Today I’m sharing a NEAT recipe for potato clam soup. It’s actually a favorite lunch of our office staff and was created by my secretary, Jan, who is a terrific cook and is generously sharing her recipe.

I call this a NEAT recipe because of all the benefits it brings to the table. It is:

Every ingredient in this recipe helps with bone building:

• Potatoes, cooked with their skins for high potassium content, are highly alkalizing.

• Clams are a tasty protein source that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) says promote bone health. In TCM, any sea creature that can produce a bone-like shell is said to control a special energy essence that strengthens and fortifies the kidneys, which themselves are great controllers of bone health.

• Seasonings, including garlic and onions, are not only tasty and alkalizing but also contain bone-building quercetin and other flavonoids.

• Carrots add color and provide beta-carotene.

As you will see from the video and recipe below, this soup is easy to make and very satisfying, especially with a salad or aside dish of steamed vegetables. You’ll find more simple menu ideas in Personal Program for Better Bones eating plan.

Jan’s Potato Clam Chowder Recipe: Serves 2 (can be doubled)

1. Scrub potatoes, cutting out any eyes or bad spots.

2. Mince garlic, dice onion, shred carrots.

3. Place clams & clam juice, carrot, onion, & garlic in pot with potatoes.

4. Add just enough water, if necessary to cover contents of pot.

5. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender 10-15 minutes.

6. Remove cover last few minutes of cooking to reduce liquid if necessary.

7. Let cool slightly.

8. Mash some of the potatoes in pan with other ingredients or leave the in pieces.

9. Add ½-1 cup of milk or half and half depending on consistency you want.

In a previous blog, I looked at the inflammation process and the harm it can cause. We’ve unwittingly created a world where — every day — nutritional, lifestyle, emotional and environmental factors are fueling chronic inflammation that is taking a heavy toll on our bones.

I know it can seem a bit overwhelming. But instead of feeling helpless, I encourage you to remember that you have the power to make changes that will make a real difference. Step by step, you can give your bones exactly the support they need in order to last your entire lifetime — as they are meant to do.

Here are four Better Bones keys to turning off inflammation:

1. Limit pro-inflammatory foods, such as:

2. Increase anti-inflammatory foods, such as those in my Alkaline for Life program:

3. Develop an anti-inflammatory, life-supporting lifestyle:

4. Supplement with key anti-inflammatory and antioxidant nutrients as needed. These are the nutrients that send signals to the immune inflammation turn-off switches and control free radical damage:

Members of the Personal Program for Better Bones how have access to a powerful antioxidant formula, with a powerful anti-inflammatory effect. The Super Antioxidant is designed to help protect against damaging oxidative stress and support connective tissues, including healthy bone. Learn more about the Personal Program for Better Bones.

Inflammation is often named as one of the underlying causes of many of today’s “plague” of chronic, degenerative and auto-immune diseases, so you might be surprised to learn that it’s actually a normal, healthy repair process. That is, when it’s working correctly.

In fact, right now inflammation is at work on a million or so spots on your skeleton. As part of the immune system response, inflammation ideally tears down old, worn-out segments and replaces them with new, healthy tissue.

But as is often the case, this normal bodily process can be upset by a multitude of contemporary lifestyle factors. When inflammation is disrupted, your immune system will still detect tissue in need of breakdown and recycling but it can’t complete its job because it lacks the resources to generate healthy, new replacement tissue. It’s as if the inflammation “turn off” switch is disabled and so the breakdown step in the inflammation process continues — over and over, without being able to rebuild.

Over time, chronic inflammation leads to destruction of tissues and organs, including precious bone. Today we recognize that this sort of “immune-mediated” bone breakdown is a primary cause of osteoporosis. The immune system–osteoporosis link is so clear and important that a whole new field of study called “osteoimmunology” has evolved because of it.

Here are some of the top factors that contribute to runaway inflammation…

• Dietary factors such as:

o Inadequate intakes of key anti-inflammatory antioxidants

o Imbalanced fatty acid intake, with low omega-3 fats

o Multiple vitamin and mineral inadequacies

o Excessive intake of sugar, beef, alcohol, and refined carbohydrates

o Excessive intake of calories leading to excess body fat

o Diet-related disorders related to sugar metabolism, high insulin and high blood sugar

• Free radical generation from toxic chemical exposures, smoking, and drug/medication use

• Weak digestion

• Food, chemical, and environmental intolerances, allergies and hypersensitivities

• Chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis

• Inadequate sleep

• Immune hypersensitivity and immune imbalances

• The aging process

In my next blog about inflammation, I’ll take a look at ways to control inflammation with diet, supplements and lifestyle choices changes.