I love me my chili peppers. I love that exciting sweat that breaks out when I’ve been eating jalapeños. It always starts at my hairline, the the back of my neck, and then the lovely and addictive discomfort of the heat warms my whole body.

Mmmm.

And not only am I enjoying the bliss of pepper overload, apparently. I’m getting quite a few health benefits.  I’m revving up my metabolism when I eat chili peppers. It’s due to capsicum, a chemical in hot peppers. And boosting metabolism means I’m burning calories faster than normal. It won’t make me svelte, but I’ll take any help I can get.

I know that, as strange as this sounds in Austin, there are people who don’t really like that kind of pepper spice. It might be how they were raised. Maybe it’s genetic.

But the good news for these folks is research shows that even some milder varieties of peppers can to the metabolism boost. I saw a piece about this on National Public Radio’s health blog.

I pity these people for missing out on the joy of letting jalapeños blow their heads off. But at least they can get the weight loss benefit.

(Image: Some rights reserved, Chris Martin)