What’s one of our favourite ways to utilise beef fat?
Rendering it to become tallow and using the tallow to make MOISTURISER!
As mentioned in the previous blog, tallow is incredibly good for human skin. But in it’s pure form it doesn’t make for a practical moisturiser because it’s so firm and hard to spread.
If you ever get tallow on your hands while making it from suet/other fat, or while cooking with it, and you rub it into your skin you’ll realise how nice it feels and you’ll probably notice it doesn’t leave your skin feeling greasy afterwards. Compared to how coconut oil feels on the skin, there’s a big – and welcome – difference!
To make it more use-able it’s recommended to add 1-2 other ingredients in, and whipping it up with some air in there also makes it easier to achieve good coverage with.
It’s actually really easy to make a soft, silky, whipped tallow cream for the body. It’s also incredibly economical because it goes a long way and lasts a surprisingly long time. Especially if it’s applied while skin is still slightly damp after having a shower or bath. Applying it to warm damp-ish skin helps it spread further, so you can really use the ‘less is more’ principle with it which is a bonus!
Keen to try making your own whipped tallow body cream?
Here’s a quick video tutorial!
But what about the smell? Won’t it be too ‘beefy’?
To change the aroma you can add a good quality pure essential oil in during the hand-mixing, toward the end. Quantity will depend on the scent in particular and your preference as to how strong you’d like it to smell.
We usually add a subtle variety such as sweet orange, lemon, or lime. The essential oil can help reduce the ‘tallow-y’ smell the cream gives off initially. But we find that smell goes away pretty quickly anyway, once the cream has been rubbed into the skin.
So it’s up to you if you want to include essential oils in your cream or not.
Are you going to give making tallow moisturiser a go? We’d love to hear how you go with it!
This disclaimer governs your use of Under the Primal Influence Blog. By using this website, you accept this disclaimer in full. If you disagree with any part of this disclaimer, do not use Under the Primal Influence Blog or any affiliated websites, properties, or companies. We reserve the right to modify these terms at any time. You should therefore check back periodically for changes. By using this website after we post any changes, you agree to accept those changes, whether or not you have reviewed them.
All information and resources found on Under the Primal Influence Blog are based on the opinions of the author unless otherwise noted. All information is intended to motivate readers to make their own nutrition and health decisions after consulting with their health care provider. I am not a doctor, lawyer, psychiatrist, therapist, or your mother, and I don’t play one on the internet.
The author of this site encourages you to consult a doctor before making any health changes, especially any changes related to a specific diagnosis or condition. No information on this site should be relied upon to determine diet, make a medical diagnosis, or determine treatment for a medical condition. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice.
NO information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition.
None of the posts and articles on Under the Primal Influence Blog may be re-printed without express written permission of the author. Primal Influence will respond to written requests to re-print parts of posts and excerpts/quotes (10% or less) may be reprinted with attribution as long as all links are left intact.
From making tallow to cook with to moisturisers… let’s look at the best ways to utilise this healthy wholefood.
How we utilise beef fat as food
There are 2 ways we like to use beef fat:
Raw mince suet sprinkled on some of our meat meals – usually on our mince and eggs or mince/liver/kidney and eggs for brekkie, with some pink salt. Or topped on a piece of rump steak.
Suet sitting between a juicy rump and fried pastured eggs
The fat melts on the just-off-the-fry-pan food and has quite a nice taste and texture.
If eaten totally raw and still a bit firm it can be quite chewy and stick to your teeth. Some carnivore-diet followers enjoy this texture but we don’t. You might, so give it a go!
As mentioned in previous posts (Part 1, and Part 2), beef fat in it’s raw state is said to be more nutrient-dense and bio-available than cooked fat (tallow) so it’s a good idea to add it to meals when possible to boost good calories, create satiety and increase energy levels.
2. Tallow to consume as is and to cook with.
We always have a jar of homemade tallow beside the stove to use on our two permanently-placed cast iron pans and to use on food we’re roasting or to dollop on our cooked meals.
Cast iron is a super healthy cooking surface and requires almost no cleaning (less washing up, always a nice thing when you don’t own a dishwasher and cook all meals from scratch!) and tallow with it’s high smoke point and high nutrients / low anti-nutrients makes a great seasoning and cooking fat.
You only need to add a very thin layer of tallow to cast iron pans to keep them seasoned and for cooking, so tallow goes a really long way and lasts a really long time.
Essential healthy cooking tools
How we utilise beef fat on our skin
By making and using tallow moisturiser!
Why is grass-fed tallow good for our skin?
Tallow closely mimics the fats and oils we have naturally in our skin.
This includes the fatty acids and cholesterol in the cell membranes of all our skin cells as well as those that sit in between skin cells, forming the protective barrier function of our skin.
Strong, healthy cell membranes help keep skin cells plump and well hydrated. It helps protect skin from moisture loss and leaves skin looking soft and hydrated. It will also help replenish any missing components in our skin’s barrier function.
Grass-fed tallow also contains fatty acids that closely copy the oils that we produce naturally as sebum.
As we get older, our skin slows down on the production of these oils that keep our skin soft, supple and youthful looking.
So, grass-fed tallow helps put back what time takes away. Rejuvenating the appearance of skin, as well as smoothing out the look of fine lines and wrinkles.
Good quality tallow also contain essential vitamins such as fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K which are all really important for healthy glowing skin.
The other bonus is it’s high in essential Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, with a ratio of 1:1, to help protect the skin and boost immune function.
Tallow moisturiser is super easy to make and an affordable natural skincare product, or you can simply lather on some pure tallow if you like, it feels so nice on the skin!
How else do we use tallow on our skin?
By making tallow soap (or a combination of coconut oil and tallow)!
Making natural soap is so good for our health and the environment, and is a great way to utilise healthy tallow. Especially with any tallow that went a little too far in the rendering process and ended up slightly over ‘done’. We like to label these containers “for soap” and keep in the fridge until it’s time to make a batch of about 24 bars.
Have you made natural soap before? It’s so rewarding and so so so cheap!
To get started with these you’ll need to buy yourself some grass-fed tallow or make it from scratch. Making tallow is definitely the less expensive option and the one we always choose.
Here’s a video on how to do just that!
Let us know how you go making your own tallow then stay tuned for the next post…
The next blog will include:
How to make tallow moisturiser
Until then, please let us know if you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you!
This disclaimer governs your use of Under the Primal Influence Blog. By using this website, you accept this disclaimer in full. If you disagree with any part of this disclaimer, do not use Under the Primal Influence Blog or any affiliated websites, properties, or companies. We reserve the right to modify these terms at any time. You should therefore check back periodically for changes. By using this website after we post any changes, you agree to accept those changes, whether or not you have reviewed them.
All information and resources found on Under the Primal Influence Blog are based on the opinions of the author unless otherwise noted. All information is intended to motivate readers to make their own nutrition and health decisions after consulting with their health care provider. I am not a doctor, lawyer, psychiatrist, therapist, or your mother, and I don’t play one on the internet.
The author of this site encourages you to consult a doctor before making any health changes, especially any changes related to a specific diagnosis or condition. No information on this site should be relied upon to determine diet, make a medical diagnosis, or determine treatment for a medical condition. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice.
NO information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition.
None of the posts and articles on Under the Primal Influence Blog may be re-printed without express written permission of the author. Primal Influence will respond to written requests to re-print parts of posts and excerpts/quotes (10% or less) may be reprinted with attribution as long as all links are left intact.
A deeper look into this hugely underrated nourishing wholefood + comparing it to plant fat products
Which is better + why?
Why animal fats are better than plant fats
Plant oils are a staple in most pantries. Olive oil, canola, sunflower. Plus a lot of fridges these days have a tub of plant oil margarine on the shelf. Many of these products are touted as “good for lowering cholesterol”, being “heart-healthy” and healthy because they’re low in saturated fat.
If you asked everyone you know “Hey do you think olive oil is healthier than beef fat?” most likely at least 99% of them would say yes. That’s the sad reality of sneaky marketing and BS health advice… it teaches the majority of the population the wrong thing!
One of the main reasons these oils and products are classed as “heart-healthy” is because they contain Phytosterols.
Science shows they can lower cholesterol but there’s a couple main problems with this…
We actually NEED cholesterol for basic cell function, to prevent depression and more.
We’re consuming Phytosterols in larger then recommended quantities due to the inclusion of grains and legumes in the diet.
High ‘bad’ cholesterol is often misdiagnosed as most conventional practitioners don’t fully understand it or the levels we need to have to be ‘healthy’. Dr Chris Kresser has some great info on this and busts a few common myths around cholesterol. Read more here.
Another issue with Phytosterols is they may actually contribute to heart disease, not prevent it. Read more here.
Also, plants contain toxins. How they function in the human body is not how they function when tested in a lab. They contain more anti-nutrients than nutrients. Animal meat and fats don’t.
And how often have you picked an olive from a tree and squeezed out oil to use on your meal or in cooking? Never! Because to extract oil from olives the olives have to go through rigorous processing including high-temp heating. That’s never healthy!
Meat and fat from animals contain almost no anti-nutrients and lots of essential nutrients that are bio-available for the human body. Meaning we can process and use them efficiently without negative effects. This is ideal when eating food. Traditionally, plants were used more for survival situations, to get humans by between animal kills. Dr Paul Saladino talks a lot about this in his podcast interviews and on his website. We highly recommend his book The Carnivore Code too!
And… saturated fat is healthy, in particular, long-chain saturated fats from ruminant animals. Vegetable oils are higher in poly-unsaturated fats which cause insulin resistance. Dr Paul Saladino talks about this in this Facebook video.
The environment impacts
Mono-cropping is a major problem to the environment and it’s the method used for the production of most plant oils. Unless regenerative agriculture practices are used, farming large-scale crops extracts nutrients from the soil. Regenerative agriculture does exactly what the name suggests… it regenerates the land and improves the eco-system!
Rapeseed flour field
Sure, factory farming of cattle is bad. And this goes back to the point in the last blog post of why choosing grass-fed animal products from quality producers using healthy farming techniques is so important.
Diana Rogers– Sustainable Dish uses the message “it’s not the cow, it’s the how” and has some amazing information on the environmental impacts of unhealthy animal farming vs healthy methods, and also the problems with mono-crop production. Her book and doco Sacred Cow are out soon and we’re so excited!
Healthy pasture and environment = healthy cattle
We’ve experienced first hand the benefits of regen ag for both the health of the environment and ourselves. We work part-time on a biodynamic beef and egg farm run by a former bio-chemist (aka scientist!), have hosted educational farm tours there, and have learnt all about the farming practices used and eaten the food produced there. When you understand the full cycle from how an animal is raised to how it can nourish the planet and us, you appreciate the importance of consuming good quality animal products!
Another environmental factor to consider, particularly with consuming the fat, is how much waste is reduced. Apart from eating note-to-tail being a natural and traditional thing for humans to do, from a modern-day viewpoint with how much waste, landfill and pollution we’re tackling we need to incorporate ways to reduce these. If a butcher is including the suet and other fat from an animal in his product range that means less food he’s throwing out. It means we’re making the most of the animal that died for our benefit, and we’re putting less waste into landfill.
Beef is one of the most highly produced and consumed foods in Australia and the supermarkets stock mostly lean cuts or the cuts with minimal fat included, you never see tubs of the fat for sale, so imagine how much goes to waste that isn’t being used in products. Beef fat is actually quite hard to get a hold of, when it should be easy to access because it’s so easy to utilise and so healthy! This has to change!
So there are some good reasons there to do some more research on the benefits of animal fat vs plant fat and make the switch.
Do we consume any plant fats?
Yes, but very rarely now and only good quality. We buy organic olive oil and organic macadamia oil that we really only use for raw purposes and not even on a weekly basis. We used to make paleo ‘mayo’ regularly with olive oil but since going mostly carnivore created an animal-fat alternative… ghee-daise! Using grass-fed ghee to make a sort of hollandaise! Find the recipe here
Creamy homemade ghee-daise
The next post will include:
How we utilise beef fat (as food and on our skin)
How to make tallow
Until then, please let us know if you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you!
This disclaimer governs your use of Under the Primal Influence Blog. By using this website, you accept this disclaimer in full. If you disagree with any part of this disclaimer, do not use Under the Primal Influence Blog or any affiliated websites, properties, or companies. We reserve the right to modify these terms at any time. You should therefore check back periodically for changes. By using this website after we post any changes, you agree to accept those changes, whether or not you have reviewed them.
All information and resources found on Under the Primal Influence Blog are based on the opinions of the author unless otherwise noted. All information is intended to motivate readers to make their own nutrition and health decisions after consulting with their health care provider. I am not a doctor, lawyer, psychiatrist, therapist, or your mother, and I don’t play one on the internet.
The author of this site encourages you to consult a doctor before making any health changes, especially any changes related to a specific diagnosis or condition. No information on this site should be relied upon to determine diet, make a medical diagnosis, or determine treatment for a medical condition. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice.
NO information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition.
None of the posts and articles on Under the Primal Influence Blog may be re-printed without express written permission of the author. Primal Influence will respond to written requests to re-print parts of posts and excerpts/quotes (10% or less) may be reprinted with attribution as long as all links are left intact.
An intro to beef fat + why it’s important to consume
We’ve really upped our beef fat intake since we went mostly carnivore in 2019 and enjoying continually learning about why it’s such a smart move. It’s an incredibly health fat to consume (and use topically which we’ll get into in later posts) but so feared because of the stigma still attached to it in regards to ‘fat being bad’ and ‘saturated fat is harmful’.
Us humans need to be rid of that old outdated and just plain WRONG way of thinking once and for all, do our health a favour and get on the good fat train!
We’re creating a 4-part blog series covering the benefits of beef fat for our health inside and out, how to consume and use it including how to make natural skin products!
This first post is all about why beef fat is so healthy.
The health benefits of good quality beef fat
Beef fat from good quality sources (i.e. grass-fed, organic, bio-dynamic farms) contains essential nutrients the human body needs to functional optimally and it’s thought that raw beef fat in particular contains more ‘bioavailable’ forms of nutrients, then say cooked/rendered fat (e.g. tallow).
What does “bioavailable” mean?
The term “bioavailability” means biological availability and it describes the proportion of a mineral or vitamin in a food, which is available for absorption and utilization in the body. In nutritional science, the bioavailability of vitamins and minerals depends on your nutritional and physiological status. This means that a high nutritional status of a specific vitamin or mineral limits the absorption in the gut and vice versa. The bioavailability of vitamins and minerals is defined as the part of the substance that is absorbed and ready to use. (Sourced from NJORD Nutrition)
Beef fat, raw or rendered, has been proven to contain bioavailable nutrients but we’ve heard a few carnivore diet experts (including doctors) theorise that bioavailability is better in its raw state.
We’ll go into more detail in later posts but there are basically three types of beef fat:
Raw suet – the fat from around the organs such as the kidneys
Raw fat – the fat from other areas of the body
Tallow – any fat that has been rendered
Tip: tallow should be yellow in colour. That’s a sign it’s from grass-fed cattle.
Raw organic minced beef suetRendered grass-fed beef tallow
Now that you have a basic understanding of the types of beef fat let’s talk about specific nutrients their benefits to our health.
Beta-carotene: a natural form of Vitamin A – an essential nutrient – which the body can convert to Vitamin A as needed. Beta-carotene is also an antioxidant, important for protecting the body against free-radicals. Grass contains beta-carotene, grain does not. So grass-fed beef fat is where it’s at!
Vitamin A: the human body converts beta-carotene to Vitamin A as it requires and is the safest form of this Vitamin because supplements can actually cause more harm than good.
Vitamin D: helps the intestine absorb nutrients, prevents osteomalacia and rickets, regulates blood pressure, and assists in the absorption of calcium in the body, that prevents osteoporosis or arthritis. The best form of this is from direct sunlight daily, but foods can help boost our levels safely, as opposed to supplements.
Vitamin E: a group of eight compounds called tocopherols and tocotrienols which reduces cholesterol and the risk of developing diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer
Vitamin K: good for the heart, immune-boosting, bone density, cognitive function, dental health, quicker healing, reducing PMS symptoms and more.
Selenium: a powerful antioxidant, may help prevent some cancers, can help prevent heart disease, important for mental health, thyroid health, immune-boosting, and can help reduce the severity of Asthma.
CLA: Tallow is rich in conjugated linoleic acid, a fatty acid which, according to some studies, can help burn fat.
Omega-3: helps fight depression and anxiety, improves eye health, promotes brain health during pregnancy and in early life, can improve risk factors for heart disease, can reduce symptoms of ADHD in children, reduces inflammation, may help prevent cancer and many more diseases and symptoms. Beef fat does also contain Omega-6 which is often suggested as something to avoid. It’s all about getting a good ratio of both Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, which is easier to do when the beef and fat is from grass-fed cattle, as grain-fed meat and fat is extremely high in Omega-6.
The nutrients in beef fat help improve the immune system.
Beef fat is also an excellent form of energy for the human body to use, as opposed to sugar, caffeine and empty carbohydrates
Lean vs fatty cuts of meat
With the importance of balancing out Omega-3’s and 6’s it’s ideal to consume fatty cuts of meat only from good quality sources (farmers using organic and grass-fed/finished methods) but when you can’t access grass-fed beef then that’s when you should opt for the leaner cuts and try to add good quality grass-fed FAT to your meal to make up the fat content.
Keep some grass-fed tallow or suet handy to cook in and top your cooked meats with. We always have minced raw organic suet in the freezer and a jar of rendered grass-fed tallow beside the stove.
The other element to consider when choosing which cuts of meat to buy is the gelatin-factor. This could easily be a post on it’s own as there’s quite a lot of detail with this but basically, we need gelatin with our meat when we consume it and we need to include offal because over a long time if we’re only consuming muscle meat (lean or fatty) such as chicken breasts, thighs off the bone, rump, backstrap etc we can easily get high homasistine levels in the blood which contributes to making us more susceptible to the big diseases such as Diabetes, Heart Disease etc.
This is due to the lack of glycine – a crucial amino acid needed when consuming protein.
It’s found in the collagen and cartilage which is not available with muscle meat alone. The liver produces a small amount but not enough to sustain us, we need it mostly from our food.
An easy way to add it in is to use pure collagen and gelatin powders from grass-fed beef. Collagen powders dissolve without needing to be mixed with hot liquids, you can place a spoonful in cold water and it’ll dissolve perfectly. Gelatin that gels is for making other foods such as fruit gummies or even egg-noodles.
Bone broth contains all the nutrients required to break down meat properly to it’s a good idea to drink some with a muscle meat meal. It contains collagen, gelatin and a stack of essential vitamins and minerals that all work together.
Make your own (ideal) or buy organic bone broth from health food stores, online, local markets etc.
Homemade nourishing bone broth
So the bottom line here is we can become pretty darn healthy from eating good quality meat, fat, and collagen daily. But not on their own – they work best in the body when consumed all together.
The next post will include:
Animal vs plant protein/fat
How to source good quality animal fats
Environmental benefits of using animal fats
Until then, please let us know if you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you!
This disclaimer governs your use of Under the Primal Influence Blog. By using this website, you accept this disclaimer in full. If you disagree with any part of this disclaimer, do not use Under the Primal Influence Blog or any affiliated websites, properties, or companies. We reserve the right to modify these terms at any time. You should therefore check back periodically for changes. By using this website after we post any changes, you agree to accept those changes, whether or not you have reviewed them.
All information and resources found on Under the Primal Influence Blog are based on the opinions of the author unless otherwise noted. All information is intended to motivate readers to make their own nutrition and health decisions after consulting with their health care provider. I am not a doctor, lawyer, psychiatrist, therapist, or your mother, and I don’t play one on the internet.
The author of this site encourages you to consult a doctor before making any health changes, especially any changes related to a specific diagnosis or condition. No information on this site should be relied upon to determine diet, make a medical diagnosis, or determine treatment for a medical condition. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice.
NO information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition.
None of the posts and articles on Under the Primal Influence Blog may be re-printed without express written permission of the author. Primal Influence will respond to written requests to re-print parts of posts and excerpts/quotes (10% or less) may be reprinted with attribution as long as all links are left intact.
I have experienced some crazy unusual sickness and injury over the last few months. I’m baffled as to why this is so I’m going to try to work it out, and definitely boost my immunity back up so it ends and so I feel well again.
Clint and I eat 90% Paleo, get lots of nature time and I get “nakey bakey” most days (a new name for naked sun time my friend recently came up with. Love it!), so maybe some stress is the underlying cause? Well, whatever it is I know my eating could be improved a little, especially while my immune system is obviously weak.
One of the most popular natural health tonics today is raw juice. We, though, are not fans of regular juicing. Ooh, controversial…! The reason? There are two main ones: 1. Humans need to chew their food most of the time; our stomach enzymes that digest our food need to wake up to be ready for the food to arrive and that happens in the mouth when we salivate and CHEW! 2. Juicing removes a large portion of the essential fiber in the foods blended up. That’s wasteful and not healthy.
But some of the foods that go into making up ‘health tonic’ or ‘superfood’ juices can be pretty darn healing, so why not utilise them in a way the body can better use?
That’s why I decided to make some Immune Booster Lollies! Or “Gummies” if you wanna get technical 😉
These are really easy to make (as are most pure gelatin recipes), can easily be changed to suit tastes and allergies, and are easy to grab from the fridge during the day to get some goodness into the body.
Want to know how to make them yourself? Well alrighty, here you go!
IMMUNE BOOSTER LOLLIES
What you’ll need:
1 cup filtered/spring water
1 cup mixture of diced raw beetroot, carrot, green apple (peeled or not), fresh ginger (the beetroot taste can be overpowering so use less of this if you prefer)
6 tbsp pure beef gelatin powder (grab some from Gelatin Australia here).
Tips: Use half as much gelatin if you’re wanting to make jelly cups instead of lollies.
Tips: Add another tbsp gelatin for really firm lollies, especially if using molds. Use half as much if you’re wanting to make jelly cups instead of lollies.
Optional: Stevia powder or raw honey to your liking, to sweeten if needed.
Do this:
Pour water into a small-medium saucepan, stove turned off, and gently sprinkle the gelatin powder evenly over the surface of the water.
Once all the gelatin is on and appears translucent (this is called “blooming”) you can turn the stove to a medium heat to gently warm the liquid up. Use a whisk to stir as it heats up.
Once all gelatin granules have dissolved pour half the liquid into a blender jug along with the diced fruit, veg and ginger. Blend on high until you have a fine mixture with as few chunks and lumps as possible. If using a sweetener, add it to the blender to combine.
Pour the remaining gelatin liquid in and stir to combine. The more gelatin you blend with food the frothier the mixture becomes and ends up setting with a thick layer of froth. I prefer the texture of a bit of froth, not too much. For almost no froth blend the foods with just enough pure water needed then gently stir the gelatin liquid in. Possibly add a smidge more gelatin to the saucepan if you go with this method.
Once the mixture is blended to your liking you can pour straight into silicon molds or into a square/rectangle container to create a gummy ‘block’ to slice up once set. Tip: if you’d prefer less texture from the food ‘bits’ then simply strain some of the liquid through a fine sieve but keep in mind that’s where a lot of the nutrients and fiber are.
Place in the fridge for a few hours to set firm. Remove from molds and store in an airtight bag or container in the fridge, or slice up the block into small squares.
Grab some to munch on during the day and enjoy the pure whole food healing goodness! Include some in the kids or your own lunchbox (as long as it stays cool), take on road trips, include them at parties.
Remember, these are versatile. Add or remove ingredients listed for others you’d prefer. Pretty much all of my recipes are versatile so you can adapt to your own tastes and needs!
If ALL of my gelatin recipes and all the techniques you’ll ever need to become a gelatin pro, grab my e-book here.
Let me know how you go with this recipe and happy healing 🙂
Bone broth is basically just stock. But with a whole lotta health benefits than just a simple beef or vegetable stock you’d use in cooking.
Bone broth is a big part of our lives and we drink it regularly. I’m sure you’re wondering why that is, so I’m going to tell you my story!
A beautiful site – freezer full of broth!
I first got onto the bone broth bandwagon late in 2012 when a patient where I worked told me how good it was for bone and general health. The conversation sparked interest in me, mainly because I’ve had a degenerated intervertebral disc in my spine (between L4 and L5) for some time and it’s caused me a heck of a lot of pain, stress and immobility When I learnt how bone broth can help improve bone and joint strength I knew I just had to try it.
So I did some research. The info wasn’t hard to find because I was already inside the ‘paleo-sphere’ and of course bone broth is big in the paleo/primal circles. When I read about how it can actually put cartilage back into bones and joints, that was it, I was trying it!
In November 2012 I started making it at home and drinking it daily. Within just 2 weeks I noticed less back pain. Over the following weeks and months the pain reduced so much that it was non-existent for about 90% of the time! That was HUGE for me because up until then I was in pain every day. Some days I was in pain most of the day.
I was loving this no pain thing, I can tell you!
For the past few years I’d been experiencing pain at the site of the problem and also often down my right leg. I was limited to how much exercise and general movement I could do. I also had to be careful how I sat, and for how long. I couldn’t even sit down casually with one leg underneath me for a couple of minutes or I’d quickly pay for it. The only exercise I was able to do for a long time was walking. Boring! I enjoy walking, I’ve always walked, but just walking gets kinda frustrating, especially when I was used to doing so much more exercise. I’d been very active for many years and I was a Personal Trainer for 6 years as well! I’d try and do some boxing or something else if I’d not had pain for a couple of days but the pain always came back really quickly and with more intensity as a result.
But I’m happy to report that since drinking bone broth, my pain is almost gone! It’s not fixed but for most of the time now I don’t feel any pain whatsoever. I can now do more exercise and movement with no problem.
I’m still cautious and I don’t overdo anything because I don’t like pain and I don’t want to feel more of it if I can help it! I still need to incorporate pain-prevention techniques and certain lifestyle factors to maintain my back but I can say with 100% certainty that bone broth has dramatically improved my back health.
Now I don’t drink it every day but I always have some in the freezer and I’d probably drink it about 2-5 times a week. I also add it to meals so I’m getting some into my diet with no effort at all.
Bone broth doesn’t just reduce pain. It has many other health benefits. Like, MANY! It really is amazing stuff!
PLUS: it’s super easy to make, it’s really cheap, it’s easy to store, and it’s real food and not a synthetic supplement.
So now you’re probably wondering how this weird-sounding concoction does such amazing things… right?
There’s stacks of info about bone broth on the internet, but here’s a great article ‘Bone Broth‘ given to me by Graeme Sait from Nutri-Tech. Graeme has kindly allowed me to pass on this article to anyone who wants to learn about the beauty of bone broth.
It’s a few pages in length but I strongly urge you to take a few minutes to read through.
Here’s my simple recipe for making this awesome health tonic – Bone Broth recipe
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All information and resources found on Under the Primal Influence Blog are based on the opinions of the author unless otherwise noted. All information is intended to motivate readers to make their own nutrition and health decisions after consulting with their health care provider. I am not a doctor, lawyer, psychiatrist, therapist, or your mother, and I don’t play one on the internet.
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