Can You Eat Raw Chicken?

A better question is:  Are you afraid of food?

Hi!

Ok, I know this is totally unconventional.

Most people I know can’t even wrap their mind around this one.

It’s raw chicken my friend. Yes, as a raw omnivore I eat raw chicken.

Ok, let me disclose that I eat a good amount of cooked food these days, but I still love raw animal foods and feel so good after eating them.

I made raw chicken ceviche for dinner tonight and it brought back memories of that calm, relaxed, fulfilled feeling I get after eating it.  I imagine the abundant vitamin B6 (very heat sensitive) found in chicken is what makes me feel so good. Heat denatures this vital vitamin so eating it raw is the way to go. Vitamin B6 helps the nervous system function properly and plays an important role in making the happy hormones serotonin and norepinephrine. Feeling this good makes me realize it’s been way too long since I’ve made raw chicken ceviche.

Good news is I can start making it again because I found an organic pasture raised local chicken farmer.  Here in Arizona it’s illegal to sell chicken that has never been frozen at the farmers market.  So the farmer I found let me come to the farm and pick up fresh chicken. If I’m going to eat raw chicken I don’t want it denatured by freezing it. I also got to see the chicken tractors, the organic feed, and the healthy birds while I was there.

I told him it may sound weird but I plan on eating this chicken raw.  He didn’t cringe or think it was strange at all which is another sign he is selling clean healthy birds.

I see no difference in eating raw chicken, raw fish or any type of raw meat when it’s from a healthy animal.  Why is chicken any different than other animals?  Healthy animals produce healthy food and sick animals produce sick food. Perhaps it’s the conditioning, fear, and psychology we grew up with around chicken.

I took the fresh chicken home and started chopping.  I cut the chicken breast into 1/2 inch cubes with a sharp knife. Next, I added the chicken cubes to a glass jar and covered it in lime and grapefruit juice. I usually use lemons but limes and grapefruit work too and they’re in season.

This is technically called “cold cooked” chicken since the acid in the limes “cooks” it.  Just like you would use limes to make ceviche with raw fish.

I let the jar of cubed chicken and lime juice sit in the fridge for one day.  Then I strained out the lime juice and squeezed the chicken well with my hands to get all 

 the lime out.

I’m curious.  Would you like me to do a youtube video on this?

I finished it off with a recipe from my book but didn’t use exact measurements.  I added raw heavy cream, celery, red onion, a lot of fresh basil, cold pressed olive oil, and himalayan salt.  It taste just like raw and healthy chicken salad!

I know many people fear salmonella but I’ve never heard of it being found on clean food.  I recently found more research from a poultry scientist that salmonella is hardly unique to chickens but in a very rare instance (1 in 30,000 birds and from a factory farm) it showed up on chicken skin and contaminated a cutting board – the chance for it to make it all the way inside the muscle is very rare. The CDC has documented five salmonella outbreaks this year and not one came from eating chicken.

One of my main goals in sharing that I eat raw chicken is to spread light on eating raw foods and eliminate the fear. It also maximizes the health benefits of eating chicken.  This is a very healing food, especially for the nervous system.

I would love to know what comes up for you around this topic?

Would you eat raw chicken?

Stay Healthy,

Melissa Henig