Our western diet is loaded with sweet foods and it comes up short when we add up our bitter food balance. We have lost our taste for bitter and some of us may find it difficult to eat more of the herbs or fruits/veg which taste bitter. Our addiction to sweet and sugary foods in our diets is contributing to the current increase in diseases like Type 2 diabetes and obesity. Once we understand the benefits of eating more bitters to help us reduce weight and balance blood sugar we might reach out for those brussel sprouts after all.
What are bitter foods?
A group of foods that stimulate the taste of bitter like arugula; brussel sprouts; rocket; watercress; black coffee; dark chocolate; horse radish; radishes.
Health benefits of bitters?
1. Releases gut hormones: tasting bitter is proving to be good for our gut. With all the hype about drugs like Ozempic (GLP1 antagonist type drugs) which affect gut hormone receptors for blood sugar balance. There is a way we can enhance this naturally with foods which are bitter. Eating bitters helps release gut hormones like incretin which in turn tell the pancreas to release insulin and balance the blood sugar.
2. Reduces sugar cravings: by having a balanced blood sugar the body doesn’t crave more and more sugar so our appetite can reduce for sweets.
3. Weight loss: we need to be healthy to lose weight not the other way around. Obesity is a disease that needs to be treated with the support of these gut hormones not just diet and lifestyle alone. By treating the gut hormones like GLP 1 we can balance blood sugar and lose weight.
4. Good for the gut the microbiome: some of the foods that are listed as bitters are also prebiotics acting like a feed for the good bacteria in the gut.
5. Bitters help the liver detoxify toxins that come into our bodies from both exposure from our environments and from our diet/lifestyle like alcohol, tobacco smoke, antibiotics and xenoestrogens.
If we can make an effort to eat more of these bitter foods in our diet we can naturally stimulate the release of these gut hormones and helps balance our blood sugar. If you find it very difficult to eat these foods then using a combination of bitter herbs like Artemisia, Gymnema and Berberine can help release these same gut hormones. This will help compliment the treatment type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance.
10 Tips on how to include more of these foods into or daily diets.
1. Make small changes slowly for example if you take sugar in tea or coffee reduce by ½ or 1 teaspoon over a week or two, take less and less milk to slowly shift towards black tea or coffee without sugar.
2. Start off with introducing one new bitter veg of leafy green into your diet each week. Add rocket to your salads or put broccoli in some soups and stews.
3. Add ginger to herbal teas
4. Add grapefruit to your sweeter fruit salad
5. Move from milk to dark chocolate
6. Add cranberry or horseradish sauce on top of steaks/ chicken
7. Throw in some bitter radishes to salads
8. Add dandelion greens to your smoothie or soups
9. Add saffron to a stir fry veg/ paella dishes
10. Add mint to your water bottle or tea