If your belly feels like you’re in the first trimester of pregnancy after a meal, don’t get down, just get bitter, digestive bitters that is. Chef V highlights a handful of her favorite bitters.
I’ve been bitter these days. No, it’s not because of the new scary variant (“scariant”?) or anything like that. I’ve hopped on the bitter bandwagon because lots of my lady customers are of a certain age that let’s just say brings changes.
And when the changes come, one of the first symptoms to manifest is compromised digestion. When your hormones are out of whack, it gets more difficult for the body to detox. It also becomes more difficult to lose weight and keep it off.
That’s why I recommend digestive bitters for any age really, but especially for mature ladies.
image above is of Gentian, an edible bitter herb
What Are Bitters?
Out of the roughly 10,000 taste buds tickling your tongue, you’re probably only getting a steady dose of sweet and salty. Unfortunately, that’s the American Standard Diet for you.
Maybe if you eat a little yogurt, your sour taste buds will spring into action. But out of the five tastes our tongues can detect—savory is fourth—if it’s a slimmer belly and weight loss you want, seek out the fifth taste: bitter.
There’s a good reason why the back of your tongue is reserved for bitter taste. If your bitter buds were in the front of your tongue, you’d have a perpetual bitter beer face. (Remember that funny commercial?) In fact, the four other tastes are peppered throughout the tongue. But it’s only bitters that are relegated to the back of the tongue, which, fun fact, is technically considered a digestive organ.
We have an innate recoil response towards bitter food. Would you stuff your face with a head of the radicchio or an endive? No. But that doesn’t mean we should avoid bitters. Digestive bitters are bitter-tasting herbs that people have been using for thousands of years for bloated bellies and other digestive upsets.
Chef V’s Favorite Bitters
Kale and dandelion are a couple of my favorite bitters. That’s just one of many reasons they are staple ingredients in CHEF V ORGANIC GREEN DRINK.
Now, my next favorite bitters aren’t necessarily meant for weight loss, but they do have a part in a balanced diet: dark chocolate/raw cacao and red wine. Isn’t it nice to know that if a little square of dark chocolate and a glass of red wine is your only indulgence, it’s actually a very healthy one?
If you want to experiment with digestive bitters, the best ones for bile production and metabolism that I recommend are:
● Citrus peel
● Ginger root
● Milk thistle (You can buy this as a supplement; take it if you drink alcohol because it’s great for liver detox!)
● Gentian root
● Chicory root
● Wormwood
Oh, and how can I forget the most widely-used plant-based bitter on the planet: coffee? Personally, I don’t drink coffee, but I’m certainly not going to judge you if you do. I don’t think coffee is good to drink when you’re trying to cleanse. But if you have a cup or two every day, it may even do your body some good. But I recommend cold-brew coffee instead of hot as it’s 60% less acidic and is much easier on your esophagus and digestive system.
In fact, women who drink coffee have lower rates of cardiovascular disease than women who don’t drink it.
Conclusion
If you’re having trouble with weight management and no matter what you’ve tried, nothing seems to work, try adding more digestive bitters to your diet. There are several others, from broccoli to grapefruit, arugula and lots more.
So don’t worry and don’t get mad if your digestion is off. Just get bitter.
