Transcribed by Aajonus.net & Rawmeatgang
Host: Well, today's show is full of some of the most eyebrow-raising, surprising, and downright shocking health trends that you've ever seen, and it all starts right now.
Intro: Today on The Doctors. The raw food diet.
Aajonus: I ate the raw meat to kill myself, and it did just the opposite.
Intro: That turned into a debate.
Aajonus: You've been taught the bacteria theory.
Doctor 3: Bacteria is not a theory.
Host: Something else I think is complete nonsense, and everyone has probably considered doing it. They're called detox diets. Everyone out there, there's a message in the popular media that we're full of all these toxins and our bodies don't have any idea how to get rid of them, so you've got to detox yourself with these crazy diets to live a normal life, which is absurd.
Doctor 1: Show me the toxins.
Doctor 2: Well, I think that people who drink and smoke, they're trying to figure out ways to get that out of their body, but the only way is to stop.
Doctor 1: That is true.
Doctor 3: Your natural organs will detoxify anyway.
Doctor 1: Certain medications, and we know that food is treated, it can be treated with insecticides, things like that, but it's up to us to first make sure things are clean, wash them, and then you're less likely to consume something that potentially could be a toxin. But the whole concept that your colon gets caked with all this crud, bad stuff, that's not happening.
Host: Well, we've got livers for a reason, and our livers and our kidneys, they detoxify us.
Doctor 1: And our spleen.
Host: So let's talk about this, though, because we actually did a show here where someone was on the Master Cleanse diet for a week, and it's lemon juice, maple syrup, pepper, and that's all you drink. We're going to move on to another really interesting trend, number nine on our list. Everyone's heard about a raw food diet. Well, have you ever heard of the raw meat diet? It's true. It's reported that certain celebrities have sworn by it. Well, here to tell us about the raw meat diet is author of We Want to Live, The Primal Diet, and Recipe for Living Without Disease, Aajonus Vonderplanitz. Welcome to the show.
Aajonus: Thank you.
Host: Tell you what, when I read about your diet that you eat, I was shocked because raw meat in general, we always say don't eat it because it's filled with bacteria that can cause serious illness, even death, salmonella amongst them. So I want you to come up here, and let's talk a little bit about what you eat and why. Come on up.
[applause]
Host: First off, I'm looking at this, and I'm thinking, no, I would never eat that. I would never eat that. I'd eat that, and I would eat those if they were cooked. So why do you say this is healthy for us?
Aajonus: Well, I was dying of multiple myeloma, and lymphoma, and stomach cancer 40 years ago. They said I would never be able to eat any raw food again, that if I ate even a banana or an apple that I'd have to steam it. The cancer resurfaced again when I was about 30 years old, and I decided that I was just not going to live through it again because it was very painful. So I ate raw meat to kill myself, and it did just the opposite. It invigorated me for the first time in my life.
Host: So you're eating literally raw meat. This is raw chicken.
Aajonus: Correct.
Host: And you're just eating that.
Aajonus: Correct.
Host: And where are you getting the chicken?
Doctor 3: Do you eat it right off the bone like that?
Aajonus: Well, I can eat it right off the bone. Would you like to see?
Doctor 3: Oh, wow.
Doctor 2: Have you prepared it specially? Is it a particular kind of meat?
Aajonus: No. Well, my preparation is to leave it out to give room temperature. This is a little cold. There's no taste. It's like, you know, paper.
Doctor 3: Do you buy it from the regular grocery store?
Aajonus: No. This is a Rocky Jr. chicken, which is grown on non-GMO corn.
Host: Do you eat fruits and vegetables, or do you just pretty much eat raw meat?
Aajonus: I eat one fruit a day and vegetable juice, not whole vegetables.
Host: So you know, as doctors, we have to challenge you a little bit here because...
Aajonus: I'm getting hungry.
Host: Go for it.
Doctor 3: Oh, God.
Aajonus: [eats raw egg]
Host: Now, now, all the respect in the world for you and what you're doing, I do not recommend this to anyone at home or anyone in the audience. A raw meat diet, I'm going to tell you right now, runs the risk of so many bad things, whether it's salmonella, amongst others, and you know, again, to each their own.
Doctor 2: For pregnant women, obviously, toxoplasmosis, we're very concerned about for raw meat, and that can cause birth effects. Especially in kids.
Aajonus: The women who've been pregnant on this diet, when they give birth, only have two contractions and the baby's out.
Doctor 2: But what's going on with the meat?
Host: I'm going to challenge you on something, because I read your history as well, like, there are a lot of things that you claim that I have trouble... You said you had 300 heart attacks by the time you were 22, and so there are all these huge claims that I have trouble backing up with science, and so I'm not saying that this diet for you isn't a wonderful thing, and that there aren't people in the world who eat this diet that don't live happy, healthy lives, but this is a dangerous diet for your average person.
Aajonus: How do you know that?
Host: Because I, in the ER, I have taken care of people who have actually almost died from eating raw chicken.
Doctor 1: My question is how...
Aajonus: How many of you have seen that's eaten raw chicken? I think that's a myth, I don't believe you.
Doctor 1: My question is...
Aajonus: Because I've done it, 25,000 people do it.
Doctor 2: A lot of kids, especially, are prone to food poisoning, and, you know, E. coli especially, from unpasteurized juice and milk, and that would, you know, that's dangerous.
Aajonus: That is a myth. When I did my laboratory work...
Doctor 2: Pasteurization was a breakthrough. A health breakthrough.
Doctor 1: How do you feel that cooking hurts the food?
Aajonus: If you will let me contest you, laboratory wise, how much have you done on observing people who've eaten raw meat? How much laboratory work have you done?
Doctor 2: I'm actually agreeing. I think raw food, raw vegetables, raw fruit, and, you know, is great. But there's a huge risk for meat, and for some of the meats, and for milk, there's risk for infections that you really got to be concerned about.
Aajonus: See, the problem is that you've been taught the bacteria theory, which is a complete...
Doctor 2: Bacteria is not a theory. I'm sorry.
Aajonus: Well, bacteria is not a theory. There's bacteria in all of this. To fear these is a problem. When you pasteurize or cook something, and the bacteria feeds on it then, you have a toxic byproduct. That's why two years ago at Davis University in Northern California, they took raw milk and they spiked it with five different bacteria that are accused of growing in raw milk. Since the lactic acid is raw, the bacteria could not grow. It could not flourish. However, when they spiked pasteurized milk, it grew in an instant. That was dangerous. So raw milk, raw meat or not, when you cook them and then the bacteria feeds on it, there are toxic byproducts. Otherwise, they help you.
Host: So the takeaway here is, again, this is a diet that you've used that has contributed, in your opinion, greatly to your health. I think that is wonderful. That's the whole point of the show. Shocking health trends. Again, I think it's wonderful that you eat this. No thanks, not for me. I'll take my chicken cooked. Thank you.
Aajonus: Have you ever been to a French restaurant?
Host: I have.
Aajonus: Steak tartare. Raw meat with raw eggs.
Host: Right. Absolutely. There are certain meats and fish, sushi, that if prepared correctly...
Doctor 2: I love raw.
Host: ... in the right way, are lower in risk for bacteria and all these other bad things. But again, if you're at home, don't go to the grocery store and pick up a few chicken breasts and eat them raw, because you do risk very serious illness.