I recently had a conversation about nutrition with my 84-year-old father, who dedicates time every day to learning more about natural health and ways of keeping himself vital as he grows into old age.
As a child, his family grew, raised, and made all their own food. He didn’t have a pantry stocked full of packaged foods, nor was he raised on food made of ingredients he could not pronounce. In the 1930s-40s, nutrition was simple and food was food.
He told me a story of his grandmother, who would use the bones of any animal they ate to make bone broth. Back then, incorporating the rich and tasty soup into her meal plan wasn’t about the incredible amount of minerals and nutrients that bone broth could provide, it was about utilizing all their resources to serve their needs.
Little did my father know back then, but all that naturally organic, nutritionally-dense food would build a really solid constitution that my father could depend on throughout all the years of his long, healthy life.
Today, bone broth has re-appeared in meal plans in our current health-conscious culture. My father and I have found that this healing food and its benefits are impressive.
The Benefits of Bone Broth
Bone Broth as an Anti-Inflammatory
Many common diseases are a result of inflammation in the body. Bone broth is full of amino acids such as glycine, proline and arginine, which have anti-inflammatory effects. These medicinal qualities can intervene with cold and flu viruses before they require full immune response. Bone broth nourishes the body so that the immune system remains strong.
Bone Broth for Bone Strength
Bone broth’s mineral content is especially high in calcium and magnesium. This helps to support healthy bones. As we age, we lose bone density, so it’s important to get sufficient calcium through our diet and nutrition.
Bone Broth to Strengthen Digestion
Along with cold-pressed juice, which is packed full of healing benefits, bone broth is amazingly healing for those with a weak digestion or who are already sick and wanting to build their digestive strength through nutrition. If you provide a healthy diet of solid foods to someone who has a compromised immune system or weak digestion, sometimes it won’t help them. That’s because digestion requires energy and a strong system in order to break down and utilize nutrients. In contrast, bone broth and raw juice are both incredibly important for healing, as they can easily nourish a weak system and help strengthen digestion.
There are lots of different ways to make bone broth and its benefits and incorporate it into your meal plan. There really isn’t a wrong way, and you can find different variations online.
Bone Broth: An Old Fashioned Remedy
Ingredients
- 2-3 pounds of organic chicken/beef bones
- Gizzards (optional)
- 4 quarts cold filtered water
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch parsley
Instructions
- Fill up a large stockpot (or large crockpot) with pure, filtered water.
- Add vinegar and all vegetables except parsley to the water.
- Place the whole carcass into the pot.
- Boil and remove any scum that rises to the top.
- Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and let simmer.
- The meat should start separating from the bone after about 2 hours. Separate the meat from the bones. Place the carcass back into the pot and continue simmering the bones for another 12 hours (at least).
- Add the fresh parsley about 10 minutes before finishing the stock, as this will add healthy mineral ions to your broth.
- Remove remaining bones from the broth with a slotted spoon and strain the rest through a strainer to remove any bone fragments.
