Are Spicy Foods Healthy?
Spices are some of the biggest focal points in many of the dishes people know and love. Many staple dishes across cultures use spices to bring out layers within the flavors or connect them to others. This brings us to the ongoing debate, is spicy food actually good for you? well, yes but in moderation. Spicy actually has lots of health benefits.
Spicy ingredients like hot chili peppers don't just add flavor to your dish but also provide health benefits and it's like that with many other of its spicy friends.
The Spicy Breakdown
Sometimes extremely spicy foods can be downright painful. This sensation that you feel from eating such foods is a result of the capsaicin compound found in spicy foods. This compound isn't just a shock for your senses but includes many benefits for your health.
Your Heart
Spicy foods help keep your heart healthy. Eating spicy foods it promotes your blood flow to the rest of your body. When your blood pressure and cholesterol are too high it can affect your health so regulating this with constant blood flow helps prevent negative health effects that can cause complications like strokes.
Although many studies explore less of the capsaicin benefits in humans a small-scale study found short-term blood pressure increases but it remains overall inconclusive. However, there was evidence of positive impacts on cholesterol.
Metabolism and Spice
The higher your metabolism the easier you can turn what you eat into fuel. Indeed spicy foods help increase your metabolism and therefore have the means to burn more of the calories you consume within a day. This could be one of the reasons that spicy foods can be recommended in some cases to help maintain or change your weight.
Your Gut
The gut contains many types of bacteria etc. that make it up. When deciding on your diet, you must keep a balanced diet in order to maintain a healthy immune system and regular digestion. This being said vegetables have been known to help the gut microbiome so eating more spicy veggies can't hurt in the pursuit of overall health.
Types of Spice
There is a scale that can calculate exactly to what level food is packing its heat, it is called Scoville heat units. The more heat the more capsaicin. Through these calculations and rankings, you can maintain and regulate the level of spicy you put in your food because although the benefits are present it is important not to overwhelm your senses. When making drastic diet changes both in spice and otherwise it is crucial to consult a doctor.
Both raw, dried, or even cooked the benefits of spicy food will continue to come through, adding zest and nutritional value to all your meals. Whether or not you prefer the spices in liquid sauces or pepper chunks be mindful of salty additions as this can be harmful to your cardiovascular health, too much salt is not good.
Even though spicy foods are beneficial there can also be negative effects if overeaten. It is important to know your body and tailor your eating habits to fit your own needs. Just as spicy flavors can benefit you they can also be negative if eaten in excess or if you have underlying health conditions that can be triggered by it. For example for people who have inflammatory bowel disease, spicy foods can cause flare-ups. Others might find that spicy food irritate their stomachs or induce heartburn.
The best advice when it comes to spicy foods is to keep listening to your body and your doctor. Gradually you will begin to understand what spicy food best fits you and what may be more triggering to your overall health.