Bone Broth does not heal a leaky gut!
Nope. It does not--at least, according to the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) Diet. In fact, bone broth is not even mentioned in the diet! Can you believe it? A little background here.
I came across the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome in 2007, in my search for healing diets specifically for children with autism spectrum and ADD or ADHD. I had read many others, parts of which included many things that I could see would work. But somehow, they never felt complete to me. That same year, nearly a decade ago, I was blessed to meet Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of the book and creator of the healing protocol for which the book is named at the 2007 annual conference of the Weston A. Price Foundation in Chantilly, Virginia. I remember that I drove out from my home in Silver Spring, Maryland specifically to hear Dr. Natasha's talk on the Gut and Psychology Syndrome. That day, she talked for a mere hour and fifteen minutes, one of many other "track" speakers. (At nearly every conference since then, Dr. Natasha has presented an entire day on GAPS. This was the introduction of her work to "WAPers" and others who sought alternative healing based on traditional foods.) As I sat and listened to her talk, tears welled up and I cried. I cried the tears of knowing that I had finally found someone with answers to why people were so sick. Why the children were so sick, and what could be done about it. The program she explained felt complete. It had the missing pieces. And it started with THE FOOD.
For those of you who know me, you know that I believe and have built my life's work on the understanding that "food is the foundation". Good food. Real food. Food that is raised in a sustainable way. Food that nourishes the land as it is grown, and the people that eat it. Food that is cooked in a way that preserves and maximizes nutrient value and digestibility. Food provides the building blocks, macro and micro-nutrients that the human body needs to thrive. It has come to be known as "nourishing, traditional food", based on the principles of Dr. Weston A. Price, and the cookbook that Sally Fallon (Morell) published in 1998, Nourishing Traditions. To hear that day a medical doctor talk about how AUTISM could be healed through FOOD...how it worked and why it worked, was at the same time mind-blowing to me, and obviously simple. Of course it could. Of course it would. So, after that day, I set myself the task of learning the diet, inside and out, the nuances, the cooking techniques so that I could share them with anyone who would listen...and I do that to this day.
I developed cooking classes specific to the GAPS diet in 2010. When I was introduced to Dr. Joseph Mercola in 2011 by Dr. Natasha and her husband at the Wise Traditions Conference in Dallas, and they told him I had developed cooking classes for the GAPS diet, he used the term "ground breaking". Yes, they were--and yes, they are, for I am still working to teach those techniques that are specific to GAPS, to clear up misunderstandings about cooking for the diet and how it works. I write, I blog, I speak, I teach. Wherever and whenever I can. When I realized the misunderstanding about bone broth that was going around the forums and list serves at that time--that moms all over the country were trying to implement the diet with bone broth--long cooked bone broth, full of glutamic acid (read "MSG"), which could trigger neurological symptoms in those that had them (read "autistic children") had to be corrected. There is no bone broth in GAPS, folks. The stock that Dr. Natasha writes about is clearly Meat Stock. Short cooked stock, made from meaty bones with joints and connective tissue. Yes, you can throw in marrow bones for their added goodness, but they are not the main ingredients.
In order to get the word out and clear up the confusion between bone broth and meat stock, I started writing a series of books called Cooking Techniques for the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) Diet. Eventually, there will be four parts to the series, explaining the very important nuances of cooking for this healing protocol. This is not the "well" diet, folks. It is a therapeutic diet, that is designed to produced therapeutic results. Part I of my series of books (available as ebooks to get the word out, pdfs and print editions), the most important part, is called "Meat Stock and Bone Broth". My publisher, Selene River Press (a fabulous publisher that carries select books on nutrition and health based on the works of Dr. Royal Lee) puts it like this: "Bringing new clarity to the GAPS diet in non-clinical language all readers can understand, expert chef, author, and teacher Monica Corrado shores up a critical but often misunderstood aspect of the GAPS healing protocol—meat stock and bone broth. When you make them. How you make them. Why you make them. And, crucially, why you shouldn’t mix them up."
I invite you to take a read of my book on Meat Stock and Bone Broth. I also invite you to experience the most healing part of the GAPS diet, the "Intro" with me during what I am calling "Jump Start: GAPS", an online program I am offering February 20 - 27. An easy, inexpensive way to access me, a Certified GAPS Practitioner and a Teaching Chef, and have your questions answered. More info about Jump Start: GAPS here.
More about the GAPS Diet
More about Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride
Cooking Techniques for the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) Diet Part I: Meat Stock and Bone Broth
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Morell
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