Optimizing Your Best Accessory Through Food

Mar 7, 2016

By Monica Kuebler

We spend an enormous amount of our precious time and money these days trying to find the right clothes, shoes, shades of makeup and smile transforming products to make ourselves look more beautiful.  It could seriously be a full-time job, am I right ladies?

Not only are we trying to look more beautiful but we are trying to defy our age despite the fact that we will always be aging.  And yes girlfriend, you in all your timeless beauty products are in fact aging, like it or not.  We’re all in the same boat on that one.  But, you certainly don’t have to “look” like it or in my case act like it!

As a holistic health and fitness practitioner for over 15 years and founder of Whole Health Elements, I have found that there are two constant things that have the greatest impact on your perceived age.

The quality of your skin and how well you move.

While the latter is super important in its relation to our health and youthful “looking” appearance I really want to talk to you today about the former, the quality of your skin.

Your skin is your largest organ and the quality of its appearance can tell us so much about what’s going on in the rest of your body.

• Do you have eczema?  There’s a strong likelihood that you may have digestive dysfunction, flora imbalances, food intolerances and/or hypochlorhydria (not enough stomach acid).
• Acne?  It’s likely that your diet is too high in refined carbohydrates, you have a hormone insufficiency or imbalance, excess iron in your diet or your levels of vitamin A, E, zinc or magnesium are not sufficient.
• Psoriasis?  This crazy condition is possibly due to liver, biliary or pancreatic dysfunction, mental stress (because who doesn’t have that!), adrenal fatigue, genetic predisposition (thanks to Mom or Dad), constipation, colon toxicity, food intolerances or sensitivity to soap, bleach, etc.
• Boils?  This painful and terribly annoying issue is a sign that your lymph and kidneys need to be drained and likely a formal detoxification for bacteria/fungi/yeast needs to be completed.
• Skin rashes?  Possible causes are sensitivities to the proteins, casein and gluten, excessive sunlight exposure, digestive dysfunction, diets high in fried foods/hydrogenates, a calcium or magnesium deficiency, a food allergy or a contact allergy or sensitivity.

Did you happen to notice the one thing that every health issue above shares?  Yep you guessed it, (or maybe you didn’t but that’s okay you are still awesome for reading this far) digestive system disturbance!

Your skin is one of the best measures of your digestive health.  So doesn’t it make sense that if you work to improve the quality of the function of your gut and digestive system then that will affect the look of your skin from the inside out?  Of course it does!

Most of us for the majority of our lives have been eating the standard American diet (SAD) of refined, processed and sugary-laden foods.  In addition, our food supply has become over-ridden by non-natural foods and food-like substances that our bodies no longer recognize as foods but rather foes.

Over time this abundance of foe-foods breaks down the integrity of the lining of our digestive system (gut) which allows all kinds of gnarly things to happen to our skin.  When we eat these foe foods our bodies start to see them as invaders and try to fight them off for our benefit but often the system backfires.  Pretty soon we’re dealing with auto-immunity problems and a whole host of symptoms and issues.  Not fun.

Instead of spending your precious time and money on more seaweed face creams and anti-aging serums from the atmosphere of Jupiter to gain more beautiful, youthful looking skin I encourage you to take a trifecta approach:

1)    Hydrate your body well by striving for half your body weight in ounces of water daily.  For example, if you weigh 150 lbs. then your daily goal should be 75 ounces of water.

2)    Identify and eliminate the foods that are offending your gut and disrupting your digestive function and skin health.

3)    Add the best product to restore your gut health and achieve youthful, radiant, spectacularly glowing skin from the inside out…..homemade bone broth!

Yes, bone broth.  I’m talking about the bone broth your grandma’s grandma’s grandma made and likely used for every health ailment under the sun.  The bone broth that brings people back to life from decades of sickness, chronic degenerative problems and so much more. The bone broth that can make your skin light up like never before with a look and feel that no product will ever be able to give you from the inside out.

A greater number of Americans are taking more responsibility for their own health and healing and are looking into more traditional healing remedies which has caused this ancient elixir’s popularity to surge recently.

Bone broth is an excellent nourishing food to help heal the lining of the gut as well as helping to heal damaged tissues and joints.  Being rich in collagen it provides awesome benefits to your skin, nails and hair making them shiny and strong!

Bone broth is high in protein and helps satisfy your appetite for those of you that are trying to eat less but not feel starved.  It can also help to regulate your hormone levels if consumed regularly.

Broth is high in minerals which makes it a fantastic remedy for building strong healthy bones and is completely beneficial for almost every health problem on some level.

Simply put, great health comes down to mineral balance and digestive happiness friends and bone broth provides both!

So, do you just drink it?  Yes.  Swap some broth out for your morning cup of joe or afternoon tea or drink some with your meal.  On cold days I heat some up, add a whole clove of garlic, a pinch of Himalayan salt and enjoy the comfort it brings me.  When I am on the go I add it to a thermos on my way out the door and drink from it throughout the day to help me stay hydrated despite the dry wintery air.

You can also use your bone broth in soups, stews and sauces in your weekly meals, there are no rules to bone broth!  Just try to maximize the quality of the bones that you use to make your broth.  Bones can be used over a few times to draw out all the nutrition density that they have to offer.

Where do I get the bones?  Ask your butcher if they have any bones in the back of your local store, find a local farm or save the bones from your meals until you accrue enough to make a batch of broth.  I roast a whole chicken in my slow cooker weekly and use the leftover carcass to make broth each week.

Here’s a great recipe below for nutrient dense homemade bone broth.  Give it a whirl and you’ll never opt for the canned store bought version ever again as it’s not nearly the same thing.  Here’s to achieving beautifully youthful skin through bone broth friends!

Super Healing Bone Broth Recipe
Yields:  Approximately 4 quarts
Time:  10 min prep; 4-24-hour simmer

Ingredients
4 quarts of filtered water
2 Tbsp. of organic raw apple cider vinegar
2-3 pounds of bones from pasture raised chickens or cattle
2 chicken feet for extra collagen goodness (this is completely optional but very beneficial to your broth)
3 organic carrots (no need to peel)
2 organic celery stalks
2 organic onions (include the paper skin to add a beautiful color to your broth)
1-2 Tbsp. of organic coconut oil
2 cloves of organic garlic
1 Tbsp. dried thyme
1 tsp whole peppercorns
½ tsp of cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp. sea salt
Handful of fresh parsley

Directions
Fill a large stockpot or slow cooker with the water, bones and raw apple cider vinegar.  Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes before turning on the heat.  This helps to draw more minerals out of the bones for maximum nutritional benefit

Turn the heat on and add the vegetables and other ingredients except for the parsley.

In the first 2 hours of cooking you will need to remove the impurities the form at the top of the water.  It will be in the form of a frothy or foamy layer or “scum” that you can scoop out with a spoon and discard.

Let the broth simmer for as long as you’d like from 2-72 hours, the longer it cooks the more nourishment you will draw from the bones and the better your broth will be.

30 minutes before it is done, add the parsley.

Let the broth cool and remove the vegetables and bones and anything else you can.  Then strain the mixture using a fine sieve, strainer or cheesecloth for the finer bits of bone, vegetables and spices.

Store your broth in glass containers in the refrigerator for 5 days or freeze in BPA-free plastic containers for 3 months.

Heat up a mug of broth and consume 1-4 times daily or add it into other dishes such as gravies, soups, sauces or stews.

ABOUT MONICA KUEBLER

Monica Kuebler is a Holistic Health Practitioner and healthy living expert with over 15 years of experience. She has an extensive background in health and wellness and currently run her own business offering health coaching, personal training, nutrition coaching and more. Monica has a passion for educating, empowering and encouraging others to achieve their health and wellness goals through natural, holistic and healing methods.

She holds multiple certifications in various areas of health and wellness including a Bachelor’s degree in Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise from Virginia Tech. Monica is a certified personal trainer through NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) and a Board Certified massage therapist (BCTMB) through the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB). She is a raw food educator, certified Metabolic Typing advisor (CMTA) and Weston Price Foundation member and Chapter Leader. She is also a Young Living Essential Oils independent distributor.

You can learn more about Monica and her business at www.wholehealthelements.com.