March 2024

Detox

• Detox Mindset
• What Is Toxic Overload?
• The Bitter Truth
• Toxic Ovarload & Inflammation

The Bitter Truth

Bitter food and herbs played a crucial role in our resilience to toxins, but in the past century, we removed them from our palate with consequences.

What are bitters?

The bitter taste is generated by a set of chemicals, mainly derived from plants that were once or still toxic to a certain degree. Those plants developed the bitter compounds to protect themselves from insects, animals, and humans. They are telling us to consume in small amounts and be ready to digest fast.

We know that humans were consuming bitter herbs even as Neanderthals, although these herbs didn’t have nutritional value. Archeologists found evidence of yarrow and chamomile in our forefathers’ teeth, which means that even before we were humans, we understood the importance of bitters.

How does bitters work?

Bitters stimulate all digestive secretions, from saliva in the mouth to stomach acids, enzymes, hormones, and bile in the small intestines, liver, and gallbladder.

In the mouth, bitters promote salivation, which starts the breakdown process of starches and fats. There are 25 different taste receptors for bitter taste in the mouth. Once activated, they signal the digestive system in huge neon signs: ALERT! ALERT!

In the stomach, bitters stimulate the secretion of hormones, enzymes, and acids needed to break down protein and help assimilate minerals.

Bitters stimulate the production of the gastrin hormone, leading to gastric acid secretion. Lower gastric acids impair mineral absorption in the stomach, robbing the body of essential nutrients.

They increase the production of pepsin, which helps break down protein and intrinsic factors essential for the absorption of vitamin B12.

Bitters can be beneficial for people suffering from GERD symptoms due to low stomach acid production.

also, bitter food and herbs act on the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. They help normalize blood sugar and increase the release of pancreatic enzymes and bile.

A healthy bile flow helps the liver rid itself of waste products, reduces the formation of gallstones, and emulsifies fat so pancreatic enzymes can break it down.

Bile also lubricates the small intestines, protecting the cells on the walls from damage by the flow of food. Insufficient bile in the small intestines might cause dryness and chronic constipation.

In addition to all of that, bitters also strengthen and tone tissue throughout the digestive system. They help restore mucus membrane health and remedy many gastric diseases, from leaky gut to gastric ulcers.

Together, these actions restore appetite, reduce sweet and salty food cravings, and aid in weight loss.

Bitter deficiency syndrome

Modern life excludes bitter-tasting foods from our plates while exposing our bodies to a wide range of toxins daily. Toxins are in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the cosmetics we use, the cleaning products in our cupboards, and pharmaceutical drugs.

Herbalists today believe that the root cause of many modern chronic diseases lies in what they call “bitter deficiency syndrome.” A deficiency of bitters leads to low production of digestive enzymes, and bile causes weight gain, food cravings, and indigestion.

The bitter truth is that our body needs bitter foods and herbs to cleanse itself during a detox program and every day of the year.

In detox is a lifestyle, I teach how to support your body’s innate ability to detox by supporting the four organs that eliminate toxins from the body: the liver, lymph, kidneys, and skin.

A long history

Bitters have a long history of supporting the human body’s innate ability to detox. Modern culture teaches us to avoid anything that makes us uncomfortable, so while we increase our exposure to toxins, we reduce our intake of bitters. Learn more about how bitters can benefit your well-being.

Did you know that archeologists found small chunks of chamomile and yarrow in the teeth of our ancestors, the Neanderthals?

While chamomile and yarrow don’t carry a lot of caloric value, they are important bitter remedies.
I guess these guys were more advanced than us modern people in some ways.

The story of dandelion

It irks me how unconscious we humans can be sometimes. Take dandelions, for example. Many people spray dandelions when they bloom on their lawns. They like their yard to be pristine, so they spray it with poison.

Then, they send their kids and pets to play on the toxic lawn, ignorant of the fact that dandelion can help their bodies process and remove toxicity.

We are so busy with the outside appearance that we miss the gifts that nature is gifting us.

Each summer, Americans spray their lawns with pesticides to kill dandelions. They then let their kids and pets play on the said lawn, exposing them to toxicity while ridding them of the one plant that could help them detox efficiently.