Spicy Foods Can Help in Losing Weight

As November is just around the corner and the weather is getting cold and nasty, it’s about time to indulge into pleasing our taste buds with something really hot and spicy. There is yet another good reason to eat spicy foods more often - research show that meals with extra kick not only heat us up - they also can boost our metabolism and help us lose weight!

Numerous studies conducted over the years have clearly shown that eating spiced foods on a regular basis can considerably raise our metabolic rate. The exact mechanism of how spices really work to influence metabolism still remains unclear, but there is a suggestion that they effectively increase the body temperature and, therefore, make us burn more calories even without exercising. Research have shown that such spices as red, black and white pepper, garlic, mustard, and ginger are the most effective in speeding up our metabolic processes and facilitating the utilization of calories into energy.

Red pepper seems to be the best spice for dieters. Capsaicin, the hot component of chilly pepper, stimulates our bodies to generate a lot of heat and efficiently promotes burning of both calories and excess body fat. It is estimated that a bowl of spicy chilly or a portion of hot soup can speed up the metabolism by almost 10 percent and also add in the feeling of satiety even when only a small amount of food has been consumed. Spicy foods make us eat less!

One Canadian study examined the intake of calories by a group of adult men who regularly consumed hot sauce with their meals. The study has revealed that those men ate about 200 calories per meal less than people who did not eat spicy food, which made the researchers suggest that active components of spices, such as capsaicin, work as efficient natural appetite suppressants.

Actually, chilly pepper and other spices have long been praised in different cultures for their health-promoting and purifying qualities. Especially effective on boosting metabolic rate and stimulating weight loss are peppers with a high content of capsaicin, which is usually measured in Scoville units. The hottest chillies, which contain from 100,000 to 300,000 Scoville units, are habanera peppers. It is interesting that chillies were first cultivated almost 10 thousand years ago in the Valley of Mexico and North America and remained one of the most well-kept secrets of the New World until Columbus introduced them to Europe at the end of the 1400s. The Portuguese then spread hot peppers to Asia, East Indies, and Africa. Now, hundreds of hot pepper varieties are known around the world (over 150 in Mexico alone!). In addition to their newly-discovered weigh loss properties, chillies are very rich in magnesium and vitamin C, which is an extra bonus to their mouth-tingling flavour.

It is easy to incorporate spices and especially chilly pepper into your diet to enjoy the full spectrum of their weight-loss qualities. In Mexican cuisine and the cooking of the American Southwest, chillies are commonly used as a main ingredient. Used in other cuisines around the world, chillies spice up many savoury dishes and are frequently processed into hot sauces. Thailand has its hot sauce called nam prik, Indonesia has a relish called sambal and made from mixed sweet and hot chillies, Mexico has its salsas, and the Tunisians make fiery barassa, which is also found in Algeria and Morocco. The Chinese use their chilli sauce called lajiao jiang on a frequent basis to add an extra zest to foods or marinade meats for barbecue. No matter what cuisine you prefer - there is always a place to add there hot spices that will effectively help you get rid of excess weight!

Wayne Hammel

AyurSlim