3 Benefits of Adding Black Pepper - 2nd Week
By Genevieve Cunningham
Adding salt and pepper to meals and dishes is commonplace. It adds a little extra kick of flavor to make your food delicious. Though we reach for the salt and pepper shaker all the time, we rarely think about the fact that these additions, in and of themselves, contain calories, health benefits, and possible side-effects. Luckily, both of these can bring some great bonuses to your body and overall health, although too much salt is a bad deal. However, take a look at these three great benefits of adding a little pepper to your meals and your life.
Pepper Helps Fight Infections
It is thought that pepper helps to fight off infections in the body. How? Mostly by boosting your body’s immune system, which is its natural defense against foreign invaders. Disease, viruses, and general illnesses are all caught within the immune system, where they are attacked and disposed of when your system is strong. Pepper has an antibacterial property to fight bacteria before it is allowed to take over and cause significant infection. It’s even thought by some to help ward off insect bites. That’s a lot of benefit for such a small food.
It Might Help Ulcers
Because it’s considered slightly hot (it's called pepper, after all), it’s easy to think that pepper would only exacerbate ulcers, but in recent studies the opposite result has been shown. Some researchers are finding that pepper actually alleviates some of the inflammation caused by peptic ulcers, and even helps keep them clean by fighting infection. It’s also thought to help with both constipation and diarrhea and other stomach troubles or problems in the digestive tract.
It Might Help You Lose Weight
Black pepper helps to break down a specific kind of fat cell in the body. After the fat cells are broken, the body can fill the cell with water and then flush out the fat. So, pepper might be the first step to ridding yourself of stubborn fat. The more the fat cell is broken down, the easier it is for your body to eliminate it. Should you eat enormous amounts of pepper? No. Just stick to a few shakes per dish and you’ll still be gaining the benefits.
Who knew so much good could come from a few flakes of pepper? Luckily, this is a benefit that comes about with additional flavor and some delicious dishes. Just add it to your regular menu, enjoy the taste, and reap the healthy benefits as well.