Why chicken bone broth is the ultimate cold & flu cure
posted on
October 12, 2018
Chicken bone broth is not a magical pharmaceutical pill that masks symptoms and likely stresses your body. Instead, it is a nourishing food that naturally allows your body to heal itself more quickly, especially from viral infections like colds and flus.
There are two big reasons for this:
1. Chicken bone broth is packed with essential nutrients and healing ingredients.
Chicken bone broth contains over 19 easy-to-absorb, essential and non-essential amino acids - the building blocks of proteins. It’s high in potassium, magnesium, and phosphorous. Bone broth also contains generous amount of gelatin/collagen, which is great for the digestive system, which can be compromised when fighting infection.
Of course, the nutrient density and quality will be dependent on the quality of chickens used. Make sure to source your chicken bone broth from reputable farmers who raise pastured, soy-free chickens without anything synthetic.
2. Chicken bone broth is easy to digest and gifts your body extra energy for healing.
When you eat food, your body has the taxing job of breaking down the food. Your body then uses the useful parts for energy and healing.
When you consume bone broth, your body expends no energy to break it down. It’s gifted a smorgasbord of nutrients. Your body can eliminate the stressful digesting process and focus solely on healing.
Chicken bone broth is different than regular chicken broth.
Regular chicken broth is boiled for just a few hours. It’s made to draw the chicken flavor into the water for taste (and I won’t even start on the fact that many store bought chicken broths aren’t even real and are made with lab-produced meat flavors).
Chicken bone broth is cooked for 24 hours or more and draws all the nutrients out of the bones.
When my kids are sick, the easiest way to serve them chicken bone broth is with a mug full of warm “chicken tea”.
I season the chicken bone broth with salt to taste. If I feel like an extra boost is needed, I add a couple pinches of turmeric.
Chicken bone broth is a great base for easy soup.
Basically, get the broth boiling, add ingredients, season with salt and pepper, and serve with a grain. Here’s an idea list of fall ingredients you can add to a soup:
- Veggies - carrots, cabbage, garlic, winter squash, kale, green beans, peppers, celeriac, leeks, potatoes, and so on. This list could be very long.
- Grain - quinoa, rice, couscous, pasta, crackers, or a hearty chunk of sourdough bread.
- Protein - Meatballs, sliced pork or beef, chicken cubes, tofu.
Although the time for simmering is quite long, bone broth is quite easy to make with minimal labor required.
First, fill a pot with 4 quarts water, 1⁄2 cup apple cider vinegar, and about 3-6 pounds of bones. Let it sit for an hour so the apple cider vinegar can leach minerals out of the bones. Add 3 onions, 3 carrots, and 3 celery stalks, largely chopped. Add water to cover everything. Bring to a low simmer, cover, and let cook for 24-72 hours.
Your house will smell amazing. The longer it cooks, the more nutrient-rich your broth will be. Cool it, strain it, and add sea salt to taste. You know you have a nice broth if it is very gelatinous, almost not pourable when cool. The broth will keep for about a week in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer.
