Bone broth is a highly nutritious stock made by simmering animal bones and connective tissue. Recipes for bone broth often include an acid-based product, such as vinegar or lemon juice, which breaks down the collagen and connective tissue and leaves a tasty, nutritious liquid commonly used in soups and sauces.
Bone broth is high in many nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, collagen, and gelatin, which may provide impressive health benefits. Some people drink bone broth to lose weight, improve their skin, and nourish their joints. Bone broth is easy to make at home using a few simple ingredients.
Remember the first time you had green juice? If you were anything like me, you scoffed at drinking your salad until you couldn’t throw a pebble without hitting a juice bar. It became de rigueur to have a cold cup of kale after a yoga class (one that costs more than dry cleaning a Prada blouse). Plus, cute, health-conscious boys could be there sucking down some wheat grass. What isn’t hot about that? Even though at first I fought it, I now say, “Apple, kale, cucumber with a little lemon,” like I grew up sucking it from my mother’s teat. The truth is, it’s pretty damn delicious. Now that we’ve succumbed to green juice, what else is coming around the corner? Why could it be hot meat juice?
30-second summary:
- Bone broth is emerging as a trendy health food, offering skin, hair, and overall health benefits.
- Both bone broth and green juices can contain ginger, which aids digestion and has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Bone broth is rich in gelatin, collagen, and glucosamine, which help repair the intestinal tract, soothe the digestive system, and support joint health.
- Bone broth may also improve skin, hair, and nails due to its amino acids, collagen, and minerals like magnesium, potassium, and calcium.
- Broth can strengthen the immune system, as it contains a variety of nutrients and anti-inflammatory components.
Because macerated veggies in liquid form weren’t healthy enough, the gods of all things sprouted and organic have decreed that the next trendy, all-consuming new health food shall be (read in a booming, God-like voice): Bone Broth. This is nothing new to grandmas around the world or Gwyneth Paltrow (obvs).
Nonetheless, we, too, shall suck the marrow dry of the broth bacchanalia. But is this broth simply green juice in a meat-flavored suit? Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of leafy greens and their meatier sister.
Both bone broth and green juices can contain ginger. This not only aids in digestion but is also anti-inflammatory. Plus, it tastes great. If you have tummy trouble, bone broth with ginger is healing to your gut and one of the best things to eat if you have IBS, food sensitivities, or just partied too hard the night before.
Bone broth, unlike green juice, is filled with gelatin and collagen, which help to repair and heal the intestinal tract, soothe the digestive system, and heal your gut.
There’s nothing like joint cartilage to heal joint pain. It’s a little like cannibalism; it sounds like a zombie comic book, but it’s less gory and actually true.
Glucosamine is part of healthy, normal cartilage found in many joint pain supplements and bone broth. Juicing concentrates the healthful compounds in plants, allowing the benefits to be metabolized more effectively than eating whole fruit or vegetable.
Some of nature’s candies may increase joint mobility and reduce swelling: pineapple, papaya, blueberries, grapefruit, spinach, collard greens, kale, pears, apples, carrots, and beets, to name a few. But if joint relief is really more of what you’re looking for, get something meatier and broth it up.
Bone Broth is also great for skin, hair, and nails. This is an added bonus in the cold, windy winter in the city. Maybe I can stop spending so much money on beauty products and just drink bone broth instead (she says as she crosses her fingers and hopes for a miracle)?
These meaty juices have amino acids, collagen (which is in practically every skin product ever and in your skin), and minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium, glucosamine, and gelatin. Do meat’s counterparts, veggies, contain such wonders? Yes. Yes, they do.
Carrots have an insane amount of vitamin A, otherwise known as beta-carotene. This is a mega antioxidant, along with vitamin A and C, which produce collagen to support skin elasticity. Kale, beets, and parsley are runners-up in “we can replace your La Mer moisturizer.” Just kidding. I can’t afford La Mer. I also can’t afford $11.50 for organic veggie juice at Juice Press every day, but here we are.
As we all know from Grandma’s Famous Chicken Soup, the broth is known for strengthening your immune system. There’s a real reason for eating chicken soup when you’re sick—besides an excuse to get a pastrami special delivered from Second Avenue Deli while you wallow on the couch.
Broth is said to ease inflammation because of the vast array of nutrients that are necessary for every bodily function (yes, even pooping). So next time you’re feeling constipated, suck down some bone broth and let things start to flow.
Most of the broths’ veggies are high in vitamins that help bolster the immune system. Also, there’s that ginger, which is technically a root, is also in bone broth and is the superhero of reducing inflammation.
Here’s the thing, though: A small cup of broth is $5.50. I could get a large coffee and a bagel with cream cheese for that. Which, by the way, is also comfort food.
Marco Canora, who owns Brodo, a broth-only takeout window in Manhattan’s East Village, is quietly usurping the many juice joints that dot the neighborhood—nay, all of Manhattan—with his organic, grass-fed bone juice. He claims a daily chug of bone broth helped him recover from his bad habits of drinking too much booze and smoking too many cigarettes.
So is bone broth the holy grail of foods? Can it get me a healthy relationship and an engagement ring too? Isn’t this putting too much pressure on hot meat juice? I mean, isn’t bone broth just soup stock in a different package? I guess so, but if it can make your hair shinier, I’ll give it a try.
It’s said that 1 to 2 cups a day, combined with traditional fats like butter, coconut oil, and beef tallow, can prevent wrinkles. It will also make your breath smell like a barn, but it’s a small sacrifice for the fountain of youth. However, I don’t want to ruin this for you kids out there, but the trendiest food of 2016 is soup. Weird, right?
Iskra Banović is our seasoned Editor-in-Chief at Blufashion. She has been steering the website’s content and editorial direction since 2018. With a rich background in fashion design, Iskra’s expertise spans across fashion, interior design, beauty, lifestyle, travel, and culture.
