Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine and let your medicine be your food.” Bone broth is one of the most medicinal foods that you can drink. I love using bone broth in my healing gut protocols for my IBS or IBD (Irritable bowel disease) clients and I love drinking it myself for all its great healing powers. As an athlete, I use it for joint health and instead of Botox, I use it for its natural source of collagen.
benefits of bone broth:
- Heals leaky gut
- Improves joint health
- Boosts immune system
- Supports the adrenal glands
- Great source of minerals – calcium, magnesium, phosphorous & sulfur
- Provides easily digestible proteins
- Nourishes your hair, skin and nails
- Detoxifies the body – glycine found in broth helps to detox the liver
- Reduces inflammation
how to use bone broth
- Simply drink a cup of bone broth as a tea
- Eat it as a healthy snack with an apple or a handful of almonds
- Use as a base for soups
- Use as a liquid in cooking grains or beans
- Use in a sauce or stir fry
bone broth recipe
- 4 quarts water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (this extracts the minerals from the bones)
- 1-2 large onions, unpeeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots, scrubbed and coarsely chopped
- 3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
- 2-3 garlic cloves, lightly smashed
- 2-4 lbs. meat or poultry bones
Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker. Turn on low for 12-24 hours. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes! After cooking, strain the solids from the liquid through a fine mesh strainer and save the broth.
Even if you don’t have a slow-cooker you can still reproduce this recipe on a stovetop, with a large pot on low heat.
You can purchase the bones from your local health food store. Ask the butcher if they sell chicken bones for making soups. Look for feet or neck bones as that is where the collagen is concentrated. Or you can save the bones from a whole chicken and use to make broth.
