Starting your day with a cup of quality bone broth will not only provide your body with a surplus of nutrients to optimize gut health, but will help your body function optimally post-fast. It’s loaded with a number of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, which help reduce inflammation and ensure our body has a healthy stress response.
Nutrient-Dense Superfood
Bone broth contains essential nutrients, including: calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium. These minerals provide essential electrolytes, which are key to incorporate on Challenge workout days when we lose a lot of fluids and minerals while sweating. These minerals are also key in promoting recovery and preventing muscle spasms or weakness that can occur with dehydration or mineral deficiencies.
Stimulates Rebuilding and Repairing
After 6-8 hours of sleep, your body is in a fasted state and growth pathways (IGF-1 and mTOR) are suppressed. Consuming a nutrient-dense liquid that is packed full of essential amino acids first thing in the morning will stimulate these growth pathways and activate an important rebuilding and growth period. Providing our body with quality nutrients in the morning is absolutely essential to ensure we can recover effectively from Challenge workouts and optimize our body’s ability to adapt to the training phases. The amino acid glycine in bone broth has shown to build muscle strength, help control blood sugar levels, and synthesize human growth hormone (HGH).
Key for Gut Support
Both chronic stress and overconsumption of highly-processed foods (refined sugar, trans fats), can weaken our body’s digestive lining and make it more permeable. Unfortunately, this means that bacteria or certain toxins can leak through the intestinal wall and contribute to inflammation. However, what’s amazing about bone broth is that it’s loaded with nutrients that strengthen and help repair the gut lining. In particular, glutamine is an amino acid that provides support to prevent ‘leaky gut.’ Additionally, collagen protein and gelatin in bone broth both provide connective tissue support and enhance the gut lining.
Reduces Inflammation
There are two potent amino acids found in bone broth—glycine and arginine—which are ideal for reducing inflammation. These powerful amino acids are also known to promote fat metabolism and enhance weight loss. Bone broth is extremely nutrient-dense and promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut, which is key for strong immune system function. Glycine is a powerhouse amino acid that supports the production of GABA, a neurotransmitter in the body that reduces anxiety. Bone broth makes an ideal superfood to start your day by strengthening the gut lining as well as reducing the inflammatory stress response.
Promotes Liver Detoxification
Exposure to environmental toxins, including heavy metals and additives in artificial ingredients, can create inflammation in the body over time. Our liver plays a key role in ensuring we can effectively remove these toxins and minimize inflammation. Certain micronutrients found in bone broth—including sulphur, potassium, and glycine—promote efficient metabolic cleansing and ensure our digestive system can properly expel waste. Bone broth also contains powerful antioxidants, including glutathione, which supports this full-body detoxification by ensuring the liver can flush out harmful chemicals or stored hormones.
What’s in a quality bone broth?
- Ingredients are certified organic: be sure to look for a bone broth that utilizes grass-fed or organic bones. See below for certified organic labels:
- United States: “USDA Label”
- Canada: USDA Label or Canada Organic Label
- Australia: “Australian Certified Organic Label”
- EU: EU Organic Label
- Any added seasonings or vegetables are free of additives (maltodextrin), MSG (monosodium glutamate), or hydrolyzed proteins. To enhance the flavor of your bone broth, we recommend adding your own veggies and seasonings to maximize the taste of flavor of the broth without compromising quality.
