I Ate Raw Wal-Mart Beef in My Car

Here is Why I Kept Doing It For 2 Years.

You won’t find any "how-to" advice or ten-step life hacks here. I’m not here to tell you how to fix your life. I simply share my own thoughts, ideas, healing and creative journey. Take whatever works for you, and leave the rest.

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In March 2020, I threw a few bags in my car and drove south from Washington state in search of the sun. No destination. No plan. Just a desperate need for Vitamin D.

By the time I reached southern California, the first pandemic lockdown hit.

Two years earlier, I had gone on the Carnivore diet. Decades of food intolerances and unexplained health issues had forced my hand. It was a Hail Mary to slow down whatever the hell was happening to my body. Miraculously, eating only meat worked.

But suddenly, I was sleeping in my car. The lockdown meant I only had access to grocery stores. No kitchen. No grill. No way to cook.

It only took a few days before I was desperate enough to try eating raw meat.

I scanned the meat section and committed to raw ground beef. Not just a steak, but the pre-formed patties. The stuff that has been handled the most.

Cue the readers agonizing over, “But you’re supposed to cook them well done!” > I sat in my front seat with the open package on the dash. A pathetic plastic fork at the ready. I imagined I might die. The great beef scare of the 90s flashed through my mind. I decided I better record this for evidence, or at least a pre-emptive apology to my family.

The first bite… wasn’t bad.

It wasn’t spectacular, but it lacked actual flavor. It was mostly a texture thing.

And then a funny thing happened. I didn’t die.

In fact, the next day, I felt great. Better than usual. I continued the habit for two weeks until restrictions lifted. But that feeling stuck with me. A year later, I decided to give it another try.

From that point on, I ate raw meat exclusively for two years.

The Raw Meats I Actually Ate

When I talk about eating raw meat, some people are like, “Oh yeah! I used to take a bite of raw ground beef when I was a kid.” Beef and steak tartare are actual menu items at high-end restaurants. Even fish—who hasn’t tried or at least heard of sushi? It’s commonplace.

But I went further. I ate raw chicken, pork, eggs, dairy, and organ meats.

There was a period I got interested in “High Meat” and made some with raw liver. Honestly? Not bad. It had a funky cheese flavor profile. 8/10, would do it again.

Where Did I Buy It? Everywhere.

Ask anyone, and they’ll say raw ground meats are only safe if you grind them yourself or buy from a trusted butcher.

I ate raw meat from everywhere. Indiscriminately.

High-end grocery chains like Whole Foods and Sprouts are great, sure. But I like to thrift, and I’m not a fan of paying $10/lb for ground beef or $30/lb for a raw ribeye steak. Fuck that.

I’ve eaten raw meat from Wal-Mart, Grocery Outlet, and Aldi. I was in an airport terminal once and convinced the cook at a burger joint to slip me four raw burger patties during a layover.

There was also a road trip from California to Louisiana (a long story I might share one day) where I discovered Buc-ee’s travel centers sell raw cuts of meat. The raw ribeye steak I bought from them was so good, I ate it right off the hood of my truck.

One of my favorites was raw ground pork breakfast patties with no junk fillers. So fatty, so delicious. Most mornings, I would eat several raw egg yolks.

I even experimented with a drink of raw kefir, raw egg yolks, and raw liver. While it won’t become a viral TikTok trend, it really wasn’t bad.

What I Discovered

Obviously, I didn’t die. But the physical changes were undeniable:

• Digestion optimized overnight: I didn’t even realize my digestion needed improving until I hit this new echelon.

• Deeply grounded: Eating made me feel relaxed and calm. It felt like my soul was being hugged.

• A literal glow: My complexion improved drastically. My hair and nails grew fast and thick.

• Elite sleep: I didn’t always sleep more hours, but I always woke up feeling profoundly well-rested.

• Untouchable gym performance: This was the peak of my fitness routine (strength training, HIIT, kickboxing). I could work out for hours without fatigue. I hit PRs daily. I put on muscle fast. No post-workout soreness, ever.

• Laser focus: My mental stamina was incredible. I handled context switching effortlessly without brain fog.

• A bulletproof mood: Always on, always happy, always stress-free.

Something curious also happened: my obsession with food disappeared. Eating became a highly functional part of my day instead of a primary pleasure source. Raw meat absolutely satiated my appetite much faster than cooked meat—which makes biological sense, as you aren’t cooking out heat-sensitive nutrients (like Vitamin C and B vitamins) or enzymes.

But What About Parasites?!

I find it fascinating that we agonize over parasites in meat, but not produce—which is a far more likely exposure source. But whatever.

Parasites are a fact of life. We are biological creatures; we will be exposed to them. In my non-professional opinion, you should be consistently managing your parasite load to take care of your health regardless of your diet.

That said, I had multiple gold-standard parasite tests done during my two years of eating raw meat. I never once flagged for having a measurable parasite load.

And Food Poisoning?!

I went down a massive rabbit hole a few years ago researching the statistics around foodborne illness, human biology, and how bacteria actually survive. (I’ll republish that paper here soon).

Here is the short version: our stomach acid pH is right up there with animals classified as scavengers. It is our first line of defense and quite an inhospitable environment for opportunistic bacteria.

However, modern diet and lifestyle habits actively sabotage this system.

All plants change your stomach acidity, creating the ideal environment for bacteria to thrive. Furthermore, grazing all day or drinking fluids while food is still digesting dilutes your stomach acid. There is a reason indigestion is an epidemic in modern society.

If you are going to eat raw meat, ensuring your body operates as it should is paramount. Here are the strict rules I followed in the beginning:

• No liquids during or after meals until I was done digesting.

• No grazing.

• No mixing raw meat with cooked meat (cooked meat lacks the enzymes to naturally break down).

• No mixing raw meat with plants. If it grew out of the ground or fell off a tree, I didn’t eat it alongside raw meat.

• Supplemented Betaine HCl with meals to artificially increase stomach acidity.

Over time, I found I didn’t need the Betaine HCl anymore (your body will definitely let you know if your stomach acidity is already high enough). Today, I’m much more relaxed about mixing raw and cooked meats or adding small amounts of plant foods, as I currently follow an animal-based diet rather than strict Carnivore.

The Plot Twist: Why I Stopped

I think I would have continued eating raw meat forever.

Except, I ended up with severe Mercury Poisoning

A brutal side effect of heavy metal poisoning, for me, is a complete loss of appetite. Because raw meat isn’t as immediately palatable as cooked meat—and because it triggers satiety so quickly—I simply couldn’t eat enough food to sustain myself.

Having zero appetite, I had to go into survival mode. I ate whatever I could manage to keep down just to avoid starving to death. Yes, it was quite literally that serious.

My health has improved immensely since then, and I do eat raw meat often and consistently again. It’s not my exclusive diet right now, but I look forward to the day when it will be.

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If you want perfectly curated, sterile health advice, this isn’t the place for you. But if you want the raw truth about navigating chronic illness, creativity, and the bizarre experiments that kept me alive, hit subscribe. I am just getting started.