![An Interview with Max Kane - co-founder of FarmMatch.com [30 Days in the Raw] | eatnakedkitchen.com](https://eatnakedkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Day-3-Max-Kane.jpg)
Last year at the Weston A Price Foundation annual conference, I was lucky enough to run into Max Kane, founder of FarmMatch.com and passionate advocate of a real food lifestyle. Now, both of these things are wonderful but not that unusual for the WAPF conference. What stuck out about Max was what he was eating: a big plate of raw grass fed ground beef.
As we got to chatting, I learned that Max had been eating a raw primal diet for many years and absolutely thriving on it. He is one of the people who inspired my own experiment, and generously agreed to be interviewed to share a little about his own journey.
Margaret: What inspired you to eat a raw primal diet?
Max: I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the age of ten. I wasn’t getting the results I wanted through conventional treatment. In my early twenties I looked into lifestyle and diet as a means to maintain my health.
Margaret: What changes did you notice when you started eating this way?
Max: I started gaining weight, which was great for someone who was super thin like myself. I became less angry and more open to creative thinking.
[Margaret sidebar:Max looks freaking amazing and extremely healthy, by the way.]
Margaret: How long have you been eating this way?
Max: About 9 years.
Margaret: How do you ensure your food is safe?
Max: I ensure my food is safe by educating myself on my food sources and their production standards. I also eat my food raw which adds an extra layer of safety since cooking food creates toxicity in the food.
Margaret: Describe a typical day of food.
Max: 12 raw eggs from grazing chickens
1 pound of raw grass fed beef
1/2 gallon of raw grass fed milk
1/2 pounds of raw grass fed butter
raw cream, raw cheeses, and raw fruits
[Margaret sidebar: whoa….]
Margaret: How do you handle social engagements – going out for dinner, and so on?
Max: I always order sushi, steak tartar, or beef carpaccio. Sometimes I just bring my own food and explain that I had health challenges as a youth, and that this is the only way I found to stay healthy. Everyone is very understanding once I explain.
Margaret: Have you traveled “raw”? How were you able to stay on the diet?
Max: I always bring my own food when I travel, especially the raw dairy because it’s so hard to get food quality raw diary. If I’m visiting someone who eats raw I don’t have to bring as much food. If I’m going to a special engagement, sometimes I’ll bring some raw 100% grass fed sheep butter just to show off.
[Margaret sidebar: I’d like to get my hands on some of that!!]
Margaret: Do you ever diverge? What are the circumstances? When is it appropriate to diverge?
Max: When I started eating raw I went 100% for about 5 years or so. After enough time passed I was curious as to what would happen to me if I ate cooked food, so I tried a meal here and there. When I eat cooked food I notice a huge decrease in my energy and other undesirable symptoms will occur the longer I eat cooked food. Currently 99% of my diet is raw. A couple times per year I’ll eat a cooked meal to see how I feel afterward. I use it kind of as a gauge to determine how healthy I am.
Margaret: Does your body ever crave cooked foods?
Max: Once in a great while I crave the “texture” of cooked meat, but not usually. As far as taste goes, I notice that any cravings I experience are more for raw food.
I noticed Max’s typical day did not include any veggies. When I’ve “gone raw” in the past, it was ALL plant food. I had to eat a ton and was still starving. This is quite a different approach! Does he really eat no veggies?!
Wendy
I do drink veggie juice once in a while, but not that often. It’s not typical that I eat any veggies.
I also want to throw in here that for some people with very compromised digestive systems, ALL veggies in all forms can be problematic. I know from my work in GAPS that there are certain clients who simply can’t tolerate them.
The gentleman who doesn’t eat veggies much reminds me of the eat right for your blood type concept. It says that the “O” blood types are more attracted to meat. I’m curious what his blood type is and if you have any views on the topic?
@Lisa – to me it’s all about bio-individuality. What works for one person isn’t necessarily what works for everyone. Blood type is one factor among many that will influence this. (I will add that on this raw challenge I find the easiest thing to digest is the meat – and this surprised me even though intellectually I ‘knew’ that would be the case.)
I’m exploring the raw food idea more and more now. Very interesting! What’s making so much more sense to me is how I remember as a European-raised child I’d go mountain climbing with my parents and we’d stop as local farms and taste their cheese, milk and butte. That has left a hugely sweet imprint of that wonderfully “real raw” taste of dairy. I never did find that same quality in metropolises I’ve lived in and traveled to. And then my parents introduced me to carpaccio at an Italian restaurant – I must have been all of age 9 or 10. This was yet another day I shall always remember fondly for the raw meat was extremely tasty to me and I felt somewhat unsatiated with the little portion I was served. And then throughout my adult life I noticed how much better I enjoyed and digested the rarer meat cuts such as hamburgers or roasts and steaks. So since about my mid-late 20s I started requesting “rare” whenever I order meat out or cook it. I LOVE raw and I feel this is a new area of deep investigation I am now thrilled about getting into … 1st, gotta do my research and get all my questions answered ….
I apologize ahead of time if I already left a comment on this site last night. I cant remember if is was this one or rawpaleo…always Im really intriqued by the raw diet especially since I have developed so many digestive problems in the past few years and food intolerances.
The Paleo diet seems to help the most, but Im still having issues.
My question is I tried raw liver, by blending it into a smoothie a few times and every time I always feel nauseous for 2 hours after….and then fine afterwards, but those 2 hours are not fun….no diarrhea just nauseous.
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Any thoughts?
Well nausea typically indicates liver/gallbladder issues, and so I wonder if the raw liver, which is actually quite nourishing for your liver, is encouraging a bit of detox and your bile flow through the gallbladder may be sluggish? This is just a guess because I don’t have your full health history in front of me, but that’s the thing that comes first to mind. I’d recommend giving yourself a little extra nourishment for that gallbladder: beet kvass would be a good place to start. you might also reduce the amount of raw liver you’re putting in the smoothie. It might be too much for your body to start with.