Bone Broth Is Good For Joints

In the book Deep Nutrition, Dr Cate Shanahan writes “The health of your joints depends upon the health of the collagen in your ligaments, tendons, and on the ends of your bones. Collagens are a large family of biomolecules, which include the glycosaminoglycans, very special molecules that help keep our joints healthy.”

Bone broth is loaded with glycosaminoglycans and you might even be familiar with one of them: glucosamine. Not only does bone broth contain super amazing amounts of glucosamine, it’s also packed with other joint protecting compounds like chondroitin and hyaluronic acid.

Moreover, the glycosaminoglycans from bone broth are resistant to digestion and are absorbed in their intact form. According to Dr Shanahan, they act like hormones, stimulating cells called fibroblasts, which lay down collagen in the joints, tendons, ligaments, and even the arteries.

Bone Broth Helps The Liver Detox

The liver is the master organ of detoxification. The dog’s liver is under assault daily as the poor dog lies on carpets and floors treated with chemicals, walks on grass that’s been treated and sprayed with poisons, consumes foods with toxic and synthetic ingredients, and suffers through toxic dewormers, flea and tick preventives, drugs, antibiotics, vaccines and more.

The liver was never meant to suffer this onslaught and its capacity to detoxify is limited by the availability of the amino acid glycine. Guess what has tons of glycine? Bone broth!

Bone Broth Promotes A Healthy Gut

The lining of the intestines contains millions of tiny holes that allow the passage of digested nutrients to enter the body. Stress, poor diet and bacterial overgrowth can cause more holes to open or to become bigger…this is called leaky gut.

[NOTE: Want to learn more about how leaky gut could be affecting your dog? Download our free Leaky Gut Workbook and start healing the damage caused by over-vaccination, inappropriate diet and toxic parasite treatments. 

The problem with those big holes is that things can pass through that aren’t meant to, including undigested food matter, toxins and yeast. The body will notice those undigested food particles as foreign invaders and start to attack them. This is how allergies and food sensitivities develop.

Bone broth is loaded with a gooey substance that can plug up those leaky holes: gelatin!

Bone Broth Is Great Nutrition For Sick Dogs

Have you ever had a dog with terrible diarrhea and had trouble getting him back on solid food? Or a dog who is convalescing and doesn’t have a great appetite but you know he needs more nutrition?

Bone broth to the rescue!

How To Make Bone Broth

If you’re convinced of the benefits of bone broth for your dog, then grab a pot and let’s get cooking!

What you’ll need:

• Turkey / Chicken carcass
• Beef marrow bones
• Chicken feet
• Garlic
• Water
• Organic apple cider vinegar
• Optional: veggies (broccoli, kale, green beans), kelp, parsley, carrots

1/ Put your carcass and your bones in your pan. I like to use beef marrow bones and chicken feet. The more joints the better       because that’s what’s going to give you the joint protecting gelatin that comes from the cartilage in the bone joints. I also add a little garlic for flavor and because it’s really good for your dog. You can choose to add it or leave it out.

2/ Now fill the pan with water until the carcass and the bones are completely covered by at least 2-3 inches. Then top it off with  3-4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.

3/ If you’re cooking in the pan, turn the heat to med-high for an hour, or high for the slow cooker, then turn it to low and let it cook for 24 hours. 

4/ Once the broth is fully cooked, strain, strain, strain. You want to get all the pieces of bone out of the broth, so make sure to strain it well.

At this point you can also add some extras to boost the heath factor. I usually add fresh broccoli, kale or green beans, kelp or herbs. Add these when the broth is hot to soften them up a bit.

Or, if you just want to keep it as simple as possible, don’t add anything at all!

5/  Let the broth cool and put it in the fridge for a few hours. Take it out and scrape the hard layer of fat off the top and toss it (your dog doesn’t want this part!).

Under the fat your bone broth should look like a big pot of jelly, and that’s what it’s supposed to look like! These are all those fancy minerals working together and this jelly is what’s going to protect your dog’s joints and gut.

Don’t worry if the jelly just isn’t there. That means you didn’t add enough vinegar so just add another tablespoon with the next batch. But wait, this batch is still chock-full of healthy, delicious stuff, so feed it too!

Darren Gallagher