It’s hard to pass up the chance to experiment with the hot pepper scale.
After all, many of us find ourselves drawn to the heat, as we brave hotter and hotter peppers for their flavor, and sometimes for bragging rights. If you’ve ever tried an extremely hot pepper, you know it can make you feel like your mouth is on fire! But what’s happening to the rest of your body? It turns out, quite a lot!
Hot peppers are packed with nutritional benefits.
One of those benefits has to do with the potential for weight loss. It may sound a little crazy to eat something to lose weight, but it turns out eating hot peppers may help with fat burning. Eating peppers may also help you feel fuller longer by suppressing your appetite. If you’re trying to lose weight, that could be a bonus. Other potential benefits have to do with some of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of capsaicin, which is of course the compound found in hot peppers that makes them so hot. According to some reports, it’s said hot peppers may help improve drainage from your sinuses and may help improve your air circulation, too.
Unfortunately, eating spicy food may also sometimes irritate your esophagus.
You could end up with a burning sensation in your upper chest and digestive tract, some discomfort and heart burn. Of course, talk to your doctor if you’re having any major problems with spicy food. There are certainly quite a few health benefits to eating hot peppers, so the amount of spicy food your body can handle won’t likely be the same as everyone else. One thing you probably don’t want to do is add spicy chili to things that are high in carbs, like white rice. When you eat too many carbs, they just end up getting converted into fat.