Building your tolerance to spicy foods

cupcakechef

cupcakechef

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I have no tips besides eat whatever it is and get a fan and some water to wash down the heat. Since they seem to be saying spicy food is good for you, I sometimes add a little more pepper sauce which the spicy eaters don't seem too impressed by. Many say it's too mild.
 
I have always found drinking milk with spicy food helps you cool off. I love spicy food. The spicy the better. We use a lot of spices so when we are preparing food for others we have to tame it down a lot. Both my husband and I love spice so it works out good that way!
 
I do not want to build my tolerance over something hot or spicy. I think if I did, that is just like increasing the tolerance over alcohol which is not good. A little bit of hotness is fine with me.
 
Whenever I am eating spicy food I would have a cold drink handy which I would sip at intervals to cool down the heat of the pepper or spice, otherwise it tends to affect my nasal passages too. I have never gotten to the stage where I had to use a fan though. Having said that, I do not really like my food overly spicy. The happy medium is good enough for me.
 
cupcakechef said:
I read a great article recently about how to build your tolerance to spicy foods. I love spicy stuff, but admittedly I don't always do so well with it - I get majorly sniffly - I guess the spices go crazy on my nasal passages!


http://globaltableadventure.com/2015/07/19/think-you-cant-handle-spicy-food-think-again/

The article link is there - do you have any other tips or tricks about building resilience to eating spicy foods?
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Very interesting. I've heard that many spicy foods can actually be good for us in a number of ways. I also enjoy the taste, but I can't tolerate too much. My mouth and my stomach will hate me. So, this is great info for me. I didn't even know that building up your tolerance for it was a thing.

L_B said:
I have always found drinking milk with spicy food helps you cool off. I love spicy food. The spicy the better. We use a lot of spices so when we are preparing food for others we have to tame it down a lot. Both my husband and I love spice so it works out good that way!
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Yes, and this is especially true when it comes to hot peppers. Milk contains one of the same enzymes (?) as hot peppers do (I think it's called casein), which helps neutralize the heat. It can also help coat your stomach, so I've heard...
 
I have no tolerance for spicy foods. The first question I ask when ordering something new is is it spicy. It seems odd to me to have food so hot you can not breath and think the food is good tasting, how would you know you can't taste it. I do eat a few thinks that have a little bit to them but not very much.
 
Pat said:
I have no tolerance for spicy foods. The first question I ask when ordering something new is is it spicy. It seems odd to me to have food so hot you can not breath and think the food is good tasting, how would you know you can't taste it. I do eat a few thinks that have a little bit to them but not very much.
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I agree that I don't want something so hot that I can't even taste anything, but it doesn't affect everyone the same way. My husband can eat super hot food and enjoy it. The same food is way too hot for me, to the point it just burns my mouth and isn't enjoyable at all. I'm coughing and running for the milk, and he's saying mmmm mmmm.

I guess it's like anything else and that you can build more tolerance to it over time. He's always eaten really hot food, and I never really did that much. I have found that some hot foods do taste really good though.
 
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Why ? It's not as though you aren’t trying something to be picky you don't like them. You could probably force yourself to get used to anything if you kept on ramming it down but why ?
 
sidevalve said:
Why ? It's not as though you aren’t trying something to be picky you don't like them. You could probably force yourself to get used to anything if you kept on ramming it down but why ?
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Well, you can get used to anything eventually, but that's not really the point. The suggestion isn't to keep "ramming it down." It's just to slowly add more to your diet. Many spicy foods are quite good for us as well as being tasty.

We're not talking about stuff that's so hot and spicy that you need to wear a Hazmat suit and protective eye wear when you cook it.:wink:
 
I have a high tolerance for spicy food because I have been eating it for so long. My parents are completely American but they love spicy foods all the same. I learned how to tolerate the kick at a very young age and now can take a lot of heat with my food.
 
I like spicy foods but I don't have them too often. However, once or twice I have come upon food that was too spicy to handle. This would be the first time I tried Thai food....Oh Mercy! and my sister's former boyfriend's Indian cooking..He was a native...and it was intense..even though he said..I watered it down for you!!! Say what?
 
We recently found out about a Thai food restaurant not too far from here, and we've been wanting to try it. I've been a little nervous about it though, since I've heard it can be really hot. I'm guessing my husband would love it, but I'm more of a wimp, ha ha. We grabbed a menu from there to check it out, and everything sounds delicious. I also like the fact that the offerings contain lots of vegetables. I am going to get brave and try it sometime. I'm going to ask for the wimpy version of whatever I decide to order though, until I build up my tolerance a bit. :p:
 
Zyni said:
I agree that I don't want something so hot that I can't even taste anything, but it doesn't affect everyone the same way. My husband can eat super hot food and enjoy it. The same food is way too hot for me, to the point it just burns my mouth and isn't enjoyable at all. I'm coughing and running for the milk, and he's saying mmmm mmmm.

I guess it's like anything else and that you can build more tolerance to it over time. He's always eaten really hot food, and I never really did that much. I have found that some hot foods do taste really good though.
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I agree, some foods are so hot they take my breath away and some which I like are a little hot at first but then after it has sat on my tongue for a second or two the taste is fine. My friend enjoys spicy wings some times I do too but it depends on how spicy the sauce is.
 
Zyni said:
Well, you can get used to anything eventually, but that's not really the point. The suggestion isn't to keep "ramming it down." It's just to slowly add more to your diet. Many spicy foods are quite good for us as well as being tasty.

We're not talking about stuff that's so hot and spicy that you need to wear a Hazmat suit and protective eye wear when you cook it.:wink:
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But my point still stands - there are lots of foods that are good for us that aren’t spicy and the OP was about increasing your tolerance to spicy food which assumes you've tried it and don't like it - why force yourself into liking something ?
 
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