❤️Dearest Gastrointestinal Tract ❤️
You are amazing.
You are the interface and boundary between the outside world and everything that goes on in my inside world. You are so much to me including my primary barrier of defense, a food digester, a food and nutrient absorber, a waste excreter, a home to healthy bacteria that I depend on, a home to most of my immune system, a major player in hormone and neurotransmitter health, and you even communicate with my brain regularly. I am grateful for all you do and how you function.
You do so much for me and I know it is based on how I treat you.
I will continue to work with you from top to bottom. I will take my time eating, making sure to think about my food, smell it, chew it and be grateful for it therefore stimulating the important cephalic stage of digestion. I will not take drugs to decrease my stomach acid as I understand that I need a very acidic stomach. Instead I will sip lemon and/or apple cider vinegar water every day. I won’t put too much in my stomach at once making sure you can properly sort, churn, and break down my food. I will drink plenty of water to keep things moving and support my mucosal lining. I won’t pop unnecessary Ibuprofen that can make my small intestine excessively permeable and in result activate my immune system. I will eat probiotics to help maintain the proper balance in my large intestine. I will consume plenty of live, raw and sprouted food to provide ample digestive enzymes to help break down my food properly. I will consume plenty of soluble fiber so toxins can hitch a ride out of my body and plenty of insoluble fiber to keep my transit time appropriate. I will cut out processed foods which depletes my body of vital nutrients as well as stresses my liver in its effort to detox.
I understand that in addressing any health condition I need to start with tending to my gut.
If you keep doing your important job protecting me and keeping me strong I promise I will do these things to keep you strong and protected. We are an amazing team that will grow old together and stay resilient if we take care of each other.
Thank you for your work and efforts. I am grateful for all you do.
Below is a recipe I thought you might enjoy to help warm up and nourish you on these cool winter nights.
With love, Yours Truly
Healing Bone Broth Chicken “Noodle” Soup-
From MindBodyGreen www.mindbodygreen.com
Benefits: Bone broth, the gut super healer, contains many building blocks for your enterocytes, your gut-lining cells. The natural blend of gelatin, glucosamine, glycine, and minerals found in bone broth can help calm leaky gut syndrome, diarrhea, constipation, and food intolerances.
Ingredients for the bone broth
Whole organic chicken
6 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 inch of ginger root
Ingredients for the soup
4 to 6 cups organic chicken broth
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 to 2 cups chopped onions
1 to 2 cups chopped carrots
3 to 4 small to medium zucchinis
2 cups shredded organic chicken
2 to 3 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
Himalayan sea salt to taste
Preparation
Bone broth:
1. Rinse the chicken, and place it in the pot.
2. Fill your pot three-quarters full with water, and add the herbs and vegetables.
4. Cook on medium-high until bubbling, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer covered, at least 8 hours, up to 48 hours, to taste.
5. Allow to cool, then pour stock through a strainer and transfer to Mason jars to store in the fridge.
Soup:
1. Sauté the onions and carrots in coconut oil until onions are soft.
2. Add bone broth and bring to a boil.
3. Make the zucchini into noodles. Slice the zucchini into your desired size of strips, either thick or nice and thin (more like actual noodles) with a julienne slicer.
4. Once the carrots are tender, add the zucchini and simmer (covered or uncovered) until tender. The time will vary depending on the size of your zucchini “noodles.”
5. Add the chopped chicken and garlic, bring back to a boil, and then turn heat off. Cover and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
