The Importance of Bone Broth

The day before yesterday I started a "slow simmer" bone broth. My first ever. Yesterday I had a cup of broth instead of my petite morning cup of coffee. By early evening I was presenting symptoms of fever, but with no fever... dizziness, chills and brain fog.

I had another cup of the broth before bed last night and the symptoms returned. I have spent most of the day, today, sleeping off a severe brain fog..

Question: Could this be a sign of food poisoning from the low temperature broth preparation? It feels like food poisoning, but I hammered it with the silver sols at the first sign of symptoms, and it did not go to full infection mode... just the initial chills which are now gone - and vertigo/brain fog which is slowly subsiding.

Or, is this a not uncommon reaction when one commences a bone broth regimen?

Re: Bone broth reaction?

Have you done the simple/elimination diet?

There could be a veggie in there that you are allergic to, or one of the types of meat bones perhaps.

Crazy, intense reaction, and very obvious that something is not agreeing with you.

Re: Bone broth reaction?

Rabelais said:

The day before yesterday I started a "slow simmer" bone broth. My first ever. Yesterday I had a cup of broth instead of my petite morning cup of coffee. By early evening I was presenting symptoms of fever, but with no fever... dizziness, chills and brain fog.

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Did you have your coffee anyway? If not, perhaps that's coffee withdrawal symptoms?

Re: Bone broth reaction?

Hi Rabelais,
I dont see how you could get food poisoning from bone broth. You said it was a slow simmer which basically means that you exposed it to boiling temperature for at least an hour. I am assuming you used beef bones and this is the least likely type of meat and part of carcass to cause food poisoning.

Maybe your body couldnt deal with all that goodness at once :)

I pretty much grew up on bone broths or beef soups as we call it. In my country this is the grandmother's medicine for every illness and indeed it is very easily digested highly nutrient food.
Its very important to chose right bones as the best part for the soup is the mid ribs close to the spine With it you also get nice tender meat cuts and nice jelly pieces - I just love it.

Re: Bone broth reaction?

HifromGrace said:

Have you done the simple/elimination diet?

There could be a veggie in there that you are allergic to, or one of the types of meat bones perhaps.

Crazy, intense reaction, and very obvious that something is not agreeing with you.

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No veggies in it yet, just bone and meat. I also doubt that it is an allergy. If so, it came on fast.

Possibility of Being said:

Did you have your coffee anyway? If not, perhaps that's coffee withdrawal symptoms?

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Nope that was one of the purposes for the broth... to help wean from coffee. I haven't had any coffee for three days. I haven't had anything to eat, but the broth, for two days. Feeling too crappy to eat, but the broth is maintaining my weight. It was an interesting observation... that two days of "enforced fast" did not cause any weight loss. And yes, I could be going coffee cold turkey.

Herr Eisenheim said:

Hi Rabelais,
I dont see how you could get food poisoning from bone broth. You said it was a slow simmer which basically means that you exposed it to boiling temperature for at least an hour. I am assuming you used beef bones and this is the least likely type of meat and part of carcass to cause food poisoning.

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The butcher made a lamb shoulder roast for me, and I added those bones in with the beef bones. I did a 48 hour simmer. I just added the garlic and onion. I'll cook those in and cool it down and bottle it for the freezer tonight. I did not see how a food poisoning could survive that extended heat, but that is exactly what the symptoms felt like... without the loose bowels - so far.

Herr Eisenheim said:

Maybe your body couldnt deal with all that goodness at once :)

I pretty much grew up on bone broths or beef soups as we call it. In my country this is the grandmother's medicine for every illness and indeed it is very easily digested highly nutrient food.
Its very important to chose right bones as the best part for the soup is the mid ribs close to the spine With it you also get nice tender meat cuts and nice jelly pieces - I just love it.

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Thanks for the tips... "all that goodness at once" has been a royal pain but it is cold and sloppy raining here, so I don't feel like I am missing any gardening or property maintenance. The dogs won't even go out in this weather. We have all been getting lots of sleep.

Re: Bone broth reaction?

Hi Rabelais,

By early evening I was presenting symptoms of fever, but with no fever... dizziness, chills and brain fog.

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I experienced those symptoms when I ate antibiotic laden beef after eating organic for a few months. Maybe the the bones weren't from antibiotic free animals? fwiw.

Re: Bone broth reaction?

I just added the garlic and onion.

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How much onion? I appear to be quite allergic to onions and if I eat them I get symptoms very similar to yours (although not as severe), followed by a migraine and fatigue/muscle/join pain.

The other time I've had symptoms like this was in reaction to too much sugar last year (it was as bad as getting the flu).

My understanding is broth is a very good growth medium for bacteria, so you should be careful with it. But if its was boiling then it doesn't seem likely it was bacteria.

The last thoughts are it could be a detox reaction, or perhaps an immune reaction to the broth due to permeated intestines? If proteins in the broth are getting in and the immune system is attacking it, it'll likely be attacking most of your body tissue due to the similarity.

Re: Bone broth reaction?

Was the broth very fatty? Like was it 'greasy'? If so, maybe you were overloading your liver with fat before you are ready. This can cause symptoms similar to what to you describe. In addition, there's some kind of mojo sapping bug or something going round you neck of the woods. If your immune system is already under strain, overtaxing your system with too much fat could worsen the condition. Transitioning to a high fat and protein, low carb diet should be done slowly.

Re: Bone broth reaction?

Menrva said:

Hi Rabelais,

By early evening I was presenting symptoms of fever, but with no fever... dizziness, chills and brain fog.

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I experienced those symptoms when I ate antibiotic laden beef after eating organic for a few months. Maybe the the bones weren't from antibiotic free animals? fwiw.

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I've wondered about this myself! Thanks for bringing it up. I'm looking forward to more input on this from anyone who has experienced this too.

It's a tough situation, because, for a variety of reasons, it's not always possible to eat organic meat. And it comes to a point where you have to choose to be hungry or have a reaction.

I remember when I was first coming to understand the great importance of fat in your diet, and the going advice was to go ahead with non-organic butter. It was more important to get the fats, because then your body is actually able to detox itself from the accumulated toxins found in non-organic fats.

It's complicated.

I also have a question for people. I'll get a runny nose after some meals, and read a long time ago that that can be an allergic sypmtom. I haven't been able to do the ultra simple diet yet to get a clear answer, so I'm jumping the gun in some respects. But 95% of my food is on that safe list.... that's why I'm also wondering if it has to do with how clean the meat was raised.

Re: Bone broth reaction?

RedFox said:

I just added the garlic and onion.

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How much onion? I appear to be quite allergic to onions and if I eat them I get symptoms very similar to yours (although not as severe), followed by a migraine and fatigue/muscle/join pain.

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I agree with RedFox here! Aren't they both rather heavy nightshades?

You'd better avoid garlic and onion like pest for awhile, and eat something else than just bone broth during the day.. just leave it for the evening, and just a cup. No one has to be so drastic in any diet, osit.

It has already been mentioned that Tea is good for rubbing away coffee cravings. If you have problems with tea, never mind ;) or just be sure to have it in the morning/afternoon only, no more than 2 cups per day anyway. Hope it helps.

Re: Bone broth reaction?

dantem said:

I agree with RedFox here! Aren't they both rather heavy nightshades?

You'd better avoid garlic and onion like pest for awhile, and eat something else than just bone broth during the day.. just leave it for the evening, and just a cup. No one has to be so drastic in any diet, osit.

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I don't think they are nightshades, however they do have lots of lectins. If your going through the detox process I'd also suggest saying away from garlic and onions. I had a hard time with onions while I was detoxing so I quit them both. Funny thing is I used to LOVE garlic until I eliminated it and reintroduced it. Now I don't care for it so much.

That said, I have had reactions like Rabelais explained when taking in too much fat with broth, so my guess is that that could have been the main issue. Particularly since it was consumed while fasting.

Re: Bone broth reaction?

Shane said:

I don't think they are nightshades, however they do have lots of lectins.

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Indeed. Thanks for the fix :)

Re: Bone broth reaction?

Rabelais said:

The day before yesterday I started a "slow simmer" bone broth. My first ever. Yesterday I had a cup of broth instead of my petite morning cup of coffee. By early evening I was presenting symptoms of fever, but with no fever... dizziness, chills and brain fog.

I had another cup of the broth before bed last night and the symptoms returned. I have spent most of the day, today, sleeping off a severe brain fog..

Question: Could this be a sign of food poisoning from the low temperature broth preparation? It feels like food poisoning, but I hammered it with the silver sols at the first sign of symptoms, and it did not go to full infection mode... just the initial chills which are now gone - and vertigo/brain fog which is slowly subsiding.

Or, is this a not uncommon reaction when one commences a bone broth regimen?

Click to expand...

Rabelais, you say that the first cup of bone broth you had was in the morning and if I understand you correctly, the reaction didn't come until that evening. As I understand it food poisoning reaction come more swiftly.

Did the symptoms come immediately after having the second cup the following night? If so, it suggests to me that there is something in the broth that you are reacting to - something that you were able to detoxify a little bit on the first cup but not at all on the second the following night.

My first thought was as mentioned before that the bones were not organic, or maybe they were not grass-fed, which could be an indirect reaction to something in the animal feed.

Another thing that characterizes bone broth is its high calcium content (and other minerals). This might not be relevant, but just a couple of days ago I starting using organic egg-shells as a calcium supplement and each time I took the egg shell I experienced severe brain fog and lethargy that lasted about half an hour. Therefore, I speculate, that it may have something to do with a reaction to calcium or other minerals. If you are supplementing other minerals you might have hit your ceiling for that particular mineral.

Have you tried a coffee enema? If it is a detox reaction that might very likely help. Also, other detox methods such as FIR sauna, vitamin C, alpha-lipoic acid, glutathione, etc. might help you body rid itself of what is causing the symptom. But obviously, you need to find out the cause.

I hope you get better as the bone broth has a lot going for it :)

Re: Bone broth reaction?

Thor said:

My first thought was as mentioned before that the bones were not organic, or maybe they were not grass-fed, which could be an indirect reaction to something in the animal feed.

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This was my first thought as well. The meat and bones should be grass fed and grass finished or pastured. If i have anything else at this point, I'll have a reaction to it.

Hi all. I didn't want to keep posting in the Ketogenic Diet thread, as I feel I am making noise, not being on the diet yet. I posted the following in that thread:

RflctnOfU said:

[...]Also, I'm not on the KD yet...I really think I ought to transition through the Paleo Diet first. However, that being said, including the bone broth on a daily basis (around 8 fluid oz a day) I find I am able to think more clearly, concentration/focus has improved, and it seems like my nail bed health in my toes is starting to get better (both big toe nails in the last year or so have started growing inward -- ouch) I would definately class this food a superfood. Least of the benefits has been more/longer lasting energy throughout the day.

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I would like to add that along with what was mentioned, my capacity for the Work has improved. I suspect this has a lot to do with the melting away of a long lasting apathy. I accepted this state (probably 3-4 years) as being a result of all the Shi**y news of what is happening on the global stage. Apparently that wasn't the case. By simply adding this miracle food to my diet -- 7-8oz a day in the morning -- I find that I care about things in general a lot more, noticably so. As well, connected with caring, my trumpet playing has never been better. My practice sessions are much more productive, and improvements made during practice sessions are 'sticking' now. In the past it seemed that no matter what I worked on or improved during practicing, nearly all would evaporate over night. I cannot stress enough how important this food, which is extremely EASY to make, is for the general well being. Thank you again to those taking part in the KD experiment, and sharing results and thoughts on the matter. Including this in my diet has changed my life! And that is after only 2 weeks drinking this daily. I am looking forward to when I make the transition to KD so I can 'see' for myself what else will improve in my inner world.

Kris