For the Love of your Liver, Bitter is Better
Before you have even tasted the food, you smell the garlic cooking or the cheese melting and you feel your mouth fill with saliva in anticipation of the meal. You do not consciously decide to fill your mouth with saliva; it is the body’s autonomic nervous system response to the smell of food. Before the food has entered your mouth, the first phase of digestion has already begun: the cephalic phase. When we see, smell or think about food, our body responds in preparation for the intake of food: our mouths fill with saliva, our stomach produces gastric secretions and our gallbladder prepares to squirt bile for the digestion of fats. When we taste food, this initiates the relay of information to our digestive system. When we taste sweet, this sends a signal to the pancreas: “there is sugar coming, time to secrete insulin!”. There are 6 tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. The modern diet is abundant in sweet, salty and sour, however, it is deficient in bitter.
The bitter flavour is very important. When we taste bitter, this signals all digestive juices to start flowing, particularly bile. Bile is imperative to the digestion of fats and proteins. If bile secretions are sluggish or insufficient, the ability for the small intestine to assimilate nutrients is compromised. Bile is also the vehicle in which the liver sends out wastes, including excess cholesterol. The liver is an organ of elimination and detox (as well as over 500 other functions). If bile secretions are sluggish, the liver’s ability to rid the body of toxins is compromised.
If you feel sluggish after eating a protein or fat heavy meal, this may be a sign that the liver is in need of support. If the liver is backed up with toxins, its ability to secrete sufficient amounts of bile to meet the demands of that meal is diminished. This results in poor assimilation of nutrients and slow digestion. The presence of sufficient bile is imperative to healthy and regular bowel movements. If you are constipated, this could be a sign that the liver is in need of support. The bitter flavour on the tongue sends a nudging signal to the liver and gallbladder to get that bile flowing. Adding in bitter foods like arugula, radicchio, escarole, or dandelion leaves into your meal is a great way to support the liver. Also, consuming a Bitter’s Blend tincture 15 minutes before each meal can be very helpful for promoting flow of bile and helping the liver's ability to rid the body of toxins and wastes.
Another interesting correlation…
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the liver holds the emotion of anger. The emotion of bitterness can be defined as anger that is stored, trapped and held onto; anger that is stagnant and unable to flow away. It is an interesting correlation that the bitter flavour stimulates the release of bile and assists the liver’s ability to rid itself of toxins; both physical and emotional toxins. Digestion in general, can be energetically seen as how we take in and assimilate the world, and how we release what we no longer need (bowel movements). In cases of chronic constipation, we can ask ourselves, “what might I be holding onto that I need to release?”
The bitter flavour on the tongue sends a signal via the vagus nerve to numerous regions of the gastrointestinal system. This bitter stimulation switches the nervous system into parasympathetic mode, signaling the body it is time to rest and digest. In this way, bitters can be helpful at night time to help turn the nervous system switch from sympathetic to parasympathetic. Also, bedtime is a great time to support the liver, as the liver and gallbladder’s detox and repair time is from 11pm-3am according to the TCM body clock. Providing the body with liver detox & bitter herbs before the regeneration time is a way to give those organs the extra fuel to repair themselves even more efficiently.
When to use bitters:
15 minutes before a meal
After overeating/ eating a fat-heavy meal
When experiencing heartburn or indigestion
To stimulate a bowel movement, particularly in the morning to stimulate to morning bile dump and bowel movement
Hiccups
Support skin health
Support digestion as we age
Hangover
To switch to parasympathetic mode
To release anger/ uplift mood
When to NOT use bitters
Do not use in cases of hyperacidity, GERD, ulcers, esophagitis or IBD as the increased digestive secretions will irritate sensitive tissues.
As always, this is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please consult a medical practitioner for medical advice.