I make bone broth for all of my postpartum clients - unless they have a diet restriction that prevents it! Why do I do this? Because it’s amazing for healing and I’ve seen how effective it is in supporting postpartum mums. I’ve helped new mums feel calmer, stronger and experience obvious changes in their breastmilk just from taking regular bone broth.
I often get asked more about it… so this blog discusses what it is, what the benefits are and ways to incorporate it into your diet.
What Is It?
Bone broth is made by slowly simmering a mixture of bones, meat, vegetables and herbs in water, often for a long period of time. I cook my broth in my slow cooker for 24 hours! Having cooked slowly, many of the nutrients and flavour from the ingredients have been transferred to the liquid, the mixture is strained and only the liquid (and all of the nutrients) remain. There are many recipes for bone broth online, I recommend finding one that you find tasty and has ingredients that you can easily source.
Storing Bone Broth
Bone broth can be kept in a fridge for up to 5 days and a freezer for up to 6 months - I often freeze it as ice cubes, this makes it easy to pull out as much or as little as I need.
Benefits
It is highly nutritious! Rich in vitamins and minerals, collagen, gelatine and amino and fatty acids, bone broth really packs a punch. These nutrients are slowly released into the water during cooking which makes them easily digestible by your body. These nutrients are wonderful for our bodies and have been shown to help reduce inflammation, aid digestion, promote healing, increase energy, aid sleep and support weight loss.
These many benefits make it a perfect postpartum food - it’s easily digestible, slow cooked and nutrient dense. I usually recommend 0.5 - 1 cup per day in your immediate postpartum period.
How To Use It
Lots of people understand the benefits of bone broth but struggle to know how to use it or want more ideas and inspiration than just drinking it - here are a few ideas:
Drink it - Lets start with drinking it - this is, after all, the easiest way to use bone broth! Just warm it up and drink it neat, if it’s tasty enough this is an easy and way to get it in.. But not everyone likes the idea of drinking neat bone broth, and if this is you then there are other ways to sneak it into your day.
As a base for a soup - You can add some ingredients (veg, pulses, pasta, meat and herbs) and make it into more of a traditional and hearty soup. This a great way to add variety but still easily get a good amount of broth into your day.
Add to water when cooking rice/grains - Rice and grains absorb the liquids that they are cooked in. So making broth part of these liquids adds flavour and boosts their nutritional value. These can then be added to your dish as normal.
Add to other cooking - When cooking liquids such as sauces and soups some bone broth can be added. Again, this gives a boost of flavour and nutrition to the original recipe. This is where my practice of freezing leftover broth into ice cubes comes in really handy - just throwing a few cubes in is an easy way to include it in meals and is perfect for those who don’t like to idea of bone broth but are keen for it’s benefits. You don’t have to be restricted to soups and sauces here, the options are limitless! Small amounts can be added to anything from smoothies to mashed potatoes so wherever you can sneak some into your cooking - just do it!
So - give bone broth a try! It’s amazing for everyone but especially women who have recently given birth, it’s my favourite way to support new mums.