Bone Broth Is The New Windex: Why You Should Be Adding Broth Into Everything

I always joke that bone broth is the new Windex. For those of you that have seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you’ll know that the dad puts Windex on absolutely everything, convinced it is the ultimate cure. Well, I feel as though bone broth is the new Windex and is truly the ultimate superfood. With its many nourishing properties and countless health benefits, bone broth is something everyone should start incorporating into their diet now.

Here are three reasons why:

One: Bone broth is incredibly healing and nourishing to the gut. Since nearly 80% of the immune system is located in the gut, it’s arguably one of the most significant areas that dictate our health.  Gut health has been linked to countless illnesses as well as a number of food allergies and intolerances,  so it is extremely important to focus on healing the gut. Processed foods, sugar, medications, and stress have all been known to damage the gut, making it difficult to digest foods properly and causing an overgrowth of harmful bacteria, further compromising gut health.

Bone broth yields a variety of gut healing nutrients like collagen and L.Glutamine and is a great source of protein and fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K. Consuming broth on a daily basis is an excellent way to nourish the body, heal the gut, and boost the immune system.

Two: Do you have body aches and pains? Perhaps sore muscles or arthritis? Bone broth is just the healing mechanism you need to help ease inflammation. Broth contains valuable nutrients like collagen and gelatin, which rebuild and strengthen tissues and bones by stimulating the growth of new cartilage in joints. In fact, studies show that doses of cartilage improved rheumatoid arthritis and other degenerative joint disorders.  Broth is also full of vitamin C and calcium, two significant nutrients that support optimal bone structure.

Three: Hydration is essential for optimal health. In fact, many nutritional deficiencies and health problems stem from dehydration. There are two keys to hydration: water and minerals. Essentially, this means both hydration, and your body’s ability to maintain hydration. You can drink water all day long but if you’re not absorbing properly, hydration is not as effective. Bone broth is an excellent source of minerals essential to maintaining hydration. You see, minerals, or electrolytes, are what water depends on for proper absorption. Without these minerals, water is not properly assimilated into the body. Drinking broth throughout the day hydrates the body with essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids and is a great way to ensure proper hydration.

Check out my YouTube videos on how to make bone broth, starting with how to source your bones as well as how to make bone broth. Plus, I have a 4 step process on my blog as well as a number of delicious bone broth recipes. Enjoy!

A nice steaming cup of gut-healing bone broth. Easy to make and wonderful for you!

Bone Broth Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

• Do leave onion skins on while cooking bone broth, it gives it a wonderful color and flavor.
• Do create a discard pile of carrot tops, vegetable ends, apple cores and other typical items you may toss out and freeze until your next batch of broth. This helps reduce food waste and adds extra flavor!
• Do get creative with your broth. Try adding in different herbs, spices, fruits, etc. to spice up the flavor.
• Do be adventurous! Use broth in smoothies, soups, and even oatmeal sweetened with a little bit of honey. This helps you get more broth into your daily routine!
• Do replace water with broth in recipes. For instance, baking muffins, or making pancakes? Add some broth! It also helps lock in the moisture and add extra flavor.
• Do save your broth in ice cube trays – that way when you want a little bit in your next recipe, just pop out a couple cubes.
• Do source your bones from somewhere sustainable and reliable. Preferably, look for pasture raised, no hormones or antibiotics, and grass-fed. Check local butcher shops, farmer’s markets, and even online marketplaces for sustainable meats.
• Do start with a meat stock, and transition towards a bone broth so the gut has time to heal and you can avoid any adverse reactions when implementing broth. More on this topic on my bone broth cooking demo here.
• Do add a sweet potato to your beef bone broths to help neutralize the flavor since the beef broth can be a little more robust in flavor.
• Do start with a chicken broth, as these tend to be the most neutral in flavor and more widely tolerated and accepted. Chicken broth is also an excellent choice when you are thinking of adding broth to recipes like smoothies, oatmeal, etc.

Don’ts

• Don’t purchase random bones in the freezer department of your big box grocery store that are labeled “random bones.” I am speaking from personal experience and they MUST be accurately labeled and humanely raised. Think of this: if the animal was injected with hormones and antibiotics living in inhumane conditions, those nutrients (or lack thereof) will be extracted into your broth for your consumption. Yuck!
• Don’t purchase premade broth from the store unless you have done your due diligence and made sure the manufacturer has sourced their bones from humanely raised animals and is all small batch, hand crafted.
• Don’t add in a bouillon cube to your soup and call it bone broth. It is definitely not the same thing.
• Don’t consume powdered bone broth, as the verdict is still out on whether or not it is actually beneficial for your health. My biggest concern is that it is hard to determine the glutamic acid levels with powdered broth, and therefore can cause adverse reactions in those that may have compromised guts. If you’re looking for a gut healing protein powder, stick to collagen peptides and drink your broth for now.
• Don’t overheat your broth. The best process to making broth is long, low, and slow. So, think 24 hours on low heat and let it simmer for a perfectly gelatinous broth.
• Don’t freak out if your broth doesn’t gel, sometimes it doesn’t happen, and it is still a perfectly delicious broth!
• Don’t scrape off the fat on top after the broth sets, that is an important part in healing the gut! Simply warm up the broth and stir to combine.
• Don’t try broth once and say you hate it and you’re never trying again. Sometimes it takes a couple batches to get things right! My first batch was an absolutely fail. I tried again and fell in love, and could actually feel it healing my body from the inside out. So be relentless, and keep trying and finding the combination of ingredients that work best for you!