Fast, easy, and cheap bone broths

Fast, easy, and cheap bone broths

Bone broth is one of the most nutritious foods for oral health because it’s high in collagen for strong, flexible gum tissue and mineral-rich for remineralizing tooth enamel. It’s also inexpensive and easy to make yourself!

Whether you are a habitual bone broth brewer or you’ve never even tried, you can vary your broth to suit your priorities:

FAST? EASY? CHEAP?

It’s all good!

 

Alt oral book review

Choose the bones

The best bones come from organic or wild animals.

For fast bone broth: Fish bones (and fish heads) make the fastest bone broth. The thinner the bones, the quicker they give up rich mineral goodness and fish bones only need up to an hour of simmering for an exceptionally nutritious broth.

(Chicken bone broth takes up to 24 hours of simmering and beef bones can simmer for up to 72 hours.)

For easy bone broth: Save your leftovers. Any time you roast a whole chicken, grill some T-bone steaks, or roast a leg of lamb you’ll have bones left over at the end.

Don’t throw them out! If you don’t want to make your broth immediately, store the bones in the freezer until you are ready.

For cheap bone broth: If you know someone who hunts or fishes, ask them if you can have the bones whenever they are successful. Otherwise look out for inexpensive bags of beef bones, fish heads, or chicken carcasses in the freezer section of your butcher or meat counter.

Choose the cooking container

The bigger your cooking container, the easier it is to make therapeutic quantities of broth on a regular basis.

For fast bone broth: If you have an instant pot (pressure cooker) you can make bone broth much more quickly than any other method!

For easy bone broth: If you have a slow cooker (crock pot) bone broth can be a set-and-forget cooking project.

For cheap bone broth: Use your biggest cooking pot and simmer on the lowest heat.

Choose the additions

Add a splash of vinegar to any broth to help draw out more of the nutrients.

For fast bone broth:  Make a bland broth with nothing but bones and water. Bland broth makes a good base for smoothies and any kind of cooking where you don’t want the broth flavor to dominate.

For easy bone broth: Use whatever fresh vegetables or herbs you happen to have available.

Onion, carrot, and celery are tried and true. Add bay leaf, thyme, and parsley for a Euro-flavor profile or ginger, garlic, and chilli for a more Asian-flavor profile. Or, even easier, add a stock cube for flavor.

For cheap bone broth: Keep a big sturdy ziplock bag in the freezer to collect vegetable scraps e.g. onion ends, carrot peels, leek leaves, and parsley stalks. Add any vegetables in your kitchen that are starting to get limp but not rotten, or vegetables from your garden that are over- or under-ripe or going to seed.

When you’re ready to cook withdraw a couple of handfuls at a time for a small broth batch or dump the whole bag to make a big broth. No need to thaw first.

Pro tip: chop the scraps into small pieces before you freeze them to release more flavor into the broth.

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Choose what’s next

Once the broth is cooked, strain out all the solids. You can cook the bones again to simmer for another (less flavorful but still nutritious) broth.

For fast bone broth: make into a soup straight away by following your favorite recipe or adding some fresh vegetables to simmer until soft enough to blend or mash.

For easy bone broth: Transfer cooled broth to a jar in the fridge then heat up one cup at a time with a sachet or spoonful of miso paste for a hearty drink

For cheap bone broth:  Make broth in bulk to store in the freezer. Store in big containers for when you plan to make it into family-sized meals. Freeze in muffin cups for single serves or ice cube trays for when you just need a tablespoon of broth for a recipe. Transfer portions to a sealed bag once frozen so they’ll last longer.

For more simple suggestions for food to help regenerate teeth and gums check out

My delicious liver pate recipe

Cloud bread recipe

Golden milk

Alternatives to raw milk

Anti-cavity candy recipe

The Secret Lives of Teeth cover

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

The Secret Lives of Teeth is a clear and comprehensive guide teaches you a unique, complementary self-help approach to easing toothaches, enhancing enamel and gum remineralization and getting better results with necessary dental treatments. 

Available as a paperback or ebook. 

Has a dentist told you that your cavities or receding gums are your fault because you are drinking too much Coke, you don’t floss enough or you need to stop breastfeeding your baby? And you know that isn’t true!

I’m not going to blame you or shame you.
The underlying causes of your oral health issues are not your fault!

Nature or nurture, ancestry or environment, free will or systemic oppression, unconscious emotions or the degraded food system

These are the factors that make your teeth and gums vulnerable to disease.

Even though your tooth decay and gum disease is not your fault, it is within your power to change.

You can turn your oral health around with natural strategies and healthy habits.

Strong Oral Health On a Plant Based Diet

Can you cure cavities and gum disease holistically on a vegan or plant-based diet? Whether you are strictly vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free or just minimizing meat, there are a suite of holistic strategies that you can use to cure and prevent cavities.  It's common for...

Fast, easy, and cheap bone broths

Bone broth is one of the most nutritious foods for oral health because it's high in collagen for strong, flexible gum tissue and mineral-rich for remineralizing tooth enamel. It's also inexpensive and easy to make yourself! Whether you are a habitual bone broth brewer...

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Be a DJ for your oral microbiome

Be a DJ for your oral microbiome

Oral microbiome battleground?

I term I often see the oral microbiome described as a battleground where you fight a daily battle against invading Bad Bacteria or Thug Bugs (my favourite term, from the lovely folks at Ora Wellness).
This military analogy, while evocative, is sometimes be used to justify some very harsh treatments that may disrupt the oral microbiome, erode enamel, or harm gum tissue.

 

Don't battle your oral microbiome

Imagine an inviting oral microbiome

When I speak with my clients about their teeth, gums and oral microbiomes, I prefer metaphors that evoke lush lawns, colorful coral reefs, co-operative communities, or joyful celebrations. Imagery and language matter. 

For example, imagine that you are hosting a huge party in your mouth for the billions of microscopic inhabitants of your oral microbiome.

Most of the kinds of bacteria and their friends that live in your mouth are Good People. They help with your digestion and immunity, they support your enamel to remineralise and the gingiva to regenerate.

These guests are all having a good time, either up dancing or moving around the room being friendly and thoughtful.

But also attending your party are a few kinds of bacteria who act like anti-social kids, especially when they lurk in dark corners, eat too much sugar, talk trash, and pick fights.

As the host, you want to stop those anti-social guests from spoiling anyone else’s good time or messing up the venue.

What should you do?

celebrate your oral microbiome

 

Avoid collatoral damage to the oral microbiome

Gargling with an alcohol-based antibacterial mouthwash is the equivalent of throwing a grenade into the party just to subdue a few naughty guests: lots of collateral damage to all the good bacteria.

More targeted alternatives like Corsodyl, hydrogen peroxide, or even essential oils can be almost as indiscriminate and disruptive to the party in your mouth.

 

In contrast, swishing your mouth with water or a simple herbal rinse is like putting on an irresistible tune that gets everyone onto the dance floor, even those corner-lurkers and sugar-junkies who might behave badly if left to their own devices.

 

 

When everyone in your oral microbiome is dancing around, the decay-causing and gum-disease-causing bacteria don’t get a chance to get hide along your gumline or between your teeth to make trouble and spread bad vibes.

 

DJ for your oral microbiome

Has a dentist told you that your cavities or receding gums are your fault because you are drinking too much Coke, you don’t floss enough or you need to stop breastfeeding your baby? And you know that isn’t true!

I’m not going to blame you or shame you.
The underlying causes of your oral health issues are not your fault!

Nature or nurture, ancestry or environment, free will or systemic oppression, unconscious emotions or the degraded food system

These are the factors that make your teeth and gums vulnerable to disease.

Even though your tooth decay and gum disease is not your fault, it is within your power to change.

You can turn your oral health around with natural strategies and healthy habits.

Is it really possible naturally heal cavities with tooth remineralization?

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Alt Oral Book Review: Metaphysical Anatomy

Alt Oral Book Review: Metaphysical Anatomy

Book Review: Metaphysical Anatomy: Your body is talking, are you listening?
by Evette Rose (2012)
The first thing you notice about Metaphysical Anatomy: Your body is talking, are you listening? Volume One by Evette Rose is that is HUGE! It’s a 1.5 KG, 7 x 10 inches, 800-page paperback that does double duty in my office as an occasional reference and a reliable doorstop.
The bulk of this self-published book comprises an alphabetical guide to over 650 medical conditions. This book isn’t specifically about oral health, but Metaphysical Anatomy does not stint when it comes to the mouth, it covers abscess, bacteria, bruxism, canker sores, cold sores, gingivitis, gum problems, periodontitis, grinding, clenching, jaw problems, lips, salivary gland disorders, teeth problems, tooth sockets inflamed, root canal, TMJD,  throat and tongue problems. Whew!
Alt oral book review

Each section gives a description of the types of trauma, and trauma responses, associated with each condition. Rose offers a list of questions that could be explored in therapy, journalling, or meditation to help you recognise how your symptoms are a trauma response developed out of survival instinct.

Upfront the book explains the fundamental healing concepts in Metaphysical Anatomy (MA) as ‘a trauma-based personal development process’ which seems to be the essence of Evette Rose’s courses and coaching practice. I suspect that the book is most useful for her students rather than casual readers.

Alt oral book review

Physical, emotional or environmental trauma is the ultimate cause of most human problems. If one’s physical trauma response is not completed, it can cause disease later in life, and trauma responses can be passed on through generations. The trauma cycle is completed by discharging the retained nervous system energy of adrenaline, tensed muscle and other symptoms of stress. A trauma cycle can be completed later, or even in later generations without necessarily even knowing what the origin of the trauma was. It can be enough to recognise how a trauma response serves you now.


The MA approach to healing medical conditions involves completing the trauma cycle by acknowledging that a survival instinct continues holding trauma in your body.

This theory is closely aligned with my own understanding of energetic influences on oral health. However, in my experience (not having studied with Evette Rose), the discussions of oral health conditions in the A-Z section are of limited use. When I first got the book I tried it out with a couple of clients but it didn’t resonate with them at all so I quickly resumed my own, more reliable, intuitive approach.

Alt oral book review

Should you read it?

Nonetheless, Metaphysical Anatomy has occasionally been helpful for me over the years since then. When I’ve encountered a client with a condition I’m not familiar with, it is one of several books I might turn to help me build a healing story with them (although I never wholly rely on it). As a result, it has helped to influence the ‘Symptoms as Messengers’ chapter of my own book, The Secret Lives of Teeth: Understanding emotional influences on oral health.

Metaphysical Anatomy Volume 1 is a significant investment in money and shelf space for anyone who wouldn’t be using it professionally. I imagine an Applied Kinesiologist might get the best ROI. But for the casual self-help reader (who hasn’t studied with Rose), the value proposition is a lot shakier and it makes an expensive doorstop.

The Secret Lives of Teeth cover

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

The Secret Lives of Teeth is a clear and comprehensive guide teaches you a unique, complementary self-help approach to easing toothaches, enhancing enamel and gum remineralization and getting better results with necessary dental treatments. 

Available as a paperback or ebook. 

Has a dentist told you that your cavities or receding gums are your fault because you are drinking too much Coke, you don’t floss enough or you need to stop breastfeeding your baby? And you know that isn’t true!

I’m not going to blame you or shame you.
The underlying causes of your oral health issues are not your fault!

Nature or nurture, ancestry or environment, free will or systemic oppression, unconscious emotions or the degraded food system

These are the factors that make your teeth and gums vulnerable to disease.

Even though your tooth decay and gum disease is not your fault, it is within your power to change.

You can turn your oral health around with natural strategies and healthy habits.

Spiritual Meanings of Teeth

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What's your level of oral unawareness? Are you someone who rarely looks inside your mouth, at least not further than the front teeth that show when you smile? Do you pay attention to how your teeth and gums feel when there’s no discomfort? When your teeth feel...

Are nuts driving your tooth decay?

Phytic acid and tooth decay Nuts, tofu, brown rice and oats are just some of the 'health' foods that can cause tooth decay or gum disease. Cereals, legumes, nuts and seeds all contain phytic acid which is implicated in both toothaches and gum recession. People who are...