Bambu Indah introduces Sugar Transparency to its menu

We believe that land should be used for growing food for people, animals, soil, or useful things like bamboo.

We transitioned from eight gardeners who spent their time trimming ornamental plants and flowers, to having every inch of our land producing organic food that we all enjoy at this restaurant.

Picking fresh herbs and vegs from the property’s gardens. Francesco Lastrucci for The Wall Street Journal

We believe that health is 80% food-based, and 20% activity-based. Spending four hours in the gym every day does not give us license to eat indiscriminately. Personally, we constantly refine what we eat, tending to the health of our human biome.

Because most doctors fail to study nutrition – much like most architects fail to study beauty – they fail to expose the dirty little secret that most chefs keep. In doing so, they enable our massive sugar addiction. Diabetes spirals out of control not just in the West, but even now, in Bali.

Chefs are slowly waking up to gluten intolerances, and are trained to be aware of shrimp and peanut allergies. But, when we started asking chefs in restaurants which of their dishes did not include sugar – note that sugar is not simply the white stuff in the bowl at your grandmother’s house, it is also fructose, lactose, maple syrup, honey, and all other things sweet including fruit juices and coconut water – we realized that most chefs do humans a disservice. They sugar everything from pork to soup to salad dressing. In many restaurants, when we told the chef we would die if we ate sugar, we had to leave the restaurant hungry.

Nasi Campur meal, traditional Balinese food. Francesco Lastrucci for The Wall Street Journal

This menu is our first step towards sugar transparency.

We are extremely grateful to Dr. Gundry, who provided us with a science-based food guide. He teaches that foods containing lectins permeate the gut wall, creating inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation, though often invisible, is a source of chronic pain, sinus congestion, excess weight, brain fog, and skin irritations, among other ailments.

Personally, at 70 and 60 years old, we are both largely pain-free, deodorant free, itch-free, and congestion-free. We wake up every morning clear and ready for the day, feeling better than we did 20 years ago. We have Dr. Gundry’s books available at the store if you would like to learn more.

Though we have not yet transitioned to a full Gundry menu, we honor his method (and him) by marking our lectin-free dishes with a “G”. Here at Bambu Indah, we filter our own spring water, carbonate it, and create our own ginger fizz, lemon soda, and other delicious drinks. We have succeeded in pushing the Coca Cola Company out of both our home and hotel.

We also pride ourselves on creating delicious food for kids. Cassava chips, ceylon spinach, and okra are some of our favorite snacks – you simply must sample them! Cassava is a resistant starch, feeding the good bugs in your gut biome. While is tastes as good (or better!) than potatoes, you won’t end up looking like one; Bambu Indah is potato-free.

We realize all this information may be new to you, so the simple way to use the menu is by following the icons at the bottom of each page.