Most of us think that chili peppers just add spice to our food. The truth is, however, that chili peppers can do much more than just add flavor to your food. They can aid weight loss, relieve pain, help cure infections and even fight cancer. Here are 10 benefits of chili peppers you didn’t know about:
1. Weight loss
If you’re looking to lose some weight, including chili peppers in your diet might be a good idea. Chili peppers have an active ingredient called capsaicin, which is proven to aid in weightloss. Capsaicin is a thermogenic, which means it speeds up your metabolism and helps your body burn fat faster, which results in weight loss.
2. Reduce Inflammation
Inflammation is never fun. It causes pain and discomfort. If you suffer from joint pains, inflammation of the skin, arthritis or psoriasis, including chili peppers in your diet will help you lessen the symptoms. It could also potentially cure inflammation or at least ease your condition. It’s also a great way to ward off any sort of inflammation. Preventing is always the best way to avoid it.
3. Youthful Looking Skin
If you’re the type of person who constantly forgets to put on sunscreen and spends time outside, including chili peppers in your diet will keep your skin looking young and protect it from getting old and saggy to an extent. However, it doesn’t mean you can forget about sunscreen all together. Protect yourself from the UVrays as much as possible.
4. Pain Relief
As we mentioned before, chili peppers contain capsaicin, which is quite a magical little active ingredient. It can actually block pain transmission from nerve endings, which in turn stops you feeling pain. This of course, doesn’t mean that if you have a headache you should just eat a whole chili pepper. However, if you suffer from pain caused by inflammation, or you have joint pains, including chili pepper in your meals will result in less pain over time. Topical application is also useful for pain relief.
5. Healthy Eyes
Now before you even go there, let’s mention that you do not want to get chili peppers into your eyes. That would be very painful. However, chili peppers are full of vitamin A, which is vital for your eyes. Vitamin A also helps you see better at night and fight off infections. So if you want your eyes to be healthy, make sure to have some chili peppers in your diet.
6. Lower Cholesterol and Normalize Blood Pressure
Including chili peppers in everyday meals has proven to aid lower cholesterol levels. It also helps normalize blood pressure. So if you want to prevent heart disease and just in general want to avoid problems with your cardiovascular system, just add some spice in the form of chili peppers to your dinners.
7. Fight Headaches And Infections
You probably didn’t know this, but chili peppers actually help with migraines and sinus headaches. Just a little spray of chili pepper into the nostril can stop a headache. Chili pepper spray is also great for clearing up sinus infections and clearing up a congested nose.
8. Cancer
Medical studies show that capsaicin, contained in chili peppers, can actually hinder the growth of certain kinds of cancer cells. Moreover, the laboratory experiments on rats proved that capsaicin can actually kill cancer cells in the pancreas. So if you want to take measures to prevent yourself from getting cancer have some chilly.
9. Fight Indigestion
Contrary to popular belief, chili doesn’t cause stomach aches, i consumed in moderation. In fact, it can help fight indigestion. Capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers, causes blood to rush to the areas it touches, which in this case would be your digestive track. That means your stomach gets more blood supply and can digest food better and more efficiently.
10. Topical Warmth
You know how some people sweat when they eat chilly, because it’s so hot? Well, you can actually use chili pepper not only to warm up your tummy, but also to warm up your feet during winter. So if you get cold feet, try applying a small amount of chili pepper onto your feet. It should keep your toes warm in your shoes.
