Low Histamine Bone Broth

Bone broth is one of the most recognized food staples that aid in healing and sealing the gut.  Please check out my ***“What is a delicate belly?” ***post if you are not sure “what the heck” I am talking about.  But in summary, if you have allergies, food sensitivities, food cravings, bloating and other GI discomforts, chances are you are suffering of an imbalance in your gut flora; and consequently Leaky Gut Syndrome.  Bone broth is incredibly nutrient dense since it’s rich in several vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and amino acids (especially calcium, phosphorus and magnesium).  And because you are not what you eat, but what you actually digest, rest assure that another awesome benefit of bone broth is that it’s incredibly easy to digest; especially for a delicate belly that has so much trouble digesting foods due to a lack in beneficial flora in the gut.

Now I need to explain what is the deal with the “Low Histamine Bone Broth” in the title of this recipe, which is a pretty bold statement.  I didn’t know what histamine really was until we embarked on the GAPS diet.  While my oldest son thrived on this diet, my youngest son deteriorated.  I couldn’t figured out why a diet rich in nutrients, filled with fresh and clean meats, vegetables, ferments and legumes could have such a negative impact on him.  After a lot of research, battling through symptoms such as hives, rashes, extreme itching, sleepless nights and other discomforts, we figured out that histamine intolerance was the culprit.  Most of the foods, especially meats, broths and ferments we were consuming had a high content of histamine.  These foods contain bacteria capable of producing histamine.

Histamine is a neurotransmitter that regulates many physiological functions in the body.  But your body has a sort of histamine tolerance “bucket”.  Once that bucket is full, if the body can’t break it down, the bucket will overflow causing a range a problems, from allergic reaction type symptoms, such as skin eruptions, throat swelling or even GI distress such as diarrhea or heartburn .  The common body’s response is for histamine to be released when it’s needed and specific enzymes in the gut will break it down.  But when our gut flora is compromised sometimes the body is not able to do that job properly.  Wouldn’t you know that histamine intolerance is also the result of a gut flora imbalance?  We found ourselves in a situation where trying to fix the gut imbalance and heal the gut was causing more problems than what we anticipated.  How to get the gut flora built without the side effects we were experiencing?  The answer was to start with a nutrient dense but low histamine diet, increasing the body’s ability to break down histamine slowly.  During that time I learn a few things about histamine intolerance: It’s a good idea to avoid eating left-overs since bacteria in the food will use oxygen to produce histamine.  Meats needs to be fresh for consumption so buying meats/fish that are frozen quickly after their harvest and cooked as soon as you get home from the store are best!  Vacuum sealing foods or freezing them as soon as you make them also inhibits the production of histamine.

So, to keep histamine levels low in my broth I buy the meat from my farmer, which makes sure it’s frozen as soon as it is harvested.  I bring a cooler with me at meat pick up to keep it a very low temperatures and either place it in my deep freezer as soon as possible or cook it right away.  After cooking, we either eat it right away or, I freeze it right away.  As soon as my broth is ready and it’s taken off the heat, I have a large stainless steel bowl, a strainer and my silicon molds ready for freezing.  So I have a nutritious broth that is low in histamine as well for the rest of the week!  Best of both worlds!

Low Histamine Bone Broth

By DelicateBelly May 29, 2015

For a lower histamine version you can strain broth as soon as it is ready and freeze it right away in silicon trays like these.***  ***You can also use other types of animal bones for this broth, or even a whole chicken!

• Prep Time : 5 minutes

• Cook Time : 2h 00 min

• Yield : 5 qt.

• Allergens : beef, garlic, onion

Ingredients

• Beef Soup Bones - 1 package (approx. 3 lbs)

• Onion - 1 cut in half

• Carrots - 3 cut in half

• Garlic cloves - 4 crushed

• Kosher salt - 2 Tbsp

• Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 Tbsp

• Garlic powder - 1 tsp

• Onion powder - 1 tsp

• Oregano - 1 tsp dried

• Cilantro - 1 tsp dried

• Parsley - 1 tsp dried

Instructions

• In a pressure cooker add all ingredients.

• Add filtered water until all ingredients have been covered

• Set stove heat to high until pressure builds up.  Once pressure is stabled set heat to medium-low

• Cook for 2 hours.

• Serve immediately or strain broth and freeze right away in silicon trays.

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