Easy, DIY Way to Create An Amazing “Superfood” By Yourself
The first thing you’ll notice about this article is I placed the word superfood in quotations.
This is because I don’t believe in “superfoods,” per se.
Some foods are inferior in nutrition; these are the foods you buy in boxes and have loads of synthetic and processed ingredients.
There are also foods that are good for your health, better for your health, and great for your health.
Saying the word “superfood” is like saying this one food has everything you need to have crazy good health…and I simply don’t jive with that terminology.
I think all foods are super – some just have higher values of certain nutrients than others.
However, it’s all the rage right now to say “superfood,” so I want to bring your attention to a particular kind of food proven to do some amazing things for health.
Now vegans and vegetarians should be warned – this isn’t a food you’ll be able to enjoy, as it comes directly from animals.
The food I’m referring to is bone broth. As people begin to discover more and more about how healthy food byproducts made from animals really are, they’re beginning to use this food to greatly benefit their health.
Here’s a little bit about bone broth and how it dynamically affects your health for the better…
How This Ancient Food Is Helping Heal People Left and Right
Interestingly, bone broth is nothing new.
For thousands of years, people have been stewing the bones of animals, producing a rich and tasty broth people can drink by itself or use as the basis of a rich stew.
Truth is, bone broth can be made from any vertebrate.
When you boil bones, skin, tendons, ligaments, and other parts of animal cellular matter, that part of the animal dissolves into the water.
Once it dissolves, it releases nutritive compounds like proline, glycine, collagen, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur, and glutamine. All of these contain amazing, health-altering compounds.
Bone broth is also incredibly easy to make, and it tastes good too.
One of the easier recipes is directly below. Shortly after you look at this recipe, I’ll share all the amazing things bone broth can do to help you improve your health.
Follow these easy steps as provided by Wellness Mama:
- 2 pounds (or more) of bones from a healthy source
- 2 chicken feet for extra gelatin (optional)
- 1 onion
- 2 carrots
- 2 stalks of celery
- 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
- Optional: 1 bunch of parsley, 1 tablespoon or more of sea salt, 1 teaspoon peppercorns, additional herbs or spices to taste. I also add 2 cloves of garlic for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
- You’ll also need a large stock pot to cook the broth in and a strainer to remove the pieces when it is done.
- If you are using raw bones, especially beef bones, it improves flavor to roast them in the oven first. I place them in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes at 350.
- Then, place the bones in a large stock pot (I use a 5 gallon pot). Pour (filtered) water over the bones and add the vinegar. Let sit for 20-30 minutes in the cool water. The acid helps make the nutrients in the bones more available.
- Rough chop and add the vegetables (except the parsley and garlic, if using) to the pot. Add any salt, pepper, spices, or herbs, if using.
- Now, bring the broth to a boil. Once it has reached a vigorous boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer until done.
- During the first few hours of simmering, you’ll need to remove the impurities that float to the surface. A frothy/foamy layer will form and it can be easily scooped off with a big spoon. Throw this part away. I typically check it every 20 minutes for the first 2 hours to remove this. Grass-fed and healthy animals will produce much less of this than conventional animals.
- During the last 30 minutes, add the garlic and parsley, if using.
- Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Strain using a fine metal strainer to remove all the bits of bone and vegetable. When cool enough, store in a gallon size glass jar in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for later use.
As you can see, it’s a pretty simple recipe and I imagine most of you won’t have any issue making it.
But you’re probably wondering what bone broth actually does for your health, right?
Well, it turns out this “simple soup stock” is actually quite powerful.
5 Amazing Health Benefits of Bone Broth Revealed!
1 – It Helps With Leaky Gut:
One of the conditions needing to be treated in a majority of Americans is leaky gut syndrome. After eating foods that cause inflammation, the gut wall can be compromised. This causes proteins, which are supposed to be digested, to slip into the body and bloodstream where they can wreak havoc.
However, because bone broth is rich in gelatin, this helps repair the intestines.
Another ingredient inside of bone broth is collagen. Collagen is an important blend of essential amino acids which help to form the proteins found in your ligaments, joints, skin, and intestines.
The amino acids that form collagen are also responsible for helping support the health of your colon and entire G.I. tract. Since studies have shown many people with leaky gut (and other digestive issues) are low in collagen, bone broth is believed to help restore it to normal levels and improve gut health.
2 – It Helps Support the Immune System:
You might know this already, but leaky gut is a strong contributor to compromised immune health.
After food seeps into the bloodstream, your body sees these food particles as potentially antagonistic and mounts an immune response against them.
And while these food particles would normally be just fine inside the gut, when your body can’t recognize them it begins to attack them anyway. Eventually, this constant leak of food particles could cause your immune system to go into overdrive.
This can result in a myriad of problems.
When bone broth is introduced in the diet, the collagen and gelatin help heal the gut, which leads to more balanced immune function.
This is also why the old wives’ tale of chicken soup (made from real chicken bones) curing a cold has some scientific basis. After all, the positive effects of bone broth have even been shown to help boost immune health.
3 – It Can Help You Look Better:
Collagen (one of the main nutrients in bone broth) has strong therapeutic effects on aging and damaged skin.
Ever heard of collagen injections? If you read the tabloids in the grocery store checkout line, you probably have.
Collagen injections are locally applied doses of the same ingredient found in bone broth. It helps improve your skin by building a compound called elastin. Elastin (along with other compounds found in hair, nails and skin) is what helps skin remain smooth, elastic, and supple.
It’s even been reported to help banish cellulite. That’s because the cellulite many women hate is generally a result of low levels of connective tissues (made from collagen), producing limp, dimpled skin.
“Double-blind, placebo-controlled studies investigating the age-defending properties of collagen have found that 2.5–5 grams of collagen hydrolysate (CH) used among women aged 35–55 once daily for eight weeks supports skin elasticity, skin moisture, transepidermal water loss (dryness) and skin roughness.
At the end of only four weeks, those using collagen showed a statistically significant improvement in comparison to those using a placebo with regard to skin moisture and skin evaporation, plus noticeable decreases in signs of accelerated aging, all with little to no side effects.”
4 – It May Help Soothe Painful Joints:
Millions of Americans suffer from stiff, creaky joints. It’s something that happens as we age, and many people have early onset of this “creakiness” because of hard living. The real reason joints suffer, though, is due to a loss of cartilage, whether from natural aging or repetitive movements over a long period of time.
Luckily, bone broth can help.
After you slurp down that broth the amino acids forming collagen move toward your cartilage, ligaments, tendons and bones to help regenerate these damaged areas.
Gelatin is also another component in bone broth, and is known to help facilitate healthier joints. This is because gelatin helps strengthen cartilage between joints and helps bones move against one another without pain.
“Research done by the Department of Nutrition and Sports Nutrition for Athletics at Penn State University found that when athletes supplemented with collagen over the course of 24 weeks, the majority showed significant improvements in joint comfort and a decrease in factors that negatively impacted athletic performance.”
Make Your Own Broth Or Get The Extract Directly From Bones
Bone broth is super easy to make.
Just follow the recipe above (or a similar one) and you’ll be on your way to reaping the rewards of this amazing food.
