Health Herbs ™

Cayenne pepper, the bright red spice which you may have used in curries or other cooking in the past has at least two fairly miraculous properties. Now, it’s not uncommon for herbs and spices to show medicinal properties and a lot of them appear in all sorts of ancient remedies or natural healing techniques. There has been all sorts of research into these methodologies and in a lot of cases a positive result was found when a herb or spice was used to treat an ailment, though perhaps not one as profound as the pharmaceutical alternative.

Cayenne pepper is something that I put, generally in small amounts, into everything I cook. This is because it boosts your metabolism and allows your body to burn off the calories quicker than it otherwise could, meaning that less gets stored as fat and you’ll put on less, if any, weight. It’s fairly spicy so, unless you’re cooking a curry or similar, I’d advise less than a teaspoon. If you’re after the heat then add it to taste. The more you put in the more of an effect it will have on your metabolism so don’t be scared to experiment!

The other miraculous property is only seen when cayenne pepper is used topically on the skin generally in the form of a cream. When it’s used to treat things like impetigo (a contagious skin infection which often presents with angry red lesions which can be itchy or inflames) it can lessen the discomfort of the patient by helping to block pain receptors and nullify the ability of our nerves to send and receive signals to that area. It’s been used in the same way for hundreds of years by ancient cultures and still is today.

Though cayenne can be amazingly potent in what it does, it’s never advised you self-treat without consulting your doctor first. They may have a pharmaceutical option which will be more effective or you may have mis-diagnosed yourself! It’s always better to check first.

Source : yourwellness.com