Bone Broth And Fertility

Bone Broth and Fertility

If you are interested in using food as medicine, and creating meals and snacks that will positively impact your fertility, then you’ll definitely be interested in making bone broth. This is obviously not an option for vegetarians, but if you are open to the Traditional Food movement (a la Weston Price), this may be appealing to you, and it will certainly be appealing to your body, bones, brain & reproductive system. Bone broth will bolster your fertility and “Jing”. “Jing” is what practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (doctors that utilize the over 3,000 year old Asian medical theories and practices of acupuncture, herbalism, nutrition, energy (qi) work and lifestyle balance) know is the kidney root & source energy that is necessary to produce good, high-quality eggs and sperm in order to conceive and give birth to a healthy, happy baby.

Besides building your Jing and filling the well of your reproductive reserve, having a bone broth mastered just as cold & flu season is around the corner may be you and your family’s key to avoiding repetitive sniffles and full-on, flu-related meltdowns. (It can also be a god-send during the upcoming darker, vitamin-D deficient season as it keeps on replenishing the deepest parts of our bodies, the bones, where our energy wants to hide out in the winter months.)

When our bones are nourished and strong, the body tends not to pull from these inner reserves when in emergency mode, under stress, during a day of poor diet or lack of exercise, or during pregnancy. Bone broth also helps prevent osteopenia & osteoporosis, so if this runs in the family, this should be a staple, especially for women.

Bone broth not only supports the deeper aspects of our bodies, including fertility, but it also gets the immune system up and running, strengthening that outer, protective layer called “wei qi”, what Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners call the protective barrier that decides what to let in and out – kind of like a bouncer for pathogens like bacteria, viruses & fungi.

Bone Broth Recipe For Fertility

• 2 lbs. of bones (cooked or raw) preferably beef, chicken, turkey wings, lamb and beef tail (also known as oxtail-beef tail – amazing for collagen with great flavor).
• 1 Medium Vidalia Onion or Sweet Onion, diced
• 2-4 cloves of whole garlic cloves in their skin with the tips cut off (crushed, whole or without skin depending on how much flavor you want from this)
• 1- tsp of turmeric or shave about 1 Tbl of fresh turmeric root
• 1 lemon cut into slices OR  1/4 cup of Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (or both)
• (Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is this best because it can draw the collagen and other healthy properties out of the bones and into the broth, and word on the street is lemon is a substitute for apple cider vinegar when you don’t have that on hand.​)
• Herb and Veggie Options:
•  1 or 2 Tbl of:  basil, oregano, parsley – dried. (If fresh, add one bunch of each​.)
• 1 or 2 Tsp of:  thyme, rosemary,
• 1/4 to 1/2 Tsp of:  cayenne pepper (occasionally, depending on your constitution and health issues)
• You can add carrots or celery – many people make their bone broth as if they were making fresh chicken soup or veggie soup and add the same veggies in their bone broth. There really are no “rules” to what to add to bone broth. You can have many themes and flavors, i.e. Indian Bone Broth, Mexican Bone Broth, French Onion Soup Bone Broth, etc.etc… so have fun with the flavors you love the most.  The key to reaping the health benefits of bone broth are to follow the preparation.

Basic Preparation:

• Put all the ingredients into a large stock pot (or crock pot).
• Use the best water you have – remember this is medicine first over taste.
• Cook: Bring the ingredients to a boil, then IMMEDIATELY simmer and cook for a minimum of 2 hours, and a maximum overnight. (You can use a crock pot if that is easier!)
• Chill: after bringing to room temperature you can skim off some of the fat solids  (or you can keep the fat in and be all “paleo” about it all, depending on both your taste preference and health issues). Then remove the veggies and bones at this time via colander, pressing down hard on the colander to get all the flavor out of the veggies and added herbs/spices​, and go ahead & have a bowl, and store the rest in your refrigerator or freezer. If you are not happy with the flavor, you can add more flavor. Sometimes adding a small amount of coconut amino acids, soy sauce, veggies or herbs and simmering for a bit can really add flavor.

Notes:

• The longer you simmer, the more collagen comes out of the bones and the better flavors you have.
• If you do this and after chilling you see your “broth” is like a jelly mold…this is savant success.  This is the gelatin that forms on the surface of bone broth so if your entire solid pot is like jelly broth, you needed to add more water to your broth but it’s not a problem.   A lot of people, especially those taking bone broth for medicinal purposes, will take this jelly broth and put it into ice cube molds, store in their freezer and pop a cube out, put in a cup and then add hot water to it.  This is where you can add Celtic sea salt, Dulce or Dulce flakes or whatever you want for more flavor.
• Ice cubing the bone or jelly broth is also a great way to use it for other recipes that call for chicken broth or veggie broth or grilling with onions and instead of water you can use some of your bone broth…it can add a lot of flavor to recipes while reaping the health benefits of the broth.  Basically, this is an excellent base for other soups you make, regardless of what type of soup it is.
• Raw bones –  If you are lucky enough to have a butcher willing to give you raw, organic, grass-fed bones and you make bone broth from raw bones and not after you cook bones for a meat meal, it’s very important you boil these bones in water only (meaning do not add anything to your pot until the skimming of this bone dirt is off the bones) for as long as it takes to get the gunk off the bones.  This filmy stuff from raw bones will float to the top of a pot and requires some skimming of that bone dirt before you can make the broth. Not all bones will produce this bone dirt, but if you don’t know where the bones are from, what type of animals then it is best to boil them first alone and skim the film off before making your bone broth, which might take between 30 minutes and 90 minutes. Also, save bones from leftovers, and freeze to use later in other broth adventures.
• Perpetual Soup Option: keep the bones and veggies in the crock pot, keep it on low, and ladle out a cup into a mug for a snack or a meal a few times a day, replenishing the liquid in the crock pot with a cup for two each time of your fresh, high quality water. You can do this for about 5-7 days until the crock-pot broth will be cashed and it will be time to throw out the remains and begin again.

This is a great broth to have when tonifying your system, including the reproductive system and especially egg quality…Enjoy and share the benefits of bone broth!

Other natural products and holistic medicine that may positively affect your fertility treatment:

While consuming bone broth to add fertility may have some positive impact on your health and wellbeing, it’s also important to always follow a healthy diet (eat like you’re pregnant before you’re pregnant) and avoid foods that can hinder your ability to get pregnant. You may also be interested in researching other treatments and superfoods that are known to improve fertility, such as:

• Aromatherapy – using essential oils for fertility
• Increasing fertility through acupuncture
• Bee pollen for fertility

Contact Santa Monica Fertility

Here at Santa Monica Fertility we offer a range of advanced fertility treatments, including IVF, egg donation and surrogacy and we are available to answer any questions you may have; please contact us or call our clinic on (310) 566 1470.