The funky phrase “spice up your life” has taken on more meaning and aspects of life than what we know it to be. Research has shown that adding spices to your cooking is not only a healthy way of living, it also helps in weight loss efforts.
According to Alan Hirsch, the founder of Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, foods that are cooked with spices such as garlic, ginger, pepper, onion, etc, tend to give more taste and a fragrant aroma to the food. The delicious smell of spicy food stuff can satisfy a person’s appetite without having to indulge excessively in the food itself. Quoting Alan Hirsch on this:
The foods were more enjoyable, so people felt fuller faster and didn’t eat as much. Sniffing the dishes was key, because 90 percent of what you taste is determined by what you smell.
In another similar research, it was also shown that people who sprinkled their food with spices were able to lose weight in a period of six months without engaging in any specific dieting programs.
The key tip here is to take the time to enjoy the aroma of the food to avoid over indulging yourself. There are a lot of resources to read up on, as to how to use different types of spices in various methods of food preparation. This method is as natural as you can get to losing weight (almost effortlessly too, if I may add).
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No offense, but I totally disagree. Normally for people around me and myself will have better appetite if the food is spicy. And myself will not be full if I’m eating spicy stuff.
That is very interesting. I would have never guessed that spices had any effect on how much we eat. Has this been studied?
hyperX, it’s true that many people may find it more appetizing when served spicy food. Maybe a change of spices might help, like using cinnamon, basil, etc? Just a thought…
Healthy Weight Loss Girl, this was studied in the US. But then again, I believe it was not a very large study and so the results were positively indicative only on the group studied.
What an interesting post! I never thought that food which tastes good fills you up quicker. And weight loss simply by adding spices to food… Wow! It seems to good to be true.
Hi Lauren, it does seem too good and some have disagreed that they tend to eat less of tasty food which I also find to be true. One other way I know that will work to make you eat less is to eat slowly.