty freezer bags. Each package ranges from 1 1/2 lbs to 2+ lbs, consisting of about 1700 to 2200 calories.
Reader Comments (21)
Danny,
How much will you eat each day? Will you eat it at one meal or two?
Ken
That is really cool Danny. Lex is an awesome man and I always try to catch up on his journal. Anyways, I'm actually really excited to see how your body reacts to this change. Keep us updated!
where do you get that stuff? i would like to try it cooked like a buger if you can do that with it
Thanks for reading Ken,
I will eat anywhere from 1 1/2 lbs. to 2+ lbs. This ranges from 1700 calories to 2200 calories. If I'm still hungry, I'll eat some of my pemmican reserve.
Thanks for reading CMR,
I will definitely keep everyone updated.
Thanks for reading MAL,
All meat was from Slanker's Grass Fed Beef. I'm sure it would be great in a burger.
Screw the dogs & cats, that looks like some good stuff there :)
Wow, what a kind, generous soul Lex is! All that offal should take care of ANY deficiencies you might have, I'll bet you will feel great in no time! Keep us posted. BTW, I would love that mix myself, but cooked!
Hi, what is the ratio of ground beef to pet food? And can you better describe the taste? I get a gag reflex with anything too gamey. Thanks...
I'm doing 100% raw 80/20 ground beef now. I have never felt better, never had leaner abs and never lifted more strongly. I just posted updated pics in my journal on ZIOH if you want to see. I don't want to go back to cooked meat, except when I need to on dates or such. I never eat off ZC of course, but I will have cooked prime rib on Christmas with my family (plain and completely unseasoned).
Raw meat rules!
Thanks for reading Grok,
I whole heartedly agree.
Thanks for reading Randy,
Lex is too kind. I will definitely keep everyone posted.
Thanks for reading S,
The ratio is about 8 lb. muscle meat (52%) to 3 lb. pet food (38%). The taste is a bit hard to describe. It's a little sweet with the mixture of the pet food, and then the normal hearty muscle meat flavor kicks in. If you have an aversion to gamey meat, you might not dig it.
Thanks for reading Katelyn,
You're looking great!
I got this response from allexperts.com when I asked if it was possible to prepare pemmican from off the shelf products (to avoid all the drying/rendering). Can I get a sample of yours??
Answer:
Pemmican basically consists of dried raw lean meat(ie jerky)along with cooked/rendered fat. It's extremely unhealthy, given that cooked animal fats contain high levels of heat-created toxins. In theory, lard or even coconut oil could be used, but are, IMO, even worse than tallow, which is normally used for the cooked animal fat part. Coconut oil contains high levels of antinutrients which cause problems for many people, and lard is usually unhealthy grainfed lard, not grassfed(as it comes from pigs which are rarely grassfed), and there's even hydrogenated lard available which is even worse. Also, most sources selling pemmican, according to pemmican-devotees cheat by adding salt(to get round not drying the pemmican properly) or adding dried berries, among other methods, which mean that their pemmican doesn't last as long as it should.
In short, pemmican is an unhealthy food, only suitable if you have no healthier foods available, and even then it's a poor compromise.
Thanks for commenting Nerobo,
Like I say, do your own research and come to your own conclusions.
The answer you received from allexperts is in my opinion pure nonsense.
Eating pet food was something that was explored on a yahoo group that I belong to a few years ago. There is no question that properly sourced it can be a awesome source of nutritionally dense organ meats. You can get some organs that are not available as human food (like spleen) but nonetheless are quite nutritious. The key is learning to mix it properly with regular meat so the taste doesn't dominate.
The allexperts guy sounds a lot like Geoff Purcell. Yes, best to experiment and come to your own conclusions about pemmican being an unhealthy food. I wrote about the value of pemmican here:
What To Eat In A Crisis
Thanks for reading Michael,
There's no doubt in my mind that raw meat + pet food can lead to excellent health. Lex is a shining example of this.
I'm really digging your site Michael, great stuff.
Thanks Danny!
Yeah I remember looking at the some of the organic raw pet food labels one day and wondering "why can't I eat this stuff?" Sure enough on one of the yahoo groups I belong to other people were thinking the same thing. In fact some of them were already doing it.
By the way I'm glad your leg is getting better. I think the dry fasting during the day caused your body to go into an aggressive detox, enabling it to finally handle something you had been dealing with all your life.
just my .02,
take care
Michael
The age old question of correlation or causation. There is definitely something to dry fasting that I can't put my finger on. I wish there was more literature on what the body does when you abstain from not only food, but water as well.
I don't expect many to understand, (as little as a few months ago I sure as hell wouldn't have) but drinking water during the day feels completely weird.
Danny can we get an update?
Also, what do you feel about being in constant ketosis and higher cortisol and adrenal levels? Do you have dark circles under your eyes? Because I've noticed Charles and some other members have this
Thanks for commenting CMR,
The week of raw did not go so well. I was met with bathroom trouble, hair loss, and a nasty mood.
This means nothing of the validity of raw paleo, but only that my compromised body cannot currently handle raw meat.
Like I've said, whether it be an all chick-lit diet or an all pemmican diet, I'm going to do whatever gives me the best results. I may be labeled as a zealot, but at least I'll be a zealot with hair. Perhaps in time I could move to a raw diet without adverse effects.
Sorry CMR I forgot to answer the rest of your questions.
I don't believe that a zero carbohydrate diet up regulates cortisol. Perhaps initially, but not over long term.
I have a couple hormonal tests from Rhein Labs during the time I ate vegan and my cortisol was off the charts. I felt it too. My eyes would twitch and I would want to argue constantly. I would describe it as having a "heavy head" along with a constant neck ache. Not fun.
I haven't felt that way since starting ZC. ZC has made everything more even.
Yes. I have dark circles under my eyes and have had them for quite a while. I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure when they'll go away. If you do an image search for me you can find plenty of photos of me online.
Danny, I also have dark circles since I was quite young. A few times people have made comments, as well as Doctors' questions on whether I was allergic to something. The circles got better after starting low carb 6 years ago, but still remain visible. There were also improvements in some minor varicose veins on my legs that I have had since my late twenties.
One of the issues I have with changing lifestyles, is that you're always being studied by others. People tend to evaluate your appearance when they hear you eat radically different then everyone else. Sometimes, new people will say that there are circles under my eyes, and that it must be caused by my diet. They don't realize that they've been there for as long as I can remember and there is good improvement. My Mom has these same problems, and they continue to get worse. I have at least arrested, slowed down the progression, and seen some improvements. From what I have read, both of these problems are related to heredity, and of course aging.
Generally I believe people that have the most to gain by lifestyle changes tend to stick with it better. Anyone observing tends to think that what you are doing most recently is the problem, rather than being a life long malady that's gotten better. I think that there may be lots of people on ZIOH that have dark circles. I'll bet if anyone asks them, they will also claim that this is something that they had before starting zero carb. People that don't have issues or medical problems are less likely to change their diets. There is no incentive to change what has been working for them.
It's like observing media and seeing a beautiful model that claims to eat vegan. People look at her and figure that if they eat the same way, they will look like her. The truth is that she was beautiful all her life and that's why she's on a magazine cover. Also, there are 2 people at work that I use as examples in this manner. Both have similar lifestyles of regular exercise and eating SAD and are the same age. One looks great, handsome, muscular, youthfull, vigorous, and must be doing everything right. The other is chubby, balding, looks older, needs thick glasses, has high blood pressure, bad cholesterol, and has a puffer for allergies. By looking at them, you would think their lifestyles were radically different. If a high carb diet was so great, then why are they so different?
So when people say their lives have been improved greatly on low or zero carb, I believe them. They may not look like models, but they have changed things for the better and will likely have better health long term than their previous lifestyle. There aren't any miracles with zero carb/low carb. But I can tell you this. If my circles or varicose veins had gotten worse, I would have dropped my diet in an instant.
I mention low carb many times. This is because I have seen good improvements since eating that way 6 years ago. I've only been zero carb for a few months, so I don't have much to say about improvements. I believe that I've fixed things about as far as I can no matter what I do at this point. I feel younger, but I don't look like a model for anything. I'm surprized by the number of people in my age group that have to take medications, and have some serious medical issues.
Tom
You're always so well spoken Tom. As always I take your comments to heart.
You hit the nail on the head when you speak about others studying your appearance. This happens to me everyday at work. It's perfectly normal for a coworker to tell whether they think I look sick or not without any prompting. Oh well, that's what I get for "putting myself out there".
Danny. I came back to see if you saw my post, and I read your new weblog. I don't mind if someone posts about me in a negative manner on a forum. I've seen them, but realize it's usually to prove a particular point. An article written using me as an example of what not to do would be upsetting. It's too bad that you were singled out that way.
People seem to be quick to point out what went wrong, but seldom mention that the diet has fixed so many other things. Like you say, I guess that is what we get for being honest.
Tom