Why Should You Drink Bone Broth
Bone broth contains high levels of magnesium, calcium, zinc, and phosphorus, all essential to the functioning of our bodies. It also has great iron content and provides us with a source of vitamin A and K – and, if making bone broth with additional vegetables, these can also add extra health positives, meaning that itâs a great source of nutrition.
Some people even swap their daily coffee out for bone broth, as an alternative morning drink that gives a different kind of energy boost.
Also – and perhaps most excitingly – the simmering of the bones and ligaments means that bone broth contains collagen, which provides the body with essential amino acids. These acids have huge benefits as they’re the building blocks of protein, and can provide us with anti-inflammatory effects and a range of other positives.
Collagen is also a valuable ingredient in the support of skin, nail, and hair health, and is a popular component of many beauty treatments – meaning that with bone broth, itâs rejuvenating from the inside out!
While bone broth is a great addition to diets for the general support of good health, it also has health benefits that may help people with more specific needs. These may include:
Reason #6: Vitamins & Minerals
Finally, bone broth contains dozens of other substances, including essential vitamins and minerals that are beneficial for not only the gut but for the vibrant functioning of the entire body .
Just some of the vitamins and minerals found in bone broth include:
- Vitamin K, which assists in the healthy flourishing of beneficial bacteria in the gut and is also needed to synthesize calcium
- B vitamins, all of which help to stabilize the gut microbiome in different ways
- Magnesium, essential for maintaining gut bacteria balance
- Iron, also helpful for maintaining beneficial gut bacteria
- Vitamin C, needed for collagen synthesis
- Vitamin A, which helps the immune system from becoming overactive
Benefits Of A Bone Broth Fast
A bone broth fast allows you to jump-start your digestive and your overall health. The goal is to help your body cleanse out the digestive system, to also starve any pathogens that may be living inside your gut, and to detoxify your body. Below are some of the top benefits of doing a bone broth fast:
- improves digestion
- improves the health of skin, hair, and nails
I Do Like Bone Broth For A Couple Of Reasons
Despite the lack of confirmed research on bone broth benefits, I think the nutrients in bone broth could be helpful for the gut. Sipping on some bone broth when you are feeling crummy could help your tummy. Because bone broth is a simple food it can be helpful for someone who wants to get in some nutrition when they arent feeling very good . In fact, I prefer eating bone broth as part of a soup. It adds extra nutrition and gives your soup more flavor.
Bone broth can be a nice option if you like the ritual of a hot beverage to sip as you go about your morning. Now I am not saying this can replace coffee but if you like something hot to sip on but dont want the caffeine then this might be a good option.
Why Bone Broth Is So Good For Your Gut
Bone broth contains , which has been shown to have beneficial effects on your gut in several ways.
To begin, your intestinal lining is made up of collagen, which acts as a barrier to keep the things youve ingested such as food out of your bloodstream.
When this lining is damaged by things like a bad diet, stress, or bad bacteria, leaky gut can occur. Food particles pass into your bloodstream and cause a whole host of problems, including immune reactions and inflammation.
Individuals with inflammatory bowel disease are likely to have lower levels of serum collagen, causing researchers to believe adding collagen to your diet could improve IBS symptoms and inflammation.
Studies show that amino acids in collagen, like l-glutamine, can help inhibit inflammation and repair the gut lining by increasing collagen synthesis in animals. This is major news for people suffering from autoimmune and inflammatory diseases that could be related to leaky gut, as the first priority would be to heal the gut lining.
Bone broth provides you with a hefty source of collagen and gut-friendly amino acids, which is why making it a staple in your diet could work wonders.
Bone Broth For Leaky Gut Syndrome
The amino acids found in bone broth can help to heal your leaky gut syndrome. But let’s talk about what your gut is first.
Over 400 species, 100 trillion microorganisms and three pounds of bacteria in make up your digestive tract.
This giant ecosystem helps you digest food, regulate hormones, excrete toxins and produce vitamins and other healing compounds. Your gut is what keeps you healthy.
The microorganisms who reside in your gut are commonly referred to as microbes. The whole system is called your microbiome.
In a perfect world, we nourish our microbiome with micronutrients from the food we eat to help them proliferate and thrive. In turn, our microbiome helps us digest food, produce vitamins and perform normal bodily functions.
Suffice it to say, your guts role in maintaining your health cant be stressed enough. As youll read below, when things go awry, leaky gut syndrome is usually involved. Bone broth plays a role in healing your gut.
Though weve made recent breakthroughs in understanding gut flora and its role in our health, we still know relatively little. Theres a ton of exciting research going on as I write this — many are predicting that gut research will dominate mainstream news over the next five years.
Heres what we know. A healthy microbiome protects us from disease and infection, aids in digestion and absorption of food, regulates metabolism, produces hormones and much more. Woah!
Obesity is also directly related.
So What Gives You A Leaky Gut
Think of your microbiome as a garden. You have to constantly nourish it with the right inputs to ensure your gut stays happy.
Our gut naturally changes to adapt to the environment we place it in. So as we age, travel to new places or take drugs, the compositions of our gut changes.
Here are some things that can compromise your gut flora and lead to leaky gut syndrome. In some cases they can destroy all the hard work you and your gut have done in building the up the right bacteria.
- NSAIDs: aspirin, ibuprofen , acetaminophen and naproxen
- Antibiotics, birth control, antacids, steroids
- Chronic inflammation from stress or infection
- Eating foods you may be allergic to, and perhaps not know it. This includes dairy, gluten, alcohol, among others
- Eating processed foods high in hydrogenated oils, vegetable oils and refined carbohydrates
- A lack of fermentable fibers in your diet
Antibiotics in particular can kill off much of the desirable bacteria in your gut. And unfortunately, this bacteria will not grow back on its own.
Remember that antibiotics not only come from your doctor, but also from eating low quality meat from factory farms. These farms pump your meat full of antibiotics to ward off infection when theyre raising these poor animals.
NSAIDs are still a silent gut killer, with many doctors prescribing them without even mentioning the effects they have on our guts.
Ive seen it in all levels of sport from weekend warriors to Olympians popping advil to get through games.
What Are The Health Benefits
There are many health benefits of bone broth, stemming from its ingredients.
Collagen protects your joints and keeps your skin healthy, the aminos support your immune system and reduce inflammations, plus the gelatinous form of broth helps good bacteria protect your intestinal health.
Bone broths are also an important aid in detoxification because of its high amounts of potassium and glycine helps your body expel toxic chemicals.
You can also use it to heal faster or if youre into bodybuilding, considering that amino acids increase your metabolism.
- It may help reduce inflammation and for healing your gut.
- It may help with sleep.
- It may help to support weight loss goals.
- It is highly nutritious.
- It may protect your joints. It is a great source of gelatin, which will break down into collagen
- It may help with fighting osteoarthritis.
How Does Bone Broth Heal Leaky Gut
When you start out in life, your body has lots of collagen.
However, as you approach your 30s, your body produces less new collagen. Every year after that, your collagen deficit will grow.
Especially, the deficient grows especially during and after menopause.
Why does collagen matter for a healthy gut? One reason is, as we said, collagen appears everywhere in your body, especially your skin.
If you haven’t ever thought of it, your stomach’s lining is skin.
In other words, less collagen equals less protection in the lining of the stomach leading the lining to become more porous.
If the stomach lining has tiny holes, bacteria might ‘leak’ out and cause havoc with other parts of the body–including the brain.
Hence, the term ‘leaky gut’.
Is There A Difference Between Bone Broth And Regular Broth Or Stock
Yes, there is a difference!
On the simplest level, regular broth isnt simmered with bones for an extended period of time, so contains less of the collagen and gelatin that gives bone broth such incredible benefits.
Most importantly, high quality bone broth is sourced from grass-fed or pasture-raised animals.
Bone Broth Boosts Skin Health
Bone broths collagen content has another superpower: reducing the signs of aging. Studies show collagen supplements can significantly reduce wrinkles in as few as eight weeks. One study found that women 45-55 years old taking a collagen supplement experienced increased skin elasticity in just four weeks, as opposed to women taking a placebo.
These effects are seen because collagen production in our bodies tends to decline over time, leading to sagging skin and other markers of aging. Naturally, consuming additional collagen can keep your levels up and boost skin health.
I Got A Different Kind Of Energy Boost
I was kind of nervous when I started this experiment and I fully expected to fail . So I was pleasantly surprised when I did, in fact, feel pretty great while sipping on my 3 p.m. cup of bone broth. It delivered a dose of what Id call “calm energy.” Unlike coffee, which can make me feel amped up, anxious, and nervous if I drink too much, bone broth simultaneously increased my ability to focus and made me feel comforted and calm.
This may have happened for a few reasons: For one, drinking too much coffee can actually deplete levels of B vitamins, which help your body make neurotransmitters that regulate mood and stress so drinking less coffee over time might result in reduced stress due to higher nutrient stores. But, more realistically, the immediate calming sensation I experienced was likely due to the fact that I was sipping on something that tasted like chicken soup, which always seems to soothe my frayed nerves. The energy boost I got, I assume, had more to do with the calories and protein in the bone broth meaning I was actually giving my brain nutrients it needed to function as opposed to tricking it into a state of alertness with caffeine.
This isnt to say I felt perfect. The first few afternoons of nixing coffee I was still dealing with some drowsiness and crankiness. But the switch was less painful than expected.
Is Bone Broth A Fad
Bone broth is simply a stock made of various animal components that is cooked until the cartilage has completely broken down. The term bone broth is a relatively new term for a very common, traditional food.
Not only is bone broth NOT a fad, its quite the opposite of a fad, considering that just about every culture in the world consumes it and has been pretty much since neanderthals started boiling water .
So then the fad happened when we stopped making wonderful stocks and broths as a part of our daily lives, and instead started buying the muscle meat-only portions of food and started speeding up our cooking processes with prepackaged ingredients and junk foods. That is our new normal and were not better off for it.
So lets get into the science of bone broth and why we ABSOLUTELY need to make it a bigger part of our lives.
How To Do A Bone Broth Fast
Here are a few tips and suggestions if you plan on doing a bone broth fast:
- Allocate about 3-4 days to do the fast.
- You can make the bone broth yourself, buy some at a local health food store, or order online. Flavor Chef makes a very high quality and delicious bone broth.
- Consume at least 16oz of the bone broth for each meal.
- Add a scoop of collagen powder for extra protein, coconut oil or ghee for some healthy fat, and sea salt for some minerals.
- Eliminate all other foods during the fast. For snack time, you can make yourself some green juice or drink coconut water.
- If you are someone who struggles with low blood sugar problems, you can include some foods during the fast, such as clean meats , steamed veggies, and berries.
- Make your broth in a big batch ahead of time so that you dont have to worry about making it each day.
As discussed, doing a bone broth fast will give you a jump start towards better health, but that alone, in my opinion, will not fix the underlying issue of your health problems.
In fact, 80% of our immune system cells are located in our intestinal lining and our overall health depends on the health of our gut. Although doing a bone broth fast will help your body cleanse and detox, it is also important to have a plan and treat the issue head-on.
Can Help With Joint Pain
The gelatin in bone broth is very beneficial for joint health. Gelatin intake has been found to increase collagen in body tissue, which can lead to less joint pain and trouble, which occurs over time through aging or adding extra stress to joints through sporting activity.
In addition to the collagen ingested through drinking bone broth, other ingredients like glucosamine and chondroitin in the broth can help to alleviate joint pain and support joint health.
Bone Broth Soup For Healing Leaky Gut And Intestinal Stress
Robert Cassar, Ketogenic Diet Recipes, Rebuilding The Gut Wall Flora,
Mark Daniells and I are going to show you how to make the best Bone Marrow/Broth Soup to support healing my intestines from chronic inflammatory conditions I had such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome , Leaky Gut Syndrome, Gas, Bloating, Irregular Bowels, Blood in the stools and other intestinal dysfunctions.
Bone Broth Soup, if made correctly, is one of most healing foods anyone can have. Not only to repair the damaged gut lining but the broth with the bones, cartilage, meat and marrow slow cooked for 24 hours is loaded with a super bioavailable amount of nutrition as well.
This course is specifically designed for the support of repairing the intestinal inflammation with the magical healing and bioavailable nutritional ingredients found in this excellent tasting recipe.
Most people who eat a standard american diet , Vegetarian or Vegan and even fruitarians, will usually suffer a variety of chronic inflammatory intestinal syndromes over time with their diets.
I have found that most raw vegans I personally know have destroyed their intestines and digestion by eating way too many of the toxic plant compounds such as oxalates, lectins, phytates, pesticides, goitrogens, petro-chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides such as glyphosate or atrazine that are herbicides commonly used in most agriculture.
What Type Of Bone Broth Is Healthiest
An acorn-fed, bison-chicken, or rabbit bone broth is the most healthful for you. For each of these, you’ll get good bone-building nutrients and some serious health-boosting benefits. That said, there are two types of broth: Pasteurized bone broth. Pasteurized bone broth is a much better source of bone-building nutrients than whole bones. For this reason, pasteurized bones are my best recommendation for beginning to get the benefits of bone broth. Processed bone broth. For people who don’t like the idea of raw bones, processed bone broth is a good substitute.
Although they may contain the same nutrients as real bone broth, processed bone broth is also likely to contain additives like salt or sugar, so you’ll likely notice they taste better than the bone broth you make at home. Which bone broth recipe is healthiest? While there are more than 30 different bone broth recipes on the internet, all of them contain at least one of two nutrients: gelatin and collagen. Because gelatin isn’t healthy, I suggest you avoid these recipes that include gelatin. Instead, you should go for bones that are both boiled and peeled to remove all the gelatin. However, there are four main types of bone broth. The broth is made with whole bones . Broth made with unpeeled bones . Broth made with bones that are peeled but haven’t fully softened.
How Do You Make The Best And Easiest Bone Broth
Bone broth is the foundation of many traditional and beloved Persian dishes. And the same few ingredients go into the preparation of these bone broths: Meaty bones, plenty of chopped onion, turmeric powder, and some salt and pepper.
Thats literally IT.
Its amazing how when you pick the right ingredients, you realize you dont need or even want to add any more because it just confuses the flavor and dilutes it. With this simple recipe for the best bone broth, these few ingredients really let the bone broth SHIIIIIIINE!
Each ingredient plays a vital role in this broth that cannot be replaced.
With this recipe for the best bone broth, youll end up with a rich, yet delicate, golden broth that is really addicting because its so extremely flavorful.
You can obviously add any other veggies or herbs you like to the pot to increase electrolytes, but they honestly dont add any further flavor.
Some people add a tablespoon of vinegar to the pot to help extract more calcium from the bones, but I personally dont want to get more calcium than necessary, as I dont believe it to be particularly healthy to go overboard. The process of cooking the bones for a long time already leeches plenty of calcium from the bones and if you drink bone broth regularly, its important to consider this.
So this is how its done:
2. If youre using a pressure cooker like an InstantPot, put it on the pressure cooker setting on high for 3 hours and allow the pressure to naturally release when its done.
Ignore Drinks From Levels 3 & 4 For 30 Days
Saying adios to these delicious drinks for one month is not easy . But you will feel so much better taking a break.
And the great news is that once your gut is in better shape it will likely be able to tolerate many, and possibly all of them, in moderation.
4) Then test drinks from Levels 3 & 4
Once the 30 days are up, start reintroducing one drink at a time from levels 3 & 4 and in small amounts, eg a small glass of red wine.
Like with food, I personally add one new drink every 3 days, as that gives me enough time to see if there are any delayed symptoms.
Bring the drinks that dont cause a reaction back into your normal diet and ditch the ones that still dont play well.
Youll probably also find that some of these drinks can be consumed quite regularly, eg caffeinated teas , whilst others not so often, eg coffee .
Grandma May Know Best
Grandmothers around the world have been serving up bowls of warm bone broth and broth-based soups to nourish sick family members for centuries. And while research hasnt yet caught up with grandmas traditional knowledge about the health benefits of bone broth, there are plenty of good reasons to add bone broth to your diet now.
Bone broth on its own is delicious, filling, easy to digest and a much healthier beverage choice than any sweet drink. In the kitchen, bone broth is a versatile ingredient that adds flavor to many recipes. Its easy to prepare and even easier to buy. And while we dont yet have definitive proof, it may also be good for your gut, your skin, your joints, and your sleep.
References
More Reasons Your Gut Gets Cranky
In addition to aging and diet, these factors can negatively affect the healthy functioning of your digestive system:
- Eating processed foods and too much sugar
- Aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs
- Prescription drugs, including antibiotics
- Overeating since the stomach cannot accommodate as much food
- A slowdown of the stomach to empty food into the small intestine due to aging
- Not enough exercise and physical activity
- Stress
- Less sleep and poorer quality of sleep
- Reduced collagen protein in the body
It May Benefit The Digestive System
Scientists have discovered that your overall health depends heavily on the health of your intestinal tract.
Not only is bone broth easy to digest, but it may also aid in the digestion of other foods.
The gelatin found in bone broth naturally attracts and holds liquids. This is why properly prepared broth congeals in the fridge .
Gelatin can also bind to water in your digestive tract, which helps foods move through your gut more easily.
Its also been shown to protect and heal the mucosal lining of the digestive tract in rats. Its thought to have the same effect in humans, but more research needs to be done to show its effectiveness .
An amino acid in gelatin called glutamine helps maintain the function of the intestinal wall and has been known to prevent and heal a condition known as leaky gut .
Leaky gut, which is associated with several chronic diseases, is when the barrier between your gut and the bloodstream is impaired.
Substances that your body doesnt normally allow through leak into your bloodstream, which leads to inflammation and other problems .
For all of these reasons, drinking bone broth may be beneficial for individuals with leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome , or inflammatory bowel disease , such as ulcerative colitis or Crohns disease.
Summary
The gelatin in bone broth supports healthy digestion. It may be beneficial for individuals with leaky gut, as well as irritable and inflammatory bowel diseases.
A Positive Difference In Your Hair Skin And Nails
Bone broth is rich in whole-food collagen, a protein that makes up about one-third of the protein in the human body, which is believed to support skin, hair, and nail health. In another Eat This, Not That! article on the health benefits of bone broth, Sharon Brown, clinical nutritionist and founder of Bonafide Provisions shared exactly how bone broth can act as a catalyst for healthier hair and skin.
“Collagen-rich bone broth promotes smooth, supple skin and strong, healthy hair and nails. In addition, the skin is the body’s largest organ, and there is a strong link between gut and skin health known as the gut-skin axis,” Brown said.
One 2019 study published in the journal even showed that taking collagen supplements for three months improved participants’ skin hydration, elasticity, and densityall of which are key factors in preventing skin aging.
It May Protect The Joints
Bone broth is a source of gelatin, which may break down into collagen in the body. This is especially important in the joints.
Cartilage in the joints tends to wear down or shrink through continual use. This can add more to the joints, which may become damaged as a result of the added pressure.
A 2017 review that appears in the journal Sports Medicine suggests that both laboratory and animal studies show that gelatin supplementation increases the amount of collagen in the tissues. This may help protect the joints from unnecessary stress.
Consuming bone broth may be a good way to add gelatin to the diet, which may help protect these joints.