A 20-year-old man from Sweden has switched out his vegan diet for raw meat with claims he has "never gotten sick."
Jones Hussain, who transformed his diet “in the name of health,” opened up about his decision after watching the late American alternative food nutritionist, Aajonus Vonderplanitz, whose “Primal Diet” has inspired people worldwide.
He now enjoys raw chicken, cuts of beef, minced meat and fish – even if they are brown or smell slightly. He also implements fruit and juiced veggies into his diet.
Health has always been important to Hussain, who said he would not eat a slice of cake for £10,000 because of the sugar. He claims to have not had a slice since the age of 13.
“If any food safety expert looked at the food I eat, I think they would have a heart attack because the beef is sometimes brown, the liver looks green, the chicken stinks,” Hussain told PA Real Life.
“But I eat that and then nothing happens. I did the experiments on myself to see whether what we have been led to believe is actually true and surprise, surprise, it wasn’t.”
Hussain, who said he has always been driven by “health”, came across the raw meat diet plan in 2019 a few months after quitting veganism.
“My starting point has always been health,” he said. “So I’ve experimented with a bunch of things in the name of health.”
The diet was designed by Vonderplanitz, who touted the benefits of eating raw foods, in particular meat and dairy.
“I found one of his lectures on YouTube and started listening,” he said.
“At first, I was just as shocked as anyone would be to see someone eat such a diet.”
But Hussain said he found Vonderplanitz’s arguments to be “honest and convincing” and so decided to give it a try.
“I ate raw meat for the first time in November 2019 and I felt great,” he said. “It was just a straight cut of raw beef.”
Having not fallen ill, Hussain then decided to try raw ground beef.
“That was the scary part because that’s when you enter into uncharted territory,” he said. “I was like, if I get sick then I won’t do this anymore. Lo and behold, again, I didn’t get sick, so I started eating raw ground beef because it’s much cheaper than straight cuts.”
To start with, Hussain would flavour the raw meat with spices and garlic.
“But then I felt that I didn’t need them, even from a taste perspective,” he said.
“So I just started consuming it by itself and ever since then I’ve eaten raw ground beef almost every day.”
By the summer of 2020, Hussain had become accustomed to eating all types of meat.
“I had no problems eating raw chicken because I had found a fairly good source in the supermarket so I ate it like KFC,” he said.
“I also started buying raw liver here and there, and eating a small amount every day.”
The raw meat Hussain kept in his fridge soon started to turn “green”, but this did not stop him from eating it.
“Since I was so convinced about what Aajonus was saying, I was not worried and just consumed it,” he said.
“But if there was any white mould, then I got rid of the batch, although this did not happen very often.”
Hussain has continued eating raw meat ever since, although his family prefers ground beef to chicken because of the smell.
“Nowadays I don’t so much eat raw chicken because it stinks up the house,” he said.
In a single sitting, Hussain said he is capable of consuming around 400g of raw liver.
He said he believes dumping veganism for raw meat has improved his gut health and helped get rid of his acne.
“The thing with raw meat is that the nutrients are more easily absorbed and unaltered,” he claimed.
“It’s not that raw meat has some kind of special superpower, it’s just that by not cooking it, I get more nutrients and no byproducts.”
NHS guidelines, however, state that “cooking meat properly” kills harmful bacteria which can cause food poisoning.
Hussain had been a vegan for two years, from 2017 to 2019, before eventually converting to the primal diet.
“It’s not that I was struggling to get enough nutrients,” he said. “It’s that a human being cannot survive on a vegan diet successfully.
“Of course, you can take supplements but it’s not the same thing, because they are processed.
“There is no other way of getting these nutrients naturally other than by eating animal products.
“So veganism on that basis, falls on its face.”
Hussain also eats raw fish such as salmon and tuna and said he is happy to eat any type of meat provided he can find a reliable supplier.
The Primal Diet also includes fruit and vegetables, all of which are consumed raw.
“I eat cucumbers and tomatoes, as well as oranges and apples when they are available to me,” he said.
“The philosophy is don’t cook the food, but there is a variety.”
'Hussain’ unusual diet often shocks people, including his parents who are concerned for his wellbeing.
He explained: “Usually people have the same reaction, at first they think what the hell is this guy doing? He’s going to die in a few days.
“Then they speak to me and find out that I’ve been doing it for three and half years, that I’ve never gotten sick, that my arguments are logical and that I look healthy.
“They are like all right, that’s a new perspective that I had not heard before.”
People behave differently on social media, however, said Hussain, who has his own YouTube channel, Excellent Health.
He also works part-time at an elderly day care centre and has written a book titled The 6 Health Commandments.
“The only time I ever got food poisoning was from a frozen bag of raspberries before I started eating meat,” he said.
“I decided not to act out of fear, but to see what is true and what isn’t true.”
To find out more about food safety, visit www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/cooking-your-food.
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