spicy food & weight loss?

laceylorene190
laceylorene190 Posts: 20 Member
edited November 19 in Food and Nutrition
So I had a friend who is also a nutritionists tell me that spicy foods such as peppers aid in weightloss, does anyone know that to be true?

Replies

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    edited June 2015
    Nope. Never heard of it. They are decently low in calorie though.
  • Syleyna
    Syleyna Posts: 86 Member
    I have read that, more about curries and spices though. They allegedly speed up your metabolism.
  • laceylorene190
    laceylorene190 Posts: 20 Member
    She said that it takes more calories to digest than they carry...I'm not too sure tho. She also said citrusy foods such as lemons help aid in weightloss too.
  • laceylorene190
    laceylorene190 Posts: 20 Member
    Yeah, that's what she was saying so I started adding jalapeno peppers & Siracha to my meals, since they're low in calories & add flavor. Hopefully it does help speed your metabolism.
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
    I doubt it - I eat tons of spicy food and it never seems to help me... it does help me drink a crap-ton of water though so maybe it can help fill you up faster by filling you up with water :)
  • discretekim
    discretekim Posts: 314 Member
    Well I've been looking into this a lot lately. Apparently capsaicin causes a small increase in metabolism but it hasn't been proven to be enough to cause weight loss. Some more recent studies though have found capsaicin increases saitity and when people eat it they tend to consume less. I eat a ton of spicy food but not counting on any significant results from it.
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    If spicy food helped in any way with weight loss, I wouldn't be here on MFP trying to lose weight. Does help with opening up your sinuses though... LOL!! :wink:
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,250 Member
    Spicy food can induce a short term, minor boost to metabolism. Realistically, it isn't enough to do anything for weight loss. More calories to burn that you consume is a myth.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Nope. Urban myth. Just eat less calories than you burn. Simple as that.
  • shivasgirl
    shivasgirl Posts: 23 Member
    maybe because your mouth burns too much to eat a lot?
  • Indigoblu1
    Indigoblu1 Posts: 127 Member
    idk, I make a veggie smoothie with Sriracha in it. For some reason, it seems to take my appetite away for hours. If I have one in the morning when I get to work, I'm not really hungry until afternoon. Even then, I'm not that hungry. I don't know about the metabolism boost, but it quells my appetite quite nicely.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,631 Member
    I don't think spicy food helps weight loss BUT ... I find that if the food I eat has some decent flavour (i.e. the delicious Palak Paneer I had last night), I seem to feel fuller longer. It's kind of like my brain knows I've eaten something so it doesn't nag me with the, "You're hungry" "No really ... you should eat something" messages it gives me now and then.
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,255 Member
    shivasgirl wrote: »
    maybe because your mouth burns too much to eat a lot?

    LOL!
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,250 Member
    whmscll wrote: »
    shivasgirl wrote: »
    maybe because your mouth burns too much to eat a lot?

    LOL!

    Actually, I recently ate far too much hot sauce in a day and damaged my tastebuds. My next few days were calorie light because I couldn't taste and it hurt to eat in any event!!
  • Mentiri
    Mentiri Posts: 1,356 Member
    I find spicy food helps because the flavor punch really boosts the satiation value of the food, helping me eat less.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories