Get the Chile Habit

Have you been missing out? Do you know what the most
captivating and healthy fruit is? It can make you lose
weight-get a high equal to a runner's high or even sex?
It makes nearly every organ in your body healthier and
prevents the wear and tear from stress. Further, they were
discovered by the Ancients who knows how long ago.

The answer is chiles. Chiles are actually a fruit and
often misunderstood. Many never get to experience the
healthful benefits of frequent consumption because they are
afraid of the spiciness or worse yet, they believe old
wives tales about chiles being hard to digest or causing
ulcers. All untrue of course. Chiles actually cauterize
ulcers.

Each one of us is an individual with an individual palate.
What is stimulating to one person may just barely be
spicey to another. Since chiles are addictive, the more
you eat them, the more you will want to eat them, and the
hotter you will desire them to be. Those of us who have
been "exposed" to chiles early in life, are constantly on
a quest for a daily chile fix. Those who have not had the
opportunity to eat chiles have much less tolerance for
capsaicin. However, it is never too late to start a daily
habit of chile eating and develop one's own "chile drive."

The addictive quality of chiles is perhaps not too
surprising when you learn that chiles belong to the same
family of nightshades as does nicotania, the leaf that
tobacco comes from. However, there is some question.

However, true addiction may not be assigned to chiles.
Instead, they create an intense craving-a very fine line
from addiction. Paul Rozin, Ph.D., a behavorial
psychologist of high esteem has done extensive research on
the aspects of chiles. What makes people crave them? Why
do they eat them when they produce pain? According to
Rozin, they are not truly addictive because they do not
create an out of control experience with withdrawal
symptoms.

The fact that people wish hotter and hotter chiles is
explained by Rozin as being a result of tolerance. We
adjust to higher heat levels, but we don't need increasing
amounts of chiles to feel normal. As opposed to smokers,
who can become ill after smoking a cigarette after a long
absence of smoking-chile consumers do not experience
illness. The preference for chile continues, despite not
having chiles for weeks or months.

A study at Duke University Medical Center revealed that in
smaller doses, capsaicin and nicotine create some of the
same physiological responses which include irritation,
secretion, sneezing, vasodilation, coughing and peptide
release. In larger does, when injected, capsaicin destroys
many of the neurons containing its receptors-while nicotine
actually increases the number of nicotine acetylcholine
receptors. The result is that large doses of capsaicin
result in the body becoming less responsive to capsaicin,
but that large doses of nicotine cause the body to become
more responsive to nicotine.

Though chile eating may not be addictive, it is definitely
habit forming. They add flavor to otherwise bland
ingredients in diets such as the Mexican and Indian. Also,
through social pressure, young people develop the taste for
chiles, just like for cigarettes, alcohol and coffee-all of
which have an acquired taste. Through peer pressure, a
subtle reward is felt for doing what the adults do-eat
chile. This coupled with parental encouragement gets youth
started eating chiles.

This is quite interesting! Because, the hotter the chiles
one eats, the healthier they are for one. The hotter the
chile, the greater the capsaicin level. The more capsaicin
one gets, the more healthful properties one gets.
Capsaicin is the endorphin level raiser and the substance
that gives such great well-being and health to most major
organs, internally and externally. Capsaicin reduces
plaque in the vascular system, slows blood pressure,
increases the pulse, assists gut action, and destroys
cancer producing free radicals and more.

Chiles can be too hot for a person, especially the
uninitiated. It is always best to start milder and build
up to enjoying the hotter chiles. A very good idea is to
make a dish with the spiciness one feels good about and
then serve a condiment chile such as pequin or other hot
chile for those who wish it hotter to just sprinkle it on
their food.

Eating too hot chiles or even handling or preparing too hot
chiles is best requited by time. However, most do not want
to wait that long for the pain to subside. In that case,
for internal pain from eating too hot chiles, the best is
to eat something sweet or dairy-particularly dairy fat,
such as butter, sour cream, cheese or ice cream. Acidic
foods such as limes, lemons or vinegar blunt an overheated
palate. So do fatty or oily foods, such as deep fried
tostados or chips are also good.

When preparing hot chiles, the best cure is prevention.
Handle the capsaicin bearing parts the least, by holding
the chiles by the stem, not touching the inside of the
chile. If you are terribly concerned about getting
"burned", then wear rubber gloves. If you get too hot
chiles on your fingers or other parts of your body, one of
the best cures is to rub fresh lime juice on it. Some
treat chile "burns" like any physical burn and apply burn
ointment.

----------------------------------------------------
Jane Butel, the first to write about Southwestern cooking,
has published 18 cookbooks, several being best sellers.
She operates a full-participation weekend and week long
vacation cooking school, an on-line school, conducts
culinary tours and team-building classes.
http://www.janebutel.com