Bone Broth: The Perfect Winter Superfood
Winter is the perfect time to dust off your slow cooker and make delicious broths to nurture body and soul. Bone broth is one of our favourites because of its serious health benefits. You can check out our recipe here. Eat it alone, or use it as a tasty stock for heartier soups. Here are our reasons for loving it.
Maximum Nutritional Value for a Minimum Investment
Making bone broth was our ancestors way of using animal parts that can’t be eaten directly. Bones, tendons, ligaments, skin and feet would be boiled for days to make a nutritious stock.
Our ancestors were onto something! Animal bones contain nutrients not readily available from other foods. Simmering releases nutrients into the broth so our digestive system can easily absorb them. Bone broth has over 19 amino acids, collagen, glutamine, proline, chondroiton, and glucosamine to name a few.
Why buy expensive supplements when you can get the same nutrients for next to nothing! Bone broth can literally be made from scraps. Use the carcass from last nights chicken with vegetable peels and apple cider vinegar. Add joint bones (even hooves) from beef, chicken, turkey, or fish to make a more gelatinous broth. For the highest quality choose bones from organic, grass-fed animals.
It promotes gut healing and digestion
Bone broth is a rich source of the amino acids glutamine, glycine, and proline which maintain the health and growth of the cells lining your digestive tract. Therefore bone broth may be beneficial for conditions associated with leaky gut including food sensitivities, fatigue, digestive issues, autoimmunity, and skin problems.
We’ve spoken about the benefits on maintaining gut health here.
It supports joint health and repair
Chondroitin, glucosamine, and hyaluronic acid are also found in bone broth. These nutrients are often used to treat joint conditions because they promote cartilage production and repair. In fact studies have found concurrent intake of glucosamine and chondroitin significantly improved joint function and mobility in osteoarthritis.
It Supports Immune Function
Healthy immune system function is reliant on the health of your gut. In fact a huge proportion of our immune system is actually located in our gastrointestinal tract. Even more astounding is that our immune system interacts with the bacteria in our gut to support healthy immune function.
Leaky gut occurs when gaps form in our digestive lining as a result of poor diet and lifestyle factors. This allows food particles to seep into the digestive tract where they are detected by the immune system. This can result in disordered immune responses associated with systemic inflammation, autoimmune conditions, and food allergies.
The nutrients in bone broth make it one of the most beneficial foods available for restoring gut health. This in turn promotes healthy immune function.
“Bone broth is a medicinal food associated with improved gut, joint and immune health”
Including Bone Broth in Your Diet
Bone broth is actually pretty versatile and can be enjoyed on its own or as a stock for a heartier soup. To gain the full benefits of bone broth we recommend consuming it several times a week (or up to 500mL per day).
We highly recommend using organic ingredients to make your bone broth as non-organic bones may contain undesirable amounts of lead.
Got Questions?
Our Naturopath Carly is always happy to answer your health questions. Go to our Contact Page and leave your questions, comments or feedback.