Bone broth is a super-food for so many reasons. And we (the Balanced Bites Team) aren't the only ones who think so. Chris Kresser, the Weston A. Price Foundation's Sally Fallon, Drs Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet (co-authors of “The Perfect Health Diet“), and Dr. Cate Shanahan (author of “Deep Nutrition“) are just a few of the professionals we respect who recommend bone broth as a traditional “super-food.” We recommend it at every Balanced Bites Workshop.

Many are concerned about how to get calcium when avoiding modern dairy-based foods like skim milk and low-fat yogurt. Though whole, full-fat raw milk or kefir may be fine for some folks, many others find all forms of dairy problematic or digestively irritating. Fortunately, it's actually quite simple to get adequate calcium even while eliminating dairy. Leafy greens (chard, collards, kale and spinach) are rich in minerals like calcium, but – deliciously and easily enough – we can also find minerals AND other health-promoting constituents in traditionally-made BROTH!

Bone broth provides our bodies with bio-available (very easy to consume, digest and absorb) forms of calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and other trace minerals that are so lacking in our diets today. (source: wapf.org) While we can also use vegetable-only broths to obtain certain minerals, without bones in the mix, we won't get some of the other fantastic benefits from the gelatin and collagen they provide.

Your grandmother was right – soup will heal what ails you. But we're not talking about the stuff from a can or even the stock-in-a-box. Soup or broth/stock in a can or box is NOT a whole, real, healthy food. Period. There are ALWAYS additives, fillers or so-called “natural flavors” in those packages – none of which are health-promoting. In fact, it may as well be artificially flavored water. It's not the same as traditional broth or stock, which – in addition to minerals – also contains natural gelatin, another healing substance:

Gelatin was found to be useful in the treatment of a long list of diseases including peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice and cancer. Babies had fewer digestive problems when gelatin was added to their milk. The American researcher Francis Pottenger pointed out that as gelatin is a hydrophilic colloid, which means that it attracts and holds liquids, it facilitates digestion by attracting digestive juices to food in the gut.

(source: wapf.org)

We often discuss ways to heal a leaky gut on the Balanced Bites Podcast; and broth is a great, simple recipe to add to your arsenal to help do just that! You can also order pre-made traditional broth from US Wellness Meats – it's 100% Balanced Bites Approved, and completely different from anything you'd find at the store. It's made in the traditional manner, just like the recipe in this post!

But fighting a cold, combatting disease and healing a leaky gut aren't all broth can help to do: Dr. Cate Shanahan, author of Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food, explains in her interview with Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness that the collagen found in home-made bone broth is a “super-food” when it comes to cellular integrity and in reducing the appearance of cellulite. Yes! There is a way to naturally, and legitimately, reduce cellulite – and it's as simple as incorporating bone broth into your regular diet. Dr. Shanahan says that “cellulite is fat that lacks collagen support” and that “people who have more collagen in their diet… are less likely to have cellulite in their fat.” It's not about just losing the fat – it's about getting back to a diet that will support the structure of your cells.

Now THAT is some DEEP NUTRITION! Ready to make your own? It's simple!