Bone Broth and Kidney Stones- podcast

Chanca Piedra

And so is chanca piedra, which I promised I would mention after my previous podcast about my kidney stone!

Now, these two items- bone broth and kidney stones are related, so stay tuned and I will explain.  I got my kidney stone from, I believe now, actually overdosing on spinach for years and years!  Contrary to popular belief, spinach has gotten a “halo of virtue”, and we all think it is nothing but loads of beneficial vitamins and minerals, all in a pretty green package.  But it also has oxalates, which are a chemical or ester that protects the spinach plant.  And the wheat plant, the rhubarb, the raspberry- in fact, many plants that we tend to regard as all good!  

They’re not.  And if you, like me now, have ever experienced the utter pain of a kidney stone, you will realize that.  But in addition, this chemical, which is stored away in the form of calcium crystals throughout the body of those of us mammals that dare to eat the plant that contains them, can cause all sorts of pain and illness in the human body.  

From joint pains, to tooth and bone density issues, to sleep troubles and digestive issues!  Oxalates are like gluten and gliaden- insidious, harmful, and hard to track or trace.  Kidney stones are just one of the more obvious contamination issues.  But I have two suggestions for you:

First- get rid of your kidney stone, if you have one, as fast as possible- pass by the urologist and the incredible pain and expense he will offer you, and order a bottle of chanca piedra for about $12.  Take a dropper full in each of the many, many glasses of water you should also be drinking to get rid of the dang thing, and hold on tight!

And above all, from now on go on a low oxalate diet!  I would drop spinach entirely, along with rhubarb, beets, and raspberries- oxalate levels in each of these are off the charts.  Of course, I hope you are already off of wheat, since that is also high in this poison as well as gluten.  And step two?

Heal your gut!  A leaky gut opens you to every disease under the sun, so get to healing it.  Bone Broth is the best tool for this that there is, helping to sooth, heal, and finally seal your gut lining- this is really job #1 in both health maintenance and health restoration!  As Hippocrates said so long ago: “All health begins in the gut.”  And it turns out he was right.

Once again, the best web site I have found on oxalates and their dangers is this one: https://sallyknorton.com/  Read through what she has to say, and take it to heart.  I have no affiliation with her whatsoever, but I recognize excellence and knowledge when I see and hear it, and Sally Norton has it.  Take her advice, along with mine, and heal thyself!

Get Healthy with Bone Broth

There is one simple, tasty addition to your life that is the closest thing to a cure-all that I can name- bone broth!  Bone broth is simply the bones, the marrow, cooked down for at least 12 hours into a miraculous, life-sustaining liquid.  A tasty liquid, that contains so many health benefits it is hard to believe.

I think the primary benefit is its gut healing ability.  Virtually everyone in the developed world has a damaged gut lining!  Gluten and gliadin (from wheat) GMO products, processed foods, fast food, NSAID medications like aspirin and tylenol, ibuprofen and the like, stress itself, along with a lack of enough good, restful sleep all result in a permeable gut lining.  Such a damaged lining exposes you to 

ALL AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES!

ALL OF THEM

Do I really need to list them all?  Let’s just toss out a few- type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and even cancer are all basically autoimmune diseases, where cells in the body are attacking other cells in the body.  All can be traced back, ultimately, to a permeable, or leaky gut, where “invaders” can pass right into the body through the leaking “holes” in the gut lining.

That is really enough, right there- but the benefits go beyond even that- joint pain is relieved by the injection of the glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate that are contained in bone broth- why would you buy expensive supplements to do the same thing?  Also, bone broth is a better protein supplement than any you can buy, and much more assimilable.  

Bone broth will also improve your sleep, supply hard-to-find nutrients that will also improve eye health, vastly improve skin and hair health, (your hair will probably become thicker and shinier within a couple of weeks of use), and even improve your mood, digestion, and protect you against depression and mood swings!  

You probably are wondering- “How can I get this miracle into my life?”  At least you should be!  Well, it is really easy, and inexpensive too…

Just get a big pot, (a crock pot is ideal), and after you have prepared a pastured chicken for dinner, take all of the bones and connective tissues (the feet and neck and organs too if you have them!), and simmer them for at least 12 hours.  Put in a splash of apple cider vinegar to help break down the minerals in the bones, and some sea salt, and you are done- just strain out the bones in a colander or strainer, and put into canning jars.  Or else, just leave in the pot, and ladle out a cup of so throughout the day to sip on.  

Here’s the thing- I know many of your eyes are glazing over about now!  “(I hate to cook, I don’t have pots, or canning jars, or a crock pot- I never even use my oven!)”

Sadly, this is the current sad state of the cooking/health world.  If this is you, don’t despair!  Do two things:

1. Buy a good, organic bone broth in a box that you can easily heat in your microwave.  (Pacific Brand is excellent, and widely available).

2. Begin to learn to cook.  Not only is it incredibly important for your overall health- knowing how to cook is as important, perhaps more so, than learning to exercise, stretch, and otherwise care for your body!

I’ve been without a kitchen for a couple of months, as we remodeled our ancient farmhouse kitchen into a modern farmhouse kitchen, one with very usable, state of the art appliances, range, and space.  In the interim, I learned about how good, organic bone broths are available now, so making your own is not required.  This is a wonderful state of affairs for health!   I’ve also read good things about Kettle and Fire bone broth, if Pacific is not in stores near you.

If you have listened to me for any length of time, you know I am kind of a broken record about things health-wise.  Here is my broken record, repeating endlessly:

“Have a green paleo smoothie each day”, “Do Perfectly Paleo Exercise Daily”, “Walk and run barefoot, or with Xero Shoes, outdoors in Nature as often as you can”,  and now “Drink a cup or two of bone broth, every day!”  

I don’t know if this is you or not, but another one is this: “Learn to cook! Especially to grill, if you are like me!”  None of this stuff is hard, in fact, each thing I listed is one of the high points of my day!  What is hard??  

Remodeling a kitchen!

Add in the GOOD STUFF! Podcast #117 for Paleo Jay's Smoothie Cafe

I think one of the crucial parts of a healthy, Paleo type of health transforming diet that is NOT noticed by most, is the fact that, unlike the standard mainstream diets- like “Low fat High Carb”- which is the standard American Food Pyramid- the key point is to add in good, natural foods.

It is really NOT to “eliminate bad foods”!  Of course, I want you to eliminate toxic, processed foods.  Fake Foods like modern “altered/fake” wheat.  Fake Foods like soda pop!  Fake foods that are anything low fat!!  And fake foods like vegetable oils, which are chemically and industrially extracted- ALL OF THEM!

But that’s it- just take care of that, and you will start to feel better quickly, and forever.  Health conditions will start to drastically improve, and you will feel amazingly better!

But don’t stop there!  Many do; they just start getting rid of things that are obvious toxins, like donuts and breakfast cereals, and think:

“Well, I’m feeling way, way better!  I’ve lost a lot of fat weight, and my brain feels alive and well- what should I eliminate next??”

This is the mindset that develops:
“Since I improved my health so much by eliminating wheat, low fat dairy, and processed crap foods- where should I eliminate next??”

And the person goes on to eliminate

 All dairy, full fat included
Most FAT, including really good, wonderful fats like olive oil, avocado and coconut oils!
And they cling (especially women) to the misguided notions that calories need to be drastically limited!!

Those are the common, and most pernicious “denials” of the self fulfillment of maximum nutrition and healthiness.

Here is the PaleoJay prescription for maximizing your health, in a Paleo way:

Drink a Green paleo smoothie each and every day!  At least 16 ounces, which is one canning jar full.
Eat a LOT of fat!  Good fat, pastured butter, coconut oil, lots of cream in your coffee from pastured cows if you can get it.  Olive oil, fatty grass fed beef, pork, and chickens!
BONE BROTH!!
 Seafood, at least once per week, minimum!

If there is one thing important for your health, after a really nutrient dense foundational item like a Green Smoothie, it is bone broth.  Just do it!  Take the bones from your grass fed beef, chicken, or pork- put them into your slow cooker filled with good quality water, a little apple cider vinegar, and some sea salt. Simmer for about 24 hours, and then drink some, or just can it all (sans the bones!).

I mean, just ladle it into canning jars, cap with the lids, and line up in your fridge like little soldiers...

Just like I hope you have little canning jars (16 oz. seems ideal) of a Paleo Green Smoothie lined up on one side of your fridge, on the other should be these little bone broth soldiers.  They are ready and waiting, to march onward to maximizing your health and wellness!

At least a couple of times per week, heat up some bone broth in your microwave, or else use it as the base, the broth, to make soup, or another dish.  You can easily drink it plain, as a hot beverage, or you can add it to a good quality canned soup to make it super soup!

However you do it, this will do more for your body than anything else, except for your Paleo Green Smoothie, which you should have every single day as a “foundation of health”.

I like to think of it as the “nectar of the gods”!  Or else the fountain of youth!!

And if you add in bone broth??!   Well, just add some canned sardines to that as the main course...

Now, we are talking AMBROSIA!!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #93 The NEW Paleo Miracle Drug!

It is often said that there is “nothing new under the sun”.  And this is no exception- the “new paleo miracle drug” is actually as old as fire- but it is a miracle drug nonetheless!

This paleolithic elixir is bone broth.  Not just soup stock, which is when you boil bones and ideally the marrow and connective tissues as well, but bone broth, where you simmer the bones to extract the very essence of human nutrition and healing; and you extract them for at least 12 hours, and as long as 48 hours or more!

This is the key for maximum health benefits, and what separates bone broth from the mere flavoring agent of simple beef or chicken stock.

Not only will bone broth give you all of the nutrients needed to heal problems with your joints and bones (it really works miracles in that department), bone broth also heals your gut, which is so very important.  Listen- all of us have damaged, or “leaky” guts, where bad cells can slip through our digestive tracts and right into our bloodstream. 

This is where all autoimmune diseases have their start!  And these are the diseases that are killing, and hurting all of us so badly.  Name the scariest diseases you know- they are all autoimmune, in which the body starts attacking itself.  Cancer, arthritis, alzheimer’s, chron’s disease, diverticulitis, type 1 diabetes, and even heart disease is initially a form of autoimmune disease. 

And ever since we started eating massive amounts of gluten from genetically altered wheat, and adding tons of chemicals to our environment in the form of pesticides, herbicides, fluoride and chlorine, along with antibiotics in our meats and more chemicals in our toxic cleaning products... well, back when I was young, in the 1950’s, Cancer was quite rare!  As were most diseases- I never even heard of diabetes until I was grown, and it only struck old people.  Now, autism, diabetes, cancer- almost everyone winds up with one or several of these horrible diseases. 

Not to be a PollyAnna, which would be to take the name of my little sister, Polly Ann in vain, but simply taking in bone broth on a near daily basis would counter most of this insult.  Bone broth heals your gut lining- better than anything else!  Along with eating LOTS of green veggies, ideally in the form of a green smoothie, and grass fed meats and pastured dairy, bone broth will heal you, and make you immune to most of our modern enemies:

I guarantee, if you get out your slow cooker, put in some soup bones (my favorite is a Marrow Bone!), a chicken carcass, or a combination of bones from healthy animals, add a little sea salt and apple cider vinegar (just a splash, to help get the minerals out), and let it simmer for a couple of days, and then drink a cup- you are on the road to health my friend!

Healthy skin (this first is actually quick, and quite remarkable, since the skin is the mirror of the gut)- clear and healthy. 

Healthy weight- proper digestion ensures satiety, and you will not desire junk foods like sweets and pastries

Above all- a healthy gut!  This is important for the whole human body- Hippocrates himself said that all health comes from the gut!

You can either keep the slow cooker simmering away for days and days, or you can do like I do:  I simmer a couple of days, then ladle into canning jars, leaving the sick little depleted bones behind.  Put the canning jars into the fridge, and heat up whenever- I try to have a cup or so per day.  You can even whisk an egg into the cup you have heated in the microwave, and “instant egg drop soup”!  Tastes great, too...

Or, you can use them as a soup base, as I did with my PaleoJay’s chili earlier this week.  OR, you can take one 16 oz jar of bone broth, and add some new potatoes, carrots, grass fed stew meat and onions- slow cook them for about 2 and 1/2 hours- and then do like I am going to do right now:

Go eat my beef stew!

So be like me; be BAD TO THE BONE!

Check out this episode!

Easy Crock Pot Bone Broth, or "Perpetual Soup"

Ok, so I have NOT gotten around to making bone broth yet, at least on a regular basis.  My bad!
Then, I ran across this article by Jenny McGruther of the Nourished Kitchen blog- simple, endless, steaming quantities of bone broth are now mine! But, I prefer the term Perpetual Soup... 


Here is the blog article, which I saved to my new Pinterest page for your boney delectation and general health: Bone Broth

In a nutshell, I have 1/2 of a chicken in the crockpot, topped with a bunch of vegetables, some bay leaf seasoning, and some cracked pepper.  I can pull out some cooked chicken whenever I'd like this week, and can strain out the broth from a ladle through a coffee filter... a week from today, after a solid week of perpetual soup steaming away on low in the crockpot, I will take what is left, along with the mushy bones that still have good nutrition left in them, and throw them in the Vitamix to grind them up, and make additional, freezable soup stock- perhaps this will become an additional ingredient in the daily Paleo Smoothie- we will have to see how this experiment works out, but it seems both promising and likely!

As always, I shall keep you posted,

J

At the "Bone Broth" gardens;
actually the "Friendship Gardens" in La Crosse

Bone Broth!

One of the best things, nutritionally, that you can do for yourself and your family is to make bone broth.
This is where you take a chicken, fish, or beef carcass or bones and just... simmer them, taking the numerous, incredibly nutritious nutrients out of the bones and connective tissues, and getting them into the broth!  

From the broth, it goes into your soups and stews, and then...into you!

There is almost nothing in your body that does not benefit from bone broth:  your digestive lining, long insulted and destroyed from years of grain eating and S.A.D.  Standard American Diet, will be able to regenerate with all of the minerals, collagen, and calcium and magnesium (among other unidentified nutrients!) that the bone broth provides.

"But Jay" I hear you asking, "Just HOW do I make it?  I'm not a chef, and as a creature of the present, a veritable zoo animal, I don't know how to do any of the basic things our forebears knew as a matter of course! (But, I do have a stilted, old-fashioned way of talking...)"

Well, here is how:


Traditional Bone Broth in Modern Health and Disease
by Dr. Allison Siebecker
Bone Broth letter


Introduction
Broth, made from the bones of animals, has been consumed as a source of nourishment for humankind throughout the ages. It is a traditional remedy across cultures for the sick and weak. A classic folk treatment for colds and flu, it has also been used historically for ailments that affect connective tissues such as the gastrointestinal tract, the joints, the skin, the lungs, the muscles and the blood. Broth has fallen out of favor in most households today, probably due to the increased pace of life that has reduced home cooking in general. Far from being old-fashioned, broth (or stock) continues to be a staple in professional and gourmet cuisine, due to its unsurpassed flavor and body. It serves as the base for many recipes including soup, sauces and gravy. Broth is a valuable food and a valuable medicine, much too valuable to be forgotten or discounted in our modern times with our busy ways and jaded attitudes.


Definition
In general, broth is a liquid made by boiling meat, bones, or vegetables. There are many types of broths, based on what is being cooked. For example, Bieler Broth, a vegetable broth made with green beans, zucchini, and celery is a supportive remedy used in detoxification or cleansing protocols. Consommé, a rich broth made from meat, is another example. It is prepared by reducing, or prolonged simmering. Stock is another word used synonymously with broth, though some chefs denote stock as being made from bones whereas broth is made from meat. In this paper the two names are used interchangeably. Soup is a similar term referring to simmered vegetables, meat, and seasonings, and is defined by Random House Webster's Dictionary as a liquid food.1 The difference is that soup contains solids such as meat, beans, grains or vegetables (sometimes disguised by a purée) while a broth is the liquid in which solids have been simmered and then discarded. Soup is what we think of as having for a meal. Broth is a starting ingredient for soup, and must be prepared separately beforehand.


Method
The ingredients are as follows: bones from an animal, with or without meat and skin, enough water to just cover the bones, a splash of vinegar, and optional assorted vegetables or their scraps. Making broth requires almost no work, just put the bones in a pot, add water and vinegar, bring it to a simmer and walk away. No chopping or tending is needed.


Why then, don't people make it? Stock needs to be prepared in advance to mealtime. It needs to boil for hours, and the longer it simmers, the better it gets. An easy solution is to routinely put meat scraps into a pot, instead of the garbage can. Broth can just as easily be extracted from a single chicken breast bone as it can from a whole chicken, and it need not be raw. Broth can be allowed to simmer on lowest heat for a day or two. The greatest amount of work is at the end, when it must be strained, cooled, and put into containers, still not very troublesome. It can be kept in the refrigerator for about five days, or frozen for months.2 With stock on hand, homemade soup can be ready for dinner within 20 minutes. 


So, there you go!  Just save up all of your bones and carcasses (like chicken breast bones and fish carcasses, stripped of meat, and beef (soup) bones, and simmer them.


Really, really easy.  And the health results are WAY better than what you will get from the latest trendy, pricey, groovy supplement you can but for big bucks!

It's like training, naturally, in your living room or yard... not only far easier, convenient and cheap:

BUT FAR MORE EFFECTIVE AS WELL!

J