This Instagrammer Has Vowed To Eat Raw Meat Until He Dies

Chris Erm is the popular Instagrammer behind the Raw Meat Experiment, a project that involves him eating raw meat and unpasteurized dairy products until he either dies of bacteria or unlocks the secret to immortality. As he jokes on his Insta page, "Seeing if I live for five days or 500 years." According to The Takeout, Erm has been doing this since November 2021, living on a diet exclusively comprised of raw or uncooked products  Currently going 86 days strong, as of publication, Erm says he routinely visits his local Whole Foods to pick up and enjoy his "meals," which could be a slab of uncooked lamb sirloin, or a square of ground beef washed down with a few swigs of raw unpasteurized milk or a glass of eggs. If it isn't Whole Foods, Erm will also visit Amish suppliers or local farms, avoiding the mainstream "farm factories" to get his meat directly from the source. 

But Erm is far from a pretentious health snob going on about his carnivore-based diet. His Instagram page is filled with memes and quips about his "caveman lifestyle" and he routinely jokes and interacts with his followers, all 99,000 of them, whether they are genuinely interested followers of his experiment or people poking fun at him. Everyone is simply amazed with his eating habits.

"Can't even identify what keeps bringing me back." said one awe-struck follower. "But I'm obsessed and I'm keeping my wife apprised of your progress daily." Another added, "Good stuff man. ... I get most of my raw meat from Whole Foods for [the] last six months, never got sick once. Even the raw chicken is decent."

The Raw Meat Experiment was started by Instagrammer Chris Erm to see if he could assuage some health issues he has been afflicted by in recent years. In a post marking Day 50 of his endeavor, Erm explained that he had been suffering from health issues ranging from cystic acne to chronic fatigue to back pain. And based on the advice from a friend, he decided to switch from a plant-based diet to one of solely meat and proteins and was pretty surprised by the transformation in his health up to this point. Deciding to document his new-found diet for others, the Raw Meat Experiment was born for all of social media to take in. But, does this diet actually have benefits?

Raw meat is no doubt risky to eat, but if done properly, it can be done. The McGill Office for Science and Society does acknowledge that sicknesses arising from certain raw meat dishes like steak tartare are rare, but the meat must be sourced by reputable butchers and prepared in an extremely hygienic fashion. The Raw Milk Institute also claims that, while raw milk can contain dangerous pathogens, the kind produced for human consumption undergoes strict testing to ensure it is safe to consume. Furthermore, raw milk, the Institute asserts, contains a plethora of enzymes, nutrients, and probiotics that may be able to support one's immune system and gastrointestinal tract. Other nutritional blogs, such as Keeper of the Home, have researched incorporating a diet of raw meats into one's lifestyle and discovered that it contains plentiful amounts of vitamin B and may improve hormonal and reproductive health.

So maybe Erm is on to something — we'll just have to keep watching his posts for updates and whether he lives to tell the tale.