Is there any truth in the idea that spicy foods help weight loss?
- Thread starter sherlann
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AnnaFaraday
..
Can't think of any logical reason why it should.
MadameLaMinx
Gold Member
It's long been thought that there's an ingredient in chilli that can temporarily boost metabolism, It's called capsaicin. You would have to have quite a significant amount to have any real effect, but it's also thought that spicy foods encourage people to eat a bit less, and there are other health benefits too, so definitely worth incorporating into your diet where you can.
systema
Calorie Counting
Not meaning to be rude but I do know a lot of fat Indian people. Spend quite a bit of time in India and my friends there have the same kind of weight problems that we do and and eat spices at every meal and are more prone to type 2 diabeties caused by overweight than most. (They do tend to eats lot of oil though).
MadameLaMinx
Gold Member
Well a high fat diet whatever the origin will invariably lead to weight gain, any perceived benefit from a metabolism boost would always be negated by that. But if you are following a low fat healthy diet, then that's entirely different. You said yourself, your friends eat a lot of oil. Any diet can be made unhealthy by eating high levels of fat as a part of it, vegan, vegetarian, or carnivorous. But healthy spicy food could provide a temporary metabolic boost. It raises your internal body temperature ( as evidenced by the fact that we often sweat more and feel hotter when eating a hot curry ) which means we are working harder to regulate that.
Monkey_Monkey_Underpants
Not quite normal
And (just to lower the tone slightly) many people, particularly if they don't eat very spicy food very often, find that when they do it, ummm, well, shall we just say encourages things to move through them rather faster than usual!
sherlann
Silver Member
I cant think what you could possibly mean Jim The reason I asked is that we have a chap in our group who regularly loses 5s and 7s and swears that its because he is a real fan of hot spicy foods, adding Tabasco to most meals. It does seem to be an idea that is quite widespread, I'm not convinced myself but I just wanted to canvas the views on here out of interest.
kingleds
Gold Member
It can help! But You would be best off eating Mexican & west Indian food rather than Indian food as it has more of the capsicum in the ingredients. Indian food doesn't tend to get its heat from chillis, (at least traditional Indian food dorsn't!) whereas Mexican and west Indian food get their heat from jalapeños, scotch bonnets etc. & these are higher in capsicum.
interested92
Silver Member
I've found I get fuller more quickly with spicy foods, but that's just me.
systema
Calorie Counting
Answer:
Improve
The idea is spicy foods increase your body's metabolic rate which makes you digest your food faster. Basically, spices improve digestion by increasing the hydrochloric secretion in the stomach. This is what increases your metabolic rate. With increased metabolism comes increased absorption rate. When there is increased absorption, then the body is able to utilize the stuff that you ate for your daily activities so almost nothing really stays put. Ergo, you lose weight.
Some experts believe that while it's true that spicy food can increase the body's metabolism, the increase is not really as substantial as we would like to think. The increased digestive rate after eating spicy food isn't so high as to affect weight loss. Still, there are some other people who look at it from a different standpoint.
Spicy food makes us eat less.
Found on Ask
Improve
The idea is spicy foods increase your body's metabolic rate which makes you digest your food faster. Basically, spices improve digestion by increasing the hydrochloric secretion in the stomach. This is what increases your metabolic rate. With increased metabolism comes increased absorption rate. When there is increased absorption, then the body is able to utilize the stuff that you ate for your daily activities so almost nothing really stays put. Ergo, you lose weight.
Some experts believe that while it's true that spicy food can increase the body's metabolism, the increase is not really as substantial as we would like to think. The increased digestive rate after eating spicy food isn't so high as to affect weight loss. Still, there are some other people who look at it from a different standpoint.
Spicy food makes us eat less.
Found on Ask
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