I’m always keen to find hacks to beat the weight management formula

Calories in = calories out

So the idea of sprinkling a little spice on my taste buds, to dent their desires, is inherently appealing. It is a win-win scenario – tasty food without the bulge.

NOTE : I am of Anglo-Saxon descent, the genes are not well adapted to spicy food. So a hack that requires one to turn into a curry muncher, is not going to be too helpful.

Red pepper magic….

The magic chemical which gives pepper’s their zing is capsaicin.

The higher the quantity, the bigger the burn, but you don’t actually need to set your mouth on fire to experience the fat burning capacity.

A study from Purdue University suggests the fat burning benefits are achievable at “normal” doses of spice.

1 gram or half a teaspoon of ordinary dried ground cayenne red pepper will do the trick.

Got to run it over your tongue

If the thought of consuming 1 gram has caused you to break out in a hot sweat so that you are contemplating taking a “Cayenne pepper” diet pill – forget it.

The power is in the nerve-jabbing taste bud stabbing experience.

The red pepper effect

Researchers at Purdue University fed 25 people spicy food for six-weeks.

The participants varied in their ability to stomach the spicy food with the wimps (this would be me), melting at around 0.3 grams and the super tough enduring 1.8 grams.

The consumption of red pepper increased core body temperature in all the participants.

This is part of the magic, to raise body temperature requires a bigger fire. A bigger fire consumes more calories. So the weight management formula was tipped to lose weight.

Pepper novices get more bang for their pepper

It tipped more efficiently for the pepper naive participants.

The inexperienced pepper eaters also experienced the benefit of appetite suppression. A tingling mouth caused salty, sweet and fatty foods to lose their appeal.

But regular pepper users (aka spice lovers), tended to retain their normal appetites, so they lost out on the added benefit of also consuming less calories.

Spice up your life …

Why not substitute the salt cellar which could be packing on the pounds for a dollop of cayenne pepper?

As your taste buds tingle in shock and the sweat beads run off your brow, you will be able to glow in the knowledge that you burned a few more calories at the dinner table. As an added bonus you won’t need a heater.

PS. Stay away from the ice cream afterwards – remember, NO PAIN, NO GAIN !

The effects of hedonically acceptable red pepper doses on thermogenesis and appetite. Physiology & Behavior (2011) 102 (3-4): 251-258. Mary-Jon Ludy, Richard D. Mattes. 

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Further reading

Donating your blood to a mosquito causes her a little grief as well	Did you know that you have taste buds in your ears ?	Salt stokes the fires of the belly

The 7 Big Spoons™…. are master switches that turn health on.

Balance Eicosanoids	Rein in insulin	Dial down stress	Sleep !	Increase Vit D	Culivate microflora	Think champion

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Did you learn something new or do you have a different perspective ? I’d love to hear from you so post me a comment below…..