Heal Your Gut with Bone Broth: The Natural Way to Get Minerals, Amino Acids, Gelatin, and Other Vital Nutrients to Fix Your Digestion

Westen's helpful book highlights two elements as essential to maintaining vitality of body and soundness of mind: gut health and bone broth. The author asserts that the bacteria in the gut serve as a control center for the body's delicate systems. When in optimal balance, gut microbes "counteract inflammation and control the growth of disease-causing bacteria, produce vitamins, absorb minerals, eliminate toxins... and help keep our weight down." One way to keep gut bacteria in balance is a robust habit of consuming bone broth. Westen asserts that the "gunk" in the bones of a carcass (that stuff that's like "gushy fatty Jell-O") contains "super-dense, super-rich nutrients [and is] ultra-packed with vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and lipids." The book is replete with quizzes to measure toxicity levels and how out of balance one might be; these become tedious and are somewhat off the book's main point. Regardless, this is a needed and helpful antidote to the stresses of modern times that assault mental and physical health. (Dec.)