Spicy Foods: Do They Help With Weight Loss?
If you struggle with your weight, food can seem like the enemy, but according to research eating spicy foods may actually help you win your weight loss battle. Those same spices that heat up your mouth when you eat at a Mexican or Thai restaurant may actually fuel your metabolism to work harder to burn fat. If you eat spicy foods can it help you lose weight?
According to a study published in Physiology and Behavior eating spicy foods can be a subtle but significant factor when it comes to losing those excess pounds. For this study, a group of researchers from Quebec reviewed previous research looked at the effects of spices such as red chili pepper, capsaicin, black pepper, and ginger on metabolism and weight loss. They found increased thermogenesis associated with a variety of spices including black pepper, tumeric, cumin, ginger, capsaicin, and red chili. They also found that combinations of these spices favorably affected the rate at which fat was burned. The bottom line? When you eat spicy foods with these ingredients you may be making it easier for your body to burn calories and fat.
Capsaicin, the ingredient that gives chili peppers their heat, seems to play a star role when it comes to boosting thermogenesis. The researchers described one study which showed that consuming capsaicin with a meal boosted thermogenesis by as much as twenty-three percent for a short period of time after it was consumed. Another study published in the British Journal of Nutrition showed adding capsaicin to the diet helped to maintain weight loss. Fewer subjects regained those excess pounds after dieting.
It appears that when you eat spicy foods, you give yourself a subtle advantage when it comes to losing and keeping off excess weight. How can you take advantage of this fact? Although you can buy capsaicin supplements, why not do it the natural way? Try sprinkling a little cayenne pepper on the meat and vegetables you eat throughout the day. Add Tabasco sauce to your favorite dishes to give them extra flavor and fat-burning power. Add hot peppers to the dishes that you prepare. Fill a shaker with a combination of fat burning spices such as ginger, black pepper, red chili pepper, tumeric, and cumin and sprinkle it on your salads and side dishes.
Keep in mind when you eat spicy foods, the effect on your metabolism will probably be subtle, so don't use it as an excuse to overeat. Think of it as one more small factor that can help you successfully reach and maintain your ideal body weight.