Bone broth is truly an incredible tool to help rebuild health when dealing with gut issues. Check out our guest on the blog, Kelley Baker, and hear about how bone broth is essential in her journey to health. What else can bone broth do for you? We’ll give you a hint: it’s amazing! Read/watch on!
Dr Seth Gerlach: 00:00 Hello. Dr. Seth Gerlach. Today we’re talking all things bone broth. So, bone broth has just blown up in the past few years. We really brought in an expert to talk to us about bone broth, and all the good benefits. Who can benefit? What are her favorite things to put in bone broth? And, she’s got some of her own bone broth formulations also.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 00:23 If you’ve got problems. If you’ve got skin problems. If you’re immune system is down. If your brain is not functioning the way you want it to. Stay tuned, because we’re going to talk about all this stuff today.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 00:42 I’m going to ahead and introduce my guest here. This is Kelley Baker. She’s the owner of KB Wellness Broths. So Kelley, give us just a little bit about yourself. Maybe a little bit about your story. How you got into bone broth.
Kelley Baker: 00:56 Sure. Well first, I want to say thank you so much for having me this morning.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 00:56 Absolutely.
Kelley Baker: 01:02 And yeah, I am a holistic lifestyle coach. I am a personal trainer, and I’ve been doing personal training for about 15 years now. I got into bone broth for several different reasons.
Kelley Baker: 01:15 Before I actually got ill, I was drinking it just because I had read that it was just really good for so many different things. But, when I had backed out of personal training and pursued a different job, a career, I ended up getting really stressed. I ended up getting adrenal fatigue and having some major gut issues.
Kelley Baker: 01:40 Once that occurred, I was really trying to find a holistic way to heal my gut. I didn’t want to take prescription medicines. I didn’t want to put a band aid on it. I really wanted to get to the root of the cause.
Kelley Baker: 01:54 After doing a lot of my own research, and becoming a coach for nutrition medicine profile, I realized that bone broth might be one of the biggest ways for me to help heal my gut.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 02:11 That’s great. Maybe just fill us in a little bit on your health during this. What do you think happened? Was it just stress and everything kind of crumbled at once? What were the symptoms that you were having? And, how did you come across bone broth, really?
Kelley Baker: 02:25 So, during a period of time in my life, it was probably about three to four years ago, I had gone through a lot of personal things. I went through a break up. I was working two jobs. I was working close to 60-80 hours a week. I was super stressed. I didn’t like the job I was in. And-
Dr Seth Gerlach: 02:50 That’s not a good combination.
Kelley Baker: 02:51 No. So eventually what happened was, I was running myself ragged. And all that chronic stress … Can you hear me?
Dr Seth Gerlach: 03:02 Yeah, I’m good.
Kelley Baker: 03:03 Okay, because it keeps going weird on me. Okay. Anyway, with all that stress I ended up with adrenal fatigue. I knew something wasn’t right, because I was constantly exhausted. I felt like I had brain fog, to where I felt like I couldn’t concentrate completely.
Kelley Baker: 03:26 As far as the gut issues, it seemed like almost everything I ate seemed to bother my stomach. There were some days where my stomach was so distended, it looked like I had a balloon in my stomach, and I felt uncomfortable. My hands were puffy. I felt inflamed. I felt like there was something inside of me that shouldn’t have been.
Kelley Baker: 03:49 So with all of that coming into play, I knew something was wrong. And that’s where the bone broth search came along.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 04:03 Gotcha. That’s crazy. A lot of times people have all the same symptoms that you do too, but they chalk it up to something else. So, you were kind of smart enough to say, “Okay, what’s going on? What’s the root cause?” And started digging there.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 04:16 The gut was probably, was that one of your biggest things you dealt with? I find that almost all the time.
Kelley Baker: 04:22 Yes. The more that I am learning, as I am still going on this journey of repairing my gut. As most of auto immune diseases stem from a leaky gut. That’s exactly what I had. I fit the bill 100%. My stomach hurt all the time. I didn’t feel like myself. When you don’t feel like yourself and you feel exhausted all the time, not matter how healthy you’re eating. Not matter if you’re exercising. You just feel like something isn’t right.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 05:00 That’s great that you were able to find something that helped, and just rebuilt your health through your gut, really from the inside out. So, if anyone is out there listening, is struggling like Kelley did, there is hope to turn it around. That’s awesome. So, you’re an inspiration.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 05:13 And now, you’re a holistic health coach? Is that your official title?
Kelley Baker: 05:17 I am, yeah. So, I talk about a lot of different things with my personal training clients. As far as, stress management, because that has a whole lot to do with your gut. Sleeping patterns, and eating healthy. When I was going through a lot of my gut issues, I did an elimination diet. Where, I took out a lot of different things.
Kelley Baker: 05:40 I feel like that helps a lot of people. You don’t have to do the Keto Diet. You don’t have to make everything over-complicated. You can simply just start removing things, and see how you feel. And then, if you remove it for 30 days and start adding it back in. If you have a red flag, or something comes up, then keep it out. The elimination diet really helped. And, implementing the bone broth on a daily basis was awesome.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 06:05 That’s great. I utilize elimination diets quite a bit. Just because 1) It gives the gut a chance to heal from all these inflammatory foods that are either scraping up the gut lining, causing leaky gut, or causing more inflammation. And, it gives the immune system a chance to calm down too.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 06:22 So in your case, if it was auto immune, getting rid of those foods is huge for people. Because, one doctor said, “Eating is warfare.” So, everything we put in our mouth, our body has to break down, make sure it is good, and then use it up. So, it takes a lot of energy, and it can the immune system mad. So, eating the right things is paramount.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 06:42 So, let’s talk a little bit about bone broth now. Because, I was wondering how it helped you so much. Let’s talk about the big benefits. I know things like the gut, or the brain, or the immune, or skin. Just give us some of your top things that you see, when you work with people.
Kelley Baker: 07:03 Inflammation is huge, it helps with inflammation. There’s so many essential amino acids in there that will help repair your gut. Such as Proline, Glycine, Collagen, Gelatin. All of those things will help heal and seal the gut. Which in turn, will help with inflammation.
Kelley Baker: 07:23 Another thing a lot of people, or my clients, drink it for is for … Sorry, I’m drawing a blank here.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 07:33 That’s okay. So, gut health.
Kelley Baker: 07:35 Arthritis.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 07:36 Arthritis, so joints.
Kelley Baker: 07:38 Joint health as well. And then, I had a few cancer patients reach out to me while they were doing Chemo. They can’t have anything solid. It’s also something that is good to supplement with, because it’ll help with repairing your wounds as well.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 07:55 Wow. That’s amazing. So, it does so many different things. I just want to kind of break them down here a little bit. So, you mentioned joint health. A lot of people, they’ve got Osteoarthritis. Or, maybe they have Psoriatic or Rheumatoid Arthritis, where it’s more of an immune activated problem. But in any case, the cartilage is being broken down faster than it should.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 08:14 So your saying these active compounds in bone broth, like the amino acids, there’s Glucosamine, there’s Chondroitin. People take those supplements all the time, but you can get it bone broth-
Kelley Baker: 08:26 All in one.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 08:27 Yeah, in much higher doses, all in one, and synergistically. That’s great. I’ve seen that too, first hand, also.
Kelley Baker: 08:36 Another big thing I was going to say is that people who are diabetic like to drink it as well. Because, it lowers your blood sugar level.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 08:44 That’s great.
Kelley Baker: 08:45 It’ll prevent your insulin levels sky rocketing. So, it keeps everything more balanced and prevents the cravings.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 08:52 That’s amazing too. Yeah, like you said, it probably keeps them full longer, prevents cravings. And also, I work a lot of times with diabetics who work on their digestion not matter what. Because a lot of times they’re not digesting their food properly, and they can’t get the nutrients into themselves.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 09:08 I love that, because again, their gut is healed and sealed. They’re absorbing everything, and their immune system is calming down. That’s great. So, for the gut, there’s amino acids you said; Proline, Glycine, Glutamine-
Kelley Baker: 09:24 Glutamine is a big one.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 09:27 Yeah. So Glutamine, a lot of people take supplementally. But, you can find it in high amounts in bone broth. That’s the main fuel source for the Enterocytes of the gut. So, it’s just in really, really high amounts in bone broth, which is awesome.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 09:42 Can you talk for a minute about skin, maybe. Everyone always asks about skin, and cartilage, Collagen, different things like that. And how to keep your skin looking-
Kelley Baker: 09:55 Youthful. Yeah actually, one of my clients just sent me a Facebook link about how … It was a whole article about Halle Barre. How she’s stayed so youthful, and it’s because she drinks bone broth on a daily basis. I read articles like this all the time. People are constantly sending me stuff about Collagen and bone broth are the new super foods, as far as keeping your skin looking youthful.
Kelley Baker: 10:21 Collagen is like the glue to your skin. Instead of getting it injected, you can just drink it internally. And it also tastes awesome. But yeah, it’s kind of funny how some of my clients, they don’t really even fully understand the benefits, other than they think it makes them keep their skin nice and tight. Hey, whatever.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 10:46 The thing is, you don’t have to understand the science of everything. You can just drink it, that’s the best part of it. I love how you said that Collagen is the glue of our skin, it keeps everything together. Have you seen it for wrinkles, or cellulite, or things like that? Because I know in the research it shows that it’s really beneficial for that.
Kelley Baker: 11:02 Yeah. Cellulite is a big one. I’ve read several different things about how it will help reduce cellulite, and also prevent it. I know most women out there are very concerned about that, and they shouldn’t be, because everyone has it. But it is something that will most certainly help with cellulite.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 11:22 That’s great too. I do know … I want to touch on one other thing before we move on. And that’s detox. I think detox is kind of a misnomer. Because everyone thinks, “Okay, I’ll buy a detox kit. Or do a cleanse.” Your body is always detoxifying. So there’s things in the body that help us detoxify. Like Glutathione, there’s stuff that we get from food that helps us.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 11:44 I know that bone broth can be a really good source of things like Sulfur, which help your liver to detoxify. And Glutathione have uses here.
Kelley Baker: 11:52 A lot of Magnesium as well.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 11:54 Magnesium, yeah. Have you seen that helping people too? It’s kind of hard to gauge detox in people though, but have you seen anything along those lines? Where, it decreases other symptoms like fatigue, or brain, that are really affected by toxins?
Kelley Baker: 12:10 Yeah. I’ve had several of my clients who are feeling very … Especially during the Fall and Winter months. Getting the common cold, or just feeling super tired. They’re having the Winter depression, sort of. Right as they start to really feel those symptoms come along, I always suggest taking a little bit of a break from solid foods. And doing a little bit of a bone broth cleanse. Whether that’s just one day of drinking nothing but broth. Or, I’ve done it up to three days.
Kelley Baker: 12:44 It really just kind of helps flush out those toxins, and replenish your body with the things that it’s craving and needing. Zinc is one of them as well. But, many of my clients have done the broth detoxes, and it’s like the moment they start to feel sick, they put the bone broth in their body. And, within 24 hours they’re already starting to feel a little bit of recovery.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 13:09 That’s great. I was going to ask you this question as we went. Do you do bone broth fasts or cleanses?
Kelley Baker: 13:15 Oh yeah. I’ve done a few different fasts, where I’ll fast for a day. And then I’ll break my fast with just the bone broth. It’s just like you said earlier, just to give your digestive system a break. Often times, I’m guilty of this too, of just eating too much too frequently.
Kelley Baker: 13:35 Fasting has really helped me give my digestive system a break. Breaking your fast with something that’s going to be friendly to your gut, is also very important.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 13:50 Yeah. I love that. As you look back, evolutionary, our ancestors way long ago. We didn’t have a plethora of food, or snacks in our pantry that we could eat every hour or two, like people are eating now. And so, I think that’s one of the reasons why some of us are very sick. Again, we’re putting too much strain and pressure on our gut to break down all this stuff, and digest it.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 14:15 A lot of the stuff is food-like products. It’s not real food. So, I love what you do with the fast, and then breaking it with something easily digestible, like the bone broth. It’s just a double whammy there. That’s awesome.
Kelley Baker: 14:26 Thanks.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 14:27 So, I was going to ask also. Everyone’s like, “Oh, bone broth is the new thing. It’s just a fad.” But broths and soups have been around for thousands of years. Can you talk about that a little bit.
Kelley Baker: 14:39 Yeah. Chinese medicine, think about it. Our ancestors didn’t have grocery stores to go to. A lot of … They didn’t live on a farm. You were feast or famine, so you would hunt your own food. What do you think they did with the bones? They ate every, and utilized every part of that animal to survive. So a lot of times they would hunt and kill these animals. And eat, of course, the meat. And then once the meat was off, they would put the bones in a big pot, at the time, or whatever they would used. That produced all the healing benefits of bone broth.
Kelley Baker: 15:18 It is something that has been in our culture forever. It’s one of the most basic recipes.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 15:32 We talk about this before, is a lot of what’s coming out today, in terms of nutrition and health is going back to the basics that we all started with.
Kelley Baker: 15:41 Our roots, yeah.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 15:42 Yeah. Going back to our roots. I think everyone’s always concerned about the new. There’s a new medication out, or there’s a new supplement out. But, if we go back to the things that humans have evolved with for thousands of years, or even longer, it’s these staples. Like the broths, and and the foods that we’ve been eating forever, and how we prepare them, and things like that.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 16:05 So I think the closer we stick to that, I find people do much better with their health.
Kelley Baker: 16:10 Well, one thing I always think about too is that I feel like my grandma would always tell me this whenever she would go to the doctor when she wasn’t feeling well. The doctor would say, “Go home and make some chicken soup.” There was a reason why then. Now, it’s a little different, how they handle it.
Kelley Baker: 16:30 I just think that’s so clever. “Go ahead and make some chicken soup for the soul.” It’s not just for your soul, it’s for your whole entire body.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 16:37 Yes, I love that. Now you can get MSG in your chicken soup.
Kelley Baker: 16:42 Yep.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 16:43 It’s crazy now, right?
Kelley Baker: 16:45 None of the MSG please.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 16:45 Oh my gosh, it’s nuts. So, a lot of the people, do they … I get this question a lot, I’m sure you do too. “Can’t I just go to the store and get the chicken stock? Isn’t that the same thing?”
Kelley Baker: 16:58 Yeah, so, no, it’s not. The reason why, there’s several different reasons. One is, the most important part of a stock or broth is where you’re sourcing the bones from. You are what you eat. I think we talked a little bit last time I was on. You are only as healthy as the animal that you are eating.
Kelley Baker: 17:18 If the animal was eating, or was being fed, pesticides and hormones and soy. That animal was most likely sick. So do you think that is going to benefit you? Probably not.
Kelley Baker: 17:34 For me, the most important thing when I started doing this for myself, not knowing at the time that I was going to be feeding a lot of people around me. I wanted to make sure that I was getting animals that were ethically raised, that were healthy. That had a healthy diet, the beef was grass fed, grass finished. And the chicken was pasture raised. That is 100% the most important reason why you should know where your broth is coming from.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 18:05 I think that’s great. Not only broths, but all of your food too. I think it’s super important. Even things like that, because toxins can be stored in bones too. When you’re cooking that out, you’re going to release that again. You’re going to absorb all that. That’s great.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 18:21 I’ve heard also, I don’t know what you would say about this. The stocks, they don’t have any of the good protein. So, you’re not going to get a lot of that healing and regeneration from that. And then, a good homemade broth, or broths like yours, will have at least triple the Collagen too.
Kelley Baker: 18:38 Yes. It’s the way that it’s cooked. It’s the way that it’s cared for. It’s, again, where you’re sourcing it from. Then also, with my broths specifically, I make sure that I’m putting in other really good, healing ingredients. Such as, fresh Turmeric, fresh organic Ginger, Parsley. Other stuff that’s going to help you. Especially if you have gut issues, Ginger is awesome. And so is inflammation, inflammation. So is Turmeric. Yeah, inflammation, good for you.
Kelley Baker: 19:09 But yeah, it’s really important what you’re putting into your broth too, asides just from the bones. You’re going to reap the benefits. And I also use Sea Salt instead of Table Salt. My broth is considered a low sodium broth as well, if people are concerned about that.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 19:27 Gotcha. I was going to ask you, what are all your favorite things? And, do you have different ones? But, I love spices and herbs, I feel are just really underutilized today, and they’re so powerful. They’re even synergistic too. So when you use them together, the healing benefits even sky rocket. So, what do you put in it?
Kelley Baker: 19:46 I put in Turmeric and black pepper work synergistically together. So you’re going to be able to reap the benefits more. And those are both in my broths.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 19:54 That’s amazing. How many different broths do you have now?
Kelley Baker: 19:58 I have three right now, but it doesn’t have the bone aspect of it. Which, is what produces all the essential amino acids.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 20:05 Yeah. What are the flavors then, for the chicken and the beef and the veggie?
Kelley Baker: 20:10 The veggie … It is vegan, because I don’t use butter or anything with it. I use coconut oil. Everything’s organic. It’s got fresh Ginger, Garlic, Celery, Leeks. You would think that I would know this off the top of my head, because I make it everyday.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 20:34 But it sounds delicious though, all that together.
Kelley Baker: 20:36 Yeah. And then, the chicken and the beef have the same recipe. Other than the beef, I roast the bones first with tomato paste. Because, it just gives it a hardier taste.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 20:47 Gotcha. That’s great. People buy this, they heat it up at home, they drink it. What all do they do with it?
Kelley Baker: 20:55 Yeah. Because there’s no preservatives in my bone broth, I sell it frozen. As soon as you bring it home you can … How I usually do it, if I know I’m going to use it that evening to cook with. I just leave it out on the counter, and let it get loose from the container. And then I put it on top of the stove.
Kelley Baker: 21:13 You can use it in a lot of different ways. You can just drink it, if you’re doing fasts that’s what I recommend. Or, you can use it to cook Quinoa, or rice, instead of water, to add more nutrients. You can make stews, soups. Instead of using boxed grocery store stuff.
Kelley Baker: 21:31 Today, I’m going to be making Italian Sausage Soup for my Uncle. He just had surgery. This is going to be a really good thing for him to have, to help repair him.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 21:45 Wow. That sounds neat.
Kelley Baker: 21:46 Yeah. That’ll be Spinach, Carrots, Zucchini, Italian Sausage, and some beans. So, very simple.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 21:55 That’s sounds delicious right now. You’re making me pretty hungry. And you’re a great person to follow on social media, because you’re always cooking, you’re always preparing stuff. We’ll talk about that too, where to find you.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 22:10 Where can you find your broths? At physical locations, and then where else can you find them?
Kelley Baker: 22:18 Okay. It’s sold in a few store around town. So, the big named stores, it’s going to be at Fresh Thyme here in the next couple of weeks.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 22:29 That’s great.
Kelley Baker: 22:29 Lucky’s Market, Fields Foods, the Kirkwood Farmer’s Market. I am at the [inaudible 00:22:35] Farmer’s Market here and there, it’s usually every other weekend. City Greens Market, Revel Kitchen. Juice Bar has just the veggie. And then, there’s a few places out in O’Fallen as well. Oh, Pure Plates as well.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 22:50 Awesome. Great. That’s awesome. That’s a great resource for everyone in the St. Louis area, If you’re in the St. Louis. But, I would really suggest checking out Kelley. Go to her website, read through everything. She always uses high quality ingredients.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 23:05 We talked about all the benefits today, from gut to skin, immune, detox, joint health, and much, much more. So Kelley, where can everyone find you then, as far as your info?
Kelley Baker: 23:16 Sure. I’m on Instagram as kbwellnessbonebroth. I’m also on Facebook as KB Wellness Bone Broth. And, I also have a website, it’s kbwellnessbonebroth.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 23:28 Nice. We’ll link those below so people can just click really easily, and kind of go from there. Any last words Kelley? On bone broth, on health, on food, on anything?
Kelley Baker: 23:40 I just think that, kind of what we had talked about earlier. Dieting and health doesn’t have to be so complicated. It can literally just be eating what our ancestors ate. If you have to go to the back a container, and you don’t recognize the ingredients, most likely you should put it back on the shelf. I just wanted to make my broth something easy and delicious for people to consume on a daily basis. So, I hope that you guys find it enjoyable.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 24:15 I think that’s great. Well Kelley, thanks so much. You’ve been a great wealth of knowledge today. And I hope that’s a good intro for bone broth for everyone. I really appreciate your time. So, I hope you have a good day.
Kelley Baker: 24:26 Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
Dr Seth Gerlach: 24:27 Yeah. I hope everyone else has a good day too. Take care.
Kelley Baker: 24:30 Thanks. Have a good day.
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