Love sprinkling black pepper on your breakfast eggs in the morning or crushing it in the “kada” to boost immunity? Either ways, you are unknowingly helping the body burn fat. A little amount of black pepper can help burn a good amount of calories. Interested to find out how? Indian spices have amazing health benefits apart from adding amazing flavour and taste to dishes. Amongst all the Indian spices, black pepper can be considered a star ingredient which can not just help you get clear skin, it can help achieve strong and healthy hair, and also help lose weight. There are a lot of healthy ways to lose weight – sticking to a good diet (Rati Beauty diet programs are a great way to start), avoid refined food and bad carbs, also getting rid of transfat and sugar. Apart from these, you can also exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, increase the intake of healthy fats and fiber, and also indulge in HIIT form of exercise. Apart from these, you can boost the whole weight loss process by including certain ingredients and black pepper is one such thing. In this post, we will reveal how black pepper helps to boost weight loss process and how to include it in different ways in your diet.
Benefits of Black Pepper:
- Rich in vitamin A and C.
- Has potassium, calcium.
- Rich in antioxidants.
- Has dietary fiber.
- Regulates blood sugar levels.
- Lowers cholesterol.
How Black Pepper Helps to Boost Weight Loss:
Black pepper works in multiple ways to boost weight loss.
1. Has a thermogenic effect on the body: It’s a thermogenic food that revs up body’s metabolism and increases the rate at which calories get burned. It means black pepper can help kickstart a sluggish metabolism. Coupled with the correct diet, calorie deficit, and regular exercise, thermogenic food can help you reach out for glycogen and fat stores in the body and help burning in fat.
2. Helps you reach the satiety index with limited intake of food.
3. The calcium in black pepper helps to melt belly fat apart from helping you strengthen bones and teeth. Calcium also prevents your body from storing fat. Interestingly, if there is adequate calcium in body cells, the fat stored gets pushed out of the cells effectively. Also, adequate calcium in the body increases breakdown of fat in the bloodstream and preserves thermogenesis, accelerating the weight loss process. Calcium also suppresses appetite, lowering hunger sensations by 12%. When there is calcium deficiency, the body produces higher levels of calcitriol which is a hormone that leads to production of fat cells. Adequate calcium lowers calcitriol levels, leading to breakdown of fat, lesser production of fat cells, helping you slim down.
4. The compound “piperine,” in black pepper boosts metabolism and prevents storage of extra calories as fat in the body. According to certain studies, piperine has potential fat reducing and lipid lowering properties.
5. Improves digestion, just a pinch of pepper causes more secretion of hydrochloric acid in the tummy that helps to break down food, complex carbs and protein.
6. It acts as a bioavailability enhancer which means it facilitates the absorption of other nutrients into the body.
Ways to Use Black Pepper in your Diet to Burn Fat:
Yes, black pepper does aid weight loss but remember to not go overboard and not exceed more than 1 tbsp per day because it can cause side effects.
1. With eggs: Grind a few pepper corns in a mortar and pestle and sprinkle the powder over boiled eggs to get a protein-rich, metabolism boosting breakfast to start the day. Also, black pepper would help to break down the protein in eggs and make absorption of the nutrients into the bloodstream easier.
2. Black pepper tea: Here’s a strong thermogenic tea with ginger and green tea. Bring to boil some water (2 cups) and add some crushed ginger to it. After taking the water off the flame, brew in one green tea bag and mix in just a pinch of black pepper. Consume this black pepper tea either early in the morning or before hitting the bed at night.
3. Drink kadha with black pepper: This kadha, suggested by Ministry of Ayush, boosts your immunity as well as help with weight loss, make a decoction by boiling water and adding tulsi leaves, cinnamon, black pepper corns, sonth (dry ginger), and raisins (munakka) to the boiling water. Keep on the flame for 5 minutes and drink once or twice a day with jaggery.
4. Add it to fresh juice: Did you freshly squeeze oranges or apple into juice form? Add more flavour and goodness by dropping in a pinch of black pepper to the juice.
5. Honey with Black Pepper: Consume a bit of black pepper powder in 1 tbsp of honey first thing in the morning to boost immunity and lose weight.
6. Consume it with yogurt: In a cup of yogurt, mix in 1 tbsp of black pepper powder and have it with your regular lunch.
7. Has phytonutrients that help breakdown fat.
Side Effects of Taking Black Pepper:
As we have earlier mentioned, limit black pepper consumption to just 1 tbsp in a day because it may upset stomach and irritate the gastrointestinal tract. As it’s a thermogenic agent, it’s not at all recommended for pregnant women.
How to Use Black Pepper for Strong Hair:
You can prepare a completely prepare herbal coconut oil at home for strong and healthy hair. Here’s how you prepare this oil:
1 litre of pure coconut oil.
50 gm of fenugreek seeds, coarsely grounded.
50 gm of amla fruit, chopped (Indian Gooseberry).
50 gm of aloe vera gel.
50 gm of green curry leaves.
50 gm of sesame seeds.
50 gm of black pepper, coarsely grounded.
Take the pan and pour around ¼ th of the coconut oil into it and let it get heated for some time. Put the sesame seeds and let them crackle for some time. Now, add the green curry leaves and stir the mixture. Please be careful as the leaves should not burn away. Keep the flame on low for this. Now, add the chopped amla and aloe vera gel and mix the contents well. Let, it simmer for some time. If the quantity of the oil seems to be less, add some more, so that it’s compatible for the contents we are adding. Now, add the coarsely grounded fenugreek seeds and black pepper corns. Mix well and let it heat for some time on low flame made. After 15 minutes or when the ingredients start turning black, mix the remaining oil in the pan and heat on low flame for about 1 hour. This will help the oil absorb all the goodness of the ingredients. After an hour, switch off the heat and let the mixture cool. Once the mixture has cooled down, strain the oil carefully into the jar and store it. It depends on you whether you want to keep the oil with the residue or you want to strain it out. The residue settles at the bottom of the jar and the oil comes up. Just take some amount necessary for massage every time, heat it on a low flame, and apply on the scalp and hair. This coconut oil with regular use will make your hair shiny and long. The continuous will clear up dandruff. Use it every alternate day before hitting the bed and shampoo the next day with regular shampoo.
How to Use Black Pepper for Clear Skin:
1. It has antioxidant and antibacterial properties which helps curing pimples, acne.
2. Helps to get rid of blackheads.
3. Boosts circulation and acts as a good scrub when used along with yogurt.
Homemade Yogurt and Black Pepper Mask/Scrub:
This mask helps lighten skin and helps get rid of black heads.
1. Grind black pepper into coarse granules, use half a teaspoon.
2. Mix this with 1 teaspoon yogurt.( I use creamy homemade yogurt)
3. Apply on clean skin for not more than 2-3 minutes or scrub in light circular movements for 1 minute.
4. If your face stings wash it off and apply ice.
5. One can add turmeric/honey too to make the pack more effective. I personally use them differently in different scrubs/masks.
Don’t use this as your regular scrub because when it stings it stings real bad, use it sparingly.
Beauty Benefits and Uses of Black Pepper
How to Consume Fenugreek Seeds For Weight Loss
