The Glycine Blueprint: Aging Backwards Through Nose-to-Tail Living

Welcome back to my series where I share my view on health through the lens of the Pantry Pharmacy.

What you consume daily does more than just shape your physique: it architectures your reality. Your gut microbiome influences your thoughts. Your thoughts dictate your actions. Your actions steer your decision-making, and your decisions ultimately define your entire life.

So yes—what you eat matters. It is the first domino in the trajectory of who you become.

I am here to help you reach your absolute peak of health. Your body doesn't lie: your external appearance is simply a reflection of your internal state. As a nurse, I see firsthand how biological foundations impact long-term vitality. Today, I’m excited to share a staple of my own routine and dive into the science of one very special amino acid: Glycine:)

The Cruel Meat Industry: What to Watch Out For

But now, let's take a look back into the history of the meat industry. (By the way, I am not completely against eating meat, but I believe it is incredibly important to know your source and what the animals are being fed. Later in this article, I will also share some simple ways to enjoy your meat while balancing your amino acids!)

To understand where we are today, we have to look back to 1906. While the USDA claims that the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed because the food industry demanded them, most historians argue otherwise. They credit Upton Sinclair’s 1905 novel, The Jungle, which exposed how the meat industry used toxic chemicals to hide the smell of rotten meat. This shocking revelation outraged the public and President Theodore Roosevelt, creating enough political pressure to finally force Congress to regulate the food supply, overcoming years of industry resistance that had kept the US lagging far behind European food safety standards.

To put it in the simplest terms, here is what is actually going on with most of the meat in grocery stores today: it is soaked in water and chemicals to artificially increase its size and weight by up to 8%!

As the  biologist Dr. Ray Peat noted:

"The chemicals, such as trisodium phosphate (in a solution strength as high as 12%), are chosen because they powerfully stimulate swelling and water retention. Considerable amounts of some chemicals, such as sodium citrate, are allowed to add to the weight of the meat."

When you buy standard supermarket meat, you aren't just paying for the meat itself—you are paying extra for the weight of chemical-laden water that the meat has soaked in.

This is exactly why I encourage you to support local farmers and choose grass-fed, pasture-raised meat whenever possible. I know this can get expensive, but you don't have to overcomplicate it! For example, what my family does is order high-quality beef directly from a local source just once or twice a month. It is a treat, but we make sure we truly enjoy it! :)

The Carnivore Diet and What It Really Does to Your Body

You have probably noticed that one of the current trends is the carnivore diet, where people consume large amounts of muscle meat. But there is a hidden metabolic cost to this approach that is rarely discussed. Muscle meats are disproportionately high in tryptophan and cysteine.

From a Ray Peat perspective, an excess of these amino acids—without the balancing effect of glycine—can be anti-metabolic. High levels of tryptophan are the direct precursor to serotonin. While the mainstream views serotonin as a "happy hormone," Peat argued that in excess, it acts as a mediator of stress, aging, and hibernatory states, effectively slowing down your thyroid and metabolic rate.

The amount of tryptophan in your diet has a huge effect on how the organism responds to stress, ages, and adapts. In other words, the amount of tryptophan you consume could potentially influence how you respond to stress.

As we mentioned, tryptophan is a precursor of serotonin, and according to studies, excess serotonin in the body can cause:

• Nervousness and anxiety

• Sleep disorders, such as insomnia

• Muscle dystrophy

• Muscle twitching and tremors

• Tachycardia

Getting enough protein while reducing your stress is an excellent way to lower the potential risk of serotonin overload.

If you tend to eat a lot of meat, I highly recommend balancing your tryptophan intake with the miraculous amino acid glycine. Adding glycine offsets excess tryptophan, helping to prevent the elevation of stress hormones and promoting a healthy metabolic state.

However, you need to be careful about your sourcing. Depending on where you live, high-quality options can be hard to find. I live in the Czech Republic, and when I was searching for supplements, I found that almost everything available was derived from pigs. Pigs are known to carry higher amounts of parasites, and poor farming practices cause them to suffer from severe water retention, frequent injuries, and overall high-stress living environments.

Because of this, I made a personal decision a long time ago to stop consuming pork products entirely. Instead, I exclusively look for products that are naturally high in glycine, such as pasture-raised, grass-fed beef collagen.

The simplest way to add this miraculous amino acid to your life

It is truly that simple: just add one scoop of collagen into your fresh orange juice. This will perfectly balance your amino acids, support your thyroid, and keep your metabolic rate high.

Adding collagen to my orange juice has become a staple in my diet, and it is something I highly recommend to the clients I work with as well. Not only is it excellent for balancing amino acids, but research has also shown that glycine—the primary amino acid in collagen—has incredible therapeutic benefits.

Studies suggest that glycine possesses anti-tumor properties, offers deep liver protection, and provides calming effects on the nervous system. Furthermore, its ability to soothe muscle spasms makes it highly beneficial for conditions like arthritis, nerve issues, and even multiple sclerosis.

Our bodies lose about 1% of their natural collagen every year after our mid-20s, but this is an easy fix. Collagen is widely considered the best and most concentrated dietary source of glycine you can find. In fact, about one-third (around 33%) of all the amino acids in collagen are glycine.

To put that into perspective: while a standard chicken breast or piece of beef contains around 1.5 to 2 grams of glycine per 100g, a single scoop of collagen powder delivers a massive 3 to 4 grams of pure glycine instantly.

This is exactly why it is so effective at neutralizing the high tryptophan and methionine levels found in muscle meats—it gives your metabolism a concentrated dose of exactly what it needs to stay balanced.

How I Prepare Medicinal Broths That Are Rich in Glycine

Having broth is very common in Central and Eastern Europe. Growing up, my grandmother used to make me a lot of medicinal broths, and she still does to this day. I will share her recipe with you in just a moment.

When you simmer broth, you are extracting essential minerals and vitamins from the animal bones and connective tissue. This mimics a traditional ancestral practice known as "nose-to-tail" eating—ensuring that no part of the animal goes to waste while providing the body with a deeply nourishing, nutrient-dense meal.

This brings us right back to our miraculous amino acid: glycine. Connective tissues, bones, joints, and skin are naturally packed with collagen, which—as we know—is the richest source of glycine available.

When you slow-cook a traditional bone broth, the heat gently breaks down that tough collagen into gelatin, releasing a massive dose of bioavailable glycine directly into the liquid.

 By drinking medicinal broth, you aren’t just getting easy-to-digest vitamins and minerals:you are flooding your body with the exact amino acids needed to balance muscle meats, soothe your gut, and lower stress hormones.

ingredients For the Medicinal Broth:

• Beef oxtail and beef ribs – the perfect combination for a rich, gelatinous base.

• Carrots (mrkev)

• A little bit of celery root (celer) – just a touch for that deep, earthy flavor.

• Onion (cibule) with the skin left ON – this is my grandmother's secret for giving the broth a beautiful, rich golden color.

• Cold water, a pinch of salt, and classic spices (black peppercorns, allspice, and bay leaves).

Step-by-Step Tutorial

1. Simmer the Broth

• Put your oxtail, beef ribs, carrots, celery, and the unpeeled onion into a large pot.

• Cover completely with cold water, add a pinch of salt and your spices, and bring to a gentle boil.

• Turn the heat down to the lowest setting, cover with a lid, and let it simmer slowly for at least 12 to 24 hours.

Pro Tip: I love to add noodles to mine! I actually have three packages left over from my mom's recent trips to Italy, and they make the broth so incredibly delicious. Feel free to do the same! If you are avoiding gluten or standard wheat, this also works wonderfully with rice noodles.

About the author:

Beata Havlickova is a Registered Nurse with a holistic approach to wellness. She specializes in thyroid health, gut health, and helping clients resolve autoimmune issues through natural lifestyle pillars like nutrition, movement, quantum biology, and herbal medicine. If you are looking for personalized guidance and would like to book a private consultation, please feel free to send a direct message on Instagram @wholisticbeata.