Can Tabasco Sauce Help You Lose Weight?

Add a bottle of Tabasco sauce to your dinner table alongside the salt and pepper shakers and you might find that your weight becomes easier to manage. This fiery blend of hot pepper and vinegar provides compounds that encourage fat loss. Enjoy it with a variety of foods to see if you reap the benefits of its fat-burning capabilities.

Cayenne Pepper

The ingredient that gives Tabasco sauce its heat is cayenne pepper, a spicy little plant that can increase your metabolism. If you've ever eaten Tabasco sauce and broke into a sweat, that's a sign that your metabolism is literally heating up. Cayenne pepper also increases fat oxidation, which is another way of saying that the body is able to break down fat to use for energy. The cayenne pepper in Tabasco sauce likely has a regulating effect on blood sugar levels as well since it influences how carbohydrates are broken down by the body after eating.

Vinegar

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Besides peppers, the other primary ingredient in Tabasco sauce is vinegar, which gives it even more of a bite. Vinegar has its own set of health benefits, owing to the acetic acid that lends it sourness. Vinegar improves insulin sensitivity in people who eat high carbohydrate meals, according to a 2004 study published in "Diabetes Care." Having steadier blood sugar can help to reduce food cravings, which can lead to weight loss 1. Another study, published in 2009 in the "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry," discovered that the acetic acid in vinegar increased fat oxidation 2. Combined with the fat-burning effects of the peppers, it is clear that when you eat Tabasco sauce, you are helping to facilitate weight loss.

Caloric Intake

If you develop the habit of using Tabasco sauce on your food, you might discover that you eat less. Topping a meal with chile sauce can make eating more of a mindful experience. It is a rare person who will gulp down a plate of food that has been slathered in Tabasco sauce. Also, Tabasco sauce has a negligible amount of calories. Use it instead of higher fat toppings like cheese, and you can cut a hundred or more calories from your meal. The net result might be that your overall calorie intake becomes lower as you begin using Tabasco sauce more often, which can lead to weight loss.

Use

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If you want to use Tabasco sauce to help you manage your weight, find foods on which you enjoy sprinkling it. Start your day with hot sauce by adding some to a plate of eggs. Later, you might want to liven up a bowl of popcorn with a few dashes of Tabasco sauce. It can give your sandwiches a bit of a punch if you use it along with, or instead of, mayonnaise. Add it to soups and stews for a more complex flavor. Vegetables also are good candidates for Tabasco's spicy bite.