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A Comforting Breakfast — or Anytime — Meal that Your Stomach Will Enjoy By Yon DeonJang Joog (된장죽)

DeonJang Joog

Ingredients

3 cups broth, such as bone, chicken, beef, seafood or vegetable

1 cup cooked rice

1 cup cabbage, thinly sliced

1 cup potatoes, thinly sliced

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon DoenJang (fermented Korean Soybean Paste - can be found at a Korean grocery store or J Mart in Peachtree City)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small avocado (optional; add for a buttery flavor)

Instructions

  1. Mix the tablespoon of DoenJang into the prepared broth. Be sure it's blended well and that the soybean paste is not in chunks. Set aside.
  2. Warm the tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Sauté the sliced potatoes and cabbage.
  3. Add the DoenJang mix broth to the saucepan.
  4. Cook on medium heat until it comes to a hard boil.
  5. Add the cooked rice and minced garlic. Stir gently.
  6. Boil for one to two minutes. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until all the ingredients are fully mixed. The consistency should be similar to porridge.
  7. If you'd like to add tasty, buttery flavor, mix the avocado in your bowl of DoenJang Joog just before eating.
  8. Enjoy it!!

Worthwhile Tips

  • The thickness of the DoenJang Joog is up to you. You can adjust it by using less or more of the broth or rice.
  • The saltiness of this meal is also adjustable; just add or reduce the amount of DoenJang.
  • You can add other main ingredients, such as spinach, mushrooms and thinly sliced meat or fish.
  • If you do not have cooked rice, wash a cup of rice and soak it in water overnight or a few hours before you make the DoenJan Joog. The longer the rice is soaked, the easier it is to cook.
  • To keep cooked rice on hand, you can cook a lot of rice, place small servings of it in zip-locked bags and store them in the freezer.

I hope you all try this, enjoy it, share it with your loved ones and create your own favorite versions of DoenJang Joog!

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Strengthen Students’ Health over the Summer

Summer break is an opportunity for college kids to rejuvenate themselves. With all the demands throughout the school year - class schedules, long study periods and full social lives, compounded by being away from families - they often neglect their health until they hit a point of "crash and burn."

A lot of high school students also fall victim to similar stresses on their well-being. They become exhausted and their metnal and emotional health can be affected.

This summer, take the opportunity to help students prepare for the upcoming school year. They're at home and their schedules are more flexible. That makes it a good time to get them in for an appointment at Red Earth Acupuncture.

David Toone noted that many college students often struggle with the transition from living at home to being away to college, and that takes a toll on their health.

"This is a chance to take advantage of their age and resilience," he said. "Young people tend to make good, fast progress. We can get them 'patched up' and strengthen their immune systems to keep them strong through the next term."

He added that he'd had great success working with young adults during their summer breaks. "It's super fun to work with them, see them get healthy and ready to go back to school."

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A Quick Guide to Quick Pickles

When we first talk about how a patient can "jump-start" their digestion, people often ask, "If raw veggies are not very digestible, then what can I do instead?" The answer to that question is PICKLES.

Also known as refrigerator pickles, 'quick pickles' are an easy and fast way to prepare tasty summer veggies that retain the satisfying summer crispy snap that people love about eating raw vegetables. No canning is needed!

Pickling is a time-honored way to preserve the nutrients in fresh produce. As with the fermented pickles, quick pickles are also easy to digest.

A wide variety of vegetables can be quick-pickled, like cucumbers (obviously), carrots, radishes, zucchini, summer squash, green beans and cherry tomatoes. Prep the veggies; they can be halved, sliced or left whole.

Pack them in a wide-mouth jar and add any spices you wish. Dill, garlic and peppercorns are traditional choices, but this is an opportunity to get creative - try ginger, turmeric or red pepper flakes.

In a saucepan and over high heat, bring the brine - half-vinegar and half water with some salt and/or sugar - to a boil. Pour it over the veggies, leaving some air space. Tap the jar to remove air bubbles, screw on the lid and pop it in the fridge.

Wait at least a few days before enjoying your pickles. The taste will improve as they age.

For more information and a detailed recipe, check out this blog post!

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Survive and Thrive this Summer

Keep your health on track and moving forward through the Fire Season.

Summer is the Fire Season. It's a time of lush growth, brightness and activity. Quite often, it's also a time of unwelcomed extreme heat - particularly in the South.

In nature, extreme heat withers and dries crops. It brings drought and blazing forest fires. We, too, can overheat during the summer months and experience harmful side effects.

Staying safe and comfortable in the hot summer can be a challenge. In the age of air conditioning and iced drinks, you'd think keeping cool would be easier. But how did out ancestors stay cool in the summer long before modern refrigeration?

How the body copes

In summer, while it's hot outside, our body keeps heat near its surface. Why? To allow the heat to vent outward, which prevents us from overheating.

To perform this cooling function, the body increases blood flow to the capillaries at the surface of the skin. The increased blood flow opens the pores of the skin. Water in the form of sweat then releases and evaporates. As this evaporation occurs, the surface of the body cools off.

In the winter, our primary goal is to preserve our heat. When it's cold outside, our body stores as much heat as far from the surface as possible. During the cold season, more of our heat is in the center of our body.

The role of the circulatory and digestive systems

Our warm blood circulating is responsible for heating and cooling the body. The body's heater and air conditioner are controlled by the body's ability to generate heat.

As we pointed out, in the warm months most of the body's heat is at the surface. This means the middle of the body, and especially our digestive system, has less heat. If the digestive loses too much heat it won't operate properly.

In the clinic, we see that people prone to difestive problems are much more likely to have loose bowel movements and bloating in the summer months. The digestive system is an engine. Just like the engine in our car, it must remain at operating temperature to work effciently.

When the digestive engine isn't working well, it can't generate the blood necessary to operate the heating and cooling mechanism. When this happens, the pores close and heat builds up underneath the skin. This causes heat vexation and is very uncomfortable.

How do we deal with this? Ingest more foods that warm the middle and prevent heat building up at the surface.

Top 10 tips to keep your cool during the Fire Season

1. Use spicy, pungent herbs and spices. Food such as hot peppers, fresh ginger and horseradish as well as spices - like cumin, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, and turmeric - help warm the center and allow the body to bring the heat to the surface. In moderation, these foods disperse heat, but too much and you'll sweat profusely. You want to avoid that. A light sweat will help to cool the body, but heavy sweating creates fluid loss.

2. Water balances Fire. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids during the summer, especially if you sweat a lot. With profuse sweating, you may also need to replace electrolytes. Good sources are coconut water (the unsweetened kind), water with cucumbers or fresh watermelon juice.

3. Eat light and simple. Prepare recipes using a few ingredients rather than heavy meals. Limit thick, heavy, creamy dishes that have an excess of meat, eggs and dairy. Too much of these foods are harder to metabolize in the colder digestive system of summer.

4. Eat seasonally. Visit your local farmers markets to see what is in season. Focus on including those ingredients in your meals. We have great farmers markets in the area, so be sure to check them out. Here are a few:

  • Alō Farms - alofarms.com
  • Peachtree City Farmers Market - peachtreecitymarket.com
  • Newnan Market Day - mainstreetnewnan.com/p/events/the-market-day
  • Senoia Farmers Market - facebook.com/senoiafarmersmarket/

5. Choose bright colored vegetables and fruits. Steam or lightly simmer vegetables and go easy on the salt. Remember that raw vegetables are even harder to digest in the summer, so don't overdo it with cold and raw foods. They weaken the digestive system. 

6. Eat cool fresh foods. On hot days, choose foods such as:

  • Sprouts and mung beans.
  • Cucumbers and watermelon to hydrate and moisten.
  • Mushrooms to improve fluid balance and calm the nerves.
  • Celery and lettuces to strengthen nerves and heart tissue. Celery can also help to lower blood pressure.
  • Mulberries, lemons and limes to calm the mind.
  • Greens - the bitter flavors cleanse the heart and arteries and cool an overheated heart. Greens also help to control anxiety.

7. Learn the make summer pickles. Instead of eating so many raw foods, learn to prepare delicious summer veggies the traditional way. Check out "How to Quick Pickle Any Vegetable" at www.thekitchn.com for easy instructions.

8. Don't overdo it on the cold foods. Iced drinks, ice cream and frozen treats can weaken the digestive system. This holds in sweat and heat, which contracts the stomach and inhibits digestion.

9. Limit coffee, alcohol and tobacco. These substances create heat by weakening the blood's ability to turn on the body's cooling system.

10. Rise early. Work, play, travel, grow. Be active during the day and cool down at night. Turn your electronic devices off by late evening. Try getting to bed by 10 p.m. to get a good night's sleep.

Most of all, enjoy all of the life that summer brings!

Fun Facts about the Summer Solstice

  • The 2023 North American summer solstice happens on Wednesday June 21 at 10:58 a.m. EDT
  • Summer solstice is the very moment that the sun stands still at its northernmost point as seen from Earth.
  • It's the day that marks the official beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
  • It's also the day of the year with the most sunlight, the longest of the the long summer days.
  • It occurs at the same time all over the world.
  • On the day of the June solstice, the Northern Hemisphere receives sunlight at the most direct angle of the year.
  • If you look at your noontime shadow on the day of the solstice, it's your shortest noontime shadow of the year.
  • At the Sun's northernmost point in the sky, it pauses for a brief second at the Tropic of Cancer before it appears to switch direction and head south again.
  • The word solstice comes from the Latin: "solstitium", sol (sun), and "stitium", (to stop).
  • Summer Solstice is the most yang - light, masculine - energy day of the year.
  • It can occur anywhere from June 20 to June 22, but June 22 solstices are rare.
  • It's the only day that all locations inside the Artic Circle experience 24 hours of solid daylight.
  • The summer solstice is traditionally celebrated all over the world with festivals, bonfires, signing and dancing.

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How Does Chinese Medicine Work? Age-Old Secrets to Better Health and Fighting Disease

Differences Between Western and Chinese Medicine

Western and Chinese Medicine are both sciences in their own right — but they take very different perspectives on health and disease.

Chinese medicine focuses on the body and supporting its natural ability to heal. Western medicine focuses on disease and eliminating symptoms with surgery or pharmaceuticals.

The question in Chinese medicine is not, “what bug is causing this disease?” so much as “what weakness or interrelated conditions are causing this person to be susceptible to it?”.

To use an analogy, suppose you walk into a room in your house only to find a lot of flies in that room. Western Medicine would likely apply some bug spray or set a few traps to control the flies.

A solution in classical Chinese Medicine would be to first examine what attracted the flies. Upon observation we notice someone left a ham sandwich in the room, which the flies are feeding on. Treatment would focus on removing the ham sandwich, so the flies have nothing to eat. Then we would ask the question, “how did the flies get into the room in the first place?”. We look around and see there is a crack in the window, so we fix the crack, too.

The Goal of Chinese Medicine

Chinese medicine does not treat disease. It treats individuals whose imbalances manifest in adverse symptoms. The goal is simply to restore balance so the body can heal.

Illness is seen as an imbalance related to internal influences such as diet, exercise, rest and emotions. There can also be external factors such as weather, trauma, microbes or poisons. Health is not just the absence of symptoms. It is a state of being in balance.

The preferred ways of restoring balance and staying healthy are simple. A healthy, nourishing diet, a lot of clean fresh air, adequate rest and regular exercise are usually all a body needs to stay healthy.

When we get more out of balance than our internal mechanisms can restore, we need other means to restore equilibrium. That’s where acupuncture and herbal medicine come into play.

Importance of Keeping the Body in Balance

Your body is designed, like any other living system, to stay healthy and in balance. All its mechanisms are programmed for survival. This is called homeostasis.

Although your body has many complex mechanisms to maintain balance, it constantly encounters things in the environment which can upset that balance. Extreme temperatures, physical or emotional stress, microbes and toxins can all throw the body out of balance. A healthy body is in balance and is usually able to resist disease.

Before looking at the causes of disease, it’s important to understand the relationship between your inherited anatomy, immune system, mind-body health and pathogenic factors that can disrupt health.

When mind and body are strong and pathogenic factors are weak, we can more easily resist outside harm. We are better able to ward off colds and handle emotional and physical stressors. Even if the pathogen is strong, a person with a strong constitution may be able to battle it vigorously with high fever and rapid recovery.

However, if our constitution is weak, exposure to even a mild pathogen may cause us to become ill. We may catch infectious disease more easily and may be more adversely affected by emotional and physical stress. When we do become ill, the symptoms may be milder because we don’t have the same strength to fight the disease. The illness may also last longer and may be able to penetrate further into the body creating a more chronic condition.

External Causes of Disease

In Chinese medicine we consider everything in the universe to be interconnected. The macrocosm of the universe affects the microcosm of the earth. The human body is one of those microcosms, so changes in the universe, such as weather, impacts humans.

The six external causes of disease (also known as the six evils) are causes of disharmony that relate to climatic conditions. Extremes of wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness and summer heat can have devastating effects on the planet. They can also seriously alter the balance within the body.

When the immune system is strong, it can fight off and withstand these external elements. But when extreme environmental factors like hurricanes, forest fires, floods and blizzards hit, they can compromise our immune system and create imbalances.

Recent discoveries show that roughly a quarter of our DNA changes in response to the seasons. For example, levels of inflammatory gene expression increase in the winter in Europe. This helps people resist infections like colds and flu. In Gambia the levels increase in the rainy season when Malaria is rampant. (1)

Chronic headache sufferers often report that weather changes can bring on an attack. Arthritis patients frequently report that cold and damp weather worsens their pains. And many studies have confirmed the relationship between asthma symptoms in children and fluctuations in humidity and temperature.

Let’s take a deeper look at each external factor and how it may impact the human body.

  • Wind: The most prevalent and harmful of the six external factors is wind. Illness is often brought “on the wind.” Known as “the spearhead of one hundred diseases,” it combines with the other external forces to spread illness throughout the body. Symptoms commonly linked with wind include chills, fever, sneezing, nasal congestion, cough and headaches, as well as dizziness and vertigo. It may also present as a deviation of the eyes and mouth (like Bell’s palsy), mental confusion, one-sided paralysis/numbness or even stroke. If wind is not addressed early on and it’s allowed to penetrate the body, the body’s defenses can’t fight it off.
  • Cold: Cold-related imbalances weaken the body’s immune system via colds, cough or upper respiratory allergies. Symptoms include shivering, aversion to cold, pain/stiffness in the neck and back, arthritis. It may also present as poor circulation, anemia and weak digestion. Wind and cold are often seen together. If allowed to penetrate the interior of the body, cold can manifest as digestive issues such as diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
  • Heat: Conditions described as hot and inflammatory are heat related. They are exacerbated by hot weather and exposure to direct heat. Early heat symptoms include fever, thirst, sweating, anxiety, skin rashes and headaches. Heat can damage the fluids and blood of our body. If allowed to go deeper, heat may appear as cold sweats, mental confusion, spasms, tremors and convulsions, and even coma.
  • Dampness: Dampness symptoms are often chronic and worsen with changes in the weather. Symptoms may include swelling, fatigue, a sense of heaviness or fogginess, urinary tract infections, arthralgia and an increased production of phlegm. Phlegm production can affect the sinuses and upper respiratory passages as well as the lungs and bronchioles. Allowed to develop further, one might see chest oppression/discomfort, nausea/loss of appetite or jaundice. Dampness may also appear as the formation of cysts, tumors and lumps.
  • Dryness: Just as dryness can damage vegetation, it creates similar imbalances within the body by drying out our fluids. Remember, we are 50-65% water. Dryness can cause disorders of the lungs, sinuses, large intestine, skin, digestion and reproductive organs. Dry mouth, dry skin, dry cough and dry nasal passages are all examples. If allowed to progress further dryness can lead to dehydration, infrequent urination and constipation.
  • Summer Heat: Overexposure to sunlight and hot weather can cause conditions such as heat stroke, dizziness, nausea, extreme thirst and exhaustion.

Adapting to Stay Healthy

Adapting your lifestyle to weather conditions is an important part of staying healthy. Some key habits to cultivate to protect yourself from external factors include:

  • Avoid exposure to cold, damp or wind. After exercising, take a hot bath or shower. This is because the skin’s pores are open and are more vulnerable to attack.
  • Avoid prolonged sitting on damp surfaces, as well as getting the feet and legs cold and wet. The pelvic organs, especially the bladder and uterus in women, are highly vulnerable. Studies have shown 20% of women who put their feet into cold water for 30 minutes developed a urinary tract infection within three days. The control group did not develop a UTI at all. Cold can also congeal the blood flow and can cause pain and gynecological problems. Staying warm is especially important after childbirth.
  • Avoid wearing clothes that become wet or damp. This increases the risk of developing muscular aches and pains, as well as increasing arthritis symptoms.
  • Those with digestive issues should avoid cold, especially cold wind on the abdomen. They should also avoid cold foods and drinks.
  • Cover your neck when conditions are windy. The back of the neck is considered a place where wind can invade the body.
  • Accustom your body to the cold to build resistance and strengthen your immune system. Don’t put on heavy warm clothes or turn the heat on as soon as the weather becomes a little cold. Let your body adjust gradually. In the spring, avoid shedding your warm clothes at the first sign of warmer weather. Again, allow your body to adjust slowly.
  • Despite these precautions, we should not be afraid of the weather. Simply dress accordingly. It is healthy to get out into nature and experience its life-giving benefits.

Internal Causes of Disease

There are also internal factors that can cause disharmony in the body and lead to disease. These factors often relate to lifestyle habits, choices or emotional imbalances. Lifestyle choices that can lead to disease include:

  • Imbalanced or unhealthy diet – This includes eating too much, too little or irregularly. It also includes eating when rushed or stressed or making poor food choices. Our digestive system is the largest immune system in the body, and poor eating habits can damage it.
  • Lack of exercise or too much exercise – We want to maintain enough physical activity to promote health, but not too much to damage health.
  • Insufficient rest – Rest is important for the body to be able to recover from stressors and heal. These can be either external or internal stressors.
  • Overworking – Work that exhausts or injures a person mentally or physically is not sustainable. Balancing work and rest is important to maintain health. Working the night shift for prolonged periods of time has been shown to increase risk for various diseases like breast cancer, heart attack, stroke and ovarian cancer.

Emotions can also cause illness when they become out of balance. Intense, chaotic and unregulated emotions are a major cause of disease. Too much anger is as unbalanced as too much joy. Each will manifest different physical symptoms. Here are a few examples of emotions and how they, in excess, may affect the body.

  • Anger – affects the Liver,
  • Joy – excessive joy (hysteria) affects the Heart, as does lack of joy,
  • Grief – affects the Lungs,
  • Worry – affects the Spleen, and
  • Fear – affects the Kidneys.

The ability to calm or manage our emotions helps heal disease. Here’s our blog post on how to relieve stress and anxiety when you can’t get into the clinic.

Cultivating positive mental states, such as friendliness, generosity, compassion, humor and patience also supports our health. That said, emotions are natural responses and repressing them is just as harmful as excessive displays of emotion.

The cultivation of peaceful and harmonious mental states such as mindfulness, gratitude and contentment are highly valued in traditional Chinese culture. It nourishes our vital life force or essence.

Miscellaneous Causes of Disease

There are several other causes of disease that are neither external nor internal. These can range from the most severe traumatic injury to minor sprains and cuts. They can also include things passed on from our parents at conception.

A person with a weak constitution may be affected more severely depending on the extent of the injury. Their injury is also more likely to become a long-term chronic issue. For example, a simple fracture may heal quickly in a healthy child but may never heal in a frail elderly person. Some other examples of this category include:

  • Contagious microbes and viruses (which come into the body on the wind usually),
  • Injuries and bites,
  • Exposure to toxic chemicals through ingestion, inhalation or contact with the skin,
  • Parasites, and
  • Genetic disorders or inherited diseases.

Putting It All Together

The effective practice of Chinese medicine requires holding all these relationships in mind while considering one’s unique condition in the moment. The goal of each treatment is to relieve the existing conditions as well as the contributing factors.

There is no pre-set treatment plan. The treatment plan progresses as you progress. It changes in response to your body’s response to the treatment. The earlier an illness is treated, the shorter the treatment process, and the better the prognosis. Classical Chinese medicine texts warn that waiting until a disease becomes set in and chronic is like “starting to dig a well when you are already thirsty, or forging weapons once the battle is already upon you.”

By treating disease at its origin, Chinese medicine addresses the root of the problem and restores health by working with the body in the direction the body naturally wants to go...toward a healthy state of being.

Next, we will explore the treatment process and the phases we go through as the body heals.

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Indoor Rock Climbing

An important part of your health journey is movement, and the way you travel along your path to wellness is as individual as you are. There are many ways to get and stay active. Try some new fitness options until you find one or more that you enjoy.

One way to get exercise is through rock climbing. You don’t need to scale a treacherous peak, as several indoor rock-climbing gyms can be found in the metro Atlanta area.

The gyms have guides on staff to help climbers get tethered correctly. They also teach and share advice on how to get up and down the rock wall. 

David Toone has enjoyed indoor rock climbing since 2020 when his son Ethan got him into it. “It was something we could do together,” David said. Now, his daughter Elise joins him at the rock wall.

He explained that rock climbing is a micro-burst of activity, an intense workout for a short period of time. “I can swing by after work and do it for 15 minutes to half an hour. It’s quick and efficient.”

Indoor rock climbing increases balance and heart health, and it strengthens and rehabilitates muscles. David noted that the exercise involves a lot of stretching.

“Muscles and tendons get stretched and that can allow tendons and joints to reset,” he said. “It improves hand strength, too.”

Indoor rock climbing can also help with overcoming a fear of heights, David noted. “And it’s good for body awareness. You get good at it by being technical, not from strength. You build your strength.”

The rock wall is also a good activity for kids. According to David, rock climbing helps children build stronger muscle and tendon groups that will stay strong throughout their lives. 

He suggests that anyone willing should give indoor rock climbing a try. “It’s not just for smaller, more muscular people. It’s a power to weight ratio activity,” he said.

But he stressed that it’s also a slow start activity.

“If you’re willing to keep coming back, you’ll eventually go higher and higher. I recommend this for anyone who is too stubborn to give up,” David said.

He added that he likes the fact that he’s doing and enjoying something that he’ll never be good at.

“It’s good for my humility,” David stated. “Another thing I like is that climbers don’t seem at all ‘judge-y’ and are very supportive of all levels and abilities. I’m proof of that!”

Area Rock Climbing Gyms

Escalade Rock Climbing — Peachtree City

The Overlook — Atlanta West End 

Stone Summit — Doraville

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Following the Breath

Breathing is natural for us. We learn it at birth, but throughout our lives, most of us “unlearn” how to breath correctly.

We tend to breath in our chest. When we do that, the diaphragm doesn’t rise and fall, as it does when we breath naturally.

The movement of the diaphragm is important. It “massages” our vagus nerve. That, in turn, activates our parasympathetic nervous system, takes us out of “fight-or-flight” mode, which allows our body to rest and repair.

It’s not hard to get back to natural breathing, and so, get back to a more healthful and relaxed state. It just takes time and frequent practice.

What to do

Throughout the next month, observe your breath. Don’t try to control or change it. Just become aware of how you’re breathing. Notice what’s happening in your body.

Spend a few minutes every day simply watching yourself breathe. You don’t have to set aside a special time. You can do it while you’re sitting, meditating or even just waiting in the car for someone.

There are structured breathing programs available, but sometimes, if you try to force the breath, your body may reject it, causing more anxiety, not less. You could hyperventilate.

Next month, we’ll continue this on this path and discuss how to gently alter your breathing pattern to bring it back to its natural state.

Where to look

To learn more, check out “The One-Minute Meditator” by Bill Birchard.

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Bone Broth

Based on a traditional cooking method, bone broth has been happily gaining in popularity over the past few years. It’s a slowly simmered stock made from animal bones and connective tissues. Different types of bone broth include beef, chicken and fish broths.

David Toone shared the nutritional principle, “if you want to build good bones, you’ll get the best nutrients from bones. And brain health is extension of the bones’ marrow.”

Bone broth adds ‘yang,’ or warmth, into our systems, and it’s rich in minerals like calcium, he explained. “So, you’re getting a lot of minerals and a high nutrient content from bone broth. You get a lot of the benefits of meat in a more digestible form.”

Beef Bone Broth

  • About 4 pounds beef marrow and knuckle bones
  • 3 pounds meaty rib or neck bones
  • 4 or more quarts cold filtered water
  • 1/2 cup vinegar
  • 3 onions, coarsely chopped
  • 3 carrots, coarsely chopped
  • 3 celery sticks, coarsely chopped
  • Several sprigs of fresh thyme, tied together
  • 1 teaspoon dried green peppercorns, crushed
  • 1 bunch parsley

Good beef stock/bone broth must be made with several sorts of bones: knuckle bones impart large quantities of gelatin to the broth. Marrow bones impart flavor and the particular nutrients of bone marrow. Meaty rib or neck bones add color and flavor.

Place the knuckle and marrow bones in a very large pot with vinegar and cover with water. Let stand for one hour.

Meanwhile, place the meaty bones in a roasting pan and brown at 350 degrees in the oven. When well browned, add to the pot, along with the vegetables.

Pour the fat out of the roasting pan, add cold water to the pan and set over a high flame. Bring it to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to loosen the coagulated juices. Add this liquid to the pot.

Add more water, if necessary, to cover the bones. The liquid should be no higher than within one inch of the rim of the pot, as the volume expands slightly during cooking.

Bring to a boil. A large amount of scum will rise to the top; it’s important to remove this with a spoon. After you’ve skimmed the broth, reduce the heat and add the thyme and crushed peppercorns.

Simmer stock for at least 12 hours, or as long as 72 hours. Just before finishing, add the parsley and simmer another 10 minutes.

You’ll have a pot of rather repulsive looking brown liquid with globs of gelatinous and fatty material. It doesn’t even smell particularly good.

Don’t despair! After straining, you’ll have a delicious and nourishing clear broth that can be enjoyed on its own or as a base for other recipes, like soups and stews.

Remove the bones with tongs or a slotted spoon. Strain the stock into a large bowl. Let it cool in the refrigerator and remove the congealed fat that rises to the top.

Transfer the broth to smaller containers and refrigerate or freeze for long-term storage.

Variations to the beef stock are lamb stock (use lamb bones, especially the neck bones and niblets, for a delicious stock) and venison stock (use venison bones, especially the feet of the deer and a section of antler, if possible).

Some tips from David

  • When possible, include cartilage and tendons as well as bones.
  • If you get the bone mix right, it becomes gelatinous when cooled, and especially when refrigerated. It will liquify again when it’s heated up.

“That’s when you know it’s really good,” he said.

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Apple Butter

                                                                              

The arrival of Fall brings chilly morning, warm colors, and cooler evenings. It’s the time of year leaves begin to change. The great debate about pumpkin spice starts up again. And, it’s time to go apple picking!  

The Georgia mountains have some glorious apple orchards with a season that runs from late August to October.  

When you find you have more apples than could possibly be eaten, do like we do, and make some apple butter in your crockpot. Here’s the recipe: 

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Newnan’s LINC

Many who visit our clinic ask for ways to strengthen their health and wellness. Some are looking to lose weight, some looking to get more active, and some looking to relieve stress. 

Walking and getting out in nature have been found to have a very positive impact on physical and mental health. So, we're exploring all the different local walking trails one by one and letting you know about them. This month, we're in Newnan looking at a newer trail. 

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