Bone Broth - Heal Your Leaky Gut

Bone broth is EASY to make. It takes little effort. Bone broth – or stock – is made by simmering the bones (usually beef or chicken) for a long period to extract minerals into a consumable broth. But it can also be made from the bones of bison, lamb, any poultry, or fish. I've even mixed lamb and beef or beef and chicken. I am brave! It is a powerhouse when it comes to nutrients. You can use bones that were cooked or use raw bones. I've used both but tend to use raw most often.

The glycine in bone broth helps the body to balance the amino acid methionine in muscle meat, the collagen helps to build and repair your osteo-skeletal system (not to mention being wonderful for retaining youthful looking skin and hair), and the gelatin helps to heal and seal the gut. That's what we want. Right?

You can simmer it on the stove for 6 - 24 hours (longer if you like) or use a pressure cooker. I use the latter for 90 minutes. I make approximately 2 litres (2 quarts) at a time. Ok if you are talking strict conversion 4.226 cups = 1 litre. Ok. Now to the recipe.

• 2 pounds (or more) of bones from a healthy source
• 1 onion - quartered
• 2 carrots - roughly chopped
• 2 stalks of celery - roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar or juice of half a lemon (or both)
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• 2 litres (more or less) water 

Optional ingredients:

• 1 inch piece of ginger (peeled)
• 2 tsp turmeric ( it's an awesome anti inflammatory)
• Chicken feet (1 or 2)
• Pinch sea salt
• Parsley
• Any spice that catches your fancy

Bone broth, or stock, is an extremely good source of minerals and is known to boost the immune system and improve digestion. Its high calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus content make it great for bone and tooth health. Bone broth also supports joints, hair, skin, and nails due to its high collagen content. 

Place the bones in your pot or pressure cooker and cover with water and add the vinegar. Let it sit a bit. 10 or 15 minutes. The acid in the vinegar helps with the extraction on minerals from the bones. Chop up the veg and add to the pot along with all the other ingredients. You are all ready to start cooking with whichever method you've chosen.

When the broth is done, strain and refrigerate the batch or freeze some in smaller portions. Once cold you will be able to remove/discard the fat from the top of the broth. I keep my broth in the refrigerator for daily use. Every 3 or 4 days I take the entire batch and heat it in a pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil. I then refrigerate it again.  

Heat up a mug of broth! Sit back. Relax and enjoy!

Note: expect your broth to be quite gelatinous when it cools. But don't get upset if it's not.

Raw Juice Cleanse - Day 2

The hardest thing I had to deal with yesterday was the smell of my darling cooking himself dinner; chicken fajitas. What a challenge!

I slept fairly well last night. Amazing since one of the possible side effects is difficulty in sleeping. This was a pleasant surprise. I'm a bit of a chronic insomniac.

My juices, which by the way are in 500ml bottles except for the two 'elixirs' taken as serving 3 and 6, are as follows:

Juice 1 - 7:00 am
Cucumber, parsley, kale, cilantro, lemon, apple
Strong cucumber and lemon taste with a hint of cilantro. Very nice.

Juice 2 - 9:00 am
Cantaloupe, honeydew
Although that's what it's suppose to be its not. I think my bottles are mislabeled and the one that says 2 is really 4. So I'm drinking it anyway. It was too late to drink the right one as I'd already opened it and consumed more than half. I can see now that the cantaloupe and honeydew are in the bottle labeled 5 but there are two bottles labelled 5. No 4's in the mix. No worries. I've got it figured out now. So juice 4 is quite good. A mild pleasant taste. I can definitely detect the carrot and cucumber followed by wheatgrass. I feel great! Not as hyper as yesterday. So far.

Juice 3 - 11:00 am
spirulina, pear
Oh! This tasted delish! Yum! Feeling hunger pangs now but that is all. I was at the dentist this morning. Of course have way through getting a filling I had to pee! Thankfully I was able to wait until the dentist was finished.

Now drinking my detox tea.

Juice 4 - 12:00 pm
Carrot, cucumber, beet, celery, wheatgrass, lemon, ginger
This was actually the cantaloupe and honeydew. Very good. I enjoyed it with co-workers in our company cafeteria. The food in our cafe is not often appealing and I wasn't longing for any. I attribute that to being sane and a true, discerning foodie. I will admit I have tortured myself with that food. It's almost always regrettable.

It's 1:08 pm and I have a mild headache and am feeling tired. I'm also noticing a film in my mouth.

Juice 5 - 2:00 pm
Coconut water, celery, cucumber, lemon
Oh! This one is lovely and refreshing. Very nice. I can taste the entire content spectrum.

Juice 6 - 3:00 pm
Chlorophyll
What can I say...it tastes green and good.

Juice 7 - 4:30 pm
Carrot, cucumber, beet, celery, wheatgrass, lemon, ginger
I'm at home. A bit late in drinking this one as I got stuck in traffic on the way home from the office. I like this juice blend. It's the same as the one I drank as my number 2 bottle of juice that was really meant to be my number 4. I'm definitely tired. I was definitely hungry but as soon as I started to drink the hunger pangs subsided.

Juice 8 - 6:00 pm
Cucumber, parsley. Kale, cilantro, lemon, apple
This is the same ad my first juice of the day. I love it.

So I'm noticing the folks at Raw Juice Guru use a lot of cucumber in my blends. I'm wondering is this because its a cooling herb and possibly good for hot flashes?

It is 7:00 pm and I'm feeling really great. I mean really! Can't wait for tomorrow! Even though this was to be a 3 day cleanse when I placed my 'order' I was told there is a special on and I get the 4th day free. I think this is great today. I will be honest and tell you that yesterday I didn't feel that way. I was unsure if I could stand a 4th day. I know now that I can.

I didn't go into this blindly. I read a lot on it, juice fasting. I've done cleanses before just not the juice sort. One blog that had me convinced I wanted to do it was Dainty Girl
She and her husband both completed a Raw Juice Feast in January. I read other blogs of people juicing the produce themselves to do the same but was a little intrepid when I read there was so much vomiting. I gather they weren't washing the veg and fruit properly. As a matter of fact I am 99.9% sure that was the case.

Raw Juice Cleanse - Day 1

Overview
I am embarking on a 3 day raw juice cleanse or as the people at Raw Juice Guru put its - raw juice FEASTING. The juices are provided by Raw Juice Guru in Toronto. My day's supply is delivered each morning, very early, to my door. Very convenient. However, they cut the delivery close...I was leaving for the office when they arrived at my home.

The protocol is to drink a bottle every 90 minutes to 2 hours. I've also been provided with a tea bag to use and reuse throughout the day. At the moment of posting this I'm not remembering why. I hope this cleanse helps my apparent memory lapses. 😏


DAY ONE

7:42 am Juice 1 has:
Cucumber, spinach, parsley, apple, lemon, ginger

The predominant taste is cucumber and then lemon the other flavours blend behind these two. Not a bad taste at all.

9:34 am Juice 2 has:
Grapefruit and ginger

The juice is a perfect blend of grapefruit and ginger. I love ginger.

Leading up to this instalment of juice my digestive system started letting me know it wanted nourishment and soon. The juice immediately abated and soothed my demanding insides. I am very glad of that.

So far, the only thing I have noticed is that I need to pee more frequently.

11:25 am Juice 3 has:
Aloe Vera
I'm really hungry now and its aloe vera time. It comes in a wee bottle.

So I'm hungry and hyper. I'm mostly always hyper anyway so it's not a surprise. I believe I'm very excited about this journey and perhaps a little apprehensive as well.

I'm drinking the roobois tea and glasses of water in between the juice.

12:15pm Juice 4 has:
Fennel, carrot, celery, apple, ginger
I couldn't wait! I'm so hungry! Predominant taste is carrot followed by fennel and then celery. Apple follows closely but ginger isn't apparent.
I should mention my juices are custom to me. I emailed the GURU my specific concerns and they have tailored the juices to those.

2:07pm Juice 5 has:
Watermelon and lemon
I wasn't sure if I'd like this as I'm just not a watermelon fan. However it's tasting ok. I don't have hunger pangs at the moment but do have a slight headache. I'm also a little tired.

It's 2:54 pm and I feel no hunger but a slight lightheaded feeling is apparent.

3:30 pm Juice 6 has:
Chlorophyll
Not much to report. It tasted as I expected having taken liquid chlorophyll before as a supplement. It's an another wee bottle.

One thing that surprised me today was the number of people who asked if this cleanse caused diarrhea. Ermmmmm, like why do people want to know that? Of all things!!! I suppose I understand. Maybe. Those that have asked seem content when I tell them I will let them know if this happens. They can't comprehend that it's highly likely that my BMs will be of the usual sort. And I can say now...they are. But my workmates will have to wait until tomorrow to found that out. Unless, of course, they read my blog. And I hope they do.

5:00 pm Juice 7 has:
Apple, lemon, celery, beet, kale , ginger
This one is hard to describe. What is odd is that I'm sure I smell cucumber but there is certainly no cucumber taste. Wish there was more ginger taste only because I live it. The lemon is prevalent. The colour is that of the beet. I cannot taste apple.

I'm not feeling hungry and the headache is gone. I spied a lovely avocado in my fridge and looked at it longingly.

I just got and email from Raw Juice Guru updating me on symptoms and another advising me about tongue scraping (I do this anyway) and enema procedures (where to buy and how to do it)

Added note : for some reason I have lost some of what I blogged for day 1. I think it was me that did it accidentally of course. I lost much more but thanks to a dear friend, Charlene, I have some of it back. Turns out she had my blog open on her computer still so she sent me a screen shot! I bloody love her!

Vibram - it only took me 4 years to decide to purchase

Yes! It's true. It took 4 years of deliberation...reading reviews, getting feedback from friends who took the plunge, to finally make my own purchase. Whew! I'm glad I have.

What will they be used for? I'm not a runner. But I am a fitness enthusiast who enjoys weightlifting and HIIT. I love plyometrics. So, although the Vibrams allow for that natural barefoot experience the pair I chose provides some lateral support. From years of training I know how to land softly and minimize impact.

They are a challenge to get on. But you do get the hang of it. However, I did wish that my toes were more intuitive and found their target spot in the 'finger' area a little easier. Best way to put them on is to have the shoes on the floor and then slowly guide your foot in.

I'm completely happy with this purchase. They feel so good on and are a fab addition to my workouts!

Visit the Vibram Five Fingers to see all the styles for women, men and children. The site provides and in depth explanation for style and intended use. i.e hiking, running, water sports, etc.