Boil Your Bones – The Miracle of Bone Broth

Miracle you say? How many times does something live up to the hype? A miracle drug may help with an illness but they rarely live up to the hype. Because of the Paleo movement bone broth has come back into the health food scene in a big way.

Yet good old chicken noodle soup was always there just waiting for you and always welcomed you with open arms. The long loved cure for the common cold isn’t necessarily the chicken and noodles as much as it is the broth that it comes in. The old way to make it was to simmer chicken bones for long hours till all the nutrients came out of the bones and into the broth. Chicken noodle soup lives up to the hype and is so good that I even know die hard vegetarians that will eat chicken noodle soup with the chicken removed when they are sick.

You want the scoop on soup made with bones? Here’s the breakdown…

1. Excellent source of minerals.
2. Helps boost the immune system
3. Improves digestion
4. Improves your crickety old joints
5. Encourages hair and nail growth
6. Helps reduce cellulite by supporting smooth connective tissue
7. Helps to remineralize of your teeth.
8. Reduces allergies
9. Helps Lower Blood Pressure
10. Perhaps most importantly, it is the perfect food to allow your body to heal

Talk about a miracle drug. Where do I sign up?

Making bone broth is simple. Have a big pot of water and fill it with bones leftover from other meals. Add a few vegetables and spices such as onions, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper. I personally like to add turmeric or a little curry powder as those spices also help lower blood pressure. Simmer it for as long as you can, preferably the whole day. The first hour or two you need to check it every 20 minutes and skim off any debris that boils to the top. Many five star restaurants keep a pot bone broth simmering constantly, and use it as broth for their other dishes.

The key ingredient is actually apple cider vinegar. You can use even a white vinegar, but what vinegar does is help dissolve the calcium holding the bone together and helps release the nutrients and minerals into the broth. You want more calcium in your diet right?

Bone broth provides you with nearly every mineral your body needs to function well and stay healthy. It contains a mineral called glucosamine that is currently sold in pill form for people suffering from arthritus and joint pain. Instead of paying for an expensive pill why not get something like bone broth that is both much less expensive and better for you?

The gelatin found in bone broth attracts and holds liquids, including digestion juices, thereby supporting proper digestion. If you have ever heard of leaky guy syndrome this helps fix that.

The amino acids found in bone broth help reduce inflammation in your whole body. Arginine in particular has been show to reduce whole body inflammation know as sepsis. The amino acid glycine also has a calming effect which may help you sleep better.

The collagen found in bone broth is an even bigger miracle. How would you like to drink this and have healthier, smoothly, wrinkle free skin. Collagen helps you look younger by increasing the connective tissue in your skin which tightens it and takes some of those troublesome wrinkles away.

In all my years in studying health I can hardly say there is a better food out there. Sure there may be a few foods that are so rich in antioxidants that they come close to the healthful benefits of bone broth, but no single food is so effective and covers so many health issues as bone broth. In researching this topic I discovered this quote that says it all…

“Good broth will resurrect the dead” – South American Proverb

Couldn’t say it better myself!