In Bad Taste.. The Newsletter
The tongue map LIE and why bitter foods make you leaner, fitter, and ageless.
You were once the youngest person in the galaxy. Eat this, not that, you were told. Food had powers, some made you obese, miserable and meh. Others did the opposite. Precisely when you became the galaxy’s more recent person to expire dovetailed with what you got wrong or right nutritionally. Clear cut, right? Not so much.
What if it’s not the foods, but the flavors, you’re snubbing that are harming or healing you? To this end, there’s a taste you’ve evolved to enjoy, yet routinely avoid. Bitterness. It’s been defamed as poison yet avoiding it could be far more poisonous. This taste is found in foods that offer weapon’s grade upgrades to your well-being, happiness, and longevity. Why do I care? Well, this flavor helped save my skin from resembling Frankenstein’s monster.
Why Me?
Five years ago, I was diagnosed with skin cancer. Scary? Yeah, but not really a big deal considering 1 in 3 Australians get it. Some expire thanks to it, others don’t. My prognosis? Standard issue. Get dermal carcinomas hacked off my meatsuit every six months. Flame haired, freckle faced and Australian, my future’s forecast was heroic pain with a chance of Deadpool’s complexion. .
This motivated me to investigate how diet might spare my bark from the blade. Fortunately, with 5 years of all clear test results, I believe I uncovered an unlikely ally: bitter foods. In this Substack newsletter I consult the latest research, dieticians, doctors, and scientists to scrutinize why bitter tasting foods fertilize many of your body’s healing processes.
Man of Heal
How is this information relevant to you today? Well, non-melanoma remains the world’s most common cancer. It affects people of every skin type. Cover up. Stay out the sun that delivers free vitamin D. This outdated advice may have caused certain health problems because research states up to 40% of Europeans are vitamin D deficient.
This newsletter is ever more relatable in the wake of the pandemic. Over 80% of COVID-19 patients are reported to have a vitamin D deficiency. And a big D deficiency makes you 14 times more likely to get the severest case of this disease. In our quest to deploy evasive tactics against skin cancer, we may have invited an unwelcome chink into our armory. You need sun and bitter foods may help you get a healthy tan the safe way.
Bitter Science
Each edition draws on cutting-edge research in endocrinology, nutrition, and physiology. I’ll coach you how to enjoy bitterness as much as you do your morning espresso and evening single malt. Think of my words as bench presses for your tastebuds.
This isn’t an everlasting saga like The Young and the Restless. Instead, it’s more Sopranos, but with a clear-cut ending where the main character lives to twirl his carbonara. There’s a start, middle and end, mapped in a tongue-in-cheek fashion against the lie that is the taste map. Yep, what diagram you learned at school is a joke. Understanding why is key to improving every part of your health and well-being.
The Whole Flavor Diet
This is my story. Your story may have a completely different starting point. You can subscribe for free because everyone deserves this life saving information. Or you can chip in the minimum Substack will let me charge. What will I do with the cash? Nobody is addressing our need for bitter foods. I will use it to share bitter’s benefits with you and maybe to pay to pop more avocado seeds in my mouth. Yup, that’s one of the weird things I’ll teach you how to enjoy.
Join me for the opportunity to nurture a new trust in this taste. Your body is teaming with bitter receptor sites designed to taste, benefit, and enjoy these compounds. By inviting this lost flavor back onto your menu, you will get the chance to forge a life-saving relationship. So, forget whole food diets, this is the whole taste strategy that your body is craving to be at its best.
Bittersweet Tip 1: Be a Seed Scoffer
Almost a third of that avocado you paid top dollar for is seed. Get your money’s worth by eating all of it because this is what the seed can do for your health.
1. Offset free radical damage thanks to high antioxidant levels
2. It can moderate your cholesterol
3. There’s antimicrobial and antifungal agents
4. Reduce blood pressure and potentially tumors
How: Chop it into quarters. Throw ¾ into the freezer so you can have it another day. Add 1-2 quarters to a smoothie that has citrus, pineapple, and sweet fruits like mango to offset the bitterness. You’ll get your money’s worth and be healthier with each serve.