The new buzz word in health seems to be Bone Broth! Everyone is talking about it's effects on the gut! They claim it's playing a major role in curing IBS, Crohn's and most digestive track issues? This old fashioned remedy has re-surfaced, maybe our grandmothers knew things we have long forgotten.
Bone Broth awareness first came across my path as I was doing an online marketing course for my book, I know, strange but true. In the middle of a class, my marketing coach launched into a 15 min video on Bone Broth and the benefits of it. She proceeded to show us all how to make it, chicken feet and all, and told us why we should be drinking it for our optimum health! Very odd for a marketing coach who is not coaching about health or cooking, she's all about marketing your business. So, I took notice and made a plan to brew some up in the near future.
The second time it came across my path was in my yoga class, one of the men there had cured his rheumatoid arthritis by using Bone Broth and changing to the Keto way of eating. He was in a wheel chair and after 4 months of using Bone Broth and following the Keto eating plan, he was walking again and has never looked back. He is now in my Kundalini yoga class doing all the moves, he rides his bike and walks with no problems, how could I not be intrigued?
So that's twice Bone Broth had come across my path and this morning it was a third time. I always take action when I hear about something a third time because then I know for sure that the universe is nudging me along to take notice. At my workout this morning, I spoke with a lady I’ve known for years who works out at the same time I do and I knew she was a Life Coach. I mentioned to her how great her energy felt and how good she was looking, she told me she's almost finished a 21 day new eating program, guess what it was? Yup, you guessed it, the Keto way of eating and Bone Broth. She said that on Sundays she has a group who go to her house and they all make it together and would I like to join?! Yes! No coincidences, my “gut" feeling is that this is now the universe directly speaking to me! I’m listening.
So now I'm full on researching the effects of Bone Broth and the Keto way of eating on our health! One of the worries I had with the Keto plan is the amount of protein from meat. My mind has been conditioned to believe that animal products are high in cholesterol and will lead to heart attacks so that can't be good for me yet I’m still intrigued. How am I going to get past this belief?
Then this woman tells me that yes, that is a common worry, but when you realize that the body is now using most of the stored fat and cholesterol for energy then you don’t store the cholesterol in your body anymore thereby eliminating the risk for high cholesterol. That made sense to me.
She said that our bodies need fuel to keep us alive and so the body either grabs this from carbohydrates or fat that we eat, so what if I gave myself less carbs and more fat? Wouldn’t that mean that I'd get high cholesterol? Hmm, apparently not! If you don’t give your body an overdose of carbs then the body will use stored fat for energy instead of the readily available and easy to access carbs. And because you are utilizing the stored fat, the cholesterol will not build up because the body is becoming more efficient at using it's fat stores. Again that made logical sense to me!
She also informed me that there were so many beneficial side effects from this way of eating that she lost 11lbs in 6 weeks, even though she was already a slim build. She said she also healed her IBS, but the one that I loved most was that her "gut" feeling was much clearer. She saw things more clearly than she had in a very long time. Her ability to think and act on her thoughts without hesitation became much easier.
It was like her gut was holding onto things that no longer aligned with her! Once healed, she was able to get her life back on track. What if a compromised gut is playing the major role in our health and once we address that, we naturally are able to find our balance? What if depression is as much physical as it is mental?
So, there does seem to be many benefits from this new food plan. When I asked her what was the one thing she noticed that she never does anymore on this new plan, she said,"I don’t eat as much fruit, I was a big fruit eater (ie carbs, which her body was using for fuel.) I only eat 1/2 cup a day now and sometimes even that makes me feel punch drunk!" She said that she is eating more meat but that she feels fantastic and it feels right for her.
The part that really stuck with me was this belief that we would have high cholesterol by eating this way, but when she explained that the body is very capable of managing it's health. As long as we give it the foods it actually needs, and not the ones we want to eat, it does manage to stay in balance and handle our cholesterol levels properly. The fact that mothers' breast milk is primarily made up of cholesterol should tell us it's not the enemy, perhaps the enemy is our beliefs around this.
I challenge you to try less fruit (especially tropical fruit; berries, apples and pears are okay in the 1/2 cup per day plan) and more protein to see if your body starts to search for stored fat for it's fuel rather than grab at the excess carbs you have been eating. Try a bone broth fast one day a week and let me know how it's going. You will likely see the weight drop off of you and you will start to feel the clarity of your mind increase.
That's the path I’m on now and I'll keep you posted on what I learn and how I feel as I too learn.
Hugs,
Chental