With a rich history and nutritional benefits, you just cannot ignore bone broth and weight loss. There have been limited studies and research to back up the benefits of bone broth, yet there is enormous evidence to these facts.
This article stretches your knowledge on Bone broth and weight loss, its other benefits, home preparations, and side effects.
What is bone broth?
This is a healthy drink, soup, sauce, or gravy, which is made by boiling animal bones and connective tissues with water, herbs, spices, and in some cases vegetables.
Simmering the bones in water is done for a long period to harness the benefits from this drink and most commonly cow, chicken and fish bones are used.
This beneficial diet supplement has nutrients like calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, cartilage compound, vitamins A & K, fatty acids, and collagen –gives the body amino acids.
Difference between broth and stock
On several occasions, the terms Broth and Stock are used interchangeably and in some cases wrongly applied.
The difference, however, comes down to the ingredients and the cooking time. You could add to that, the way you use these two, but they are often used interchangeably.
What is stock?
Stock is a liquid made by simmering animal bones, vegetables like carrots and celery, and herbs like aromatics in water.
This (stock) mainly takes on the use of bones than meat such as chicken, beef, pork, and probably fish.
This liquid (stock) usually cooks for a long time on average 5hours.
This makes it thicker than Broth. The long period makes it concentrated since the collagen is released.
A flavourful stock would contain meat, vegetables and herbs to give the obtained liquid a good flavour.
Stock is commonly used for sauces, gravies, stews, braises, soups, and other recipes.
What is meant by Broth?
The broth often takes on simmering meat in water, together with vegetables and herbs for a relatively short period –on average 2hours.
To differ from stock, broth requires regularly seasoning and comes off as a thin and flavourful liquid, which does not stick after chilling.
Due to the thinness of Broth, it is most commonly used in sauces, dumplings, gravies, soups, and other dishes as a cooking liquid.
One may ask;
what about Bone Broth?
Bone broth is a superfood that entails simmering bones or cartilage in water for a longer period than the regular stock.
Adding vinegar or any other acidic component eases breaking down of connective tissues but other than that, stock and bone broth are similar.
What type of bone broth is best?
Bone Broth could possibly be the most healthy drink that you have taken or are yet to take.
Still, trust me when I say this, it is worth every trouble.
With a variety of bone broths out there, it is time-consuming to go on goose chess trying to figure out which stands out of the crowd.
The best type of bone broth question will definitely zero down to someone’s preferences.
However, the homemade beef bone broth usually has a richer flavour than the chicken bone broth.
On the aspect of nutrients, the beef bone broth has a variety of minerals and omega-6.
While the chicken bone broth is a good source of proteins –just in case you want some of that in your diet.
Does bone broth help weight loss?
Dr Kellyann Petrucci has alluded on the power of drinking bone broth to losing weight.
Where she has pointed out the studies that were conducted on a 21-days diet plan.
Where people had low carb meals together with intermittent fasting.
These studies were not conclusive, however, it cannot go without taking notice of the remarkable benefits drinking bone broth has, and hence aid to weight loss.
Bone broth is a source of Proteins, Collagen and Gelatin, which are enhancement of skin appearance.
In addition, keeping the body full for long periods, and thus supporting the high-calorie deficit. All this points to weight loss.
Read Different ways of how to curb cravings for sugar
How does this really work?
Like anyone in the nutrition or health field would advise; consume much fewer calories than you actually burn to lose weight.
The consumption of Bone broth will keep you hydrated, full for long hours, and in that, you will not eat a lot of processed foods or sugary food items.
Therefore, you will not have many calories intake in the due process.
In addition, when combined with calories burning activities, say walking, will cut on your weight significantly over a period.
How do you use bone broth for weight loss
In relation and comparison to other diet plans, aimed towards weight loss.
The bone broth diet is an easier ride to the weight loss destination. At least to many that have used it.
Bone Broth diet is arguably the best way to enjoy the broth and still lose weight.
As Dr Kellyann Petrucci put it, the bone broth diet is a 21-day diet plan that involves two non-consecutive days of mini fasts every week.
Plus following the low-carb + paleo diets for the other five days.
Read: The best homemade low carb smoothies
Proteins, fruit, coffee, tea or water, vegetables, Salt or spices like vinegar, and healthy fats like avocados, are foods that should be eaten on the days one is not fasting.
As per Petrucci’s findings, you could possibly lose around 15 pounds and 4 inches, but none of these studies has been conclusive or confirmatory.
There is absolutely no barrier to extending this diet after Dr Petrucci’s 21 days in cases where you feel there is a need to lose more weight.
At Forever Super Slim, we highly recommend that you consult a health professional before taking on the diet.
Other benefits of drinking bone broth.
This liquid of simmered bones and tissues is very beneficial to our health apart from losing weight.
Those with skin defects, drinking bone broth could be your thing. Keep reading to discover more.
1. Bone broth is very nutritious
Depending mainly on the contents of Bone Broth drink, the nutrient content could be different.
The animal bones contain Magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus and some other traces of minerals –all which build and strengthen human bones.
Fishbones contain iodine, essential for healthy thyroid functioning and metabolism.
The connective tissue in the bone broth supplies the body with natural compounds from cartilage, which boost joint health.
Still, the tissues and bones have collagen, when cooking; it turns into gelatin –providing the body with amino acids for building blocks of proteins.
The marrow contains Vitamin A, Vitamin K2, Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Selenium, Omega-3, and Omega-6 fatty acids.
After simmering the ingredients of the bone broth, the nutrients push into the water, which makes it easier for the body to take them in.
2. Digestion and Fight against Inflammation
Apart from bone broth being easy to digest, it aids the digestion of other foods in the body.
The gelatin contained in bone broth is key to this benefit, as it binds to water in the digestive tract thus easing the movement of food through the gut.
Still, the gelatin has amino acids that keep the proper performance of the intestinal wall, and thus a health solution to Leaky Gut.
Therefore, drinking bone broth can be very beneficial to people with Leaky Gut, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) like ulcerative colitis.
The bone broth drink has amino acids, glycine and arginine, which have very strong anti-inflammatory properties.
The inflammation connected with obesity can be fought with Arginine, alone.
Even if some inflammation could be necessary, terrible inflammation may be a gate pass to serious diseases. For example heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis and cancers.
Hence, a good habit to drink bone broth.
3. Joint Health and fight osteoarthritis
The main protein in bones, tendons, and ligaments is Collagen.
When in the preparation process of bone broth, bones and connective tissues produce gelatin, which contains amino acids that improve and promote joint health.
Still, gelatin contains proline and glycine that are essential to building the body’s connective tissue like tendons.
Furthermore, the glucosamine and chondroitin –natural compounds in cartilage, reduce joints pains and lessens the conditions of osteoarthritis.
4. Brain Performance and Sleep
Bone broth has amino acid glycine that induces a relaxation sense and this promotes sleep.
It’s worth noting that people who drink bone broth before bedtime have a night of better sleep and rarely wake up during the course of the night.
Moreover, a number of studies have shown that people who have adequate and better sleep, have better brain performance.
Hence, another reason to keep a bone broth drink by your side.
How to make bone broth at home?
Honestly, Bone Broth takes a length of time to make, but it is extremely simple.
Here is how you can go about it at home on your own;
Assuming you had roasted chicken a few days back, or probably you happen to have chicken bones stored somewhere. Go ahead and save them in a large bowl.
Add water, preferably filtered water, until the bones are covered. That is between 10 – 13 cups of water.
It’s better to add apple cider vinegar, that’s 1-2 tablespoons, to break down the collagen thus making it plentiful in the bone broth
Boil the mixture and go-ahead to reduce the heat to a simmering level. Cook gently for not more than 13 hours to have that intense flavour form.
Which bones are the best for bone broth?
It is a common situation to ponder on the best bones to use especially if you are making bone broth for the first time.
It is important to give this a critical thought because the choice of chicken, beef, fish, or lamb bones makes all the difference as per the flavour of the bone broth.
The other vital aspect would be the intended usage of the bone broth.
Bone Broth as a drink
In cases where the bone broth is to be drunk as it is.
Then chicken and beef bones would give off a mild enough flavour for the bone broth.
Fish broth is overly fishy and lamb broth is very greasy.
Bone Broth as soup/stew
Then in instances of using the broth as soup or stew.
Chicken, beef or lamb bones can play the role of beef soup, beef soup, or lamb stew.
Among the four options, chicken is the most versatile, and easiest to get.
Don’t we love our well-made rotisserie chicken? If you do, then do not throw away the bones after a good meal.
Put these bones in a pot of boiling water, add vinegar and cooking the bones for 12 – 24 hours.
This will get you a thick rich bone broth containing healthful minerals and the collagen.
Beef and lamb have marrowbones, leg bones, and the knucklebones, joints and feet of the animal with each offering its own health benefits and properties.
These, when cooked for up to 72 hours, softens them making it easy to have the delicious marrow from the inside of the bones.
Balancing of insulin levels and fighting obesity are some of the benefits of bone marrow.
The release of collagen from knucklebones creates gelatin, which makes bone broth thick and rich in taste.
With lots of collagen it improves the skin appearance, hair and nails.
With the knowledge of each animal’s bones’ up and downsides, togetherw the intended use of the bone broth in mind, the decision of what bones to use is already halfway done.
How much bone broth should I drink daily?
The quantity and amount of bone broth one should consume on a daily basis depends on different aspects.
For instance, say personal health goals.
When on the bone broth diet plan, drinking up to 6 cups of this health drink on just a single day is ideal.
Contrarily, when you are simply aiming to ease joint pain or enhancement of muscle growth, then 2 -3 cups a day is ideal.
If the objective is to improve overall health, then, achieving at least 2 cups for a day is quite enough.
Can you have too much bone broth?
The health benefits for drinking bone broth are many. Thiscan tempt an excessive consumption of this drink, or probably increased simmering time, which can have downsides to some people.
Side effects;
Some people can experience these symptoms after drinking bone broth;
- Seizures (dry mouth, sneezing or a runny nose)
- Digestive upset (Severe gut issues)
- Brain fog
- increased heart rate
- Headaches
- skin flushing or itching
- Mood Swings
- Tics (muscle, joint, or back pain)
- swelling in your hands or feet
- Hyperactivity (hot flashes or increased sweating)
- ADD/ADHD
- Autism spectrum
Why bone broth could be bad for you
The above side effects are subject to occur due to, either a reaction to the glutamine content or the histamine content in the bone broth.
All which point to excessive consumption of one or both of these substances.
MSG is a culprit to increase the level of glutamic acid in our bodies.
Simmering the bone broth for long increases the amount of glutamine and histamine contained in the broth hence a problem to less tolerant people.
Experiencing the mentioned side effects of drinking bone broth simply means reducing the time of simmering or the consumption of this drink.
In any case, please consult your local health personnel for proper guidance.
The bottom line;
Drinking Bone broth has health benefits all of which which cannot all be written in a single session of writing. It is worth including in our diets.
