A Reason For Change: Bone Broth
When it comes to bone broth, everyone seems to be getting in on the action. It’s been gaining popularity in grocery stores, on restaurant menus and online, getting attention from websites like MSN.com, Forbes, Web MD, Cleveland Clinic and more, all compiling articles that highlight the many benefits of consuming bone broth. While it’s been used for millenniums and has folklore benefits on almost every continent, it gained popularity in the United States through the Whole 30 and Paleo dietary movements and even more so about 10 years ago when Kobe Bryant’s use of the nourishing broth in his recovery and regular routine became public information.
It turns out Kobe wasn’t the only one taking advantage of the benefits though. Top performing athletes like Tom Brady, JJ Watt, Aaron Rodgers, the LA Lakers team (thanks to their nutritionist Cate Shanahan), and now many runners and triathletes have adopted bone broth into their regular routine because of the many nourishing and healing benefits it offers.
Bone broth is made by slow cooking pastured bones, water, and a good quality vinegar at the most basic, but additions of vegetables, herbs and spices bulk up both the benefits and the flavor. You’ll find stocks and broths being used in traditional cooking around the world today in places like Italy, France, the Middle East, Korea, Japan, China and more, but unfortunately, modern American culture incentivizes and encourages a fast-paced lifestyle that doesn’t much lend itself to slow foods like broth. As a result, many people who cook at home use boxed broths that have all kinds of additives. More recently brands like Kettle & Fire and Bonafide have popped up taking much more pride in the quality of their ingredients and the health benefits of the product they put on the shelves, but you just can’t beat the homemade version of bone broth. In my opinion (from years of experience), nothing elevates a soup, sauce or chili like a good broth!
When properly prepared using vinegar to draw the minerals out of the bones, bone broth has minerals like potassium, magnesium, and calcium that the body utilizes as electrolytes. It is also incredibly high in gelatin which aids digestion and has the ability to sooth digestive disorders.
It's gentle on upset tummies and so nourishing. Growing up the go to when some sort of sickness settled in was saltines and ginger ale and while there’s wisdom rooted in consuming ginger, a sugar laden soda version is hardly helpful. You're overloading an already weakened digestive system with processed flour, a long list of preservatives and a hefty dose of sugar.
If you work with us, you’ll hear us talk about bone broth often. It’s a regular part of our homes, showing up in mashed potatoes, chili, chicken soup, chicken and rice - pretty much anything that calls for a liquid, we use bone broth if we have it on hand. My husband works long hours and I work a couple days a week as an art teacher, homeschool our kids and support my husband at all of the home athletic events at his school but we’ve found rhythms that allow us to incorporate bone broth into our routine and we know you can too!
Adding nourishing foods into your diet is crucial and we’d love the opportunity to walk you through making them a part of your daily life.
