I’ve come to realize that there are primarily two areas of focus for one’s health: first, avoid harm, in both food and practices, and second, be disciplined and informed in your choices, in both your food choices and practices.
Consequences of Your Food Choices
What is critical to understand is that your food choices have enormous repercussions. Every time you eat or shop, you choose your farmer, and there are only two types of farmers: regenerative and destructive. Regenerative farms pull carbon into the soil, which initiates an upward spiral, where the soil holds more water and nutrients.
It also attracts more rain, paramagnetism (humus in soil), and diamagnetism (rainclouds), and this, in turn, leads to healthier crops, which means healthier animals, then healthier humans, and ultimately a healthier society.
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. Avoid foods and practices that are inflammatory: vegan foods (not only are these highly processed foods inflammatory, but they’re a disaster for the environment), foods containing oils such as palm oil, soya and canola. In addition, avoid reading the corporate propaganda known as mainstream media.
Now, to the good stuff that we’re all able to enjoy.
First and foremost, be kind to your gut, as most of your immune system lives in your gut and the gut is constantly under assault. The simplest way to heal your gut is to consume bone broth every day. I’ve been making and drinking bone broth for seven years now. The broth is packed with collagen and is essential for good skin tone.
The power of bone broth
Bone broth is believed to assist in:
- relieving joint pain and osteoarthritis
- detoxifying the liver
- wound healing
- preventing aging skin
- supporting digestive health
- balancing hormones
- increasing energy
- strengthening bones
- improving quality of sleep
- alleviating symptoms from certain autoimmune conditions
- boosting immune function
The best of bone broth
The best bone broth is made from the bones of grass-fed and finished beef that ate nothing but pasture their entire lives. These animals haven’t been administered routine antibiotics and asthma drugs, fed grain and chicken manure and kept standing in their own manure for the four months that it takes to be fattened for slaughter.
Daria Arnautova/Shutterstock
Bones themselves are rich in vitamins and nutrients, such as iron, vitamins A and K, fatty acids, selenium, zinc and manganese, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous.
What’s the best way to enjoy it?
We start our bone broth by soaking the bones in water and vinegar. Then, we add various vegetables, herbs, and spices, and turn up the heat. We cook the broth at 85 °C. Cooking above this temperature can cause the long-chain proteins to break down, yet above 76 °C, the dangerous bacteria are killed. After 25 hours, we hot-fill the broth. This means we fill the containers above 75 °C and then immediately freeze them. Once you’ve defrosted your broth, you’ll know it’s good when it has the consistency of jelly.
Your creativity is the only limit to the ways in which you can enjoy bone broth. At one end of the spectrum, you can eat it like a jelly, directly from the fridge. Moving along, you can heat it up and drink it. You can use it as a base for soups or risotto, chicken gravy, or your stew of choice. More creative friends have even made lollipops of bone broth and kombucha.
Conclusion
Other practices that I find health-boosting are being barefoot as much as possible, cold-water immersion (ideally in the sea), and hot saunas. I also encourage learning to play a musical instrument, spending time with farm animals, and learning to sleep well.
Who is Farmer Angus?
Farmer Angus is one of two grass-fed, pasture-reared beef producers in the Western Cape. Biodynamic and regenerative agricultural principles and practices are applied in the raising of the farm’s animals which includes cattle, pigs, and laying hens, as well as vegetables and wine. Situated on 126 hectares of irrigated pasture at Spier Wine Estate near Stellenbosch. The charcuterie, made by Gastro Foods, is the only charcuterie in South Africa cured without added nitrates or nitrites.
All Farmer Angus products are also 100% growth-hormone-free, routine antibiotic-free, and the pig and chicken food are glyphosate free. The vineyards on the farm are in their 8th year of being certified organic.
Farmer Angus achieved a world first in 2013 when he became the first person globally to sell Carbon credits for increasing the Carbon contents of the pastures where cattle graze.
