My ultimate anti-inflammatory bone broth for gut health and immunity — Transcript

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1. 0:00If you're feeling run down, or you find
2. 0:01yourself always fighting off a cold, you
3. 0:04need to try this anti-inflammatory
4. 0:06broth. It's fantastic for your gut,
5. 0:08supports your immune system, and makes
6. 0:10you feel amazing. You can prep it ahead,
7. 0:13freeze it, and turn it into nourishing
8. 0:16meals in just a few minutes. When I was
9. 0:18working as a doctor in A&E, I was
10. 0:20constantly surrounded by people with
11. 0:22colds and infections, and so I would
12. 0:25make this broth every single week to
13. 0:27stop me from getting sick. And honestly,
14. 0:30it's one of the easiest health habits
15. 0:32that I still practice to this day.
16. 0:34There's a lot of hype online about bone
17. 0:37broths, and whilst it's not a cure-all,
18. 0:39I do think early research is showing
19. 0:41some benefits. Now, it might be because
20. 0:44of the collagen that you find in bone
21. 0:46broth, it could be certain amino acids
22. 0:49that you find because you're slowly
23. 0:51cooking out the bones. It might even be
24. 0:53the anti-inflammatory spices that you
25. 0:56tend to put into bone broth, which is
26. 0:58why you find some papers that show gut
27. 1:00health benefits, even fat loss benefits,
28. 1:03as well as reductions in inflammation
29. 1:05markers that we measure in the blood.
30. 1:07But the key is how it's made. You have
31. 1:10two really good options. You can buy
32. 1:12really good bone broth these days in
33. 1:14stores, and there are a couple of things
34. 1:16that I think you should be looking out
35. 1:17for. I always opt for organic bones.
36. 1:20Organic is really important to me when
37. 1:21it comes to animal products, so I always
38. 1:24opt for organic and grass-fed where I
39. 1:26can. Look for ones that don't have added
40. 1:29salt, so you can be in charge of how
41. 1:31much seasoning you're putting in. Make
42. 1:32sure that you recognize all the
43. 1:34ingredients on the back. They shouldn't
44. 1:35have emulsifiers or additives. They
45. 1:37should just be whole spices and
46. 1:40vegetables. And the other thing, glass
47. 1:42jars. So, I'm trying to reduce plastic
48. 1:45as much as physically possible, so
49. 1:47opting for those that are prepared and
50. 1:49bottled in glass jars is better than
51. 1:52plastic. If you're short on time, these
52. 1:54are really good option. But if you're
53. 1:56like me, I love the flavor of freshly
54. 1:59made broth. So, I make it myself using
55. 2:01super simple ingredients. I've got a
56. 2:03carcass that I've broken down from a
57. 2:05good quality chicken that I bought from
58. 2:07the butcher's yesterday. I'm going to
59. 2:09add some spices, bay leaf, apple cider
60. 2:11vinegar, parsley, salt, black
61. 2:14peppercorns. I'm going to slowly cook
62. 2:16this for a few hours. You can add some
63. 2:18more spices, but later on I'm going to
64. 2:20show you my sipping broth, which is
65. 2:22super punchy. Then I just bring this up
66. 2:25to a simmer and keep it at that level
67. 2:27for around 3 to 4 hours. Some people
68. 2:29like to simmer their broth [snorts] for
69. 2:31over 24 hours. I personally can't tell
70. 2:33the difference, so I think 3 to 4 hours
71. 2:36is a good compromise. You notice at the
72. 2:37start of cooking, about 30 minutes, when
73. 2:40everything's come up to temperature,
74. 2:41you're going to have these little
75. 2:42bubbles that appear at the surface.
76. 2:44These are regarded as impurities,
77. 2:46they're just basically clumps of
78. 2:48protein, and you want to just gently
79. 2:49scoop these out, making sure not to take
80. 2:52out your spices, and that way you're
81. 2:54left with a delicious clear broth. You
82. 2:56can do this during the process of
83. 2:58cooking the broth at regular intervals,
84. 3:01but generally most of the impurities are
85. 3:03removed in the first hour of cooking.
86. 3:06After a few hours, you're going to get a
87. 3:08really nutrient-dense broth. It's going
88. 3:10to have a small amount of collagen, a
89. 3:12bit of protein. It's also going to have
90. 3:14a ton of micronutrients in as well, like
91. 3:15magnesium, calcium, and zinc. Plus some
92. 3:18amino acids like glycine and arginine.
93. 3:21These are really interesting because
94. 3:23they appear to support the gut lining,
95. 3:26strengthening that gut barrier. Now,
96. 3:28this is early research, so we can't say
97. 3:30for sure, but I personally, anecdotally,
98. 3:33swear by it. And a special hack is to
99. 3:35use these handy ice molds where you can
100. 3:38pop them out in ready-to-heat portions.
101. 3:40That way I've always got some bone broth
102. 3:42ready to go. Whenever I feel a cold
103. 3:43coming on, I go straight to my fridge or
104. 3:46freezer stash of the base bone broth,
105. 3:49but I also make it more
106. 3:51anti-inflammatory with the inclusion of
107. 3:53specific spices. Ginger is my go-to.
108. 3:57It's packed with shogaols and gingerols,
109. 3:59and these are uniquely
110. 4:00anti-inflammatory. They have been shown
111. 4:02in some studies to improve pain and
112. 4:05pyrexia, i.e. fever, and it's something
113. 4:07that I always go to whenever I feel a
114. 4:09cold coming on. You can use dried ginger
115. 4:12as well, but fresh has slightly
116. 4:14different compounds in, and I tend to go
117. 4:16for fresh because I just prefer the
118. 4:18flavor. Roughly chop these in, this goes
119. 4:20into my broth. The next ingredient are
120. 4:22cloves. Now, cloves are really
121. 4:24interesting. By weight, they are one of
122. 4:26the richest sources of polyphenols,
123. 4:2815,000 mg per 100 g. Now, it's not just
124. 4:32about the total number of polyphenols,
125. 4:34because olive oil, for example,
126. 4:36typically has 250 mg of polyphenols per
127. 4:39liter. That doesn't mean olive oil is
128. 4:41not as good as cloves. They contain
129. 4:43different compounds, and the star
130. 4:45compound in clove, which may lead to the
131. 4:48anti-inflammatory pain-relieving effect,
132. 4:51is eugenol. Eugenol is also uniquely
133. 4:53anti-microbial, so it can impact
134. 4:56microbes and help shape a favorable gut
135. 4:58microbiota that could also be good for
136. 5:00colds and viruses and keeping you
137. 5:02generally healthy. I put four cloves
138. 5:04into this. Talking of polyphenols,
139. 5:06cinnamon is another fantastic source of
140. 5:09unique polyphenols. One of them is
141. 5:11called cinnamaldehyde. It's isolated
142. 5:14from the bark of cinnamon trees, which
143. 5:17is why it kind of looks like a bark,
144. 5:19because it is. It's been linked to
145. 5:21things like lower sugar levels, better
146. 5:23metabolic control, and even lower levels
147. 5:26of inflammation as well. It's one of
148. 5:27those all-rounder spices that I try and
149. 5:30use as often as possible in regular
150. 5:31cooking and definitely in my
151. 5:33anti-inflammatory broth. I like my broth
152. 5:36fiery, which is why I add a little bit
153. 5:38of green chili. Now, you don't need to
154. 5:40use fresh green chili, you can use dried
155. 5:42red chilies, paprika. You can avoid
156. 5:44using chili if you don't like the heat.
157. 5:46One of the best impacts of chili come
158. 5:49from a compound called capsaicin. Now,
159. 5:51capsaicin is super interesting, not just
160. 5:53because of its anti-inflammatory
161. 5:54effects, but it also has a numbing and
162. 5:56mild pain-relieving effect as well. I
163. 5:58would avoid chili if you are sensitive
164. 6:01to things like fermentable foods, if you
165. 6:03have IBS, or if you have reflux. But if
166. 6:06you don't, enjoy the chili. Now, garlic
167. 6:08is sort of like the teacher's pet, the
168. 6:10total overachiever in the classroom of
169. 6:13spices. It has so many benefits, many of
170. 6:16them can be derived from the
171. 6:18sulfur-containing compounds, things like
172. 6:20allicin, but there are also some
173. 6:21metabolites like ajoene and triallyl
174. 6:24disulfide that also have
175. 6:27anti-inflammatory effects. It's a
176. 6:28classic for colds, and it's really
177. 6:30encouraging that there is early research
178. 6:33that shows that garlic can actually
179. 6:35reduce cold symptoms. Crushing it
180. 6:37releases some of those sulfur-containing
181. 6:40compounds even more so. So, you'll
182. 6:42notice that we've actually lightly
183. 6:44crushed the garlic before we add it to
184. 6:46the broth. So, when I'm making my broth,
185. 6:48garlic is one of those non-negotiables.
186. 6:50The other spices that I'm going to add
187. 6:52have digestion benefits. So, cumin is
188. 6:55really well known to have carminative
189. 6:56effects, so it eases digestion. It's one
190. 6:59of the reasons why in Indian cooking,
191. 7:01you tend to find things like fennel
192. 7:03seeds and cumin mixed with pulses and
193. 7:06cooked in with those, because it does
194. 7:08aid the digestion of some of the fibrous
195. 7:10materials. And cardamom as well.
196. 7:12Cardamom has got some unique polyphenols
197. 7:14that again have those digestive benefits
198. 7:17and are anti-inflammatory. I've just
199. 7:18lightly crushed these. Black
200. 7:20peppercorns, cuz I want even more punch.
201. 7:22We're going to go with red onions. These
202. 7:24are higher in things like quercetin than
203. 7:26other types of onion. Choose whatever
204. 7:28onions you can. The other benefits are
205. 7:31the fact that it can actually help with
206. 7:33coughs and colds and those sort of
207. 7:34things. Almost forgot the salt. When I
208. 7:36have a cold, I'll simply put this on for
209. 7:3840 minutes, let it simmer away whilst I
210. 7:41feel sorry for myself sat on the couch.
211. 7:43I'll pour it into a mug, and I'll add it
212. 7:45to a thermos so I can sip it throughout
213. 7:47the day. It makes me feel so much more
214. 7:49comforted, and anecdotally, I think I
215. 7:52recover a lot quicker as well. And
216. 7:53beyond just drinking this broth, there
217. 7:56are so many other ways in which you can
218. 7:57use it to build a proper nourishing
219. 8:00meal. If I'm heading out for the day,
220. 8:01I'll do the jar-to-go version. All I do
221. 8:04is layer in some thin noodles or cooked
222. 8:06brown rice, throw in any vegetables you
223. 8:09like, and a core protein. You just pour
224. 8:12over the hot spiced broth, screw on the
225. 8:14lid, and let it sit for a couple of
226. 8:15minutes, and you've basically got a
227. 8:17fresh noodle soup ready to go. This is
228. 8:19basically my healthy version of a pot
229. 8:22noodle. Instead of a packet with lots of
230. 8:24additives, you're making your own with
231. 8:26real ingredients, and this
232. 8:27anti-inflammatory broth as the base. If
233. 8:30you fancy a variation, try vermicelli
234. 8:32noodles, pak choi, and brassica
235. 8:34vegetables like broccoli that add even
236. 8:36more detoxification benefits, spring
237. 8:39onion, roasted chicken, top it up with
238. 8:41that medicinal broth, and again, leave
239. 8:43it to stand for 3 minutes before
240. 8:45enjoying on the go or in a bowl. And if
241. 8:47you want to go further and get even more
242. 8:49anti-inflammatory foods into your diet,
243. 8:51I've put together my top 10
244. 8:53anti-inflammatory foods that you can
245. 8:55watch right here. Cheers.