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I know what you’re thinking.
What’s with the disgusting photo Sarah? Isn’t this post supposed to be about the benefits of gelatin?
Before you click away in haste, hear me out.
I agree. That is one nasty photo.
I decided to use it to help make a crucial dietary point, believe it or not.
The World Is a Toxic Place Even In Places Where It Should be Pristine
The point is that our world has become a toxic soup and the situation is getting worse by the day. I say this not to depress you (I am not depressed about it .. I am deeply concerned but not depressed), but to wake you up to reality if you think you are avoiding toxins in your everyday life.
Dioxin, the chemical by-product of numerous industrial processes that is toxic to the human body, is stored in body tissues and considered a persistent environmental pollutant, has been found at the North Pole. Think your seafood from Northern Waters is clean?
There is a large vortex of garbage roughly twice the size of Texas swirling out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that keeps growing with each passing year.
The grouper in the Gulf of Mexico are so deformed from the BP oil spill I’m told by fishermen friends that I have decided not to eat it anymore even though I just love grouper sandwiches.
Hike off many country roads in small towns or large – doesn’t seem to matter – and you will find garbage and illegally dumped chemicals everywhere that are no doubt seeping into the ground water.
I don’t want to even talk about Fukushima – it just breaks my heart too much having traveled extensively in that beautiful country and having some very dear friends who live not far from Reactor #4. I won’t even eat Pacific tuna anymore.
Get the idea?
How do we deal with the toxic soup we are forced to live in everyday?  You can certainly reduce your exposure by eating organic foods, clean grassfed meats and dairy and avoiding pesticides and other chemicals in and around your home, but there are still numerous other sources that you probably don’t even know about that are assaulting your system on a daily basis.
Now for the Good News
A very simple thing in your diet like lots of gelatin via homemade bone broths goes a long way toward helping your body deal with whatever toxins you are exposed to.
Bone broths help with detoxification?
Yes they do.  Bone broth is not just a boon to the entire digestive process. It is a huge help to the liver too!
Never heard of bone broth also commonly known as stock? Click here to see my numerous video lessons on the subject.
Natural Gelatin In Bone Broths Helps the Detoxification Process
The natural gelatin present in bone broths helps detoxify the body because it is loaded with the amino acid glycine which assists the liver with its housecleaning duties. Â The simplest of all the amino acids, glycine can be produced by the body and is therefore not considered essential, but the ease of the body in manufacturing the glycine that is needed to keep the detoxification process running effectively is probably highly contingent upon whether a person is in radiantly good health!
Since the ability of the liver to do its job sufficiently is limited by the amount of glycine that is available, it makes sense to provide the body with all the glycine it could possibly need!
Glycine in Gelatin Helps Normalize Liver Function
Gelatin not only helps the liver do its job effectively. It also helps the liver function normally if it is having problems.
Dr. Reuben Ottenberg in 1935 suggested in the Journal of the American Medical Association that patients with jaundice or other liver problems be administered 5-10 grams of gelatin per day as food or via a powdered gelatin supplement to supply additional glycine to the diet in order to encourage normalized hepatic function.
Consuming Lots of Gelatin is Must in Such a Toxic World
Given the toxicity of our world today and the high level of chemicals in our air, water, and food, a large amount of glycine in the diet is one very crucial and important way to assist the body with the nearly constant detoxification that is required to maintain health.
The best way to get lots of natural gelatin into your diet is to make bone broths and incorporate them into your diet on a frequent basis with sauces and soups.
If you don’t consume bone broths either alone or as part of soups and sauces nearly everyday, however, you may wish to consider a natural gelatin supplement.
Powdered gelatin can be added to smoothies which is a great option in hot weather when the thought of a steaming hot bowl of soup is not very appealing.  While protein powders are not healthy due to the high processing involved to make them, powdered gelatin is a wonderful alternative and it adds protein to a smoothie as well as plenty of glycine for detoxification.
Powdered gelatin can also be added to bone broth that hasn’t gelled very much to ensure that when the bone broth is used in soups and sauces, adequate gelatin is being consumed with each serving.
Be aware that powdered gelatin contains trace amounts of MSG, so if you are super sensitive you may need to avoid it. I myself am very sensitive to MSG and have not experienced any problems with powdered gelatin provided it is a quality source.
Where to Source Gelatin and Bone BrothÂ
Be aware that not all gelatin is created equal! There are quality sources of gelatin and those that are not as desirable. If you are going to go to the trouble of sourcing gelatin, make sure that the quality is sufficient to truly help you with your detoxification goals.
Please refer to my shopping guide for vendors of the highest grade of 100% pure gelatin and collagen peptides available that are tested for BSE/mad cow disease. They are also tested to be free of glyphosate residue. This is the same brand I have in my own pantry and have used for years.
You can also buy organic bone broth if you prefer actual food to a supplement. Â I would recommend only buying bone broth packaged in glass jars due to the toxicity issues from packaging in plastic or plastic lined aseptic cartons.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
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More Information
5 Reasons Your Stock Won’t Gel
Source:Â Gelatin in Nutrition and Medicine, N. R. Gotthoffer
I don’t eat meat… I’ve been vegan for a while and am trying to heal my gut before adding in eggs/fish/poultry…. Since I’m not getting any real protein source from animal products (I’m not doing legumes or grains either) would taking gelatin/collagen help me or would it cause an amino acid imbalance since it is not a complete protein?
If you are a vegan, you can’t consume gelatins of any kind as they are all animal sourced. Beef, pork, fish, etc. You could take veggie gelatin, but that would not serve the purpose you describe. Sorry.
As a vegan yes you can………a lot of vegans benefit from adding the great lakes kosher grass feed beef gelatin. Some vegans become malnurished and quickly feel lethargic and end up with other health issues . I feel very tired when I went vegan and quickly added meat back in . I felt sick tired and my immune system was not as poweful anymore . Everybody is different but if me I would add to diet . It is 2014 we don’t have to stick to the old theory . Your health comes first . Do your research with google and you will see viral post about it and youtube too. I say do it.
For anyone else coming along: If you’ve been vegan a while and you have gut issues that need healing, best thing you can do is put aside the veganism thing and go straight to animal foods. Best way to consume those animal foods is as soups and stews, properly cooked, preferably in a slow cooker for at least 8 hours. You want the meat nice and soft. If you keep skipping the animal foods and try to heal your gut with plants you are not going to get very far. We simply do not have the ruminant’s GI tract and plant fibers tend to be irritating, especially soluble fiber (this is why it causes food to transit faster through your gut!).
Look up the GAPS diet for more info. They’ve got a whole plan set out on their website.
Lee,
Meat stock will be gentler and more soothing to your stomach. I’d start with that rather than bone broth.
You might want to check out a copy of Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Natasha Campbell-McBride.
I’m healing from Celiac’s disease and have been recommended making bone soups to help heal my intestinal walls by my naturopath. I also happen to have the herpes virus which I see after reading this blog, soups may cause an outbreak. I just started eating the broth two days ago (and 3 times a day because I’m following the intro to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet) , so I’ll let you know if I get a herpes outbreak.
Question: Why is every body buying the powdered form of gelatin instead of making your own stock? I was nauseous after going gluten free due to the leaky gut developed by celiac’s disease. I got off all supplements for two months and my nausea stopped almost immediately. I’ll try making my own broth first. What is the advantage of eating a store bought powdered form??
Second question, it feels like a real energy sucker cooking the bones on the stove for so many hours. How many hours would you cook chicken bones in a crock pot?
You can do bone broth in a fraction of the time using a pressure cooker. I have an electric counter top cooker. My absolute favorite appliance in the kitchen. Though chicken bone stock can be done in about 90 minutes I will reset another 30 to 60 minutes. Beats 8 to 24 hours and gels very very nice. I actually make and consume more by pressure cooking it rather than long drawn out traditional ways of cooking it and an feeling immensely better. Just Google cooking bone broth in the pressure cooker for more info and how to.
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I submit that gelatin is so processed down to it’s basic component, that source doesn’t matter. At that level gelatin from even a factory farmed animal should be the same as from a more desirable animal. I mean, the fatty acids are gone, and so is everything else, except the gelatin. All this about detox I don’t buy it. Now I realize that the colors and sweeteners in the dessert gelatin are probably not ideal, but from a “getting your gelatin” standpoint, I believe all gelatin is equal. Amino acids are amino acids. If that can be proven wrong, then please do.
Agree, Tom. Amino acids ARE amino acids and you can get the same plus more from just eating meat….which does NOT “detox” anyone. That is what your liver and kidneys do….
Is this gelatin good? http://m.iherb.com/now-foods-beef-gelatin-natural-powder-5-lbs/21258?at=0
I have that but not sure…an it’s like a year old now