Supplementing Healing

Healing from chronic illness can be expensive when you’re trying to do it properly. It may be cheaper to rely on allopathic medicine and Big Pharma, but the ultimate cost will be your life. These jars hold a key component to natural healing and the contents can be whipped up for next to nothing.

 

I have been having an increasingly difficult time maintaining my good progress lately. Foods are starting to bother me again and I’m feeling run-down and exhausted. I tried to back track in my food journal to see what the possible culprit could be and I definitely noticed the change happened after I eliminated the folic acid from my cocktail and added in the Mg Malate. Adding the folic acid back in is not an option since I have the MTHFR mutation, but I could try eliminating the Mg Malate for awhile and see if I improve.

Getting my intestinal permeability under control is top priority and I feel like I should be making way more progress than I am. I have been on 1 tsp of L-Glutamine for nearly 4 months now and attempts to up the dose were unsuccessful. I have a list of supplements that Dr. Guru and Dr. Lynch have recommended I incorporate into my routine and I had to finally stop and ask myself, “Why can’t I get these nutrients from whole foods?” My gut is damaged and digestion is compromised, but is it realistic to assume my body is able to metabolize synthetic supplements? To me, it makes more sense to focus ONLY on the gut right now, and add in the other stuff later. I recalled reading about the healing properties of bone broths and I set out to do some heavy research on making stocks. This led to the discovery of the GAPS diet and further reading on traditional cooking, whole foods, and specialized diets. So much to learn!

I decided that the GAPS diet probably wasn’t going to work for me due to the low carb requirement. My weight has dropped dramatically in the past 6 months and has yet to stabilize, so cutting out fruit and the handful of starchy vegetables I do eat didn’t sound like the best plan. Not to mention, I read this account of a young woman who ended up frighteningly ill and that was enough to scare me away from GAPS!

Many of the Paleo and GAPS-related blogs I have been frequenting talk about the healing power of making stock from the bones of different protein sources. The possibilities are endless: lamb, goat, turkey, chicken, beef, fish; and the benefits are astounding. Bone broths are rich in gelatin, minerals and amino acids that the body needs to heal from the inside out. I tried my hand at my first batch of lamb stock last week and it turned out great! I was nervous that it wouldn’t gel (this is the evidence a perfectionist cook needs to verify that the stock was prepared properly and is chock-full of the gut-healing nutrients), but the next day, I picked up a jar and it was wiggle-city! YAY!

Making bone broth is an easy and cheap way to supplement your healing from chronic illness. Sure, the cost of pastured or grass-fed meat is higher, but you can get more bang for your buck by using every last bit of the leftovers! Not to mention, it’s a LOT cheaper than multiple bottles of supplements with questionable contents! Here is my step-by-step guide to awesome broth:

1)  Reserve bones from pastured or grass-fed animals. Store them in the freezer after you’re done eating. You can also reserve the heads and bones from whole, wild-caught fish.

2)  When you’re ready to make the broth, put the bones in your slow cooker (I use a Hamilton Beach brand because there is no lead in the ceramic. Many slow cookers have lead in them!) and add enough FILTERED water to cover.

3)  Add 3-4TBS of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar (DO NOT OMIT THIS!) and let the bones sit for an hour.

4)  Turn the slow cooker on high and cover it. When it starts to simmer you’ll notice foam and “scummy” bits floating to the surface. Skim this off. This step generally takes me about 5 hours total in my 6 Qt cooker. I check on it every hour or so.

5)  Turn the slow cooker to low and leave it to gently bubble. Chicken stock takes 12-36 hours. Lamb, goat, or beef 36-72 hours. Fish takes 6-12 hours. The longer the slow simmer, the more nutrients you extract from the bones.

6)  Strain the stock through a coffee filter, mesh strainer, or cheesecloth and store in glass mason jars. It should gel in about 24 hours with a layer of fat on the top. You can render this for cooking or eat it with the stock.

7)  Consume 2-3 cups daily for optimal healing and use the rest for cooking in place of water or make homemade soups!

8)  For larger bones, you can repeat steps 2-7 for a second (and sometimes third, fourth, or fifth!) batch. The first batch is going to be the most nutrient-laden, but the subsequent batches will still be great for cooking and soups.

TIPS:

– At step 3 you may also add a TBSP of sea salt (NOT table salt), peppercorns, and fresh veggies (carrots, celery, onion, garlic, etc) to increase the mineral content. Don’t add parsley until the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

– With stock, the old saying, “Garbage in = garbage out” holds true. Use the highest quality meats and veggies you can. Locally grown or organic are best. If you use commercially raised and processed meats, you will need to skim a LOT of scum during step 4 and you’ll probably never want to eat commercially raised meat or poultry ever again.

– You can just as easily make the stock on the stove. You can even start the process on the stove, skim, and then transfer the stock to the slow cooker to finish.

– The stock can be boiled down and frozen (use ice cube trays) and then reconstituted for use in order to save space.

– Be sure to boil the stock you store in the fridge every 5 days or so. If you aren’t going to use it in a week, freeze it.

– Keep the layer of fat on the stock! This helps protect it!

–  If you’re following a rotation diet, cook up a few different stocks to fit into your rotation. Snapper heads work great for fish stock. Omit the veggies and herbs so as not to develop an intolerance.

–  You’ll know when the bones are no longer good when they start to break down and are soft. Some people reserve the marrow and some like to eat the softened bones for an excellent source of calcium.

–  For extra gelling-power and even MORE nutrition when making chicken stock, add a few chicken feet or a head to the pot. If you live in Western New York, Freeman Homestead sells a bag of feet and heads for $3 each.

– Be aware that adjusting to consumption of bone broth may take time. It is very nutrient-dense and some people have trouble with large quantities at first. Try skimming the fat if you have trouble digesting it, dilute the broth with a bit of filtered water, or start with small amounts and work your way up. I overdid it the first day I made my lamb broth and my body went into a mini state of broth-shock!