Boost your wellness with this super bone broth protein

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posted on

November 15, 2019

First, let’s get this straight. Bone broth is not a regular stock or broth. It’s the superhero of stocks. Some call is liquid gold.

Where stock and broth are boiled for a few hours, bone broth is simmered for up to 24 hours. Bone broth should also contain vinegar, which draws additional nutrients from the bones.

There are a lot of amazing benefits of bone broth, but today we’re going to focus on one - collagen!

Collagen is a protein that contains specific amino acids that are essential for rebuilding bone, connective tissue, and skin. These little amino acids do so much for your overall wellness.

According to ConsumerLab’s reviews, 1 cup of store bought bone broth contains anywhere from 2.5 to 11.5 grams of collagen. I assume that a homemade bone broth made from quality pasture raised bones (you know, the kind that’s like jello at room temperature) would have 11.5 grams of collagen or more per serving.

There are many nutritionists, health coaches, and practitioners that recommend collagen supplements anywhere from 10-15 grams per day. So 1 cup of bone broth per day would cover it. And, since the only side effect of too much collagen (if that’s even possible) is a tummy ache, feel free to have as much as your body says it needs.

Collagen helps repair a leaky gut.

Your intestinal walls are made up of microscopic folds or “villi”. The villi are built from amino acids in collagen. The collagen literally seals the leaks.

Collagen improves the appearance of your hair, skin, and nails.

Starting at about age 35, you naturally start to produce less collagen. This is one reason why your hair may get brittle, your skin becomes less elastic and starts to form wrinkles, and your nails may be weaker. Adding more collagen to your diet is a great way to make your hair, skin, and nails smoother, firmer, and silkier.

Collagen impacts your joint health.

Like oil in a car, collagen allows your joints to move smoothly. As you age and collagen depletes, adding more collagen to your diet will help ease any pain or stiffness when your body moves.

Collagen supports bone formation, growth, and repair.

Your bones are made of ⅓ collagen. This is what allows them to be flexible. Adding collagen to your diet may support bone health by increasing the mineral density. There are studies that show collagen can also help with osteoporosis.

Collagen also supports your heart and liver function.

Specific amino acids in collagen can help your liver and heart repair itself from the damage caused by normal function.

And a great thing about bone broth is that it’s easy to make. You can find our bone broth recipe here.

It’s important to note that the quality and source of your bones will significantly impact the quality and amount of collagen in your broth. Please make sure you are sourcing from farms like ours that raise truly pastured animals.

Miller’s has a bunch of bone options for making an excellent bone broth: beef marrow bones, beef bones, pork bones, chicken neck and back, stewing hens, and more!

To make things a bit easier for you, we created a bone broth collection where you can buy bone broth as well as ingredients to make it yourself.

And please remember to not throw away the leftover bones from your steaks, roasts, and other cuts. Those can be made into bone broth within a few days, or stick them in the freezer (along with your veggie scraps) for making bone broth later.

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*Photo by Jules

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Health and Nutrition

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Your gut. Is the perfect synergistic probiotic a pill or fermented food?

*Warning: I'm not a doctor and I don't have any degrees in nutrition. This is my opinion on the topic. Last weekend, Aaron and I went to the Documenting Hope's conference in Orlando. It was for both parents and doctors who are helping kids heal from chronic illnesses... in a holistic way. It's such an important cause that aligns perfectly with our tagline "Inspiring Health Generations". We had a table and loved feeding everyone yummy and pure snacks. I also had the pleasure of attending some of the talks. One of my favorite talks was from Star Edwards MS, RDN/LD titled "Where's Bifido? Missing Bifidobacterium, Impact on Child Health, and Restoration Strategies⁠". It was all about gut health and balance and its affects on the immune system, the brain, and overall wellbeing. One thing that really stuck with me were the warnings about probiotic pills. First off, probiotic pills are super potent. They can completely throw off the balance in your gut. Star advised people to get tested for what's actually in their gut first. This is so you can know which strains are too low or high. Then, you can determine the right probiotic pill to correct any issues. And then, you want to get tested again 6-8 weeks later to make sure those little pills had the desired effect. Second, probiotic pills need to be formulated properly. If they're not, then "probiotic" strains can compete with each other and cancel each other out. Then, they're not doing you any good at all. Wow! This got me thinking about balance in nature and in living things and therefore our gut and our food. It made me wonder -- Would fermented food naturally be in balance? Would eating fermented foods be better than taking probiotic pills? After all, they're living things and we're living things. So of course I did some research. And I mean there are A LOT of studies on probiotics and gut health. But, it seems that science is conflicted when it comes to probiotics. Here are a few reasons why: It's the same story as any FDA-approved product. The companies do the studies (and lots of them) that prove their product is superior. They set the parameters and goals to achieve the desired result. It's hard to determine which studies are unbiased.The limits for whether something is considered "probiotic" or not is set by the FDA. And the bar is set for probiotic pills that seek approval. The limits are so high that, by those standards, fermented foods don't meet the regulatory criteria to be considered "probiotic".Gut health is a holistic approach to health, which is hard to prove with modern science. Every body is different and will react differently. Every person has a different diet, sleep habits, exercise routine, etc. There are too many variables to conclude definitive health outcomes based on probiotics in the gut alone. Although science in conflicted on which kinds of probiotics are best and the precise benefits of each, there are a couple things there is scientific consensus on: Eating probiotics (whether in pill or food form) alters the microbiology of your gut.The balance of gut microbiology directly relates to your health and wellbeing. So... back to the main topic. Are fermented foods more synergistic than probiotic pills? Since science is kinda out on this one, I think we need to rely on our gut instinct (pun intended) to make the best choice for ourselves. So I'll tell you my perspective. I personally believe in a more ancestral way of eating. How about you? 200 years ago everyone ate pure food (without weird chemicals or additives). Everyone cooked. The soil was packed with nutrients and regenerated by nature. And... people fermented food. If not eaten immediately, many foods will ferment naturally. It's why we have cheese, kefir, yogurt, salami, sourdough bread, kombucha, etc. Humans found that they could still eat it... and it tasted pretty yummy too. And maybe most importantly it helped preserve food over winters and for travel. But... fermented foods were only considered edible if they tasted good. If the microbiology in a fermented food is out of whack, it just doesn't taste good. That's when bad molds and other weird stuff grows. That's when our body's response is to spit it out! In other words, fermented foods need to be in balance microscopically. And they need to align with our taste buds. So, in the most natural and ancestral way, I believe that fermented foods that you think are yummy must be the most synergistic way to boost and balance your gut microbiology. How is your gut health? Do you do anything in particular to help keep your gut in balance? Have you noticed any changes after working on your gut? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below ⬇️