Bone broths (or bone stock) are a staple food in many traditional cultures. People around the world make variations of healing broths using the entire animal’s bones, not like many of us today who don’t have time to make our own or find locally made broth but opt to use the much easier pressed bouillon cube purchased from the supermarket.
Bone broth can be a digestion superfood.
Animal bones and connective tissue are packed with the beneficial proteins collagen and gelatin, which are known for enhancing the appearance of skin. Bones are a storehouse for certain essential vitamins and minerals that we don’t get nearly enough of in our diets today.
Collagen, rich in the anti-inflammatory amino acids glucosamine, proline, and glycine, works on the digestive system by repairing gut lining, improving chronic digestive issues and autoimmune conditions that stem from leaky gut syndrome.
This can help ease joint pain, repair cartilage, and maintain lean muscle mass. If you’ve ever seen a thick layer of gel formed on top of refrigerated bone broth, that’s the collagen that has been released from the bones. (It’s also a sign of a highly nutritious broth!)
You might think that digestion doesn’t have anything to do with skin, but this isn’t the case.
Your digestive system is in charge of absorbing nutrients (which are important for healthy-looking skin), removing toxins (which cause all those nasty breakouts), and keeping you hydrated (dehydration will undoubtedly cause some wrinkles). The gelatin in bone broth helps digestion by soothing the GI tract.
“Broth contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons–stuff like chondroitin sulfates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.” – Sally Fallon
Benefits of Bone Broth
- Bone broth a source of type II collagen
- Reduced joint pain and inflammation; helps in sports recovery
- Promotes healthy hair and clear skin
- Helps to gently heal the gut
- Supports healthy digestion
- Fights inflammation which is the root cause of most disease
- Restful sleep
- Enhances brain function + mood
- Hormonal balance (improved blood sugar levels, reduced cortisol levels)
- Increased energy
- Adrenal support
Making your own bone broth at home begins with befriending your local butcher and asking for soup bones. They’ll know what you’re talking about—those knobby knuckles like the neck bones, and other parts of the animal that have enough meat and cartilage to melt into your broth. It’s recommended not to use bones with marrow (which is pure fat) which can turn a wonderful broth into a broth with a high yuck factor.
Chicken bone broth will take approximately six hours, and beef or lamb bone broth will take anywhere between 16 and 18 hours to simmer and cook. Just let it occupy a back-burner of your stove, hopefully making this during waking hours.
Simmering bones and connective tissue into a broth for 10 to 16 hours enhances the digestibility of these powerful nutrients and makes them incredibly easy for our body to digest, absorb, and assimilate. The easy digestibility of bone broth is why it’s one of the top recommended foods for those with weakened or compromised digestive systems, and others who may have trouble properly absorbing a nutritional supplement.
A bone broth can’t really be overcooked because the point is to break down all of the cartilage until there’s a lot of collagen-rich gelatin in that broth. According to bone broth devotees, that collagen—which makes bone broth cool into a more solid beefy Jell-O when you put it in the fridge—is a protein that’s great for your skin, hair, and nails, and promotes a healthy gut.
If you’d like to eliminate wrinkles permanently, you need to increase your collagen levels, like drinking bone broth daily. You can find collagen in the skin, bones, and joints of (preferably pasture-raised) animals, which makes sense why bone broth is a favorite source of collagen.
Making your own bone broth is fairly easy. Drink enough bone broth, and you will supply your body with much-needed collagen to help prevent wrinkles, promote a healthy gut and overall have a happier, healthier body.
