Healing, Limiting Beliefs, & Bone Broth

You may already know that for the last three and half years I’ve been on an endless quest to reunite to my truth, heal old wounds and traumas, and drain infection and toxicity out of my body and cells. It has been a long, painful, and discouraging road at times, if I’m honest. It is only recently I have started to feel a slight shift, and I am finally starting to think that just maybe I am getting closer to the finish line. But my intention today is to share my own healing journey in hopes that it inspires you to take one step toward yours. I feel the need this month to go a little inward, and share my thoughts and journey with you. I invite you to stay with an open heart.

As I was going through nutrition school I quickly became aware that there are so many things we don’t know about our body and that so many of the symptoms we experience are actually due to simple (or complex) imbalances. And what’s amazing is that EVERYTHING inside of us is connected and dependant on each other. We as humans are not just physical beings, we are also spiritual, and to complicate that even further, we have a brain that interrupts with many (sometimes useless repetitive) thoughts. See, we only have a certain amount of organs in our body, and those organs work together to do ALL the many jobs that it takes to keep us alive and healthy. For example symptoms like heart burn, headache, hormonal imbalances, allergies, skin conditions, arthritis, are mainly related to one organ (you’ve guessed it, the liver). That means, if that one particular organ is not working properly, it will throw off a whole bunch of other systems that are linked and dependant, thus, the person will experience one or more of these symptoms. The amazing part of my journey is discovering the many approaches to health and healing, but unfortunately our medical system does not recognize that, due to their own limiting beliefs. To me, that is the true injustice we are facing today.

When the medical system came around about a century ago, it stopped looking at the human body as a connected and intelligent body, but instead it looks at each part as a separate system to everything else. There was so much wisdom in the medical system before it became pharmaceutically driven. What this caused was a movement away from healing, and the limiting belief that our bodies are not smart or that it can’t heal or self regulate. This became the approach and still continues to this day, and in my opinion, this belief caused and continues to cause even more sick people who are becoming more and more out of balance. The injustice in this, for me, is that it's all in the name of health, and unfortunately most people don’t know that societal beliefs limit their approach to healing as well. In my experience, I see that societies have now massive distrust in themselves, their bodies, and other modalities of health care, and instead the trust lies in the sick-care approach - the bandaid approach. Keep suppressing the symptom. But why? As a society, or as intelligent individuals, when did we decide that it’s okay not to heal? When did we forget that once we allow and support our body, it will heal itself?

The way I see it is the medical system knows not of health-care, but only sick-care. Don’t get me wrong, we need the medical system, it saves lives. I am very grateful to the medical system, we should all be. We truly do need it and use it. There is great work taking place every day with great intentions, and many hard working individuals who also want the end to illness. I have great respect for the work and effort that takes place, all the lives it has saved. I would not however go as far as to call this approach health-care. I feel it should only be there for times of need, however, it is not the right system to maintain health, because even though the band-aid approach saves lives and can provide quality of life for some, it does not heal and get to the root cause. How can that be HEALTH care?

As I continue to learn more, I have come to realize there is so much we still do not know about the human body. We are continuously discovering and understanding the complexities of us, what it means to be us. But this concept always intrigued me, and raised so many questions for me. There are too many holes in the medical system, which is the reason why I decided to go deeper and access the long forgotten wisdom. I want to understand and learn how one can truly heal (this is part of my quest for truth and healing). I want real health care. I want you to want real health care. Real health care is individual. We have to take into consideration that each person is different and each person must be treated differently, with care. We must understand that each one of us is unique, each one of us needs a certain type of support, and certain type of approach, and one way or one thing will not work for everyone. We must understand that true healing may not be a quick approach. It takes effort and commitment on the practitioner and clients’ end. It takes patience, love, and most importantly trust in the practitioner(s) and your self.

I really don’t know what is to come for me, but what I know for sure is that my body, mind, and heart need healing, and I am giving it all I can. There is love, nurturing, and healing in just that alone. There were (and still are) many times I wanted to quit because I didn’t see immediate results and wondered if it was even working. But I stepped back and saw that we as a society are conditioned to get immediate gratification and fast results. It’s like we have forgotten what it is like to BE human. I feel we have moved away from our own wisdom, from our own power. Everything is moving so fast around us, and mostly within us (our thoughts and emotions), it is difficult to stop and listen to what WE need. Traumas, pain, sadness, betrayal, and anxieties are things that are coming up for me continuously as I am going through my healing journey, and yes it is uncomfortable and at times completely paralyzing. But I know I am doing it for me, I know I am doing it for my future children, I know I am ultimately doing it for the world and all that is in it. And so, I continue to listen to my heart and not give up. In hopes I can also bring you tools to heal.

I often say in my articles that listening to yourself is the greatest gift you can give to yourself and the world. Ask yourself right now, what does your body need? What do you need? It is not easy to stop and listen. Some of us even need the radio or tv on in the background at all times because it’s hard to listen to ourselves, so we avoid our own truth. But it’s driving us to make unhealthy decisions that are based on lies and fears. It is so easy to distract ourselves, but as a health-care provider, I am asking you to stop. And listen. It may be painful, and scary, but it is better to strive to live a life of truth than to live a life of fear and distance. There is more pain in the fear. We have a responsibility to heal, to live our purpose, and to clear the way for the next generation. Most importantly, we all deserve to be happy, I mean truly happy. You are so worth it.

My own healing journey is what has inspired me to empower you to heal. So with that, there is only one food to bring attention to (again). The most healing food in the world: medicinal bone broth. Before you conclude I’m crazy for telling you to eat soup in this summer heat, just follow me for a minute. First of all, let me explain my soup experience: My husband is Croatian and in some parts of Croatia hot soup is eaten before every meal. The first time I went to Croatia it was HOT, like almost 40 degrees Celcius hot, and there it was, hot soup in front of me before each meal and I thought, are you guys crazy? But they assured me that it will actually help cool me down, so I tried. Sure enough, they were right, it seemed so wrong but felt so right. I grew to love it and even prefer it. Secondly, it is one of the top most nutritious food you can consume.

I’ve written much about this in previous health articles but bone broth, especially if prepared properly, or medicinally, is packed with easily absorbable forms of nutrients and contains high levels of absorbable minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and other trace minerals. It contains material from cartilage and tendons called chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine for arthritis and joint pain. It contains good fats, healthy carbohydrates, and is extremely healing especially to intestinal lining. It soothes digestive issues, helps in the body’s natural detoxification process, builds healthy bones, builds and maintains connective tissue, and protects cartilage. It helps us digest food by facilitating digestive juices to the gut (also another reason to have soup before or during meals). It soothes our nervous system, hydrates the body, balances electrolytes, and promotes growth and development in babies/children. Bone broth is a staple in so many traditional diets and in my professional opinion, is a very important addition to our modern diets, especially if you’re elderly, have deficiencies, recovering, are pregnant, or have children.

According to the Weston A. Price foundation, there was great research that started in the late 1600’s up to the 1950’s on gelatin where it was used to treat many diseases like peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice, and cancer. The use of gelatin was first used therapeutically in ancient China where gelatin was most likely the first functional food. France even named gelatin the most nutritious food and used it to feed their armies and the homeless. I say, it’s time to bring broth back, and say yes to healing your self - mind, body, and soul, one cup of broth at a time.