Bitter Foods

👉Bitter foods contain liver boosting nutrients, such as sulphur, necessary for the body to be able to produce bile, required for optimal digestion. Bile emulsifies fats and makes fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E & K) more readily available.⠀

👉Bitter foods challenge the liver and make it work, helping it to remain healthy: it is important to exercise our liver, like we exercise muscles. A liver that is frequently challenged by bitter foods is more adept at processing some sweet foods.⠀

👉Bitter foods include bitter melon (a favourite in the Okinawan diet - a Blue Zone), dandelion greens, chicory, endive.⠀

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💥Last night I used radicchio - a delicious bitter salad leaf - as a great accompaniment to my Quinoa Summer Night’s Salad!⠀

💥I cut and griddled the radicchio for just a couple of minutes in extra virgin olive oil. Griddling, or roasting mellows the bitter taste, gives a slightly roasted flavour and is a gorgeous accompaniment.⠀

💥Quinoa Summer Night’s Salad: prawns, fresh broad beans, roasted red pepper, fennel and onions, fresh tomatoes, lots of lemon juice.⠀

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ℹRadicchio is a great example of a bitter food, cultivated from the plant of chicory (a flowering plant in the dandelion family). Originally from Italy, the Romans used it to purify blood and treat insomnia.

ℹRich in lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants that are super important for eye health. ⠀

ℹHigh in vitamin K which allows the body to better absorb calcium, helping to increase bone mineral density and as a useful treatment and prevention of osteoporosis, a common side effect of menopause.⠀

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✅I encourage you, my followers and especially my clients with health or weight concerns to include a large variety of foods in their diet, for the very fact that each one has its own unique makeup of vitamins, minerals and important antioxidants, and now you can start to include some bitter foods if you don’t already ✅

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