Diet, Entrepreneurial Health, Food, Health Matters, Immune Health
I’m not one to get all jazzed up about food trends, but if consuming an incredibly healing & nourishing food that has been used for centuries in various cultures around the world starts “trending”, save me a seat on the bandwagon.
Our grandmothers (and our grandmother’s gandmothers) were onto something when they nourished our sniffling noses back to health with warm bowls of homemade soup. The magical ingredient (besides grandma’s love)? Bone broth. Slow cooked, nutrient dense healing bone broth.
Just to be clear, I’m talking about the real deal. Bone broth made with high quality bones and organic (or what your grandmother simply called ‘food’) veggies, simmered low and slow for over 24 hours. What I’m not talking about is broth or soup stock from a box, bouillon cube or processed beef/chicken flavoured powdered packet that your grandmother wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.
So what makes the real deal golden liquid so great? Let me count the ways:
1) DIGESTIVE HEALTH
I put this as number 1 on this list for a few reasons: a) digestion is my jam b) this stuff has been used in the top digestive healing protocols for years with great success. Bone broth contains specific nutrients required to heal and improve the integrity of your digestive tract such as gelatin and glutamine. With digestion being the root cause of many health issues (allergies, inflammation, immunity…) it’s important to keep it in tip- top shape. If it’s not working properly, the rest of your body will struggle as well.
2) YOUR BEAUTY BFF
The lengthy simmering process allows skin, hair and nail loving nutrients like collagen & silicon to be gently extracted from the bones, making this golden liquid a key player in your beauty care routine. Bone broth > Botox.
3) BUILDING STRONG BONES
Bone broth is a great source of bio-available minerals like calcium, magnesium and phosphorous making it an awesome bone building superfood. This is a great alternative to dairy based sources of calcium, which are not well absorbed by the body and are a common allergen/sensitivity for many people. Because if you can’t digest it, you can’t absorb it.
4) HEALTHY JOINTS
Glucosamine and chondroitin are essential nutrients for repairing and maintaining healthy joints. And guess what? Bone broth contains both in addition to other joint supporting nutrients such as gelatin, which helps to lubricate joints and reduce inflammation.
5) IMMUNITY
Bone broth works in a few different ways to support a healthy functioning immune system. It promotes a healthy digestive system, which contributes to a large percentage of your immune response (some studies suggest up to 80% of your immunity is located in your gut!). It also provides you with a wide variety of bio-available amino acids, which are the building blocks of cold & flu fighting immune cells.
The nutritional values of bone broths will vary based on what ingredients were used in the recipe, but there are a few key things to look for when making or buying it:
- Look for high quality bones: grass-fed organic beef bones or organic chicken/fish bones
- Choose organic vegetables and herbs to avoid concentrating pesticides and herbicides in your broth.
- Choose low and slow cooking methods over quick and easy options. As tempting as they may be, the quick options leave you with a lackluster flavour and weak nutrient profile.
Ways to use it:
- sip straight up as you would a cup of java or tea
- whip up a big batch of soup for a quick and easy lunch or heck even breakfast option Use in cooking stews and sauces
- use as cooking liquid in lentils, rice or quinoa
- add to mashed potatoes, cauliflower or other vegetable purees
So do yourself and your grandmother a favour and honour the age-old tradition of including this wholesome, nourishing food into your diet. Your body will thank you for it.
*Not into making your own? Be sure to check out the folks at Broya for all your ready-made, high quality bone broth needs.
In health & good taste,
Heather
