How Spicy Food Can Help You Lose Weight
Have you ever walked into a hot wings restaurant and scoffed at how ridiculous it must be to try the really hot flavors? I mean, who in their right mind would want to eat something that hot?
What if we told you that spicy food could actually help you to lose weight?
Oh, we have your attention now, don’t we?
Spicy food, especially peppers, contain an active ingredient called capsicum – and this ingredient has been shown on multiple occasions to help your body burn more fat and assist you in weight loss.
See how spicy food can help you lose more weight…
Spicy Food Raises The Body’s Thermogenic Effect
Perhaps the most obvious way that spicy food helps you to lose weight is that it causes a natural reaction that contributes to weight loss.
Think back to a time where you had eaten something spicy – did it make you sweat, heat up your body, and perhaps even cause you to run around the house looking for water? This, in many cases, is known as the thermic effect of food.
All foods have a thermic effect, and some are much higher than others. For example, vegetables have a very low thermic effect because they’re not difficult for your body to digest, but they still need to be “heated” in order to become digested and metabolized.
On the other hand, spicy foods like peppers have a much higher thermic effect. They literally heat up your body and can cause sweating, panting and, in serious cases, running for water.
This thermic effect causes your body to burn more calories. Luckily, you don’t need to eat a bunch of spicy peppers to have this effect. Even a small dosage of capsicum can help to increase your body’s thermogenic effect and result in additional weight loss.
Spicy Foods Cause More Efficient Fat Oxidation
This is the best and most important reason why, if you are trying to lose weight, to include peppers or capsicum into your routine.
Capsicum has been shown in many clinical studies to boost your body’s ability to oxidize fat. By this we mean utilize fat as fuel.
You want your body to use any fat stores that you might have when it needs fuel. If it doesn’t use fat, then it uses muscle, which not only leaves the fat intact, but also reduces your muscle mass.
So, if you’re exercising, for example, you certainly want your body to burn up as much fat as it can. Indeed, this might be your only reason for working out!
The benefits of this are twofold:
- You can use it more readily as energy for a workout.
- You can use it to increase your energy levels, since fat is very calorically dense.
Looking Forward
So, as you can see, years of research has shown that capsicum, an active ingredient in peppers, can be manipulated in order to boost your body’s ability to maximize weight loss. Take advantage of this natural process of your body and enjoy more spicy food!