Like most people living in a metropolitan area, I am tired. My scalp is dryβbut, some consolation, not as dry as my face. My energy is zapped after one exhausting subway ride, and eating dinner after 9 p. I'd heard good things about bone broth. I'd heard it can restore your body to its pre-pubescent stage when you could eat Hot Cheetos and pizza for lunch every day and see no ill effects.
So, last month, I spent a week on a bone broth cleanse with the hopes of emerging as uncorrupted as a newborn and with a newfound appreciation for drinking boiled animal parts. Otherwise, as someone who loves snacks more than she loves some distant relatives, I could see myself drinking one mug and moving on.
The Osso Good Company sells "ridiculously good" and "sippable" broths by the bag online, from beef to spicy pork to bison. I chose their seven-day cleanse option. The "rules" are as follows: Drink two oz pouches of bone broth every day, and eat pastured or organic proteins, healthy fats, and organic fruits and vegetables. The avoid-eating list encompasses my personal holy trinity: dairy, grains, and added sugars. But hey, I like a challenge. What follows is my true account of this murky, salty, unexpectedly dark ride.
The cleanse comes with 14 broths: six chicken, six beef, and two Chinese herb -infused versions called Recovery , Immuni-Qi or Revive the Gut. It recommends one of the herby versions on the first and last day of the cleanse, alternating the others as your heart and gut desire.
I grab a Revive the Gut. I defrost the package under hot water and simmer it on the stove. It looks warm and soothing. I pour the contents into a giant mug and settle down with coffee as a chaser. The first sip cuts the deepest. Bracing and rich, it screams: MEAT. The sugar? The scrambled eggs? My brain asks, Why, Kara?
