Why Do I Still Recommend Bone Broth?
Old News Can be Good News
Bone Broth may be old news for some, but I thought there may be some people out there that haven’t heard about the benefits of Bone Broth.
One of my favorite subjects to share with people is how the diets of our ancestors were so much healthier than our modern diet.
They may not have had the science to know why, but our ancestors sure knew what they were doing. A great example is bone broth. There are broths made from the bones and joints of larger animals like Bison, Elk, Deer and, of course Cows. As well, there are broths made from the whole carcasses of chickens and turkeys and then there are broths made from the bones, heads and shells of sea foods.
From a Traditional Chinese medicine perspective, broths made from bones and connective tissues are tonifying to both the Yin an Yang of the body and are also settling and calming to the Spirit. From a scientific perspective, the benefits are many and, given today’s most common health concerns, this old school tradition may be coming back just in time. This article is going to be about some basic medical science that proves the benefits of bone broth. This will be linked to a step by step recipe to get you started at home.
All of these minerals, except fluoride, are essential in significant amounts every day from our diets. Calcium is necessary for healthy nerve conduction, muscle contraction, heart function, stable moods and hormonal balance as well a participating hundreds of enzyme reactions. Phosphorus is essential to the activation and regulation of energy production and is essential to healthy the replication of our DNA. Magnesium is essential in over 300 enzyme pathways and is necessary for the proper use of proteins and fatty acids. It helps your muscles contract and relax properly and ensures that we have healthy nerves.
Magnesium deficiency is the most common mineral deficiency in the developed world and a major factor in weakened immunity. Luckily people who regularly eat bone broth are absorbing 130 to over 2,500 percent more magnesium than people on a modern diet.
I could go on and on about the rest of the minerals, but I think I have made my point. The easiest way to get the most bio-available minerals, in the proportions of a living body, is bone broth. Think about it this way, we may be either putting money (minerals and proteins) in the bank or we are spending them, possibly to the point of an overdraft, weakening our whole bodies, especially your bones. Taking supplements with only a couple of bone nutrients like calcium and magnesium is, unfortunately, insufficient for maintaining or rebuilding healthy bones.
Sodium and Potassium are essential nutrient and also your primary electrolytes. Electrolytes help “pump” fluids in and out of cells, blood vessels and membranes and also enure proper conduction in nerves, contraction in muscles and the release of signaling molecules like hormones and neuro transmitters. In an Ancestral Diet there is a sodium potassium pump that occurs throughout the year that ensure the proper storage and release of Vitamin D.
Sulfur is also very essential to good health. It helps you build strong connective tissue like cartilage and membranes like your skin and fascia. Sulfur also helps with the production of many enzymes, immune system antibodies, hormones and even some of the B vitamins. Sulfur is also essential for your liver to detoxify itself and produce effective bile.
The integrity of your mucous membrane has almost unbelievable impact on your health.
A strong and well fed mucous membrane keeps you from absorbing the bad kind of chemicals, parasites, microbacteria and fungi (and their poop) into your blood stream. This membrane, with the support of your Lymphatic system make up the greater proportion of your immune system’s actual effort.
If this membrane breaks down you are at risk of developing Leaky Gut Syndrome, the suggested cause of all Auto-Immune disease.
Cartilage is a shock absorbing structure in your body, has a necessarily small blood supply in order to keep it dense and strong. This is ensured by very specific enzymes that inhibit the growth of blood vessels. These enzymes have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumors and are now an accepted part of treatment. This has to do with Angiogenesis, which I will cover in another article.
It is important to cook a broth long enough to ensure the cartilage dissolves into the fluid and mixes in with the dissolved gelatin. It is important to know that cartilage is made up of the same substances that make up your mucous membrane, a membrane and substance that is, by necessity, indigestible. Once the cartilage is dissolved and dispersed something subtle and almost magical happens. The surface tension or thickness of the broth drops below that of your mucous membrane making it highly absorbable.
As well, the tendency of these molecules to attract and absorb water ensures that your digestive enzymes have maximum surface area to interact with all of your yummy broth and ensure that you will immediately begin assimilating the nutrients in the broth.
So, there you have it. A few of the reasons your Grandmothers or your ancestor’s Grandmothers almost always had a pot on the stove or Clay container over the fire making sure we had good broth and that we used all of the parts of the animals we eat.