‘Tis the season for our crockpots to be roaring. Let’s harness that energy to optimize health and healing. Nutrient rich “super” foods help our bodies repair and rebuild after daily stressors (physical, chemical, emotional), and even more importantly following a stressful event- trauma, surgery, etc.

Bone broth is one of the ancient superfoods that has withstood the test of time. Packed with collagen, minerals, and nutrients that support our teeth, gums, bone, joints, and skin – – – it is more than just a comfort food. Bone broth’s minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium) form the building blocks to strengthen the matrix of our teeth and bones, and collagen supports the gum tissue and joint health. I see the link of nutrition to oral health daily, so I highly recommend this natural way to complement your oral care routine!

There are many nutritional considerations to optimize health (I encourage you to read my Nutrition for Oral and Overall Health blog to dive deeper), but simply adding bone broth to your diet can support stronger teeth and bone, as well as healthier gums. Here’s how I incorporate bone broth into my family’s diet…. I use bone broth instead of water when making rice, pasta, and quinoa. I use bone broth as a base in every soup that I make- chicken noodle, broccoli cheddar, tomato soup, and even chili. I add Redmond’s Real Salt and some spices to it, heat it up, and just sip on it for some soothing nutrients.

Here are a few other tips for an added nutritional punch in your meals. When you can, cook meat on the bone and with skin (when applicable). I get my meat for beef and pork roasts on the bone whenever I can. I love to bake or grill chicken breasts, drumsticks, and thighs with their skin and bones. I share an awesome recipe for Crockpot Rotissiere Chicken below, cooking an entire bird in the crock pot. Cooking it with and eating the skin throws in some collagen for radiant skin, happy joints, and healthy gums. Who doesn’t like that?!! Regarding whatever skin and bones you have left, NEVER throw that treasure away! I keep 2 gallon sized ziplocs in the freezer in my kitchen, one labeled “Chicken Bone Broth” and one labelled “Beef/Pork Bone Broth”. I throw all uneaten skin and bones in these bags, along with the occasional carrot peelings and ends, celery ends, and onion ends. Once the freezer bags are full, I brew up a batch of bone broth, as described below.

One more hot tip. I keep a container of cooked and shredded chicken in my freezer at all times, ready for action in fajitas, Buffalo Chicken dip, fried rice, whatever. To keep my stock of shredded chicken strong, I routinely cook bone-in/skin-on chicken breasts in the crock pot, remove and save the skin and bones in my trusty Ziplocks, and shred the meat for easy future use. I also pour off the juice that cooks off it into a glass jar and store in the fridge to use as a collagen and nutrient packed base for soups. You will notice that this liquid turns to a gelatinous solid in the fridge due to its high content of gelatin proteins and peptides. This is a nutrient dense gold mine!!