Hi - I'm just starting out on a paleo style diet. I'm not planning to be super strict......

I've always been into good food and leading a healthy lifestyle, lots of salad, fruit, veg, fish and I never eat junk food - completely cutting out carbs, beans and dairy is going to be interesting though.

I'm lucky in that I live in Spain, on the coast, and that I live close the central market of my city. I go to the market most days for the family food, I usually buy just the fresh food for that day - it gives me that hunter/gatherer feeling! I'm already in the habit of having grilled meat or fish with salad or fruit for lunch so I'm part the way there already.

I went to the market this morning to have a look at the meat stalls through paleo eyes - apart from the standard meats and poultry this is what I have available that looked interesting from a paleo point of view:

rabbit - bought one yesterday and ate half - I'll eat the rest later
goat and kid - I'll check, but I'm pretty sure these animals are reared fairly traditionally
horse
wild boar - didn't see any today but I could easily get some
meat from the bull fights - these animals are an ancient breed designed for fighting and reared very naturally. I bought a steak today  and cooked it very quickly - raw in the middle - it was delicious - even with no salt - I haven't used salt for 2 days and I don't miss it yet
iberico ham and other products - again these animals lead an easy life eating acorns fallen from the trees and whatever else they find

I can also get all sorts of fresh fish and shell fish, free range eggs and poultry, locally grown nuts and a big choice of veg, salads and fruit - I'm going to eat plenty of green leafy stuff I think - rocket, lettuce, flat leaf parsley...

here's a wiki link to the breed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Cattle

and a photo of the "entrecote" I had - I tried a bit completely raw before I cooked it and was very impressed - and it's much cheaper than normal beef!

Welcome!

Looks like you have some great food there.  No wonder Iberia was one of the last parts of Europe to adopt agriculture.

I think the darker color of the meat is due to larger amounts of myoglobin in the muscle.  It's due to exertion throughout life, not just exertion at the end of life.

I think the darker color of the meat is due to larger amounts of myoglobin in the muscle.  It's due to exertion throughout life, not just exertion at the end of life.

In the cattle industry, it's referred to as "Dark Cutters" - it normally is the difference between food for humans and food for pets in the US (although I've had plenty of commercial beef streaked throughout with very, very dark meat regardless of marbling)... popular opinion is that this occurs when the slaughter is botched. Temple Grandin's website has a comprehensive study of the factors, and "feedlot stress" is one of them, although the worst cases still tend to be when the animal is stressed during slaughter, i.e. not calm.