So what is Broth For Weight Loss? It’s a natural, rich source of high quality vitamins and minerals. And it can provide you with enough energy to tackle your daily workouts, as well as provide you with the building blocks needed to help sustain your weight loss efforts.
What is the Bone Broth Diet?
The 21-day Bone Broth Diet was created by Kellyann Petrucci, a naturopathic doctor who published a book on the diet.
You can extend the plan if you have additional weight to lose.
Five days a week, you consume low-carb, paleo-style meals — primarily meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nonstarchy vegetables, and healthy fats — and bone broth. You avoid all dairy, grains, legumes, added sugars, and alcohol.
Bone broth is made by simmering animal bones up to 24 hours to release minerals, collagen, and amino acids.
Two days a week, you do mini-fasts, which are modified fasts rather than complete fasts, as you’re still able to drink bone broth.
SUMMARY
The Bone Broth Diet is a 21-day weight loss plan in which you follow a low-carb, paleo diet five days a week and do bone broth fasts two days a week.
How it works
To follow the Bone Broth Diet, pick two nonconsecutive days per week to do a mini-fast. The other five days are non-fasting days.
On both non-fasting and mini-fast days, you should eat your last meal or snack by 7 p.m.
Mini-fast days
You have two options on mini-fast days:
- Option 1. Drink six 1-cup (237-ml or 8-ounce) portions of bone broth.
- Option 2. Drink five portions of bone broth, then end the day with a snack containing protein, nonstarchy vegetables, and healthy fat.
Either way, you’ll consume only 300–500 calories on mini-fast days.
Non-fasting days
On non-fasting days, you choose from lists of allowed foods that fit into categories of protein, vegetables, fruit, and fat.
The regimen is as follows:
- Breakfast: one portion protein, one portion fat, one portion fruit
- Lunch: one portion protein, two portions vegetables, one portion fat
- Dinner: one portion protein, two portions vegetables, one portion fat
- Snacks: a one-cup portion of bone broth twice a day
Carbs — including fruit and starchy vegetables — are very limited to encourage fat burning.
Petrucci does not specify a range of calories for non-fasting days and discourages calorie counting.
80/20 maintenance plan
After 21 days — or later, depending on when you reach your weight loss goal — you shift to the 80/20 plan to help maintain your weight.
This means you eat approved foods 80% of the time. The remaining 20% of the time you can stray from the diet and eat foods such as dairy products and alcohol.
You can decide whether you want to continue the mini-fasts during the maintenance phase.
SUMMARY
To follow the Bone Broth Diet, schedule five days of the week for approved meals and two days of the week for mini-fasts.
Foods to eat
The Bone Broth Diet includes detailed lists of allowed foods.
Allowed foods
Bone broth is a staple of the diet and is preferably homemade.
On non-fasting days, you choose from a range of whole and minimally processed foods — preferably organic.
Examples of allowed foods include:
- Proteins: beef, chicken, fish, eggs — preferably pastured, free range, or wild caught, as applicable
- Vegetables: primarily nonstarchy vegetables, such as asparagus, broccoli, greens, tomatoes, and summer squash
- Fruits: apples, berries, melons, citrus fruits, kiwi — but just one portion daily
- Healthy fats: avocados, coconut oil, nuts, olive oil, and ghee (clarified butter)
- Condiments: salt (Celtic or pink Himalayan), other spices, vinegar, salsa
- Flours: almond flour, coconut flour
- Beverages: coffee, tea, water
Bone broth guidelines
The diet encourages you to make your own bone broth — preferably using bones from organic, pasture-raised animals.
It recommends using knuckle, joint, feet, and neck bones since they’re rich in cartilage. This source of collagen is the basis for the diet’s claim of erasing wrinkles.
Alternatively, the book author sells dehydrated bone broth and frozen bone broth online for about $2.80 or $7.16 per serving, respectively.
You may also find acceptable bone broth in health food stores or restaurants in larger cities.
SUMMARY
Whole, low-carb, unprocessed or minimally processed foods including meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nonstarchy vegetables, healthy fats, and bone broth are the focus of the diet.
Can You Lose Weight Only Drinking Bone Broth?
The answer to whether you can lose weight by only drinking bone broth might technically be yes, but that doesn’t mean it is necessarily a good idea. Any diet that deprives your body of calories can technically result in weight loss, but this can be a danger to your health. Especially if you are combining diet and exercises such as strength training to help lose weight, you need to make sure your body is getting the full spectrum of nutrients you need to stay healthy. In any case, no significant studies published in scientific journals have looked specifically at the benefits of bone broth for weight loss.
While a cup of bone broth is higher in protein than some other foods, it cannot provide you all the vitamins and minerals needed to keep you going. Pairing high-protein foods with a diet largely free of carbohydrates and full of veggies and healthy fats is a better idea if you are looking to create a diet plan you can live with for the long term.
The bottom line is that while the bone broth diet and other low-carb diets can produce results in the short term, they are often not designed to provide lasting nutritional support if you are trying to keep weight off. If you are trying to lose a significant amount of body weight, you should be working with a dietitian as well as your doctor to ensure you are getting the nutrients you need for your overall health.
There is one group of people for whom bone broth is a great way to get in much needed nutrients. Bariatric surgery patients in the early weeks post surgery have to be exceedingly careful about the foods they eat. Every sip of liquid counts when it comes to getting as many calories in your body as possible. As your new digestive tract alignment is healing after a gastric bypass, foods need to be introduced slowly and carefully, and bone broth can be a good option in the early weeks of a post bariatric surgery diet.
This severely restricted diet is one of the reasons more and more people are looking for other alternatives to traditional gastric bypass when it comes to medically assisted weight loss. Aside from the life-long dietary restrictions, there can be other complications to bariatric surgery that can prove life-threatening. Even for all these potential side effects, the effectiveness of gastric bypass is not guaranteed, with many people gaining back the weight they initially lose after surgery over the course of the next several years.
At True You Weight Loss, we help people find the freedom they are looking for from excess body weight. We know from experience that there are many approaches such as endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, gastric ballooning, and more that can help people lose weight. Success depends on making sure the right procedure is chosen for each patient.
If you have reached the point where it feels as though diet and exercise are no longer going to get you the results you need, it may be time to explore other options. Request a consultation with True You Weight Loss today.
Other health benefits of bone broth diet
Not just weight loss bone broth diet will provide you other health benefits as well. The essential vitamins present in bone broth contribute to other health benefits. Some of the health benefits of following bone broth diet are:
1. Bone broth diet can promote gut health. It can strengthen the mucosal lining of the digestive tract. It will heal the gut during your weight loss process.
2. It has anti-ageing properties. The collagen content of bone broth helps in reducing wrinkles. You will notice a younger looking skin after the consumption of bone broth.
3. It has anti-inflammatory properties. The foods you consume on a bone broth diet contribute to reduced inflammation. It can also relieve joint pain
4. You can also manage your blood sugar levels with bone broth diet. It is a low carb diet which generally gives better blood sugar levels.
Why Do Celebrities Drink Bone Broth?
It’s no secret that the rise in popularity of this age-old dish is making a comeback and with the likes of Hollywood A-listers, no less. Kylie Jenner revealed to Harper’s Bazaar that it’s the first thing she drinks in the morning.
Gwyneth Paltrow called it “winter’s miracle drink” while Shailene Woodley is another fan of this amazing soup. As is Lacey Baier ; )
Like I was saying earlier, there is no shortage of hype around bone broth!
Soooo why are celebs so drawn to it?
Here are more benefits to bone broth and why you should start drinking it, too:
- Vitamins and minerals: Animal bones contain magnesium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and other minerals good for strengthening your bones.
- Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids: These are also found in bone marrows. They’re great for preventing inflammation and regulating blood pressure.
- Collagen: This is a protein that’s also been granted the spotlight. Usually sold as a powder, collagen is best known for its anti-aging and weight management benefits (plus skin, hair, and nail health).
- Amino acids: If all that isn’t enough, this magical broth also contains lycine and arginine which have strong anti-inflammatory effects.
How Does Bone Broth Heal The Gut?
Bone broth can help heal the gut because it contains gelatin (which helps your gut process food more easily). Because of this, it helps support healthy digestion and that’s GREAT for gut health.
This broth may also help people with inflammatory bowel diseases and leaky gut.
Did you know your gut is known as the second brain? Keeping it healthy has so many benefits. A healthy gut helps improve your mood, protects you from infections, gives you better sleep, and helps boost your immunity. To say the least.
Does Store-Bought Bone Broth Have Collagen?
A good-quality bone broth should be rich in collagen. You get this from the connective tissues of joints and bones. I suggest looking for a bone broth that contains at least 10 grams of protein for every cup to ensure you’re getting maximum benefits.