About this episode
Welcome to 2025, everyone! Let’s give the year a bitter start – that’s better than a bitter end, right? If you don’t think so yet, listen to this episode and by the end, we’re sure you’ll agree!Bitters are a truly indispensable piece of an herbal toolkit. They – like demulcents, adaptogens, and alteratives – can achieve things in the body which pharmaceuticals, acupuncture, and other healing modalities simply cannot replicate. Bitters are one of the herbalist’s superpowers!In this episode, we cover:bitter as signal – and why their actions on the body are nearly immediatebitter deficiency syndrome – a uniquely modern human problemenergetics of bitters – is bitter always cooling, or is it more complicated than that?actions of bitter herbs – digestion-activating, fluid-draining, liver-awakening… mind-centering…bitter-tasting constituents – and an ode to the flexibility & variety of bitter taste receptorssubcategories of bitter herbs: pure bitters, mild bitters, aromaic bitters, inulin/berberine/artemisinin-bearing bitters, fungal bitters, warming/relaxant/moistening bitters, …how to take bitters – drops, sips, chews, and more.Since they’re so helpful – and really, not only for digestion – we address bitter herbs in many of our courses. Quite possibly all of them, now that we think about it! They’re that important. Bitters get a significant mention in:Holistic Herbalism Materia MedicaHerbal Medicine-MakingHolistic Nutrition & Digestive HealthBasic PhytochemistryNeurological & Emotional HealthLike all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, lifetime access to current & future course material, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!If you have a moment, it would help us a lot if you could subscribe, rate, & review our podcast wherever you listen. This helps others find us more easily. Thank you!!Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.Support the showYou
