Posted by Bonnie Rogers on 12/29/2014 to
Healthy Recipes
2015, it's time to make the commitment to Yourself, to your health.
If you are ready here's one of the best things you can do for yourself. Begin drinking bone broth and eating lacto-fermented vegetables daily. It's a simple thing to do which creates enormous shifts for many health issues.
Bone broth, yes bone soup. The first time I heard about this it reminded me of the story Stone Soup. What links these two together are the minerals that you get from both of them. Stones are packed full of minerals and so are bones. In order to get the nutrition out of the bones they need to be cooked for a long time with a little apple cider vinegar in them. The ACV (apple cider vinegar) helps pull the minerals out of the bones and into the soup you will drink.
In my practice, the #1 thing I have found to make the biggest impact on my clients is bone broth. It is the best food to heal leaky gut, improve joint and bone health, boost the immune system, get the respiratory system working up to par and best of all help improve the digestive tract from the stomach to the colon.
When my clients commit to drinking this broth every day for a month, they tend to keep drinking it for ages as it makes a difference in their health really fast. I have seen health issues from bad anxiety and stress to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Colitis, joint issues and many others issues re-balance in a short period of time. One client had extreme stress, IBS and other problems, in fact in over 40 years she had not had a normal bowel movement. Within 2 weeks of drinking bone broth she had normal bowel movements which continued. What a simple thing to heal so much.
What does bone broth do?
Bone broth not only helps reduce inflammation in the respiratory system, it helps improve digestion, boost your immune system, repair your joints and build bones. It is:
- Nutrient dense
- Easily absorbed
- Simple to make
- Delicious
Bone broth is made by using the parts of the animal you generally would discard, the bones, tendons, joints, and feet. When you cook these for a long time what is released into the broth are components such as collagen, arginine, glutamine, glycine, prolamine and a ton of minerals.
In fact Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions mentions that bone broth is filled with calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur, condroitin sulphate and glucasamine. So instead of purchasing these separately as supplements, you can just get them in a cup or two of bone broth daily.
Are you aware that many of the "broths" you purchase contain MSG which is a neurotoxin.
Let's talk about some of these components and why you want to be ingesting them:
Collagen:
- Collagen holds your immune boosting properties - when you cook your soup you will find this layer on the top of the soup that doesn't solidify when you refrigerate it, the stuff that solidifies is the fat which you can take off, but do not discard the collagen.
- Collagen is the protein in the connective tissue which is why I love using chicken and turkey necks when I make my bone broth as they are filled with connective tissue.
- The breakdown of collagen makes gelatin - gelatin helps with food allergies
- Collagen protects and soothes the lining of the GI tract.
- builds bone
- Has been shown to reduce wrinkles and cellulite
- Helps probiotic growth (eat your lacto-fermented vegetables to get more probiotics)
- Gelatin: contains amino acids such as glutamine, arginine, and lots of others - so what do they do?
Glutamine
- Assists muscle growth
- Assists cell hydration - remember drinking lots of water doesn't mean that it is going into your cells
- Increases growth hormone so that your metabolism works better
- Has been shown to help heal people with diverticulitis
- Improves concentration/focus and alertness
- Helps calm moods
- Reduces sugar cravings
Arginine
- Enhances immune function and wound healing
- Helps memory
- Helps lower blood pressure
- Helps reduce blood stickiness with those who have high cholesterol
- Improves blood flow
- Helps improve stamina
- Helps Reynaud's patients with blood flow to the extremities
- Increases production of sperm
- Improves blood flow to the genitals
- For men it seems to be helpful for men suffering with erectile dysfunction (ED)
- For woman, especially postmenopausal women, it seem to bring more blood flow to the clitoris and the possibility of reaching orgasm
When purchasing ingredients for your bone broth make sure to purchase if at all possible 100% grass fed meat and if using poultry make sure they are pasture raised. This will insure that the soup you are making is the most nutritious. Below I will give you some sources that you can purchase these bones online.
Ideally I'd like to see you drink 1-2 cups per day of the broth. In fact, have a cup of bone broth in the morning to start your day off right. Not what you would think of as a "breakfast" food, but I think its the perfect food to break your fast. Filled with nutrients to infuse your body with minerals, nutrients and so much more.
How do I make this broth?
Ingredients: For poultry bone broth
you can start with 1 whole free range chicken or I prefer 2-3 lbs of bony chicken parts - I use 1/2 backs and 1/2 necks
chicken feet - optional if you can find them its great,
4 quarts cold filtered water
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
vegetables (these are what I use, feel free to use what you have or like
2 onions, quartered with skin
4 carrots, washed and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 parsnips, washed and chopped
1 celeriac if I can find it - tastes delicious
3 astragalus sticks - helps build the immune system - optional
1/2 bunch dill - optional
1 bunch parsley
Do your best to find a pastured, organic chicken
if you are using a whole chicken, cut it up into many pieces
place the chicken, apple cider vinegar, vegetables and water into your pot (you can use a pot over your stove or a crock pot- don't put the dill or parsley in yet
let it sit for 30-60 minutes before you turn the heat on
bring to a boil - remove scum that rises to the top
reduce heat, cover and simmer - I prefer to cook for 24 hours, this way you are able to get a lot of the nutrients out of the soup. Sometimes after 6-10 hours I'll take a cup or two out and start drinking it then
about 15 minutes before you are finished cooking your soup put the dill and parsley in
If you used a whole chicken, about 3 hours after you start take out the meat that is in it and use it for chicken salad or just eating, if you let it cook for longer it will get stringy and you'll just end up dumping it.
When the soup is done cooking I find the easiest way to strain it is to use a large wire pasta strainer over a large bowl or pot and then store in large mason jars. I get the half gallon ones at my hardware store and use them for a multitude of things.
Refrigerate your broth and the fat will harden and you can take it right off. You will find a large portion of what looks kind of funky at the top of the soup. This is the collagen, don't throw it away, just stir your soup before you pour it in a pot to heat it it. It's the "good stuff, the healing stuff" in the soup. Store in the freezer if you made more than you will use in 4 days.
There are many variations of how you can use your bone broth once its made. Here is one of my favorite recipes, we call it Green Slime Soup in my house, but the official name is Spinach Zucchini soup.
take 2 onions, quarter them and put them in a pot with a few tablespoons of olive oil or grass fed butter to sauté for a few minutes
cut up 3 medium zucchini and 2 medium Yukon gold potatoes add them to the onions and sauté about 5-10 minutes
add 1 quart of bone broth to the pot
bring to a boil then put on low and simmer for 30 minutes
turn off heat
take about 8 cups of baby spinach and push it under the fluid in the soup pot
let it sit for 15 minutes covered
puree, either in a Vitamix or using a soup wand until it is smooth
Enjoy - you can add some sea salt and/or pepper to taste. It's one of our favorite soups to eat, packed full of nutrition and lots of vegetables.
When I cooked my soup this time I started it in a pot but decided to finish it overnight in a crockpot that I placed in our garage. Sometimes after smelling the bone broth for a long time my husband has had it, so we have a table in the garage that I put the crock pot on and it continues to cook out there on low.
You can also make a beef or venison bone broth - there are many recipes out there but let me know if you want me to write another blog on this and I'll put that recipe on it.
One last thing, I mentioned at the beginning of this article that you should be eating lacto-fermented vegetables. The best way I have found to make them is using the perfect pickler.
A few places I've found to purchase healthy pastured chicken online:
If you don't have the time or energy, here is a place you can purchase ready made bone broth, frozen
Note: Oct 9, 2017 I now make bone broth in my Instant Pot. I can make a wonderful, gelatinous bone broth in only 4 hours from start to putting it in the jar. It's a blessing, instead of 24 hours, I can start early in the am and be done before lunch. You just put everything in the Instant Pot, set it to soup (120 minutes) and let it go :)
1 Comments
Cindy
Date
1/3/2015
Great info and recipe.