How to Train Yourself to Eat & Enjoy Spicy Food

Becoming a Spicy Food Eater

Start small. If you grew up on a meat and potatoes diet and don’t have much experience with chiles, allow your body to grow accustomed to spiciness slowly. Add a little spice to common foods in your current diet. Add a shake of red pepper flakes to your soup, or put a splash of hot sauce in your ketchup. Serve diced peppers, or a chile-based sauce, on the side, and add it to your food as you eat. This gives you maximum control over the spiciness.

Move up the heat ladder. If your buddy chows down on ghost peppers while you nibble on a bell pepper, it is likely that he has built up a tolerance for capsaicin over time. Slowly but steadily move up the ladder from milder to spicier chiles. You can train your body to adapt to hot weather, and you can do the same with hot chiles. The Scoville Scale is the standard guide for heat in chiles. The more Scoville units, the more capsaicin, the spicier the chile. Use it as a guide on what chile to try next.

Eat slowly and savor the spice. Instead of thinking you can get the pain all over with at once by popping the whole pepper, take smaller bites, especially as you build up your tolerance. Dole out the capsaicin in smaller doses so your body can absorb it more efficiently. If you don’t overwhelm your taste buds with heat, you’ll be better able to appreciate the range of flavors in spicy dishes.

Don’t force it. Everybody is different. Like the guy who can drink you under the table without seeming the least bit buzzed or your friend who can eat as much as she wants without gaining a pound, some people can simply tolerate spicy foods better than others. The idea of “no pain, no gain” might urge you forward, but use common sense in deciding when you’ve maxed out your body’s adaptability to spiciness. If you seem to have reached a plateau as you work your way up the Scoville Scale, you may just want to accept that as your limit. Think of all the spicy foods you’ve already added to your eating repertoire.

Soothing the Effects of Spicy Food

Got milk? If not, you may want to pick some up along with your Thai take-out. Regular old milk, the more full-fat the better, is perhaps the ideal treatment for the burn of capsaicin. Milk contains the protein casein, which works to wash capsaicin molecules away from the nerve receptors in your mouth. Cold milk provides a cooling effect for the burning sensation. Fats in milk coat the tongue and mouth, again providing a soothing effect and making the casein a more effective “cleaner.” Other milk-based products will help as well. There’s a reason why Buffalo wings are traditionally served with ranch dressing, Mexican dishes often come with sour cream, and curries often have a yogurt sauce.

Try other beverages. Milk is best, but may not always be a viable option. If you’re lactose intolerant, or at a sports bar or on a date where ordering a tall glass of milk is not ideal, there are alternatives. Capsaicin is soluble in alcohol, meaning alcoholic beverages will help wash some of it (and its burn) away. So here’s your excuse to have a beer with those hot wings. Capsaicin is also soluble in oil, so you can try swirling a little vegetable or olive oil in your mouth and spitting it out (at home, preferably). Also, foods with a higher fat content like dark chocolate might provide some relief. Sugar water is another option, especially at home. Sweet (or salty, for that matter) flavors help mask the spice, and the sugar solution helps produce a coating, soothing effect as well. Add a tablespoon or so of sugar to a glass of water. This, like oil, works best as a rinse that you spit out. Avoid plain water, as whatever cooling effect it may have is countered by the fact that it just redistributes the capsaicin around you mouth or down your throat.

Cool down the burn. Cold soothes burns, whether caused by actual heat or capsaicin. You can pre-treat your mouth with something cold to help numb your nerve receptors, or use it after taking a spicy bite. Try eating cold fruit (which contain sugars) or ice cream (which contains sugars and casein) along with your spicy dish. A milkshake might provide the best of all worlds -- cold, fat, sugar, coating effect, and good flavor to boot. You can try ice chips to cool your mouth, but as they melt they will have the same capsaicin-spreading properties as a glass of water.

Soak up the heat. Rice is served with spicy dishes all over the world. Part of the appeal is that starches like rice and bread can absorb some of the capsaicin before it can affect you. Like a good sponge, light, airy, textured foods work best at sopping up capsaicin. Alternate bites of your chosen “sponge” with the spicy food. Some people rely on marshmallows.

Wait out the pain, and treat other symptoms if they arise. It may seem like the burn will never go away, but the effects of capsaicin on our bodies only lasts for about 15 minutes after we stop eating it. If other gastrointestinal issues arise -- acid reflux, heartburn, GERD, etc. -- treat them as you normally would. As noted, chiles have no unique impact on the digestive system that requires unique treatments. Try chewable or liquid antacids, Pepto-Bismol, or other such treatments that tend to work for you. If you have frequent heartburn, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about the range of over-the-counter and prescription pills now available, most of which are taken daily (before symptoms arise). You can also take common sense measures like limiting your intake of heartburn-inducing foods; not eating spicy foods late in the evening, since reflux symptoms are usually worse at night; and letting gravity aid in your digestion by staying on your feet or, better yet, taking a walk.

Preparing for Spicy Food

Know about capsaicin. It is always best to know your adversary before going into battle, right? Chiles are perceived as hot or spicy to us because they contain the chemical capsaicin, which enters your bloodstream and essentially convinces your body that your temperature is rising. This helps explain the sweating, flushing, and occasional light-headedness that can accompany eating spicy foods. Carried in oils in chiles, capsaicin is also a skin and mucous membrane irritant. Capsaicin is a natural defense mechanism developed by certain plants to prevent mammals from eating them. Most mammals take the hint and move on, but not us.

Think about why people subject themselves to spicy foods. Are humans just not as smart as mice, pigs, and other mammals? It probably has more to do with our brain makeup. Our brain neurons responsible for pleasure and pain are adjacent and possibly interconnected. This helps explain why many people get a rush out of risky behavior, especially when they can experience danger/pain without much risk, such as in eating spicy food.

Understand the health impacts of spicy food. People tend to assume that spicy foods cause ulcers, heartburn, and other gastrointestinal discomforts, but in fact there is no real evidence to support this. If they have this effect on you, it is likely just a sensitivity you have, like others may have to dairy, fatty foods, etc. Indeed, there is growing scientific evidence that spicy foods are good for you: they may help you consume less calories by reducing sweet/salty/fatty cravings; increase calorie burning by increasing your body’s perceived core temperature; have beneficial impacts on cardiovascular health and cholesterol levels; and, surprisingly enough, reduce gastric acid production.

Learn to prepare chiles carefully. Pepper spray does indeed contain capsaicin, the same thing in those chiles you want to add to your dinner plate. So don't treat them lightly, unless you want a taste of what it is like to be pepper sprayed. Use gloves when preparing chiles. Or, at very least, wash your hands thoroughly after handling them. Protect your eyes and other sensitive areas. Consider eyewear when cutting chiles. Do not rub your eyes, nose, or mouth before washing your hands. For that matter, if you need to use the bathroom or have an itch in a sensitive area, make sure you wash your hands before (and after!). The hottest parts of a chile are the seeds and the inner membranes (usually white) that hold them in place. This is where most of the capsaicin is located. Scrape these away while preparing a chile if you want to tone things down.