Capsaicin for Fat Burning
What would you say if I told you that there are bodybuilders out there who avoid all fat burner supplements but are devoted to the active ingredient in Cayenne pepper, capsaicin, and wont workout without it? I know, its totally incredible to think that the spice hanging around most people’s kitchens is actually a popular fat loss supplement. Capsaicin is the stuff in chili peppers that makes them hot and it is a known irritant for humans and animals, best known for it burning sensation in any tissue that it touches—it’s the active ingredient in pepper spray.
So get this: scientists in Taiwan have actually found that capsaicin can causes fat cells to self- destruct! In lab tests, scientists used pre-adipocytes, cells that develop into fat cells, as their subjects and infused the fat cells with capsaicin for 8 days. They found that the pre-adipocytes that had been exposed to the capsaicin died before they could develop into mature fat cells and that the subjects who took the capsaicin experienced a significant increase in their mean metabolic rate at 30 minutes and 60 minutes after taking the extract. Throughout the 2 week study, body fat was reduced in 70% of the subjects who had taken the capsaicin extract and the greatest effect of reduction of body fat was in those subjects who began the study with a higher fat content. Amazingly, the subjects experienced a loss in fat, not water, which was measured by hand held body fat measuring devices. This incredible stuff actually appears to be just about as potent as phentremine!
Technically, if we go with the results of the study, if you take cayenne pepper 20 minutes before your workout, you will have a major added advantage throughout your workout! Best of all, its all natural and no harm can really come from taking it, unless you have a stomach ulcer or something like that. In my opinion, it’s worth a try. One or 2 capsules before your workout should do the trick.
Cayenne pepper has a lot of wonderful, beneficial effects. I used it 20 years ago to cure a case of arthritis that was so severe, I couldn’t walk a block without dissolving in tears; I couldn’t raise my foot from the road to the sidewalk, so I would shuffle along until I found a dip in the cement at a driveway, and that’s how I would get up on the sidewalk. Cayenne contains a natural pain killer, which the pharmaceutical firms have now extracted for an external ointment to treat joint pain (elbows, knees, for example).
Even more interesting, Cayenne is a cleanser of the cardio-vascular system. In the horse-and-buggy days of the medical profession (I found this information in an old herbalist book from the last century), a doctor might arrive at a farm to find someone in the midst of a heart attack. He would use cayenne to stop the heart attack, by putting about a teaspoon of cayenne pepper into a glass of water and pouring it down the invalid’s throat. Cayenne begins to work at the extremities – toes, fingers – hands, feet – arms, legs – DILATING the blood vessels, that is opening them up to increase blood flow but WITHOUT increasing blood pressure. The effect continues until it reaches the HEART, which after the whole circulatory system has been opened and cleared, is then itself opened and cleared by dilation. I have taken cayenne in water when I had no capsules (don’t do it unless you really need to!) and I found that adding a drop of lemon juice to the water prevents the pepper from clumping and helps to distribute it more evenly in the water.
A girlfriend at my new job was a regular sufferer of very bad migraines. I had read that migraines could be caused by constriction of the cerebral blood vessels. I told her about cayenne, which in those days, I carried with me in the form of plain gelatin capsules filled with the cayenne pepper, size “0″ capsules that I would buy in the health food store, and fill myself. Much cheaper than buying pre-made cayenne capsules. She was in the middle of a bad migraine, so she took a couple of my capsules. 20 minutes later, her migraine was gone. She said normally, when the migraines started, they would last two days. So, it’s very possible the cayenne stopped her migraine.
I took one or two capsules before each meal, 3 times a day, for about 6 months, to treat my hip and arthritic pain. The side benefit was a real good, clear and pumping cardiovascular system. The trick is to protect your stomach by eating a few bites of your meal first, then take the capsules, and finish your meal. About 20 minutes later, you’ll get a warm sensation coming up, it’s not unpleasant, and the treatment is purely natural and gives you great circulation, more energy, and pain-free joints.
I recommend that anyone interested in good health should add a THIRD shaker to their kitchen table, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. You don’t need to take large amounts in gulps to get it into your system, you can sprinkle a few grains that you barely taste on everything you eat, every day, to keep the cayenne going in, and you have enormous health benefits.
It’s important to note that this is cayenne, from the African Bird Pepper, NOT paprika, they are not the same thing.
hi karine. thank you so much for your insightful comments and your helpful remarks. will have to give some of those things a try….