How long can modern man live only eating raw, uncooked food?

[QueBert]

I have a neighbor who's Jamaican and he doesn't cook anything he eats. He also has never ingested a drop of salt in his life. He's 60 something and one of the healthiest people I've ever met. While there's no way in hell I could go without meat or salt(?!?!) it obviously works for him, and many Jamaicans live life the same way.

I'm still trying to imagine never having had salt, that's mind blowing.

 

[SandEagle]

I'm sure I could get by just fine on an all raw diet. Stick to mostly fruits/veg/dairy for breakfast and lunch, then a small piece of raw meat for dinner. I could live on sashimi no problem.

Also, if you let me quickly sear the outside of my meat to kill the bacteria, I'll eat the middle part raw.

title says modern man, not neanderthal.

 

[techs]

I'd say about 90-100 years tops, with some exceptional people making it to 110-120.

 

[Farang]

I have a neighbor who's Jamaican and he doesn't cook anything he eats. He also has never ingested a drop of salt in his life. He's 60 something and one of the healthiest people I've ever met. While there's no way in hell I could go without meat or salt(?!?!) it obviously works for him, and many Jamaicans live life the same way.

I'm still trying to imagine never having had salt, that's mind blowing.

Salt is vital for survival. Your neighbor has eaten plenty of salt. Its like someone saying they've never had a drink of water.

 

[nageov3t]

Salt is vital for survival. Your neighbor has eaten plenty of salt. Its like someone saying they've never had a drink of water.

he'd basically have to go 60 years without eating any food he didn't 100% prepare himself.

 

[HumblePie]

I have a neighbor who's Jamaican and he doesn't cook anything he eats. He also has never ingested a drop of salt in his life. He's 60 something and one of the healthiest people I've ever met. While there's no way in hell I could go without meat or salt(?!?!) it obviously works for him, and many Jamaicans live life the same way.

I'm still trying to imagine never having had salt, that's mind blowing.

Are you kidding me?!?! Many Jamaicans live on a diet of chicken mostly. Most of the Latin islands are infested with chickens everywhere. It's seafood and chicken for the most common staple diet there. And trust me it is cooked. MMMMmm... just thinking about eating some good Jamaican Jerk chicken makes me hungry.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Are you kidding me?!?! Many Jamaicans live on a diet of chicken mostly. Most of the Latin islands are infested with chickens everywhere. It's seafood and chicken for the most common staple diet there. And trust me it is cooked. MMMMmm... just thinking about eating some good Jamaican Jerk chicken makes me hungry.

ooooh .... Jerk Chicken is awesome, but Oxtail Stew .... ohh my ... that stuff is out of this world!!!!

 

[gotsmack]

Salt is vital for survival. Your neighbor has eaten plenty of salt. Its like someone saying they've never had a drink of water.

The Yanomami people of South America never ate salt. When salt was introduced to their diets they started having problems with their teeth. Prior to that they had perfectly healthy teeth.

I suspect a lot of other native cultures aren't dependent on salt, it is the civilized cultures that are.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

It's odd how so many will automatically believe that eating raw meat will make them sick but wouldn't hesitate to eat a raw fruit or vegetable. Ironically, many food product recalls due to bacteria like salmonella and e-coli are for raw fruits and vegetables. Asparagus, tomatoes, green onions, and jalapeno peppers are a few of the more recent cases.

 

[nageov3t]

The Yanomami people of South America never ate salt. When salt was introduced to their diets they started having problems with their teeth. Prior to that they had perfectly healthy teeth.

I suspect a lot of other native cultures aren't dependent on salt, it is the civilized cultures that are.

salt/sodium is like super important for staying alive for all animals... all the google results on the yanomami say low salt, not no salt.

 

[QueBert]

Salt is vital for survival. Your neighbor has eaten plenty of salt. Its like someone saying they've never had a drink of water.

He grows his own fruits & veggies, so unless they have some sort of salt naturally in them, he has never added salt to anything. He never buys pre-made anything, and has never had a drop of anything dairy or meat. I should have said he has never added salt to anything, I understand some vegetables have a trace amount of sodium in them naturally.

Are you kidding me?!?! Many Jamaicans live on a diet of chicken mostly. Most of the Latin islands are infested with chickens everywhere. It's seafood and chicken for the most common staple diet there. And trust me it is cooked. MMMMmm... just thinking about eating some good Jamaican Jerk chicken makes me hungry.

Sorry I should have mentioned he's a Rastafarian, they don't eat meat, dairy or anything that isn't naturally grown. Jamaica has a good number of people who eat chicken and fish, but Rastafarians are not allowed to by their religion.

 

[eits]

you can live a healthy life by sticking to a raw diet.

now, is it smart? probably not. is it doable? absolutely. is it unhealthy? only if you don't eat whatever it is as fresh and clean as possible.

 

[FoBoT]

a stalk of celery has 35.2 milligrams of sodium
100 grams of spinach has 71 milligrams of sodium

 

[zinfamous]

Are you kidding me?!?! Many Jamaicans live on a diet of chicken mostly. Most of the Latin islands are infested with chickens everywhere. It's seafood and chicken for the most common staple diet there. And trust me it is cooked. MMMMmm... just thinking about eating some good Jamaican Jerk chicken makes me hungry.

I humbly submit that Jerk Chicken may be the greatest dish on this earth. Well, anything jerk could qualify.

what kind of anti-patriotic Jamaican would deny their most awesome export? (...next to Marley)

 

[gotsmack]

salt/sodium is like super important for staying alive for all animals... all the google results on the yanomami say low salt, not no salt.

I mean they don't add salt to their foods. They only get naturally occurring salt from their foods.

 

[Kirby]

Fruit and veggies yes, but not meat. I'm pretty sure if you eat raw meat you will get very sick.

lol, no. pork yeah, but beef and fish, no.

 

[SlitheryDee]

If you ate the right stuff I'd guess your whole life. You can safely eat loads of vegetables and even some meats raw. I imagine a diet limited to raw food would be pretty healthy by necessity. It would also be bland and awful.

 

[lxskllr]

lol, no. pork yeah, but beef and fish, no.

You can eat raw pork too. With any animal you're taking a risk of getting parasites, but they're all edible raw.

 

[HannibalX]

Why would I want to eat raw foods? I'm not a caveman. Humans have evolved to the point where our bodies prefer cooked foods.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Eat some raw crab and see how long you last

 

[bas1c]

I think it may be a bit longer...

He meant it as "tree fitty".

 

[TecHNooB]

Salads and sushi, you'll be fine

amen to this

 

[Yellow_Sunstreaker]

I don't know how long ago we started cooking our food but do you think someone can live a good 40 years eating everything raw?

There have been some studies which found that hunter-gatherers often lived to their 70s. But although these are studies of humans with minimal access to modern medicine, these studies ignore the fact that cooking is practiced by all these hunter-gatherers. Cooking is a big reason why humans live the long lives they do today, and surely is a major reason for those 70 year-lifespans found in hunter-gatherers. In a natural environment, all forms of life aka animals have practically natural lifestyles. Humans are an exception. Even in a natural environment, human lifestyles have changed profoundly since the Paleolithic, and it started with just one factor: cooking. Humans get plenty more nutrients from cooking than raw. The Chimpanzee is the animal that is most anatomically similar to humans. Chimpanzees in natural environments usually live around 38 years. This is how long humans originally lived, before the first basic change from a natural human lifestyle: cooking.

 

[NetWareHead]

There was a Wife Swap show (or similar show...can't remember other one like it) where one family ate *everything* raw, including raw chicken. In fact, raw chicken was the kids' favorite meat, and they never got salmonella poisoning. It might have helped that the chickens were from their own farm.

The swapped wife took them out for a fast food burger for probably the first time in their lives and the kids stomachs were in excruciating pain.

This is directly a by-product of the commercial/industrial chicken slaughter process. The carcasses are passed through boiling water ( i think for feather removal) which contaminates the internals with salmonella found outside the bird. If you slaughter birds yourself, you have a much less chance of introducing this contamination to the actual meat.

Anyway, I dont think I could eat raw chicken; never tried it though. Sigh me up for sushi, sashimi or steak tartare any day though!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

another n00b necro.