Detox Your Body With Amino Acids, Vinegar, and Minerals — No Weird Stuff Required
The unhinged history of Urotherapy and the 5-step science-backed stack I built to replace it.
"Drinking urine for medicinal purposes has been practiced all over the world for millennia." — Jutta Loeffler, University College London, Pan African Medical Journal (2010)
Bro, it’s about to get weird.
I don’t even know where to start. There have been random, wild, things-you-don’t-tell-your-parents weird.
Like the phase in my life when I was drinking my own urine.
I eventually stopped because I got genuinely grossed out, but I was doing it long enough to call it very weird. I stored urine in my bathroom cabinet for weeks to unlock and enhance the stem cell precursors in the urine.
I even read a whole book on it: The Water of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy by J.W. Armstrong.
Published in 1944, the author was diagnosed with tuberculosis, tried urine therapy for two months, and claimed he cured himself.
The cover has a tree on it. It is exactly as unhinged as it sounds and I loved every page.
Urine Therapy?
The science behind it is actually interesting.
Urine contains urea, creatinine, electrolytes, trace hormones, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids — all filtered byproducts of your own metabolism.
The practice even has a clinical name: urotherapy, or auto-urine therapy, and it has been documented across cultures for thousands of years, including in ancient Ayurvedic texts under the name Shivambu.
Some people were even drinking horse urine to heal their ailments.
Oh, how far we’ve come with biohacking.
While you're here, some other wild facts about urine therapy:
A 5,000-year-old Hindu text called the Damar Tantra contains detailed instructions on drinking urine for health and longevity.
Ancient Romans used urine as a teeth whitener. It was so popular that Emperor Nero taxed the urine trade.
The Aztecs, ancient Thais, and Siberian shamans all documented urine use — sometimes as medicine, sometimes to enhance the effects of hallucinogenic rituals.
Proverbs 5:15 — “Drink water from your own cistern” — is one of the most cited references by urine therapy proponents.
Would I ever drink my own urine again?
Maybe a dabble here or there. But the daily urine protocol? I don’t know man — there are so many other ways to get weird in biohacking.
How Do We Mimic Drinking Our Own Urine (Without the Gross Part)?
OK — urine therapy is gross, but hearing about all the nutrients in it honestly makes me want to drink a gallon.
Is there any way we could emulate this with less disgusting things — food and supplements?
Yes. I got you.
Take Essential Amino Acids
You might have heard that amino acids are the building blocks of muscle.
That’s true, but I also learned through Ben Greenfield’s Boundless — aka the bible of biohacking — that amino acids do a ton more, including:
Promoting neurotransmitter synthesis
Repairing gut lining
Improving skin, hair, and nail health
Directly supporting energy production
Ben Greenfield even calls them the Swiss army knife of biohacking because of their wide range of benefits. These things control so much and do so many things — they are one of the only supplements I believe you really need.
Plus they let you hit your protein requirements without having to eat constantly.
Because I don’t know about you, but hitting 175 grams of protein a day is hard. I’m not always that hungry, so popping tablets or drinking a powder is a game changer.
Warning: Do NOT take BCAAs. There are 9 essential amino acids (EAAs)—BCAAs only cover 3 of them (Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine). Research suggests that slamming BCAAs without the other 6 essentials can lead to amino acid imbalances and potentially mess with your serotonin levels.
Even Ben Greenfield calls them overpriced flavored water. He wrote a whole article on it — worth the read.
My Favorite EAA’s
I’ve been taking Perfect Amino and it has been working wonders — all 9 essential amino acids plus nucleic acids to help synthesize them into the body.
When I want to drink my amino acids or add them to a pre-workout, I use Kion Amino Acids — all 9 essentials plus a nice serving of L-leucine for extra muscle building. I love the mango flavor.
Kion has been a long-time favorite of mine and I have a discount if you want to try them. Use code KOOLHEALTH for 10% off.
Take Full Spectrum Minerals
Urine has a crazy amount of minerals — enzymes and things your body needs for hydration and cellular function.
Minerals are like the superchargers of our cells.
Magnesium alone is a cofactor in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the human body.
Potassium and sodium regulate fluid balance, nerve firing, and muscle contraction.
These are the catalysts for strong, healthy cells and nervous system function — something so crucial in today’s world.
I love minerals, but just like every supplement I go for the most natural and clean form. Some products like LMNT I learned use table salt — isolated sodium chloride.
When you take sodium without the co-factor minerals you’d find in sea salt, you lose the full mineral matrix the body actually knows how to use.
That’s where the stories about salt and cardiovascular risk come from — it’s never been about salt, it’s about isolated sodium.
Favorite Electrolyte Drink:
My favorite for minerals is my friend Jordan Berens and his company Kaizen.
I went to college with Jordan and I know firsthand how obsessive he is about ingredient quality.
His electrolytes contain full-spectrum Irish sea moss — I have never seen another product with sea moss in it — plus clean forms of potassium, magnesium, and sodium derived from natural sources.
It’s also the tastiest one I’ve ever had. Use code BIOHACKWITHJACK at livekaizen.com.
Favorite Sea Salt:
Also load up on full-spectrum sea salt on your food.
My favorites: Diamond Crystal Kosher Sea Salt (known for low heavy metal count — I put it on everything) and Colima Sea Salt. More minerals, the merrier.
Drink Bone Broth
The moms love it for hair and nails. The bros love it for the lean gains.
Bone broth is made by slowly extracting nutrients from bones, and what comes out is incredible.
Collagen, amino acids, and molecules called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) like chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid that have been shown to regenerate connective tissue, gut lining, skin, and joints.
Research shows that collagen peptide supplementation significantly improved skin elasticity and hydration after just 8 weeks. Bone broth is basically the original collagen supplement — before collagen was a supplement.
I drink it all the time — in soups for dinner, in smoothies (cold with lots of fruit it doesn’t taste like broth at all, add some whey protein and it’s incredible).
My Top Bone Broth Recommendations:
Frankie’s Free Range Meats — incredible quality, one of my favorites
Whole Foods grass-fed options — look for the ones thick with gelatin, great for gut lining
Make your own — I wrote about this before. Slow cooker, grass-fed bones from Frankie’s, sea salt, apple cider vinegar, mineral-rich water, superfood mushroom powder, fresh herbs.
It is way easier than you think and makes you feel like a chef. Just make sure your slow cooker isn’t lined with toxic chemicals — I love the Our Place slow cooker for this.
Use Vinegar In Your Diet
Urine made me think of vinegar so here we are.
Vinegar like red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar, is great for eliminating pathogens in your gut, regulating pH, boosting metabolism, and increasing digestive enzyme activity.
The blood sugar science alone is worth it: a 2004 study in Diabetes Care found that apple cider vinegar reduced post-meal blood glucose by up to 34% in insulin-resistant subjects.
I even got a vinegar club subscription through the Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Club — the most beautiful vinegars I’ve ever tried, like pear vinegar.
They also source the most polyphenol-rich, monounsaturated olive oil, which is an absolute superfood. Check them out at Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Club
Drink European Sparkling Water
Might as well keep going.
There was a mineral analysis that rated the top sparkling waters and found that European types like Gerolsteiner and San Pellegrino have the highest mineral content and CO2 balance.
Gerolsteiner in particular has been studied for its calcium and magnesium bioavailability — research shows that mineral-rich sparkling water can meaningfully contribute to daily mineral intake in populations with dietary deficiencies.
My Final Thoughts On This “Urine Piece”
So there we have it — my random thoughts on urine therapy and the many ways to get all those nutrients without the weird aftertaste.
It really is a big health topic. If you want to go deeper, check out Certified Health Nut and grab The Water of Life by J.W. Armstrong.
I dare you to drink your own. You might be surprised — sometimes it tastes more like water, sometimes way worse.
OK I’m out.
I hope you can see how we took one bizarre corner of health and turned it into simple, practical things that deliver real results — without all the hoops and loops and boring advice.
I want to give you stories and perspectives that you actually love. Thank you for listening.
If this made you think differently about what your body actually needs, hit the ❤️ — it helps more people find this.
And drop a comment: what’s the weirdest thing YOU’VE ever done in the name of health?
Brave of you to write this! I dated a farmer once who kept trying to talk me into doing it, I couldn't bring myself to do it lol but glad to know there are other options to get the same effect :)