My Absolute Favorite Yemenite Soup | SCD, GAPS, Paleo

There is something so uniquely comforting about a warm bowl of Yemenite soup. When our family tires of chicken soup (our weekly staple), I like to cook up some steaming, flavorful Yemenite soup. The secret ingredient in Yemenite soup is the special Middle Eastern Hawaij spice. If you can’t locate Hawaij at your local grocery store, it’s fairly easy to whip up some of your own. (See below)

Tip: This soup only improves in flavor when refrigerated overnight so when you can, make it one day in advance to allow the flavors to really sink in.

Aside from hawaij, my Yemenite soup contains gut healing bone marrow bones, stew meat, onions, garlic, tomato paste, carrots and butternut squash.

Diets

Yemenite soup is suitable for those following the SCD diet, GAPS, paleo diet, and Whole30 diet.

Benefits of collagen

Soups like Yemenite Soup, are especially nutritious, because they include bone marrow. Bone marrow is chock full of collagen, the most abundant protein in the body, found in muscle, skin, hair, organs, nails, teeth, tendons, bones, joints, and gastrointestinal tract. Collagen is known for promoting digestive, joint, and skin health.  

Gut Health benefits

Collagen is often used as supplement to help repair leaky gut. Leaky gut is when the intestinal wall becomes overly permeable allowing large particles, bacteria, and toxins to pass through the intestinal barrier into the bloodstream. Leaky gut results in chronic inflammation and may lead to food intolerance, allergies, autoimmunity, and neurological symptoms such as brain fog and headaches.  Collagen helps contribute to the repair and regeneration of the intestinal wall.

Skin Health benefits

As part of the natural aging process, many of us experience hair loss, increased wrinkles and less elastic skin. Some people find their nails become more brittle and may break or split more easily, while others notice dry hair and skin. One reason for this is that as we age, our natural production of collagen gradually decreases, resulting in decreased elasticity and strength. With increased collagen intake,  many notice improvements in their hair, skin and nail health. (1) One double blind, placebo-controlled study examined the effects of collagen supplementation in 69 women aged 35-55, and found that those who supplement collagen for 8 weeks, had significantly improved skin elasticity. (2) 

Joint Health

Collagen supports the body’s cartilage, which allows  joints, ligaments and tendons to move easily without friction. Aging results in loss of collagen which can lead to stiff, painful joints, and in some instances, result in osteoarthritis. The amino acids in collagen helps improve joint flexibility and have been shown in research studies to decrease pain in osteoarthritis.   One study administered a collagen supplement to 80 participants with hip or knee joint pain and found a dramatic improvement in pain after 70 days on the supplement. (3) 

Sources of collagen

Bone broth, a soup made by boiling the bones of chicken, beef, or other animals, is one of the best natural sources of collagen. Other ways to boost natural collagen production is to increase your intake of protein, vitamin C, proline, and glycine. Good protein sources include eggs, fish, chicken and meats. Abundant sources of vitamin C include bell peppers, strawberries and citrus. Proline is found in high amounts in beef, dairy products, egg whites, cabbage, seaweed and mushrooms. Lastly, good sources of glycine are gelatin, chicken skin, and seafood.