Fad Diet Series: The Red Pepper Diet

The red pepper diet is usually just used as another name for the lemonade cleanse diet, but it does bring up a question about the potential role of spicy food in a weight loss plan.

The Supposed Role of Cayenne in the Lemonade Diet

In the lemonade diet, you are supposed to drink nothing but lemonade mixed with maple syrup and a spoon of cayenne pepper. Supposedly, the pepper is supposed to stimulate the blood flow in your body so that you burn more calories, removing more fat and excreting more toxins. It also suppresses your appetite, making you less inclined to eat and break your diet. There are some parts of this explanation that seem true, and others that seem very far-fetched.

Does It Work?

As we’ve noted before, crash diets like the lemonade diet aren’t ultimately helpful. Most of the weight you will lose will be water weight, so the weight loss achievements are overstated. And when you do lose weight, it’s as likely to be muscle as fat, and sometimes your weight loss can stress the heart and cause other problems. As soon as you go off the diet, you are likely to regain all the weight you lost and potentially more.

But What about Red Peppers?

Red peppers are great nutrition. They’re an excellent part of your diet and help you get your daily dose of vitamins B and C, and they give you a lot of antioxidants. Not only that, but they can add a lot of flavor to your food without adding salt, sugar, fat, or calories, which makes them a great addition to your diet.

And they may actually have weight loss benefits. They do stimulate your metabolism and suppress appetite to help you burn more calories and eat fewer. Best of all, recent studies suggest that it only takes a little bit of cayenne pepper to make a difference. Less than a teaspoon of cayenne pepper can make a difference. So if you’re not eating spicy food yet, consider adding it to your regular diet.

If you are looking for an effective way to safely lose weight and keep it off, please contact Med-Fit Medical Weight Loss Clinic in Denver.

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Dr. Angela Tran