Hi Everyone,
Today I want to talk about on of the oldest meals that we know about. Hippocrates was one of its most ancient famous fan! We actually know that Bone Broth was already consumed back during Stone Age, where people were cooking the broth in animals shells and/or skins.
There is always a good reason why an ancient remedy has been lasting for thousands of years. Sometimes, better than the scientific proof, it is the actual real human experience that makes the best proof of one remedy’s efficiency.
The good thing with Bone Broth, is that is it actually backed by both… The thousands of years old human experience with it, and the scientific studies.
Now let’s see what makes it such a powerful healing food.
1. First of all, Collagen (and/or Gelatine)
One of the most potent nutrient in Bone Broth is Collagen.
Collagen is the main component of the cartilage, which supports our joints and strengthens the tendons and ligaments.
Collagen represents 25% of the proteins in our body. One of its most important function is to act like a glue that holds your body together. You find it mainly in connective tissues, bone marrow, cartilage, ligaments and tendons.
Collagen is also essential to have healthy, flexible and strong bones: it constitutes the lattice that create the basis of the structure of the bones. This is the supple basis where the minerals (especially Calcium) deposit. So you can have as much Calcium as you want, if you have no Collagen to help fix it in a flexible way to the bones, you will end up with dense bones (high density) but very brittle and easy to fracture.
Collagen is necessary to have healthy pain-free joints. By helping repair and build up new collagen in the joints of your body, it helps decrease inflammation and pain there.
Science today supports the use of Collagen through Cartilage or Gelatine to help prevent and even reverse inflammation caused diseases like:
- Osteoarthritis
- Osteoporosis
- Digestive Stress
- Autoimmune disorders
- Cancer
2. Other essential nutrients in Bone Broth that most people today lack of:
- Essential minerals: Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Potassium and Sodium (mainly). But it’s not like in any other Supplement form: those minerals are BIOAVAILABLE: they are easily absorbed and digested by your body.
- Silicon and other trace minerals
- Necessary components of bones and bone marrow
- Amino Acids:
a. Glycine: it is the precursor of many other Amino Acids. Glycine facilitates Oxygen transportation and triggers gastric acid and bile salts production (enhancing the whole digestive process). Glycine also helps heal wounds by facilitating the synthesis of blood cells. Glycine is also especially a precursor of Glutathione, which is needed by the liver to filter and detox your body from all chemicals in your bloodstream
b. Proline: Proline is necessary for the production of Collagen, therefore highly essential
c. Glucosamine and chondroitin: many people take those as supplements to decrease inflammation and joint pain. When taken through the use of bone broth, those Amino Acids are even more potent and effective as they are embraced by your body in their natural form
d. Glutamine: helps heal and grow new microvilli in your Small Intestines. Those microvilli are like little fingers that help absorb your foods’ nutrients into your body.
Bone Broth is naturally a nutrient-dense food that helps heal your body and gives a real sense of well-being and comfort. It can be taken any time and is often recommended to be added in your regular week’s consumption as a common food.
Let’s see some other health benefits from Bone Broth:
- Gut healing
Ever heard about the LEAKY GUT? You have a leaky gut when the walls or lining of your digestive system become permeable because of stress and inflammation. As a result, bigger particles of foods can leak into your bloodstream, as other toxins, bacteria, viruses, yeast can do too. Your Immune System consider all of those as harmful pathogens and therefore starts manufacturing antibodies. If you don’t take care of it, your body will be in this inflammation state all the time, and eventually, your body starts attacking itself. This is often how autoimmune disorders start, from common allergies to Crohn’s disease, lupus, asthma, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, skin diseases, and even psychological disorders. When you start having Bone Broth regularly, it helps seal the gut (it is mainly the Gelatine that is a natural sealant), repair the lining of your digestive tract and restore and rebuild new microvilli as we said earlier.
Your Gut is your second brain. Many diseases, even psychological, can be triggered by a weak and unhealthy gut. So knowing this is to me the most important reason as for why having Bone Broth regularly can be so beneficial for the overall health of all your family.
- Joint pain and inflammation relief
As mentioned earlier, the rich nutrients that you find in Bone Broth are ideal to decrease inflammation and especially so in the joints.
- Bone integrity
Because it is a rich source of bioavailable Collagen, Bone Broth will help you restore your bones and make them healthier, and more flexible and stronger at the same time
- Liver Detoxifier
In today’s modern world, most of the people have an overworked liver. This is because the liver is one of the main actors in your body’s detoxification process. It has to detoxify your bloodstream from all chemicals that arrive there through foods, drinks, supplements, polluted air…. With time, harmful toxic traces are left behind and accumulate, which can be the source of many health issues. The glycine that you find in Bone Broth boosts the production of glutathione, and therefore helps the liver detoxify better and even cleanse itself. And on top of it, having Bone Broth while targeting to cleanse your system is an excellent way to limit muscle tissue loss.
- Immune System booster
Bone Broth helps inhibit infections like a cold, or viruses. Especially chicken soup: it has been revered for its medicinal qualities at least since Moses Maimonides in the 12th century. It is mainly the Cartilage in the Bone Broth that helps your body defend itself better. Also, there must be a reason why Bone Broth’s nickname is “Jewish Penicillin” J
- Healthy Hair and Nail growth
The Collagen helps rebuild collagen, so as a result, your hair, nails and skin become visibly healthier and even wrinkles decrease! As a note, because the Gelatin feeds Collagen fibrils, even Cellulite can be potentially eliminated with a regular consumption of rich Bone Broth.
Bone Broth has now been used for thousands of years to help heal and recover people suffering from different types of troubles. And if it is still here today, it must all be for a good reason. Ancient Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine still refer to it to fight infections and strengthen the Immune System globally.
Maybe some of you have heard about the GAPS diet (Gut and Psychology Syndrome). This GAPS diet is being used to treat children with Autism and other health disorders that are mainly triggered by some gut imbalances (ADD, ADHD, Celiac Disease, Depression, Schizophrenia…..). Well, in the GAPS diet, BONE BROTH is the FOUNDATION, because it is so healing to the gut.
I personally think that there is no reason not to start making your own Bone Broth!! Honestly, I am myself quite a lazy person…. But I do it, because it literally takes me 5 minutes to prepare, and then you just have to wait….
Just use the HIGHEST QUALITY Ingredients you can find. Toxic animals = toxic bones = toxic You! So just be smart about your choices: should be free pastured poultry, grass fed meat, organic.
What I like to do is keep the bones and leftovers from any meat I eat (whether chicken legs, whole chicken bones, or lamb chops…): I store them in the freezer and use them when I gathered enough of them! Another solution is to go find a great butcher at the farmer’s market and ask them for the rests, they are usually happy to give them to you, and it is either very cheap or for free!
Here is one example of recipe by Dr. Mercola. You can honestly play around with the ingredients and add whatever you prefer:
Homemade Chicken Broth RECIPE
Ingredients:
1 3- to 4-pound stewing hen, 1-2 chicken carcasses, or 3-4 pounds of chicken necks, backs and wings
4 quarts filtered water
2-4 chicken feet (optional)
1-2 chicken heads (optional)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (NECESSARY TO HELP LEECH ALL MINERALS FROM BONES INTO THE WATER)
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 onion, quartered
Handful of fresh parsley
Sea salt
Method:
Put the chicken or carcasses in a pot with 4 quarts of water; add the chicken feet and heads (if you’re using them) and the vinegar.
Let sit for 30 minutes to give the vinegar time to leach the minerals out of the bones.
Add the vegetables and turn on the heat.
Bring to a boil and skim the scum.
Reduce to barely a simmer, cover, and cook for 6 to 24 hours.
During the last 10 minutes of cooking, throw in a handful of fresh parsley for added flavor and minerals.
Let the broth cool, strain it, and take any remaining meat off the bones to use in future cooking.
Add sea salt to taste and drink the broth as is or store it in the fridge (up to 5 to 7 days), or freezer (up to 6 months) for use in soups and stews.
I like to make it as minimal as possible: just the bones, water, some Himalayan salt, Apple Cider Vinegar, and spices like Ginger and Turmeric. And that’s it. I just love it like that :-)
Hope this made you understand how important it is to take care of your gut and your whole digestive tract, and how easy it is to do so with a simple food like Bone Broth….
Soon to come a video showing you how I do it!
In Health and Happiness,
Stephanie