A friend just told me that we can get worms from eating too many raw foods. I would think this would only be true for under-cooked meats and dairy products. How do we answer this claim? Thanks.

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"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson

Not that I am an expert but unless a food is inhabited by some type of parasite, ova, I can't imagine that one could get worms based on the quanity of raw food eaten provided it isn't host to any unwanted critters.

Right. If you wash the parasites off the surface of produce, there shouldn't be a problem. But, lordy, the nasty wasties in even partly cooked meat--hurl!

How it was explained to me is that they are all around us, in soils and water (they're microscopic). It was suggested to me to soak / wash in H2O2 and water solution for 20 minutes, then dry thoroughly and store.

OkunDeji Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How it was explained to me is that they are all
> around us, in soils and water (they're
> microscopic). It was suggested to me to soak /
> wash in H2O2 and water solution for 20 minutes,
> then dry thoroughly and store.


If they're in soils and water then they're completely natural and are probably good for us. A sterile environment will mean your immune system will get so bad you could die from a common cold.

I'd be more concerned that we aren't getting ENOUGH microscropic bacteria and organisms. I remember reading something about how the immune system grows lazy if not exposed to this stuff.

My opinion is that your friend is not correct. I think it far more likely that you will derive parasites from animal products. No need to refute them. Take basic precautions, and don't worry about it.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Sounds like yet another outlandish opinion from someone with
yet another excuse to NOT engage in Healthy Living. And there
are a lot of those... just when you think you've heard them all
you find out there's a zillion more (emotional) reasons to resist
what's good for you in favor of (and that's usually in very
enthusiastic favor of) what is not.

Healthy Living begets HEALTHY! Healthy = Healthy. End of story.

Steve
[www.meetup.com]
[www.rawgosia.com]

I guess everyone knows you get worms from animal of even human excretion. Children often get them from playing on the ground where animals have been, etc.

If the eggs of the worms are in compost or animal excretion and splashed by rain onto fruit then they could be passed on this way I would think.

The simple answer would seem to be that you simply wash fruit well.

I just tried to find an answer on the internet. One article I read said that the treatment of intestinal worms should begin with a fresh fruit diet LOL

I know it's self-gratifying to say this, but I really think people should listen to SuperInfinity!!! I mean Molli why did you automatically go back to thinking worms were bad for you again? They're not bad in small quntities, they're GOOD!!! ASTHMA and most other allergic reactions come from having an environment that's too sterile, so the immune system never develops properly.

Guys, microscopic worms are good for you. You know that the raw meat proponents actually say that the huge amount of worms they take also do them good? They get many, many times the amounts that you would EVER find in fruit. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 100s of times and they would be FAR more deadly.

How often do you hear of people getting sick from fruit? People getting food poisoning because they had this or that type of fruit? Almost never. This in contrast to people who take even *COOKED* meat (often they say it wasn't cooked enough).

There's a school of thought out there that even advocates eating soil. They eat soil just to stock up on the microorganisms etc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2009 12:10AM by SuperInfinity.

SuperInfinity Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I know it's self-gratifying to say this, but I
> really think people should listen to
> SuperInfinity!!! I mean Molli why did you
> automatically go back to thinking worms were bad
> for you again? They're not bad in small quntities,
> they're GOOD!!! ASTHMA and most other allergic
> reactions come from having an environment that's
> too sterile, so the immune system never develops
> properly.
>
> Guys, microscopic worms are good for you. You know
> that the raw meat proponents actually say that the
> huge amount of worms they take also do them good?
> They get many, many times the amounts that you
> would EVER find in fruit. I wouldn't be surprised
> if it was 100s of times and they would be FAR more
> deadly.
>
> How often do you hear of people getting sick from
> fruit? People getting food poisoning because they
> had this or that type of fruit? Almost never. This
> in contrast to people who take even *COOKED* meat
> (often they say it wasn't cooked enough).
>
> There's a school of thought out there that even
> advocates eating soil. They eat soil just to stock
> up on the microorganisms etc.


I didn't automatically think that worms were bad for me. But I like to research and find answers. I read the posts on here and I seek other sources for answers as well. It just who I am and how I will always be.

it's good to ask questions. my sister had a horrible terrible no good very bad health damaging parasite from eating unwashed produce in her own organic garden. guess i don't think eating dirt is such a hot idea

SuperInfinity,

I think we are talking about pathogenic parasitic worms, not probiotic flora or soil micro-organisms, which is what you seem to mean. Pathogenic parasitic worms can rupture the organs and the brain, and there is no scientific evidence that a "healthy" body can fight off the particularily ferocious ones before they do damage. Hence the prevalence of parasites--they are designed to triumph. It is best to avoid consuming them. Luckily, this is easily enough done by avoiding meat and anything with animal feces on it, and washing one's produce well enough to physically remove the organisms.