Eating hot and spicy food for healthy

Every time my friends and I went to restaurant, I must order spicy food and one small dish of chili sauce. That because eating spicy food can not only keep healthy but also make me refreshing. My friends are shocked on my enthusiasm on spicy food. So, they gave me a nickname: “pepper oil” which can reflect my favorite taste, as well as my food values.

In recent decades, more and more people start accepting and having spicy food. According to a report, “overall spice consumption in the U.S. rose by 107 percent between 1983 and 2003 to 947.9 million pounds, or 3.3 pounds per person, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture” (Karen Robinson-Jacobs). Like those people who are falling in love with spicy food, I love it for reasons. To be specifically, I found that I started to lose weight when I took more portion of spicy food in my daily meal. I did some research that showed spicy food could help metabolism, as well as losing weight. Moreover, I found many more benefits of taking spicy food according to my research, such as fighting cancer, drying dampness and cooling heart in the body.

The fat people will ask if any foods help burn off calories, my answer is to eat hot and spicy foods. I found there are so many researchers did surveys which prove that “eating hot, spicy foods such as mustard and hot peppers can speed metabolism, burning off calories” (Jean Carper). A British researcher did a test to prove that average metabolism in 12 subjects to shoot up 25 percent, burning off 45 extra calories in the next three hours if you add about three-fifths of a teaspoon of hot sauce to a meal. The result displayed the “hot sauce caused one person to burn off 76 calories – or 10 percent of the calories in a 776-calories meal” (Jean Carper). A new Australian study indicated that the hot and spicy taste in ginger may promote metabolism. The biochemists used animals to do the text which shows that the spicy included tissues to use up about 20 percent more energy than normally. Personally, my figure can be keep so nice depended on I like eating hot and spicy food I considered.

What’s more, there is a piece of dramatic news shocked me a lot because the vanilloids in the hot and spicy food could provide compound to fight cancers. The news which showed that “the compound was made by spicy food hot and generates the heat in muscle strain remedies could be the key to a new generation of cancer drugs, which kill tumours with no side effects, a leading scientist has said” (Chemical Business Newsbase). Dr Timothy Bates, a medical scientist, use part of food compounds called vanilloids, was a regular part of the diet all over the world could help people overcome the problems of anti-cancer. In my opinion, I am so happy that the scientists who did the technical study on food which is the common part of our life.

Moreover, I will talk about the spicy food in Hunan province which is in southeastern China is largely influenced by the spicy cuisine of Sichuan city because people eat a lot of hot and spicy food to keep healthy. Otherwise, Hunan or Xiang food is hotter and spicier than that of its western neighbor. “The reason for this is Hunan climate is excessively hot and humid, and eating hot peppers is recommended to dry dampness and cool heat in the body” (Tan Bee Hong). When I was first come to Hunan province, I could not adapt to the humid climate, and my joints were painful. I told my friends how I did not like here when we met in a luxury hotel at night. My friends just smiled and told me the food in the hotel could remit my pain. We sited around a big table to talk about the Hunan food which is characterised by its hot and sour flavours, fresh natural aromas and deep colors. When the waitress came with dishes, you can see the red curd and pepper in the dish first, and then the fragrance also makes you become more appetitive. It was surprised because I felt better after we ate together. My friend told me people in this area always ate the spicy food to keep healthy after finding the piquancy can dispel the dampness in people’s body. For me, I respect the humanity and culture in this area because people can live better depend on their custom.

As we all know, Thai food is the spiciest all over the world. I went to Thailand two years ago, I found that if you are eating at a Thai restaurant, they can usually moderate or increase the spicy on request. The reason why they did this is to suit each customer’s taste and you may find yourself learning to enjoy it overtime. Many Thais believe that hot and spicy food has some healthy benefits. Certainly it can clear out the sinuses, and “chilies can also help to boost the immune system and fight off illnesses, and have been shown to improve cardiovascular health” (S.E. Smith). In Thailand, using heavy spices to keep meats and fish fresh is regular because the chilies will stave off rot. The reason why people in many hot climates have the spicy food to prevent food borne illness and travelers with minimal hygienic practices will eat spicy foods along with the locals is the chilies will prevent uncomfortable intestinal symptoms, and the chilies can kill organisms which cause food borne illness. Otherwise, the spicy food in Thailand is a part of traditional delicious culinary. You can learn how to appreciate the dishes, and increase the spices in your orders so that you can like the spicy food in the restaurant if you ask the cooks to reduce the spices. The most excited thing is that “it will also allow you to win chili pepper eating contests, a valuable skill in some nations” (S.E. Smith).

Furthermore, I am an international student in Denver, and I found that almost every restaurant would provide chili sauce. Chili sauce would be putted on the table. You even could ask the waiters to serve some if there is no hot and chili sauce on the table. I went to several cities in America. Similarly, the chili sauce is available in most restaurants too. Depend on my research, an academic resource mentioned that “Within the broad spice grouping, the fiery flavorings are red hot: Imports of dried capsicum peppers, a class that includes long red chiles and cayenne peppers, rose by 869 percent to 155 million pounds in that same period, the USDA said” (Karen Robinson-Jacobs). That means the chili became more and more important in America, and the citizens can appreciate the taste of spicy from all over the world. The data from the USDA indicated that the spicy food become more and more acceptable and popular not only in America but also in most countries.

On the other hand, I get some information which indicated that spicy foods will give people nightmares. Dr. Virgil Wooten who is a spokesman for the American Sleep Disorders Association said that “peppers and spices derived from peppers can stimulate more gastric acid and relax the valve at the top of your stomach, which can allow food to work its way up the esophagus when lying down” (Ad Hudler). The reason why people think bad dreams are created by spicy food is it can create discomfort, which leads to imperfect sleep I considered. But there is no certain evidence to prove that people eat spicy food can give people nightmares. I ate a lot spicy food for several years, and I never had a disease of my stomach. My best advice is to eat spicy food and other food regular. Do not eat and drink anything closer than three to four hours before bedtime.

Generally speaking, having spicy food would bring both negative and positive effects to human health. As the resources I mentioned above, spicy food could speed metabolism and burn calories. More importantly, the vanilloids in the hot and spicy food could provide compound to fight cancers. Otherwise, people in Hunan province eat spicy food to dispel the dampness in their body because of the pluvial period and the humid climate. Besides, I cannot forget the attractive spicy food in Thailand, which is depended on their humanity and culture. Also, as an international student in the USA, I can appreciate the spicy food from all over the world. It is amazing to have a long journey to eat all kinds of spicy food there. As I mentioned above, people cannot get any disease from eating spicy food if you eat spicy food and other food regular. So, I decided to keep this eating habit. Moreover, I would like to encourage my friends to take more spicy food for keeping healthy.

In a word, eating spicy food can keep healthy. I will encourage my friends to eat spicy food and I wish the spicy food as well as the spicy derivant polished by the scientists can give people more and more benefits.

Work sited

Karen Robinson-Jacobs. "Hot, Spicy Cuisine Sizzles." The Charleston Gazette: 1.D. Print. 2005.

Jean Carper, and Columnist. "SPICY HOT FOODS RAISE METABOLISM: FINAL Edition." Seattle Post - Intelligencer: c.1. Print. 1993.

"Spicy Food could Provide Compound to Fight Cancers." Chemical Business Newsbase (2007): 1. Print.

Tan Bee Hong. "Spicy Hunan: 2 Edition." New Straits Times: 24. Print. 2003.

S.E. Smith. “Why is Thai Food so Spicy?” 2003-2012 Conjecture Corporation. 16 May 2012

Ad Hudler. "Spicy Foods Will Give You Nightmares." Better Homes and Gardens 76.1 (1998): 60. Print.

About writing class 1133

After finishing Eric's writing class, I learned how to combine and edit my ideas with the resources I found and the materials Eric gave us. In fact, I worked so hard to learn the knowledge about the food from many countries and wrote a lot papers to express the combination of food and culture, even though the topic of the class is easy.Besides, I learned how to collect the resources I will use and add them in my paper. I appreciated that Eric taught me how to analyze the food and the food culture.

P 9: Healthy diet

From Michael Pollan’s article which was named “unhappy meals”. I learned that American people’s eating habits is not regular and healthy enough nowadays. The contemporary food issues are affecting people’s daily life, especially people’s health. The author mentioned that America faced “the most basic questions about what to eat ever got so complicated reveals a great deal about the institutional imperatives of the food industry, nutritional” (2). Then the author mainly talked about the food problems about nutrition which has many unknown common senses we do not understand. Such as, the “French paradox” tell us “a population that eats all sorts of unhealthful is in many ways healthier than we Americans are” (4); not only the citizens but also the nutritionists have trouble discerning qualitative distinctions between foods; people do not realize the composition and the detriment about nutrients in food. Personally, I am interested in the topic which was “pay more, eat less”, I agree with the author who wants to tell us that “the quality may have a bearing on quantity” (16).

On the other hand, the “Angeles and Vegetables” which was written by Dupuis has the opposite point about the problems of people’s healthy diet. He strongly opposed the point, “as history has shown, unless we also want to return to our great-great grandmother’s enema bag, that may not be the best advice” (43) which was mentioned in Pollan’s article. So, Dupuis support to eat everything people want and people do not consider the health and nutrients of the food which means that he prefer to make our dietary choices to solve our personal and national problems rather than make political choices. Personally, I was surprised with Dupuis’s idea which was opposite with Pollan’s point. He used dauntless words and evidence to attack Pollan’s idea; it is so excited to read the evidence which mentioned that people can eat everything to satisfy our stomachs.

Works Cited

Michael Pollan."Unhappy Meals. " New York Times Magazine28 Jan. 2007:ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest. Web.19 May. 2012.

Melanie Du Puis, E.. "Angels and Vegetables: A Brief History of Food Advice in America. " Gastronomica7.3 (2007): 34-44. Research Library, ProQuest. Web.19 May. 2012.

Eating fruit and vegetables

The fast food is popular all over the world, especially in the USA. When I was first came to America, the restaurants like McDonald, KFC, Danny’s, subway and burger king were developed mostly. Now, I am studying in America, I can also witness how people like the fast food not only in the restaurant but also in the dinning hall. However, the fast food is also bad for our bodies. So, we should eat some vegetables and fruit to keep eating balance every day.

The fruit and vegetable area occupy about 1/6 space in dinning hall; there are more than 20 kinds of them offered there. The reason why the fruit and vegetable area were treated so important is the scientist pointed out that fruit and vegetables can protect against heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses. As we all know, the fruit and vegetables have many colors, such as, blue/purple, green, white, yellow/orange, and red. A test about fruit and vegetables showed that the phytochemicals and antioxidants in fruit and vegetables are the main factors to protect themselves also give them their colors. Otherwise, “complete the color spectrum every day and not only will you transform your plate into “a box of crayolas” but also you will receive the perfect cocktail of phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, and fibre.” (Jones)

What’s more, our body needs several kinds of trace element. Eating several kinds of fruit and vegetables is the most easier and comfortable way to get the supplement. The UK Food Standards Agency site (www.foodstandards.gov.uk) make a good spread of eating fruit and vegetables which highlights the importance of variety—that simply eating five times your usual daily portion of broccoli doesn't count. The frequently asked questions section encouragingly points out that eating healthily can be greatly easy because things like olives, fruit juice, fruit jelly, baked beans, and raisins all count towards the daily quota (although unfortunately potatoes don't). (Jones)

Moreover, I got the information which means that eating fruit and vegetables can regularly prevent smokers from developing the disease of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Southampton researchers made a survey about 150 elder with smoking history who had COPD; there are 116 people who has no COPD but have smoking history. And then the researchers compared the result in two groups with body mass index (BMI), Smokers who ate more than two kinds of fruits and vegetables a day were approximately ½ to develop the disease as the smokers who ate less (Anonymous).

Perhaps it is so difficult to encourage children to eat fruit and vegetables because they do not like the green and fibrous when they were young; it is like an instinct everyone have.  There is a survey in rural China which indicated that the risks of asthma and wheeze in relation to fresh vegetable. With all residents (n = 38109) in three townships in three cities, there are only 218 cases of doctor diagnosed asthma were in 16460 children aged ≤ 14 years (prevalence 1.32%) and 290 in those aged 15-84 years (1.34% prevalence). Overall, 31.5% (160/508) of those with asthma had a history of allergy (Chen, Ruoling, Zhi Hu, and Anthony Seaton). The result pointed that the risk of asthmatic symptoms develops with low fresh vegetable consumption in young Chinese people.

Personally, I prefer eating fruit and vegetables in the morning because it is good for my mental health about vitamins and it can also decrease the depression in the morning. Otherwise, I have some experience about eating fruit. Such as, if you get an astriction, you can eat a banana. If you have a sore throat, you can eat a pear, celery. If you get inflamed, you can eat balsam pear, watermelon or grape, and so on. So, keep eating fruit and vegetables, it is good for our health.

Work Cited

Jones, Giselle. "Eating Fruit and Vegetables." BMJ : British Medical Journal 326.7394 (2003): 888-. Print.

Chen, Ruoling, Zhi Hu, and Anthony Seaton. "Eating More Vegetables might Explain Reduced Asthma Symptoms." BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 328.7452 (2004): 1380-. Print.

Anonymous. "Eating Fruit and Vegetables can Protect Against COPD." Nursing Standard 17.1 (2002): 10. Print.

Thoughts on Eating Practices

Personally, I like eating spicy food no matter what I eat. there are more benefits, such as, it can defend the deficiency of vitamin B2, the vitamin E in soybean sprouts can protect the skin and blood capillary, it also can defend the hypertension. also, spicy is most tasty than any other  tastes.

What's more, I prefer eating with my friends than eating alone because it is a traditional and good way to make a communication with my friends to talk about not only study but also work experience.

Moreover, I prefer to eat wheaten food than others because it is more healthy than any others.

Two interesting posts

Ran's essay talked about eating disorder of local students and international students which indicated that each student has his own schedule about courses. Ran wants to change his situation to get his eating schedule nice.

Zechi's essay talked about skipping breakfast which is bad for our health, and I can realize the importance of the breakfast from the evidence he mentioned. And he wants to have breakfast as soon as possible to get a better health.

P 8 (group 3)

my group members talked about the healthy food about our daily diet.Such as, Joe focused on vitamin C in his favorite drink, Ying took care of the hot milk in the morning, Yupeng talked about that he eat depend on his schedule, and I eat fruit every morning. We all agree with that people should eat everything first or enjoy eating, then consider the healthy problems.