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Fight Right Nutrition: Bone Broth

Our Healing Belly Baskets for cancer patients and survivors includes nutrient dense foods that may help to reduce inflammation in the body. These baskets include bone broth, which is full of proteins and minerals that support gut health and overall body function. We all require certain nutrients to thrive and cancer patients and survivors are no exception to this rule! An estimated 1/3 of cancer deaths are caused by cachexia or muscle and tissue wasting (NCI). Easy to digest proteins, like those in bone broth, may help to shut down this wasting in cancer patients!

Bone broth is made from the bones of animals (e.g. cows, chickens, fish) and is typically cooked over low heat for several hours to extract the nutrients from the bones.  It can be bought online, in local stores and some restaurants, but it is also relatively inexpensive and easy to make at home. There are many free recipes available online and broth can be flavored in many ways to accommodate personal preferences.

One easy way to make bone broth is to take a whole chicken, seasoned with unrefined sea salt, and cook it in a crockpot for a few hours on high. When finished, debone the chicken and save the meat for lunch, dinner or other uses! Add the bones back to the liquid in the crockpot, cover bones with water, and add a couple of tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar (helps to pull the minerals and other nutrients from the bones). Let it simmer on low for about 24 hours. Once cooled, remove bones, strain the broth, go ahead and sip on it, or add to storage containers for later use.

We personally like to make small glass mason jars to store our bone broth in the freezer, so we can take out and drink or add to food when needed. You can also add broth to ice cube trays, freeze, pop out and store in containers in the freezer for later use as well! Some folks also like to use their Instant Pots (pressure cookers) to make bone broth in a shorter amount of time. Check out the recipe below to help get you started: https://ohlardy.com/chicken-bone-broth/.

Want more options for nutrient dense, anti-inflammatory foods? We developed our Fight Right Anti-Inflammatory grocery list for cancer patients, survivors and the general community. Download it here.