Even if you never had any metabolism evaluation, you are somewhat convinced that yours is slower than ever.  You did a lot of yo-yo (diet-weight gain-diet again-weight gain again…), and you’re less active than you were before.  You’ve changed your habits and now you enjoy healthy foods, get enough rest and try to be active as much as you can.  But your weight doesn’t move!

Every little sign makes you think your RMR (resting metabolic rate) is slower than ever.  Because you need to lose weight for health reason (physical AND emotional health), you’re thinking how you can help this?

The fact is you can boost your metabolism, but it is hard work over a long period of time.  The main way to do it is through a good combination of cardio and muscular training.  The other thing is to make sure you get enough rest and relaxation, to help stabilize and reduce your stress hormones rates and allow your body to recover its fatigue.

Lots of researches were made on diet-induced thermogenesis , but few of them are serious enough to be considered.  Never forget that lots of researches are financed through… the companies who are planning to sell you their products!  So beware . I found some very interesting researches about thermogenic effect of cayenne pepper  especially about its main active ingredient: capsaicin. They were done in institutes attached to universities, so I am pretty sure they will not try to sell us some cayenne pills and did their work very seriously!

Research has shown cayenne is responsible for a decrease in appetite and increase in metabolism through its thermogenic effect.  Kinda nice to know!  It is also traditionally used to soothe digestive tract, stimulate saliva and stomach secretion.  More secretion means that it may help relieve constipation problems because your intestine motility will be increased.

I decided to give it a try.  I did several experiences on myself over years, and although I enjoy very spicy food, I choose to go a little bit further and ordered standardized cayenne extracts.  Here’s the pic of my bottles.  Every capsule contains 450 mg of Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) (fruit) (a dried extract standardized to 40 thousand HU/g). Other ingredients are: Silicon Dioxide, Vegetable Stearate, Water and Gelatin.

There is no counter-indications to take cayenne extracts (1).  But, as you may guess, if your digestive tract gets easily irritated, it might not be for you . For the past month, I’ve been taking one pill every morning, just before having my daily green smoothie (I’ll talk about my green smoothie in another post, don’t worry!).  I haven’t experienced any bad effects, except one. 

Do NOT take this a long time before you eat!!!  Because you might feel your stomach is having a hard time managing the capsaicin, especially if you’re not used to eat hot foods.

The capsaicin is what gives a pepper its heat, so be careful .

The very first days, I have to say I felt my stomach was «hot», but it wasn’t painful, it was like having a little heater in my belly .  It was just a little discomfort that quickly disappeared. It didn’t made me feel more energetic, nor it stopped my hunger signals.  I noticed that I felt less «emergency» to eat the meal after, and it slightly improved my digestion. 

It is impossible to measure at home if it increased my RMR.  I haven’t had a RMR measure taken before anyway, so it is impossible to assess if my RMR is going back up.  But, it did help my digestion so it was worth it . 

For the next month, I’ll try to take one pill at each meal and see what happens . Stay tuned for my experiment’s follow up!

(1) Warning : Individuals with preexisting medical conditions should consult with their physician particularly if they are taking prescription or over-the-counter-medications or supplements. Women who are pregnant or nursing and children should also consult with their physician prior to taking any new supplements.

Related posts:

1. What is metabolism?