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How Bone Broth can preserve your youth

Have you ever consumed bone broth before? Do you even know what bone broth actually is? I discovered bone broth about 10 years ago when one of my holistic nutritionist friends suggested I start consuming it to speed up my recovery after my hip surgery.

The first time I heard what it  actually was I cringed my face and asked “ Do people actually drink this?” Bone broth is a liquid that is made from animal products and connective tissue. To make bone broth people use chicken, cow and fish bones. I was young, and I have not had an opportunity to expose my virgin taste buds to traditional remedies just yet. However, when I learned the benefits of bone broth on joint health and digestive system I made a definitive choice to give it a try. Clearly Athlete’s Kitchen beat me to it. They have been aware of these benefits all along. When I decided to try their meals I learned that all of them were made with bone broth to help increase the overall nutritional value and improve the preservation process of the meals.

  • Improves Joint Health

Do you ever hear your knees make noise and you start remembering how limber you used to be in your early 20s. The thing is your cartilage starts to wear down and shrink over time as we get older, the wear and tear from different activities creates additional stress on our joints making them become more stiff. What if there was some kind of magic substance that could slow down this process. Apparently, there is and it is called collagen. 

The gelatin that is found in the bone broth breaks down into collagen, which is vital for improving our joint health. Collagen is a building block of bones. In recent research that appears in the journal of Sports Medicine it advocates the fact that both laboratory and animal studies show an increase in the amount of collagen in tissues due to gelatin supplementation. It boosts calcium absorption, improves bone mineral density and helps maintain bone strength.

At the time of my recovery I was supplementing my diet with glucosamine chondroitin pills – a nutritional supplement that aids joint health. I had to take my pills 3 times per day, and often I would forget. So when I found out that glucosamine is a compound that is also found in bone broth it made my decision about consuming bone broth so much easier, especially because I always struggled to remember to take my pills.  I am sure you can relate. 😉 I bet some of you are thinking right now: “Shoot, I forgot to take my vitamins this morning!”

  • It Is highly nutritious

Bones are very rich in different vitamins and nutrients. You may have heard your parents say at a dinner table as you are finishing up a drumstick “Don’t throw the cartilage out. We can use it.” Now I get why. Brewing bones together with connective tissue into bone broth provides the body with an array of vitamins and nutrients.

When making bone broth it is best to include different types of bones and tissue to diversify the nutrient profile to get the most out of the bone broth. 

It is very difficult to estimate how much of any nutrient will be present in any batch of bone broth but depending on the types of bones you pick the bone marrow is rich in: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin A & K, iron, fatty acids, selenium, zinc and much more. We do not always get these elements in our diet; consuming bone broth could be a healthier alternative to supplementing your diet with pills.

  • Gut Health & Reduced Inflammation

If you ever shopped at a supplement store they always suggest you supplement your diet with glutamine because it aids your digestive health and helps you with muscle recovery. Bone broth actually has this amino acid present in ample amounts, so you could be saving yourself a couple of bucks.

The study in the journal of Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care demonstrates that glutamine supplementation helps heal the intestinal issues in humans and animals. 

I, personally, supplemented with 10-20 grams  of glutamine powder daily, but ever since I started drinking bone broth, I noticed better digestive health even when I forget to take my glucosamine supplements. 

Due to anti-inflammatory properties of amino acids such as glutamine, drinking bone broth daily can drastically decrease irritability of your gut and improve your digestive health.

Summary

It does not matter whether you are a professional athlete or you simply enjoy staying active, in the end we all want to be healthier, move better and live longer. 

My choice has become apparent to me – as I age, if I want to be able to run, play sports and be active, incorporating highly nutritious foods is the way to go, and bone broth is one of my go tos. I have been incorporating it in my diet for the last 10 years and I absolutely love the positive effects it created on my health.

Knowing that Athletes Kitchen makes all their meals using bone broth was a deciding factor for me. It clearly showed their passion to go above and beyond to deliver their customers with the best.

I have enjoyed many different meal prep companies over my years being a fitness coach. Many of them tasted incredible, but none of them were able to match the nutrient density and food quality of Athlete’s Kitchen.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5633631/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3150191/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27749689

By: Nikita Curins

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TAGS
Amino Acid, bone broth, Carbs, Endurance, Energy Balance, exercise, Fats, Fiber, Macronutrients, Maintenance, nutrition, Performance, training
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