A New Spin On an Age Old Remedy
Written By: Emily Crawford, Holistic Nurse Coach
If you have been alive long enough you will live through experiencing fads twice. The return of bellbottoms and platform shoes to games such as the ever so popular Pokémon and now to the return of chicken stew. Everyone knows that when you get sick the remedy your body craves the most is chicken soup. Sipping the hot, fatty, peppery soup seems to immediately make you feel better. And now chicken stew seems to be making a return and becoming extremely popular. Though it has changed a little and is now known as bone broth. Bone broth is a historically known way of mixing bone and connective tissue of beef, chicken, turkey, or fish, and cooking them down with vegetables to create a wonderfully nutritious bone broth. Bone broth lately has become very popular for it’s ability to fight inflammation and joint pain, by providing nutritional building blocks such as glucosamine, chondroitin, hyaluronic acid, calcium, and magnesium. A wonderful side effect from taking the bone broth is also the benefit to hair, skin, and nails. By supporting collagen formation, bone broth is great for building strong hair, nails, and bones. But probably the most interesting fact about bone broth is it’s ability to help heal and seal the gut.
Seeing people with multiple food allergies and autoimmune diseases is much easier today than in the past. With the lifestyles we are choosing to live we are not always getting a proper diet. Long-term use of diets high in sugar and lacking beneficial bacteria can lead to what is called leaky gut. Leaky gut means that our intestines have little tears in them that allow the food particles to leak into the rest of the body. When this happens the body looks at those particles as foreign invaders and this can cause havoc on the body. Many autoimmune issues as well as psychological issues have been linked to leaky gut. It is believed that the broth is high in all types of collagen, and the collagen can work as a band-aid to help repair intestinal issues. Bone broth is also high in many amino acids. There is an abundant amount of glycine found in bone broth, which is necessary for cellular and liver detoxification. As much as we try to eat right and stay away from toxins this world is full of harmful chemicals that our body protects us from on a daily basis. Glycine is essential in supporting our body through this process. With so many benefits it is easy to see why bone broth has made a come back. Thankfully it has returned as a powder form so it is easy to incorporate into your daily diet!
