Bone Broth
Collagen
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Time to read 6 min
Winter changes the way the body feels and functions. Even if your routine looks similar on the surface, colder temperatures, shorter days and reduced daylight quietly increase the demands placed on your system. Energy dips more easily, digestion can feel heavier, and recovery often takes longer.
This is why winter wellness looks different from summer wellness. Rather than chasing lightness or stimulation, winter tends to call for warmth, structure and nourishment. Across cultures and throughout history, one food shows up again and again during colder months: bone broth.
Not as a cure or a trend, but as a grounding, practical way to support the body through winter.
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For most of human history, people didn’t eat the same way year-round. Food availability changed with the seasons, and the body adapted alongside it. Winter diets were shaped by what could be stored, preserved or sourced reliably, typically animal foods, fats and slow-cooked meals.
Modern life has blurred those seasonal lines, but our physiology hasn’t fully caught up. Winter still brings higher energy demands, greater internal stress and disrupted rhythms. Cold exposure increases the body’s workload, while reduced daylight can affect sleep patterns and daily energy.
Trying to eat and live exactly the same way in winter as in summer often feels harder because, biologically, it is. Winter wellness is less about optimisation and more about maintenance, keeping the body supported as it works harder behind the scenes.
This is where warm, protein-rich foods begin to make more sense.
Even if you’re moving less in winter, your body is doing more. Maintaining core temperature requires extra energy. Shorter days can disrupt natural sleep-wake rhythms. Immune activity tends to rise seasonally, and stress levels often increase during darker months.
All of this draws on the body’s reserves. When support is lacking, people often notice lower energy, slower recovery and digestive discomfort more quickly than they would in summer.
Winter also encourages different eating patterns. Comfort foods become more appealing, meals may be heavier, and snacking can increase. While none of this is inherently problematic, it can make digestion feel sluggish if meals aren’t balanced with adequate nourishment.
Rather than fighting these seasonal shifts, winter wellness works best when it supports them. Warm, simple foods that are easy to digest and nutritionally dense help the body meet winter’s demands without adding extra strain.
Bone broth has long been associated with winter for good reason. Traditionally made by simmering bones and connective tissue over many hours, broth was a way to extract nourishment from food sources that were readily available during colder months.
Across cultures, broths were used when fresh produce was scarce, during times of physical stress, or simply as part of everyday winter meals. They were valued not for dramatic effects, but for being warming, sustaining and easy to consume.
Importantly, bone broth was never treated as a standalone solution. It was part of a broader approach to eating that prioritised slow cooking, whole foods and seasonal rhythm. In winter, that rhythm leaned heavily towards soups, stews and warm liquids that conserved energy and supported digestion.
In a modern context, bone broth continues to fit naturally into this pattern, not because it promises transformation, but because it aligns with what the body tends to need in winter.
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One of the key reasons bone broth fits winter wellness so well is its protein content. Protein provides the raw materials the body uses daily to maintain and renew tissues. During winter, when physical and internal demands increase, consistent protein intake becomes more important.
Bone broth delivers protein in a format that’s easy to consume. As a warm liquid, it requires little digestive effort and can be enjoyed even when appetite is low or when meals feel unappealing. This makes it particularly useful on cold days, busy afternoons or evenings when cooking feels like too much.
Bone broth works in winter because it offers:
warmth and comfort
gentle, steady nourishment
simplicity and ease
Rather than relying on stimulants or sugary snacks to get through winter days, bone broth supports a slower, more grounded approach to nourishment.
In the past, making bone broth required time and planning. Today, convenience makes it easier to enjoy regularly, which is where the real benefit lies. Consistency matters more than perfection.
Bone broth can be sipped between meals as a warming drink, used as a base for soups and slow-cooked dishes, or enjoyed alongside simple meals when digestion feels off. Some people find it helpful in the morning, others prefer it later in the day when energy dips.
Products like Hunter & Gather Grass Fed Beef Bone Broth make this easier by removing the long cooking process while keeping things simple and ingredient-focused. Made from grass-fed beef bones, it reflects the same principles that have made bone broth a winter staple for generations: quality, warmth and nourishment.
Bone broth also pairs naturally with other winter foods, such as healthy fats and slow-cooked vegetables, helping create meals that feel satisfying without being heavy.
Winter wellness doesn’t need to be complicated. It doesn’t require pushing harder or adding more. In many cases, it’s about doing less, but doing it more consistently.
Bone broth fits into that philosophy. It’s not a quick fix or a cure-all, but a practical, time-tested food that supports the body through winter’s unique challenges. By providing warmth, protein and ease, it helps create a sense of stability during a season that often feels demanding.
Rather than asking what winter can take from you, winter wellness asks how you can support yourself through it. And sometimes, that starts with something as simple as a warm mug of bone broth.
Winter places greater demands on the body, and bone broth fits naturally into a seasonal approach focused on warmth, nourishment and consistency.
As a traditional, protein-rich food, bone broth supports winter routines without overcomplicating nutrition or relying on extremes.
Used regularly, bone broth can become a grounding winter ritual that aligns with how the body has adapted to colder months for generations.
Hunter & Gather
Hunter & Gather are an ancestrally-inspired lifestyle brand that fuses ancestral wisdom and modern innovation to guide your journey to better health. Our mission is to give you the tools to thrive for life. We create real food and supplements that are free from refined sugar, grains and inflammatory seed oils, while championing premium quality and taste.
Bone broth fits well into winter wellness routines because it’s warm, nourishing and easy to consume during colder months when the body needs extra support.
Bone broth has traditionally been used in winter as a warming, sustaining food when energy demands are higher and digestion can feel more sensitive.
Many people choose to enjoy bone broth regularly during winter, either on its own or as part of meals, depending on appetite and routine.
Yes, bone broth provides protein, which plays an important role in everyday nourishment, particularly during winter when the body is under greater demand.
Grass-fed bone broth is often preferred for its quality and simplicity. Options like Hunter & Gather Grass Fed Beef Bone Broth make it easy to enjoy bone broth consistently without long cooking times.
