Spicy Foods Speed Up Metabolism?

Except for the minority who are trying to gain weight, most people would benefit from having a faster metabolism. Having a faster metabolism will allow you to burn more calories at rest and can be helpful to your weight-loss goals and better help you control your weight. You may have heard that eating spicy foods will help speed up your metabolism and may curious if this is true.

Spicy Foods Increase Metabolism

If you are trying to increase your metabolism, eating spicy foods will give your metabolic rate a boost. According to Len Kravitz at the Department of Exercise Science at the University of New Mexico, spicy foods elevate your body temperature slightly, which raises your metabolic rate. Penn Sate University suggests eating very spicy foods and reports that if the spicy food makes you "pant" or "sweat," it should increase your metabolic rate. Very spicy foods such as peppers, Mexican food and spicy Thai food can increase your metabolism by 20 percent for 30 minutes.

Insignificant Metabolic Benefits

Although spicy foods will increase your metabolism, the increase is only temporary, and the metabolic benefits are fairly insignificant, Kravitz explains. The boost in metabolic rate is not enough to make a difference in your body's ability to burn calories. It will not help you lose weight or better help you manage your weight. Terri Brownlee, the regional director of nutrition at the Bon Appétit Management Company, confirms this as well. Ideally, you want to maintain an increased metabolic rate over 24 hours.

Effective Dietary Changes

While adding spicy foods to your diet will not produce a sizable metabolic effect, dietary changes will speed up your metabolism. First, eating more often will increase your metabolism, according to Illinois State University. Eat four to six small meals each day instead of the usual three larger meals. When you eat more often, your metabolism stays active while you are digesting the food.

Second, eat breakfast. Eating breakfast right after you wake up activates your metabolism, which has been virtually inactive while you were asleep.

Lastly, avoid very low-calorie diets. Not eating enough calories lowers your metabolic rate and make it significantly harder to continue to lose weight.

Considerations

If you are allergic to spicy foods, you should absolutely not attempt to eat them for metabolic benefits. Dietary changes and exercising will have the most dramatic effect on your metabolism and your ability to lose weight. Even if you speed up your metabolism, weight loss is a product of reduced caloric intake. No matter how fast your metabolism is, you must burn more calories than your consume to lose weight. Consult your doctor or a registered dietitian if you have tried to lose weight with diet and exercise and been unsuccessful.