I have been using a pressure cooker to make bone broth for several years because it is safe (you can leave the house), convenient, and saves time. 4 hours in a pressure cooker is like 2 or 3 days on the stove on a slow cook. I use the same ingredients; water, vinegar, and salt. I don't put any vegetables in it so it will have a longer shelf life in the refrigerator. I get the same results; a very thick gel incapable of pouring at room temperature. I get broth that is so thick when refrigerated that you can eat it with a spoon cold.
So my question is, what exactly would pressure cooking do to make a bone broth less healthy? I looked it up and found that it doesn't change the constitution of the broth much, if at all. A pressure cooker cooks at approximately 250 degrees instead of 212 on a slow-cook stove. All minerals and nutrition are still retained. There might be some vitamins like B that aren't preserved quite as well at a slightl higher heat, but that's about it. So, as for boxed, bone broth products, I don't think the pressure cooking is an issue as much as the ingredients mentioned in the article.
I would make far less bone broth if I had to always cook it on a stove. For one thing, I don't like leaving the house with a burner on the stove.. I can put my broth in the pressure cooker in the morning, set it for 4 hours, and it will stay on warm, and be ready when I get home. I often continue slow cooking it overnight.
I think that is a really good question. I wonder, too. I always do it the old-fashioned way, but I'm retired and can afford to plan to be home while it is cooking.
In terms of health, I generally tell people the natural way is always the best way if you aren't sure. But that doesn't mean more modern methods are bad.
Personally, I believe if you can't do it the slow way, just set your intention before you start pressure cooking to make the most amazing, healthy and tasty bone broth ever made. Intention matters more than anything else.
Stock should never be boiled so 212 degrees is too high. I have heard that you can break down the collagen if it boils. You don’t have to be home to use a crock pot and you can get one that has a “warm” setting and that will keep it at a simmer just about 180 degrees. The resulting stock will be much cleaner and clearer. I just don’t know about the pressure cooker. But I do love the fragrance of my stock cooking. Good luck!
I think there may be some confusion between the temperature of the liquid and whether it's actually boiling. A pressure cooker reaches about 250°F because the pressure raises the boiling point of water. The liquid isn't sitting there at a vigorous rolling boil like a pot on the stove at atmospheric pressure. It's a sealed system with very little evaporation or agitation.
The reason cooks avoid a hard boil when making stock is largely because the turbulence emulsifies fat and proteins into the broth, making it cloudy and sometimes giving it a harsher flavor. A pressure cooker minimizes that turbulence even though the temperature is higher. That's why many chefs produce beautifully gelatinous, clear stock in a pressure cooker in a fraction of the time.
If a pressure-cooked broth gels well after chilling, that's good evidence the collagen was extracted successfully rather than "destroyed."
I might have to think about getting a proper pressure cooker! It takes me about 12 hours to make my bone broth stew on the stove, but I was not aware that you were not meant to hard boil it. Your explanation here: "...the turbulence emulsifies fat and proteins into the broth, making it cloudy and sometimes giving it a harsher flavor" is very good, so I shall re-try my recipe with some necessary changes! Thanks for the tips :-)
Thank you for the interesting article. I highly recommend the book _Nourishing Broth: An Old-Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World_ by Sally Fallon Morrell.
Bone Broth..Been a staple in my kitchen for over 30 years. I cannot cook without it! A very simple way to make it…
A Vita Clay Broth Pot.
You will make a perfectly jelled bone broth every.single.time. Oven roast your bones & veg first for 20 min until browned, then pop them in your Vita Clay Cooker along with filtered water, organic Apple Cider Vinegar, a couple of bay leaves, set the cooker, pop the lid on and walk away.
What is absolutely essential while shopping is a very good magnifying glass. When you read what is supposed to be bread in the US is in fact a mixture of chemicals, halfway baked and not considered bread in Europe. Some time ago Subway got no permission in Ireland to call its bakery 'bread'. About 2 months ago you published an article on Dr. Bieler, I bought the book and have been making his soup since. It is tasty, healthy (as far as the ingredients are of course), and very easy. Even my dog loves it. Ingredients : celery, beans, zucchini, parsley. I tend to add some broth and a bit of grass fed beef. Two small soup plates fill the stomach and I lost 7 pounds so far without having hunger. Thank you thank you thank you! And thank the lately Dr. Bieler - the book is not much fun to read but at least gave me the recipe.
For a couple of years around 2000 I was stuck working international flights, which I hated passionately. Once I operated from the Cologne airport to Charles de Gaulle and then on to the US. We had two hours on the ground at CDG, so sitting on a 767 freighter sucking diesel fumes from the loaders was the extent of my French experience. But the flight was catered and they put more on during that stopover. I've never had bread that good in my damned life. Not even from my Italian immigrant grandfather's store where his friend made it in-house from scratch. That French catering bread was to die for. Even the catered German bread was incredible. I spent another 20 years of employment trying to find something in the US that compares, and never found anything close. The crap called bread that comes from the deli section of grocery stores is so bad it's angering.
Can't imagine anywhere has bread more disgusting than the sliced schmuck coming out of England's commercial bakeries. Been that way since the '60s that I know of. The French love their 'bread making' passionately, stone ovens as well in many rural back yards.
Well, people who think baked beans are breakfast food are apt to make rubbish bread, too.
Unfortunately there wasn't time to try any real English food the one time I was there. It was a 10-hour layover in Cambridge and I spent most of it asleep. I left the Holiday Inn only to tour the university's museum of zoology, which was right across the road. Of course as an American the only thing I'd eat in Cologne were personal-sized pizzas from the Pizza Hut at the mall, so there's almost no chance I'd have eaten real food in England even if there'd been time.
You'd certainly be lucky finding real food readily available in England. The shops few and far between; some farmshops in rural areas. Some English inns do better.
At least I'd have known what I was ordering. I don't speak a word of German and if I'd tried ordering local food I'd have ended up with a boar's head on a plate.
I had to ask at the front desk how to say "please" and "thank you." At the mall I said, "Guten tagen. Eine salami und eine Pepsi. Bitte." And the girl said, "Sure. Do you want that in a box?"
Flew BHX - Berne, transfer at Munich. Took forever! Over the tannoy, my name, make your way immediately to gate whatever. It's at the far end of the terminal, ignoring all signs to not run, I'm surrounded by security. Took a while to get out of that circus. Arrived at boarding desk, 'Ah you must be xyz, down the stairs now, fast.' Terrifying, thought i was in Nazi Germany.
Boarded what can only be described as a bi-plane, with only 3 other passengers. Scariest, take off ever, not even properly seated, then flying over Alps, convinced going straight into many peaks, pilot was certainly tracing some of those. Sick to my stomach.
Next time, flew into Geneva, rail journey into Berne, certainly a preferable commute, simply the best scenery.
In 1893 pig thyroids were dried and ground. The resulting powder was called Armour thyroid. It worked for those who escaped death from fevers that could not raise high enough to kill pathogens due to underactive thyroid function. It also restored fertility - another symptom of hypothyroidism. as well as all normal brain and body function to optimal/asymptomatic. In the mid 1900's it was observed that untreated hypothyroidism would lead to the following lucrative conditions:
depression/mental illness
obesity
heart disease
diabetes
hormone imbalances
menstrual abnormalities
brain fog and confusion
infertility
Following this revelation Armour was targeted for The Big Smear. It was full of impurities, not consistent in active hormone and was generally gross because it was from pigs [ cue the photos of our porcine friends wallowing in mud and eating garbage, ] Enter the bright white bottle with crisp blue text framed in glittering stainless steel. Levo - T4, - the medicine that never works. Levothyroxine was promoted along with Quaaludes and color TV. The happy Armour patients swallowed the click bait like lemmings off a cliff. An elderly pharmacist told me back when I had fought my way down a deep informational hole to the old Armour, that his customers would tell him they never felt good anymore on the new shiny Levo. He wasn't allowed to give medical advice, but he would suggest asking their doctor to put them back on it. It never happened and those patients would soon be filling one drug after another as their bodies broke down under the metabolic weakness of thyroid deficiency. Since then Armour has been 'reformulated'. The potato flour for filler has been replaced by microcrystalline cellulose which prevents the hormones from entering the cells. Many years ago the planetary internet lit up as patient after patient around the world realized that their Armour wasn't working. Like dominoes - every lab that carried natural desiccated pig thyroid changed their filler to poison. Since pharmaceutical companies BY LAW do not have to declare inactive ingredient changes, that information was slow to spread and now there is talk of a complete ban on the drug as it is 'dangerous' because it contains animal tissue and we might not be able to make it safe for consumers.
Good job on the Armour history! Your note on microcystalline cellulose is outstanding!
I would like to add that a key reason that people become hypothyroid is from mercury toxicity. Mercury is the most neurotoxic, non-radioactive element on the planet. Throughout the 20th century (and still today), dental amalgam fillings — called "silver fillings" — are, in fact, 50% mercury. Mercury blocks the body's ability to effectively utilize the natural thyroid hormone and get it into cells.
Before the 1970s, doctors would prescribe Armour thyroid based on the patient's clinical presentation. Then, in the 1970s, thyroid testing, with its crummy, lying results, was foisted on the population. The wholly inadequate medication, Levothyroxine, which is synthetic T4, was also foisted on the public. It is synthetic and will never be metabolized properly. (Note: These days, doctors are not capable of making a clinical diagnosis. If the "tests" do not show an illness, well, darn, you're just not sick.)
Yup. I've had Hashimotos for 32 years. Last pregnancy triggered it and yes, I have a mouthful of amalgam - not to mention eating the lead paint off the window sills of the 1st house I lived once I could walk for 2 years before we moved upstairs. My mother had Graves. Partial thyroidectomy and replacement with levo. She was mentally ill from undertreatment Disabling depression and violent rage back and forth every day. It destroyed her marriage and her only daughter. That is the other untold story of this disease. It took 10 years [ and LOTS of prescriptions for antidepressants and birth control pills???f ] for me to get the diagnosis and it was only because I found Life Extension's big yellow book: Protocols at a tag sale [ Yes, God works in mysterious ways ] . I read the hidden story of real doctors trying to lower the TSH range from .02 to 1.9 instead of the range of .02 to 5.55 to treat people that were being sidelined and ignored. Mine was 5.65 - WAY over the limit that was considered moving into hypo range. They listed all the tests to get and my antibodies were very high. The book encouraged Armour, but I had to go round about. My naturopath did a search through pharmacies to find doctors that prescribed in my state and that is how I started. Fast forward and about 8 years ago I had to start raising my Armour. I would feel better, then worse. I found the site "Stop the Thyroid Madness" and posted my issues. I was on 6 grains. Very high dose. They told me to test Rt3 and it was was extremely high. In the presence of high iron/low iron, infection, or stress, the liver converts T4 into RT3. [ reverse T3 ] Reverse T3 is not T3, but has the same receptors and connects with the cell and blocks the real T3 from entering the cell. The only solution is to remedy the problem. For me, it was severe and unrelenting stress that I knew would outlive me, so I did the T3 only and it was life changing. The issue here is that there are options and this industry is about the pleasure they get in watching you suffer with a back drop that makes it your fault. It's sick, but predictable. If there is anyone out there that resonates with my story, go to STTM.com and sign up. They literally saved my life.
I'm glad to hear that Janie Bowthorpe's site was of great value to you! That's wonderful! Discovering RT3 as blocking your cells' ability to utilize thyroid medication must have been a great relief. It is good that you were able to correct much of the problem with T3 only. You are correct that the "industry" and who knows who else must get pleasure from watching so many people suffer!
I was recently trying out a new primary care provider and she looked at my suppressed free T4 and said, "You'll get osteoporosis from that value." She apparently was educated on the mid-1990s myth (based on a poorly-interpreted study, of course) that this was the case. She did not have a clue that the study was done in the 1980s in the Soviet Union with 49 women who had had thyroidectomies! She knew nothing about cellular hypothyroidism, only about primary hypothyroidism (which is an actual dysfunction of the thyroid gland). She did not understand that thyroid measured in the blood has nothing to do with the amount of thyroid in the tissues. She had no clue that a mother's amalgam-filled teeth will make a fetus toxic as 50% of the mother's mercury overload will be absorbed by the developing baby. She's never heard that mercury poisoning was even a "thing." This woman had a doctorate degree as a nurse practitioner and was pushing 60!
If you choose to have your mercury fillings replaced by composite fillings — and you should research it — please go to a properly trained dentist who will minimize your risk of more exposure to mercury. Poor dentistry is the most probable cause of your current state of health.
I feel that your comment was was timely. I have been worried about this for over a decade. Terrified actually. I have had very bad experiences with dentists. and I mean terrible. I will start with your link. Thank you.
You are most welcome. It's a place to start. iaomt.org has multiple articles on the dangers of mercury, fluoride, root canals, etc. They also have a referral for bio-dentists, and I would recommend doing your research on those dentists, preferably using ones that have been to many IAOMT conferences and who have extra credentials. There is also a dentist referral at iabdm.org. :>)
I started making bone broth 15 or so years ago, but in a slow cooker/Crock Pot.
A mix of different bones makes a richer broth, especially by adding beef or pork.
I don't add any vegetables as it can make the stock bitter. I only use filtered water, vinegar, and a few peppercorns.
I break the bones as much as I am able, cover with water, add 2 tablespoons ACV, peppercorns. I cover, set on low and forget it for 12 hours. After it cools some I strain it before storing.
How timely. I just had an emergency appendectomy that necessitated carpet-bombing my insides with antibiotics... and all I want is bone broth. I made an enormous pot of beef bone broth to start, then graduated to an even bigger pot of broth from three chickens. I turned it into the most nourishing, delicious chicken & veggie soup. It's all I've been eating and I swear it's healing my gut and strengthening me on every level.
I'm not saying it's what every body needs, but I raised my three kids the Nourishing Traditions way and they are all healthy, thriving adults. Listen to your body; it always knows.
Once concerns over MSG went mainstream, ingredients containing high concentrations of glutamic acid were renamed to make them sound natural and health promoting. Natural flavourings and nutritional yeast are two commonly consumed examples but the "new MSG" goes by many names. It's in most commercial "health foods" and practically all processed food. During processing, naturally-occurring glutamic acid is highly concentrated to provide the intense umami or other flavours that enhance the taste of food. While small amounts of glutamic acid are present in many whole foods, concentrated levels are neurotoxic.
Bone broth is an important part of healing from Lyme disease; Lyme spyrochete steals your collagen, among lots of other things. I did not know about how it assists the digestive organs but that makes all the sense in the world. Bone broth is essential food.
Any suggestions for VEGETARIANS? I've been vegetarian for over 40 years, and now am repeatedly hearing the benefits of bone broth. I am super healthy but more collagen could be good.
I keep the vegetable parts that I would toss into the garbage or compost (or if I had chickens) give to them. When I make my broth, I toss the vegetable leftovers into the pot. All the stuff from the vegetables is now in the broth. I use it for making cereal grains, reconstituting food I am warming or give it to my dog.
I used to do that too. I even saved the onion, garlic and carrot skins too because they have lots of nutrients. I don't do that any more because I give my dogs bone broth, and apparently alliums are not good for them.
My Mum used to make vegetable soup with 'broth' from veggie scraps. No meat bones in it, unfortunately, but it had miso in it - but then she would boil it, which you're not meant to do to miso. Anyway, I enjoyed that soup. It tasted pretty good. She'd soak the dried beans in the veggie water overnight then make the soup the following day.
Problem is, none of the veggie scraps were organic, so I'm sure we were getting a full dose of chemicals with our veggie soups - plus we lived on a main road when leaded petrol was the go! Eesh. It's a wonder people grow up sometimes. So many poisons!
But I can't really blame her. She was just trying to feed us on a very limited budget with what she thought was healthy, even though she got it wrong quite a bit. We had way too many hydrolyzed soy protein 'not burgers' and 'not sausages' (and I never wanted to be vegetarian anyway!) as well as yoghurt with phenylalanine in it, plus heaps of gluten (but it turns out I'm Coeliac...) and heaps of dairy (which I'm allergic to!). No wonder I had eczema as a kid and was sick a lot. But I really didn't mind the vegetable soup. My sister, however, as I found out much later, hated it! I guess I couldn't have liked it that much, though, because I've never made a vegetable soup like that for myself in my 47 years...bone broth stew, yes, pumpkin soup, yes, potato & leek soup, yes...but not bean and veggie soup...!
We started to do this after reading it in "Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a F*ck". Whenever we peel veggies, we don't throw away the peels but collect them and store them in the freezer until we have enough to make the broth. Perfect in our homemade risotto.
When I learned that cooking food wiped out nutrients, I decided it was a waste of time. i started eating primarily raw food...mostly fruit. Our fruit trees are really providing this year, so I have had a lot of apricots, peaches and figs. We have our own chickens...so I make eggs, but cook them as fast as possible. Its working for me...I have no physical problems at 92..and do 90 minutes of non-stop walking daily covering 4-1/2 miles.
Age is just a Matter of Relativity. Its relative to what you know. I decided at 27 that I didn't want to die in a hospital being kept alive with a tube in my stomach. Doctors study sick people, diseases and treatments. It took a while, before I got into the study of people who lived well over 100 healthy years.
I have been using a pressure cooker to make bone broth for several years because it is safe (you can leave the house), convenient, and saves time. 4 hours in a pressure cooker is like 2 or 3 days on the stove on a slow cook. I use the same ingredients; water, vinegar, and salt. I don't put any vegetables in it so it will have a longer shelf life in the refrigerator. I get the same results; a very thick gel incapable of pouring at room temperature. I get broth that is so thick when refrigerated that you can eat it with a spoon cold.
So my question is, what exactly would pressure cooking do to make a bone broth less healthy? I looked it up and found that it doesn't change the constitution of the broth much, if at all. A pressure cooker cooks at approximately 250 degrees instead of 212 on a slow-cook stove. All minerals and nutrition are still retained. There might be some vitamins like B that aren't preserved quite as well at a slightl higher heat, but that's about it. So, as for boxed, bone broth products, I don't think the pressure cooking is an issue as much as the ingredients mentioned in the article.
I would make far less bone broth if I had to always cook it on a stove. For one thing, I don't like leaving the house with a burner on the stove.. I can put my broth in the pressure cooker in the morning, set it for 4 hours, and it will stay on warm, and be ready when I get home. I often continue slow cooking it overnight.
What are your thoughts on this?
This site has a 120-minute pressure cooker bone broth recipe. https://thecleaneatingcouple.com/instant-pot-bone-broth/
They say the nutrition benefits are identical to slow cooking.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'll look at it.
I think that is a really good question. I wonder, too. I always do it the old-fashioned way, but I'm retired and can afford to plan to be home while it is cooking.
In terms of health, I generally tell people the natural way is always the best way if you aren't sure. But that doesn't mean more modern methods are bad.
Personally, I believe if you can't do it the slow way, just set your intention before you start pressure cooking to make the most amazing, healthy and tasty bone broth ever made. Intention matters more than anything else.
Stock should never be boiled so 212 degrees is too high. I have heard that you can break down the collagen if it boils. You don’t have to be home to use a crock pot and you can get one that has a “warm” setting and that will keep it at a simmer just about 180 degrees. The resulting stock will be much cleaner and clearer. I just don’t know about the pressure cooker. But I do love the fragrance of my stock cooking. Good luck!
I think there may be some confusion between the temperature of the liquid and whether it's actually boiling. A pressure cooker reaches about 250°F because the pressure raises the boiling point of water. The liquid isn't sitting there at a vigorous rolling boil like a pot on the stove at atmospheric pressure. It's a sealed system with very little evaporation or agitation.
The reason cooks avoid a hard boil when making stock is largely because the turbulence emulsifies fat and proteins into the broth, making it cloudy and sometimes giving it a harsher flavor. A pressure cooker minimizes that turbulence even though the temperature is higher. That's why many chefs produce beautifully gelatinous, clear stock in a pressure cooker in a fraction of the time.
If a pressure-cooked broth gels well after chilling, that's good evidence the collagen was extracted successfully rather than "destroyed."
I might have to think about getting a proper pressure cooker! It takes me about 12 hours to make my bone broth stew on the stove, but I was not aware that you were not meant to hard boil it. Your explanation here: "...the turbulence emulsifies fat and proteins into the broth, making it cloudy and sometimes giving it a harsher flavor" is very good, so I shall re-try my recipe with some necessary changes! Thanks for the tips :-)
Thank you for the interesting article. I highly recommend the book _Nourishing Broth: An Old-Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World_ by Sally Fallon Morrell.
Bone Broth..Been a staple in my kitchen for over 30 years. I cannot cook without it! A very simple way to make it…
A Vita Clay Broth Pot.
You will make a perfectly jelled bone broth every.single.time. Oven roast your bones & veg first for 20 min until browned, then pop them in your Vita Clay Cooker along with filtered water, organic Apple Cider Vinegar, a couple of bay leaves, set the cooker, pop the lid on and walk away.
Great article, Thank You!!
What is absolutely essential while shopping is a very good magnifying glass. When you read what is supposed to be bread in the US is in fact a mixture of chemicals, halfway baked and not considered bread in Europe. Some time ago Subway got no permission in Ireland to call its bakery 'bread'. About 2 months ago you published an article on Dr. Bieler, I bought the book and have been making his soup since. It is tasty, healthy (as far as the ingredients are of course), and very easy. Even my dog loves it. Ingredients : celery, beans, zucchini, parsley. I tend to add some broth and a bit of grass fed beef. Two small soup plates fill the stomach and I lost 7 pounds so far without having hunger. Thank you thank you thank you! And thank the lately Dr. Bieler - the book is not much fun to read but at least gave me the recipe.
For a couple of years around 2000 I was stuck working international flights, which I hated passionately. Once I operated from the Cologne airport to Charles de Gaulle and then on to the US. We had two hours on the ground at CDG, so sitting on a 767 freighter sucking diesel fumes from the loaders was the extent of my French experience. But the flight was catered and they put more on during that stopover. I've never had bread that good in my damned life. Not even from my Italian immigrant grandfather's store where his friend made it in-house from scratch. That French catering bread was to die for. Even the catered German bread was incredible. I spent another 20 years of employment trying to find something in the US that compares, and never found anything close. The crap called bread that comes from the deli section of grocery stores is so bad it's angering.
Can't imagine anywhere has bread more disgusting than the sliced schmuck coming out of England's commercial bakeries. Been that way since the '60s that I know of. The French love their 'bread making' passionately, stone ovens as well in many rural back yards.
Well, people who think baked beans are breakfast food are apt to make rubbish bread, too.
Unfortunately there wasn't time to try any real English food the one time I was there. It was a 10-hour layover in Cambridge and I spent most of it asleep. I left the Holiday Inn only to tour the university's museum of zoology, which was right across the road. Of course as an American the only thing I'd eat in Cologne were personal-sized pizzas from the Pizza Hut at the mall, so there's almost no chance I'd have eaten real food in England even if there'd been time.
You'd certainly be lucky finding real food readily available in England. The shops few and far between; some farmshops in rural areas. Some English inns do better.
At least I'd have known what I was ordering. I don't speak a word of German and if I'd tried ordering local food I'd have ended up with a boar's head on a plate.
I had to ask at the front desk how to say "please" and "thank you." At the mall I said, "Guten tagen. Eine salami und eine Pepsi. Bitte." And the girl said, "Sure. Do you want that in a box?"
Best Sunday morning laugh in eons!
Flew BHX - Berne, transfer at Munich. Took forever! Over the tannoy, my name, make your way immediately to gate whatever. It's at the far end of the terminal, ignoring all signs to not run, I'm surrounded by security. Took a while to get out of that circus. Arrived at boarding desk, 'Ah you must be xyz, down the stairs now, fast.' Terrifying, thought i was in Nazi Germany.
Boarded what can only be described as a bi-plane, with only 3 other passengers. Scariest, take off ever, not even properly seated, then flying over Alps, convinced going straight into many peaks, pilot was certainly tracing some of those. Sick to my stomach.
Next time, flew into Geneva, rail journey into Berne, certainly a preferable commute, simply the best scenery.
Bet you've seen some good times around the world.
Pilots perspective please.... flat or globe?
In 1893 pig thyroids were dried and ground. The resulting powder was called Armour thyroid. It worked for those who escaped death from fevers that could not raise high enough to kill pathogens due to underactive thyroid function. It also restored fertility - another symptom of hypothyroidism. as well as all normal brain and body function to optimal/asymptomatic. In the mid 1900's it was observed that untreated hypothyroidism would lead to the following lucrative conditions:
depression/mental illness
obesity
heart disease
diabetes
hormone imbalances
menstrual abnormalities
brain fog and confusion
infertility
Following this revelation Armour was targeted for The Big Smear. It was full of impurities, not consistent in active hormone and was generally gross because it was from pigs [ cue the photos of our porcine friends wallowing in mud and eating garbage, ] Enter the bright white bottle with crisp blue text framed in glittering stainless steel. Levo - T4, - the medicine that never works. Levothyroxine was promoted along with Quaaludes and color TV. The happy Armour patients swallowed the click bait like lemmings off a cliff. An elderly pharmacist told me back when I had fought my way down a deep informational hole to the old Armour, that his customers would tell him they never felt good anymore on the new shiny Levo. He wasn't allowed to give medical advice, but he would suggest asking their doctor to put them back on it. It never happened and those patients would soon be filling one drug after another as their bodies broke down under the metabolic weakness of thyroid deficiency. Since then Armour has been 'reformulated'. The potato flour for filler has been replaced by microcrystalline cellulose which prevents the hormones from entering the cells. Many years ago the planetary internet lit up as patient after patient around the world realized that their Armour wasn't working. Like dominoes - every lab that carried natural desiccated pig thyroid changed their filler to poison. Since pharmaceutical companies BY LAW do not have to declare inactive ingredient changes, that information was slow to spread and now there is talk of a complete ban on the drug as it is 'dangerous' because it contains animal tissue and we might not be able to make it safe for consumers.
Good job on the Armour history! Your note on microcystalline cellulose is outstanding!
I would like to add that a key reason that people become hypothyroid is from mercury toxicity. Mercury is the most neurotoxic, non-radioactive element on the planet. Throughout the 20th century (and still today), dental amalgam fillings — called "silver fillings" — are, in fact, 50% mercury. Mercury blocks the body's ability to effectively utilize the natural thyroid hormone and get it into cells.
Before the 1970s, doctors would prescribe Armour thyroid based on the patient's clinical presentation. Then, in the 1970s, thyroid testing, with its crummy, lying results, was foisted on the population. The wholly inadequate medication, Levothyroxine, which is synthetic T4, was also foisted on the public. It is synthetic and will never be metabolized properly. (Note: These days, doctors are not capable of making a clinical diagnosis. If the "tests" do not show an illness, well, darn, you're just not sick.)
Yup. I've had Hashimotos for 32 years. Last pregnancy triggered it and yes, I have a mouthful of amalgam - not to mention eating the lead paint off the window sills of the 1st house I lived once I could walk for 2 years before we moved upstairs. My mother had Graves. Partial thyroidectomy and replacement with levo. She was mentally ill from undertreatment Disabling depression and violent rage back and forth every day. It destroyed her marriage and her only daughter. That is the other untold story of this disease. It took 10 years [ and LOTS of prescriptions for antidepressants and birth control pills???f ] for me to get the diagnosis and it was only because I found Life Extension's big yellow book: Protocols at a tag sale [ Yes, God works in mysterious ways ] . I read the hidden story of real doctors trying to lower the TSH range from .02 to 1.9 instead of the range of .02 to 5.55 to treat people that were being sidelined and ignored. Mine was 5.65 - WAY over the limit that was considered moving into hypo range. They listed all the tests to get and my antibodies were very high. The book encouraged Armour, but I had to go round about. My naturopath did a search through pharmacies to find doctors that prescribed in my state and that is how I started. Fast forward and about 8 years ago I had to start raising my Armour. I would feel better, then worse. I found the site "Stop the Thyroid Madness" and posted my issues. I was on 6 grains. Very high dose. They told me to test Rt3 and it was was extremely high. In the presence of high iron/low iron, infection, or stress, the liver converts T4 into RT3. [ reverse T3 ] Reverse T3 is not T3, but has the same receptors and connects with the cell and blocks the real T3 from entering the cell. The only solution is to remedy the problem. For me, it was severe and unrelenting stress that I knew would outlive me, so I did the T3 only and it was life changing. The issue here is that there are options and this industry is about the pleasure they get in watching you suffer with a back drop that makes it your fault. It's sick, but predictable. If there is anyone out there that resonates with my story, go to STTM.com and sign up. They literally saved my life.
That domain no longer exists
https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/
I'm glad to hear that Janie Bowthorpe's site was of great value to you! That's wonderful! Discovering RT3 as blocking your cells' ability to utilize thyroid medication must have been a great relief. It is good that you were able to correct much of the problem with T3 only. You are correct that the "industry" and who knows who else must get pleasure from watching so many people suffer!
I was recently trying out a new primary care provider and she looked at my suppressed free T4 and said, "You'll get osteoporosis from that value." She apparently was educated on the mid-1990s myth (based on a poorly-interpreted study, of course) that this was the case. She did not have a clue that the study was done in the 1980s in the Soviet Union with 49 women who had had thyroidectomies! She knew nothing about cellular hypothyroidism, only about primary hypothyroidism (which is an actual dysfunction of the thyroid gland). She did not understand that thyroid measured in the blood has nothing to do with the amount of thyroid in the tissues. She had no clue that a mother's amalgam-filled teeth will make a fetus toxic as 50% of the mother's mercury overload will be absorbed by the developing baby. She's never heard that mercury poisoning was even a "thing." This woman had a doctorate degree as a nurse practitioner and was pushing 60!
If you choose to have your mercury fillings replaced by composite fillings — and you should research it — please go to a properly trained dentist who will minimize your risk of more exposure to mercury. Poor dentistry is the most probable cause of your current state of health.
https://iaomt.org/resources/safe-removal-amalgam-fillings/
I feel that your comment was was timely. I have been worried about this for over a decade. Terrified actually. I have had very bad experiences with dentists. and I mean terrible. I will start with your link. Thank you.
You are most welcome. It's a place to start. iaomt.org has multiple articles on the dangers of mercury, fluoride, root canals, etc. They also have a referral for bio-dentists, and I would recommend doing your research on those dentists, preferably using ones that have been to many IAOMT conferences and who have extra credentials. There is also a dentist referral at iabdm.org. :>)
I always "eat" fresh homemade bone broth all day when I start to feel ill. I always have some in the fridge.
I started making bone broth 15 or so years ago, but in a slow cooker/Crock Pot.
A mix of different bones makes a richer broth, especially by adding beef or pork.
I don't add any vegetables as it can make the stock bitter. I only use filtered water, vinegar, and a few peppercorns.
I break the bones as much as I am able, cover with water, add 2 tablespoons ACV, peppercorns. I cover, set on low and forget it for 12 hours. After it cools some I strain it before storing.
How timely. I just had an emergency appendectomy that necessitated carpet-bombing my insides with antibiotics... and all I want is bone broth. I made an enormous pot of beef bone broth to start, then graduated to an even bigger pot of broth from three chickens. I turned it into the most nourishing, delicious chicken & veggie soup. It's all I've been eating and I swear it's healing my gut and strengthening me on every level.
I'm not saying it's what every body needs, but I raised my three kids the Nourishing Traditions way and they are all healthy, thriving adults. Listen to your body; it always knows.
Once concerns over MSG went mainstream, ingredients containing high concentrations of glutamic acid were renamed to make them sound natural and health promoting. Natural flavourings and nutritional yeast are two commonly consumed examples but the "new MSG" goes by many names. It's in most commercial "health foods" and practically all processed food. During processing, naturally-occurring glutamic acid is highly concentrated to provide the intense umami or other flavours that enhance the taste of food. While small amounts of glutamic acid are present in many whole foods, concentrated levels are neurotoxic.
Bone broth is an important part of healing from Lyme disease; Lyme spyrochete steals your collagen, among lots of other things. I did not know about how it assists the digestive organs but that makes all the sense in the world. Bone broth is essential food.
Oh goodness, that ingredient list ..... right out of a lab, plus where is the bio-availability in any of it?
Fortunately, in this European island, we have access to
https://boroughbroth.co.uk/
all organic, with great pricing.
Also, one of the best farms for ethics and nourishment, offer excellent broths, made on the family farm:
https://hillfarmrealfood.co.uk/collections/broths
Love to slow cook my own too.
Beautiful article! 🙏
Any suggestions for VEGETARIANS? I've been vegetarian for over 40 years, and now am repeatedly hearing the benefits of bone broth. I am super healthy but more collagen could be good.
I keep the vegetable parts that I would toss into the garbage or compost (or if I had chickens) give to them. When I make my broth, I toss the vegetable leftovers into the pot. All the stuff from the vegetables is now in the broth. I use it for making cereal grains, reconstituting food I am warming or give it to my dog.
I used to do that too. I even saved the onion, garlic and carrot skins too because they have lots of nutrients. I don't do that any more because I give my dogs bone broth, and apparently alliums are not good for them.
My Mum used to make vegetable soup with 'broth' from veggie scraps. No meat bones in it, unfortunately, but it had miso in it - but then she would boil it, which you're not meant to do to miso. Anyway, I enjoyed that soup. It tasted pretty good. She'd soak the dried beans in the veggie water overnight then make the soup the following day.
Problem is, none of the veggie scraps were organic, so I'm sure we were getting a full dose of chemicals with our veggie soups - plus we lived on a main road when leaded petrol was the go! Eesh. It's a wonder people grow up sometimes. So many poisons!
But I can't really blame her. She was just trying to feed us on a very limited budget with what she thought was healthy, even though she got it wrong quite a bit. We had way too many hydrolyzed soy protein 'not burgers' and 'not sausages' (and I never wanted to be vegetarian anyway!) as well as yoghurt with phenylalanine in it, plus heaps of gluten (but it turns out I'm Coeliac...) and heaps of dairy (which I'm allergic to!). No wonder I had eczema as a kid and was sick a lot. But I really didn't mind the vegetable soup. My sister, however, as I found out much later, hated it! I guess I couldn't have liked it that much, though, because I've never made a vegetable soup like that for myself in my 47 years...bone broth stew, yes, pumpkin soup, yes, potato & leek soup, yes...but not bean and veggie soup...!
We started to do this after reading it in "Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a F*ck". Whenever we peel veggies, we don't throw away the peels but collect them and store them in the freezer until we have enough to make the broth. Perfect in our homemade risotto.
Makes me think, I can’t wait until soup season!! Bone broth is soooo yummy!
When I learned that cooking food wiped out nutrients, I decided it was a waste of time. i started eating primarily raw food...mostly fruit. Our fruit trees are really providing this year, so I have had a lot of apricots, peaches and figs. We have our own chickens...so I make eggs, but cook them as fast as possible. Its working for me...I have no physical problems at 92..and do 90 minutes of non-stop walking daily covering 4-1/2 miles.
You GO, Barbara!!! Very well done!!!💖🙏
Age is just a Matter of Relativity. Its relative to what you know. I decided at 27 that I didn't want to die in a hospital being kept alive with a tube in my stomach. Doctors study sick people, diseases and treatments. It took a while, before I got into the study of people who lived well over 100 healthy years.
You are amazing!
Moxie Bread Company
Louisville, CO
‘Heritage Breads’ baked here.
Their 2day sourdough might be what you are craving. All their breads are beyond fabulous!!! 🍞💓