Chicken Soup for Accelerated Gut Healing
Slow cooking is ideal for those who have digestive issues, as well as anyone who is looking at nourishing meals.
It is ideal for colder month of the year when we feel like eating warming and grounding foods.
Chicken soup is on the top of my list when it comes to foods I recommend for gut healing.
All stocks are useful in delivering gut healing properties. But what I found over the years is that some of my patients aren’t happy to cook the beef stock that demands you to boil the large beef bones for 24 hours appealing.
Chicken stock has shorter cooking time and is very aromatic. It is easier to prepare and for this reason it’s more popular.
The process of prolong cooking softens the food fibres and allows it to be easy digestible for you. Slow cooked food is usually cooked in batches and we reheat it when we serve it. This food is rich in gelatine and collagen and that is the most important ingredient when it comes to healing and sealing leaky gut and strengthening all connective tissues in the body.
As a digestive health advocate, I usually prescribe stocks and slow cooked meals to my patients that generally present with digestive imbalances. What I found is that slow cooked meals are often the best to eat in the first stage of dietary intervention to rebalance digestion.
Slow cooked meals will provide you with abundance of nutrients. B group vitamins and minerals delivered in most digestible and absorbable form. As you progress with your gut healing protocol, you will be able to introduce more fibre and fresh vegetables, grains, beans and fruits.
However right at the start when you are feeling bloated and you are reactive to so many foods, you may find that the only thing that makes you feel at ease and doesn’t cause any adverse reactions, it in fact a chicken soup, beef stock, fish stock and slow cooked foods.
Chicken stock is also one of the most versatile dishes you will ever cook and a backbone of your diet when recovering from any illness whatsoever. Chicken stock has been used for millennia by mums around the world as a home remedy adding nourishment and aiding healing to the sick family members.
Good quality chicken stock will show its real strength when it is ready cooked, when chilled it will turn into a jelly. Use only good quality organic chickens that will help you to achieve balanced aromas with a clear and strong chicken flavour.
INGREDIENTS
2 large organically grown chickens
4-6 litters of filtered water
2 onions, sliced
3 carrots cut in cubes
3 celery sticks, chopped
1 glove of garlic, peeled
1/2 of leek, sliced
1/2 of Parsley, finally chopped
1/2 stick of lemon grass, finely chopped
1 thumbnail of ginger, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to season
Apple cider vinegar to taste
METHOD
- Place 2 whole washed chickens into a large pot and cover them with filtered water.
2. Bring it to the boil and remove the dark protein foam that formed in the first few minutes of boiling your chicken.
3. Lower the heat to minimum and let the chicken boil for 2- 4 hours. Leave the lead off the pot and add water accordingly, as it evaporates. I like to cook my chicken soup for 4 hours to maximise the gelatine release into the stock.
4. Remove the meat after it has been cooked for 4 hours from the stock and add freshly chopped vegetables.
5. Cook the vegetables in the stock at low heat for maximum of 15-20 minutes.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Serve by itself, or with meat, and garnish the chicken soup with fresh parsley.
8. Add one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to your soup when taken off the heat, this is to promote better calcium absorption and add the probiotic bacteria into your meal. Try to add the apple cider vinegar each time when you serve the soup. Do not add it directly into the pot, as it will make your soup go off way quicker than you would wish !
Enjoy! 🙂