Immune Boosting Bone Broth – Without the Bones

By: Kiki Athanas, Calii Love’s In-House Wellness Expert & Founder of Me by Kiki™

Prized for its healing properties, it’s the trendiest health-food (or rather, beverage?) to hit the mainstream.

So what’s a veggie-embracing plant-based eater to do?!

Simple: opt for the bone broth…without the bones.

While bone broth has powerful anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties, there’s a way to take in all that goodness, protect yourself from cold season, and enjoy a warm cup of comforting soup – with no animals sacrificed. The answer is just-as-tasty and medicinal-mushroom-supercharged vegan immune broth!

It’s a healing mineral-rich liquid that holds the power of nourishing vegetables, herbs, & spices in a way that is easy for the body to digest, absorb, and utilize. You can make your own by mixing any or all of the following ingredients in a pot and bringing to a gentle boil, then reducing the heat and allowing it to simmer for at least an hour. You can keep the veggies in there to enjoy as a light and yet powerfully healing soup, or strain and enjoy just as you would bone broth – except this time vegans are welcomed to the dinner party!

Here are 5 key ingredients I recommend including in any vegan immune broth (to knock the regular old bone broth out of the park!):

• Lemongrass: Has a cooling energy which helps to soothe your stomach and keeps your digestive functions working properly – mainly thanks to its “citral” component, which is a compound that helps our bodies digest food.
• Ginger: Gingerol is the main bioactive compound in ginger, which accounts for much of its medicinal properties – specifically its powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.
• Garlic: The active compounds in garlic have been proven to reduce blood pressure and even appears to reduce total and/or LDL (i.e. “bad”) cholesterol by significant amounts.
• Chaga: A trendy medicinal mushroom with good reason – its an anti-inflammatory, relieves pain, purifies the blood, and even works to protect the liver.
• Turmeric*: Curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, is anti-viral, anti-fungal and can help protect against cancer. *Just remember to mix turmeric with black pepper, as that will increase your body’s absorption of the spice significantly.

Beyond that, the vegetable additions are totally up to you – go with whichever veggies you most fancy (or whichever look the most fresh and delicious the next time you’re at your local farmers market). Produce that tends to work best in broth usually includes carrots, celery, as well as kale stems (a great way to reduce otherwise wasted stems).

So the next time you think being vegan omits you from partaking in a health trend like bone broth – just get creative and know a veggie-friendly option is often available – and just as deliciously healing!