Is Bone Broth All It’s Cracked Up to Be?
Bone broth: You've probably heard at least something about it in the past few years, and about how healthy it is. You may have thought that it sounds a little gross…So today I'm going to give you my verdict, mostly on the health, but a little on the taste too!
Mainly, I'm wondering if it's actually good for your immune health, because wouldn't that be the ultimate bowl of chicken soup??
I kept hearing bone broth is good for your immune system but didn't know what the science was to back that up. It turns out, bone broth has amino acids in it, namely arginine, glutamine, and cysteine.
You may have heard of these amino acids from supplements/vitamins: for example, l-arginine does everything from healing wounds to helping kidneys remove toxic substances, to your immune system, to help your arteries relax…which is of course great for your heart!
However, it's also possible to get too much of a good thing, and some studies have shown that l-arginine SUPPLEMENTS have such a large amount that they can cause abdominal pain and bloating, and diarrhea too.
So even though it's good for you, it probably makes more sense to get it naturally through foods like red meat, fish, nuts, and bone broth!
So now you know why bone broth is good for your immune system. But even better, the other two amino acids, glutamine, and cysteine are good for your immune system for completely different, equally beneficial reasons!
Glutamine is great because it fuels your immune cells, like white blood cells.
And if you've been injured or had surgery lately, your levels of glutamine in the blood may have decreased due to it trying to heal you. If this is the case, your body will break down MUSCLE in order to get more glutamine. So that means, you should be sipping more bone broth than ever if you've just had an injury or surgery, or your body will break open the muscle piggy bank to get to it. Nobody wants that!
What about the last amino acid, cysteine?
You can get it from chicken or turkey, and, of course, from bone broth! It's super important since it gives you more of the antioxidant glutathione. (I know I'm throwing a lot of random amino acids and antioxidant names at you here!) The benefits of this awesome antioxidant include brain health, kidney and liver detox, and even fertility!
So it's great to know that the main amino acids that are so prevalent and potent in the form of bone broth are good for your immune system. And it's especially good to know that the reason they're so beneficial to the immune system is because of how they aid functions and processes around the body and heal it!
But, OK…What about the TASTE?
Most people I've talked to you about it agree that it doesn't taste like typical chicken broth. It's not as naturally flavorful, and that's partly because you're not going to have all that salt artificially added!
Bone broth is also a little more oily, too. You might like it right away, or it might be an acquired taste.
Either way, my best recommendation is to try it in one of your favorite soups or stews or adding it to another savory dish that usually includes chicken stock, like mashed potatoes.
Or if you do like the taste, then don't think of it as just "broth" that you HAVE to use with soup or in recipes…But think of it as its own drink that you can consume by itself.
Just get a tiny little cup, heat it up, and drink! Maybe not the yummiest thing you ever could have imagined, but it's the elixir of life!!