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Anyone use bitters to stimulate bile?
- Thread starter maryb
- Start date
manna
Senior Member
- Messages
- 392
I've tried digestive bitters. They did little or nothing for me. If anything, nowadays, I avoid spicey food and that would follow for drinks too. I put it down as one of those "great ideas" that may help folk with acute, as opposed to chronic, health conditions.
Fat digestion is pretty tricky with me/cfs in my experience. Too little and you stop making hormones and your lymph can't move. Too much and you're over-grounded and constipated. I can't process the fat in meat, apart from lamb liver, so that's the one i eat. Ghee, i can tolerate every other day and amaranth (for the other day) has a fair bit of oil in it. So i eat fat once a day, either ghee or amaranth.
For me I can move forward on that as it allows me to repair the leaky gut. In a chronically ill situation, i don't think bitters will help much and may hinder; being just more stuff for an already compromised body to process. Less is more (most of the time) imo.
Fat digestion is pretty tricky with me/cfs in my experience. Too little and you stop making hormones and your lymph can't move. Too much and you're over-grounded and constipated. I can't process the fat in meat, apart from lamb liver, so that's the one i eat. Ghee, i can tolerate every other day and amaranth (for the other day) has a fair bit of oil in it. So i eat fat once a day, either ghee or amaranth.
For me I can move forward on that as it allows me to repair the leaky gut. In a chronically ill situation, i don't think bitters will help much and may hinder; being just more stuff for an already compromised body to process. Less is more (most of the time) imo.
Ema
Senior Member
- Messages
- 4,729
- Location
- Midwest USA
I took these for a while...it's a good idea in theory, but I can't say I noticed any difference. And they tasted terrible! I see they now also offer capsules...
http://www.vitalityherbsandclay.com...igestive-bitters-2-oz/garden_flypage.tpl.html
http://www.vitalityherbsandclay.com...igestive-bitters-2-oz/garden_flypage.tpl.html
Bitters are very popular in Germany as well as 'shelf' toilets, whereby your stool can be examined before you flush it away, so if they like to use bitters l would assume that they are of benefit to digestion. Anyway l am using some ATM, SWEDISH BITTERS by Granary Herbs Ltd.
@brenda
shelf toilets - that made me laugh.....
But never in the UK
- I suppose like @Ema did its worth trying, they're not mega expensive.
@manna
Thanks - I have major constipation problems, maybe that its to do with not processing fat properly.
I eat mainly chicken so fat with that and olive oil, and a little sunflower Pure spread,
shelf toilets - that made me laugh.....
But never in the UK
- I suppose like @Ema did its worth trying, they're not mega expensive.@manna
Thanks - I have major constipation problems, maybe that its to do with not processing fat properly.
I eat mainly chicken so fat with that and olive oil, and a little sunflower Pure spread,
minkeygirl
But I Look So Good.
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- 4,678
- Location
- Left Coast
I have a hard time with fats because of my IBS. I stick to chicken or turkey for the most part too. If I eat red meat or a dab of butter you can bet I'm not going to "go". Coffee also does me in although I seem to be able to tolerate instant. I seem to be ok with fats in almond butter and olive oil in small doses.
I have found taurine (1000mg) helpful for my fat digestion (and brain). A BAA test showed I have low blood taurine levels. This was also found to be the case in one study on people with CFS. With inadequate taurine you may struggle to create sufficient bile which is required to emulsify fat and allow digestion by lipase.
On a related note. If you have gut issues I think it is important to get dietary fat balance right. This is not always considered on low-carb, leaky gut or paleo type diets. Excessive consumption of omega-6 rich oil (e.g. sunflower oil) or saturated fat (e.g. animal fat & diary) has been linked to gut inflammation and dysbiosis, whilst the opposite may be true of omega-3 (oily fish). High fat meals have also been shown to increase bacterial translocation, blood LPS/endotoxin levels and inflammation in many basic studies and in humans. More specifically saturated fat may promote bacterial translocation whilst omega-3 consumption does the opposite and omega-9 is without effect (ref). Omega-9 rich oils (e.g. olive, rapeseed, avocado, nuts, etc) probably represent good staples and are best to cook with since they will be more resistant to oxidation.
On a related note. If you have gut issues I think it is important to get dietary fat balance right. This is not always considered on low-carb, leaky gut or paleo type diets. Excessive consumption of omega-6 rich oil (e.g. sunflower oil) or saturated fat (e.g. animal fat & diary) has been linked to gut inflammation and dysbiosis, whilst the opposite may be true of omega-3 (oily fish). High fat meals have also been shown to increase bacterial translocation, blood LPS/endotoxin levels and inflammation in many basic studies and in humans. More specifically saturated fat may promote bacterial translocation whilst omega-3 consumption does the opposite and omega-9 is without effect (ref). Omega-9 rich oils (e.g. olive, rapeseed, avocado, nuts, etc) probably represent good staples and are best to cook with since they will be more resistant to oxidation.
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