Weight loss tip: Skip the sweets, eat something bitter

What better time to write about bitter foods than now when all we have around us are saccharine sweet goodies… Too many of them actually!. Let's face it bitter foods are an important part of a broader, healthier diet we are supposed to follow, but unfortunately don't. In fact anything bitter is universally undermined - both by people looking for health, as well as those who eat only for taste (these days the world seems divided equally into both these types).

While there is some genetic propensity for liking, or not liking food that is acerbic, but I don't think we are born "in love" with sugary stuff. The affair actually grows when we begin heaping sugar into our milk and tea everyday - and let's face it, it is easy to get addicted to it (actually that is what happens!). And one sure shot side effect of this overload is that this powerful flavour dulls our palates to other tastes, bitter being the biggest casualty.

But this can be undone. We can coach and nurture our palate to make us more open-minded and inclusive eaters.

How to do it

It just takes a little getting used to the initial shock that the bitter food delivers. The game plan should be to cultivate the taste and then begin indulging. So begin by giving the sweet paralysed tongue taste of bitter in small doses, often disguised a little or paired cleverly - stuff like vanilla ice-cream sprinkled with coffee, cakes (or cocktails) with bitters orange peel, toast with burnt garlic butter, extra ginger in the tea, chewing tulsi leaves first thing in the morning, adding methi seeds (fenugreek seeds) to dal tadka… Get the drift! Then go the whole hog: add bitter greens (rugula, dandelion, radicchio) liberally to the salad, have broccoli, eggplant and bitter gourd subzi without diluting them with potato and other assorted veggies, eat unsweetened barley cereal for breakfast, sip unsweetened green tea, opt for bitter (higher percentage of cocoa) chocolates for dessert etc.

But why should you do this?

Personally I am a bit biased towards foods that taste a bit bitter and actually relish them. Food without some bitter element for me lacks depth and complexity; simply put it is too sickly sweet for my taste. But that's just me! I'll give you solid health reasons to convert:

First reason is that our palate and health can only thrive on balanced basic tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami) - and bitter is an important part of the equation.

Bitter foods begin working their magic right from the mouth itself; they activate the taste receptors on the tongue, which stimulate enzyme production and bile flow leading to better digestion and improved nutrient assimilation of the food in the stomach. Basically how many nutrients you can squeeze out of what you are eating might just depend on whether your meal has a bitter component or not.

This one you will love

Bitter foods help cut food cravings to size (equals to weight loss). Sound more palatable now?

According to ayurveda they also help tone down body heat, cut water retention and reduce inflammation in the body. Some research also shows that those who eat more bitter foods are at a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome (thus reduced risk of disorders like diabetes, cardiac problems, stroke, arthritis and more).

The compounds that make foods taste bitter - carotenoids in sweet potatoes and spinach, flavonoids in cranberries, kale and green tea, polyphenols in wine, astaxanthin in walnuts, glucosinolates in broccoli, phenols (anthocyanins) in brinjal - are all recognised health giving compounds. Skip them at your own peril.

And it's hardly surprising that most anti diabetic foods (bitter gourd, cinnamon) tend to be a bit bitter too… direct indication by the creator, maybe! That's because bitter foods challenge the liver, make it work harder and remain fighting fit. And when we skew the sugar-bitter ratio too much, it might just lead to fatty liver disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes. One golden rule of keeping our liver healthy is to keep sugar consumption low, and second is to incorporate some bitter foods in the diet. By the way, a detoxed liver, means a detoxed body, which translates into good (acne free) skin too.

Enough reasons to expand your bitter-flavour repertoire. Thought so!