Chilies are the go-to veggie when you’re looking to spice things up. But did you know they also have a red-hot reputation for health promotion? Next time a curry kicks you in the bum, remember that while you might be getting a spicy sucker punch to the mouth, you’re also fighting off inflammatory disease, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and most importantly, dropping a few extra pounds.

Chili’s ruby red color is a result of high levels of beta-carotene or pro-vitamin A. Just two teaspoons of red chili peppers provide about 6% of the daily value for vitamin C coupled with more than 10% of the daily value for vitamin A. Often called the anti-infection vitamin, vitamin A is essential for healthy mucous membranes, which serve as the body’s first line of defense against invading pathogens.

Capsaicin is the chemical component in chilies that give curry their kick, and causes your tongue (and sometimes your bum) to burn. However, while this spicy substance can light a fire in your belly, it’s also helping to inhibit inflammation – capsaicin is sometimes used to treat inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and psoriasis. It’s also been shown to inhibit the spread of prostate cancer by triggering cancer cells to die, and by lessening the expression of PSA (prostate specific antigen) – a protein in the blood that’s a marker for the disease.

This spicy substance has been used as a topical agent to treat osteoarthritis pain. A double-blind placebo trial showed that nearly 200 patients benefited from using capsaicin on their psoriasis. However, this is not an endorsement to rub chilies, willy-nilly all over your body. I have a feeling that this type of at-home experiment could end quite badly – so put away your spice rack and apothecary set.

Chili peppers are also kind on your cardiovascular system – they have been shown to reduce blood cholesterol, triglyceride levels, and platelet aggregation (a fancy way of saying blood clotting). Cultures that like to spread the spice (think Indians and Mexicans) have a much lower rate of heart attack, stroke, and pulmonary embolism (a scary way of saying blocked arteries).

Now the information that’s sure to get you hot – chilies have been found to contain substances that significantly increase thermogenesis (heat production) and oxygen consumption for more than 20 minutes after consumption – in other words, you’re burning more calories baby. Ps. this doesn’t give you carte blanche to just turn up the heat on whatever you eat in an attempt to avoid excess calorie consumption.

Looking for a salacious snack to help sex up your Valentine’s Day? It’s no secret that the key to my heart is through my stomach – but will packing my plate with chockies and oysters pull me out of my pj’s and into my panties?

Although a little skimpy, there is some scientific evidence to support the theory that certain foods are sexier than others.

Chocolate is made up of approximately 300 chemicals – such as caffeine, theobromine, and phenyethylamine – many of which are thought to have mood-altering effects. As we know, caffeine elicits a “grande cup” of energy-boosting properties, whereas theobromine stimulates the heart and nervous system – all of which are important factors involved in engendering that “love’n feeling.”

It’s thought that chocolate can induce feelings of euphoria, similar to the effect of certain street drugs. Some scientists theorize that eating chocolate is akin to smoking cannabis. A University of Michigan study purports that chocolate causes the brain to release b-endorphin, a naturally occurring chemical similar to opium (opiates can dull pain and increase a feeling of well being). Phenyethylamine, an amphetamine-like substance, is said to stimulate the same reaction in the body as the feeling of falling in love.

Asparagus is thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac, despite the fact it causes pungent pee. It’s high in potassium, fiber, B6, vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamine and folic acid – all of which are a natural histamine booster, a major part of reaching orgasm in both men and women.

Oysters are undoubtedly the most clichéd aphrodisiac of all. However, these sexy sea creatures do contain high levels of zinc, which raises male sperm count as well as testosterone levels – both thought to increase libido.

Chilies are thought to heat up your sex life too, due to its capsaicin content — the substance that gives kick to peppers, curries and other spicy foods. Capsaicin stimulates nerve endings to release chemicals, raising the heart rate and possibly triggering the release of endorphins, giving you the pleasurable feeling of a natural high.

After a long break on Bondi beach, I’m back to what seems like the Polar Ice Cap of the world. No more sand beneath my toes, just constant blowing of my nose. And, instead of sipping rose, I’m sculling Robbitussin and sucking Ricola. But I shouldn’t complain – especially since I’ve deemed our apartment a “no whining zone” in an effort to muzzle my toddler’s favorite pass time – it is nice to be home, and it’s even nicer to be back in my own kitchen. This Winter, I hope the Epi-cure will keep you happy and healthy by loading you up with delicious and nutritious recipes, and by helping you make the right food choices to ensure you stay fit, flu-free, and warm – even when everything else is frozen solid.

OK, so you’re eating green and proud of it – you buy organic veggies, hormone-free milk, grass-fed beef, antibiotic-free chickens, and free-range eggs. Don’t negate what’s on your plate by sautéing your tofu in a Teflon pan – it may not stick, but there’s a good chance it could make you sick.

Some scientists claim PFOA – the chemical used to make Teflon – can increase your risk of chronic diseases such as cancer. Although the potential health risks remain controversial, its hazardous environmental effects are better known. Tefflon is one of the most persistent synthetic chemicals, with a half-life of one thousand years.

Here’s a summary of Planet Green’s “Top Green Kitchen Tips”:

Make It Last


Choose cookware and utensils that stand the test of time and won’t have to be thrown away with your leftover casserole. Teflon may have a long half-life, but it has a considerably shorter shelf life. Go for stainless steel or cast iron instead. Though a bit of an investment, a good cast iron skillet will last for generations.

Energy Smackdown: Gas vs. Electric

If you’re a gas devotee that’s shopping for a new stove, know that the lower the BTU output, the more energy-efficient your stove will be.

With electricity, the most efficient stoves are those that use induction elements, which transfer electromagnetic energy directly to the pan, leaving the cook-top relatively cool, and using less than half the energy of standard coil elements.

Standard electric coils – those spiral types we’re all used to seeing – are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to energy efficiency. If you have an electric stove, opt for the most efficiency-efficient model possible, then purchase green power to support electricity from clean, renewable sources.

Green your Appliances

Energy-efficiency upgrades are coming fast and furious to many new appliances. More often than not, an efficient dishwasher uses a lot less water than washing dishes by hand. Check out How to Green Your Dishwasher, and Planet Green’s series on when to repair (and when to recycle) old appliances.

When it does comes time to replace your old-faithfuls look for the Energy Star rating on each of your new appliances. 

Energy Efficient Cooking

Preheating is almost prehistoric – newer ovens fire up pretty quickly. If you’re roasting or baking something that’s a little flexible when it comes to cooking time – not souffle -  you can put it in right away, then turn the oven off five or ten minutes early.

Green Kitchens Can Be Clean Kitchens


There are plenty of natural cleaning companies that produce non-toxic, biodegradable, plant-based detergents (see How to Green Your Cleaning). You can always create your own cleaning products using everyday ingredients such as vinegar and baking soda, which combine to make a great all-purpose, non-toxic cleaner.

Click here to read the full article from Planet Green, compiled by Team Treehugger.

It’s no secret that label decoding is tricky business, and unless you’ve got a degree in nutrition nailed to your office wall it’s likely that many manufactured ingredients will get lost in translation. They might however show up at your next check up, transformed into a pesky little diet related disorder – like ADHD, or worse, cancer. It’s probably overkill to carry around an O-chem pocket book in your purse, but for the label layman, there are a few key chemical ingredients to watch out for.

Before we get into the thick of it, I’d just like to quickly mention that a good general rule is, “if you can’t pronounce it, leave it in the package, and grab some ‘real food.’” However, most of us don’t live a life of subsistence farming, and grabbing a granola bar or a snacking on a sugary treat is par for the culinary course in our hectic lives. So, next time you’re playing food detective, look out for these devilish ingredients. 

Artificial Flavoring: Butyl alcohol, isobutryic acid and phenylacetaldehyd dimethyl acetal – found in the gamut of processed foods, from cereals, to beverages, to cookies. Although the FDA has deemed this list of chemicals as safe, it doesn’t mean the research carried out on them was sound. Note to self: Remember when the FDA said it was safe for pregnant women to take Thalidomide?

Aspartame: The devil of the diet soda craze, it’s 180 times sweeter than sugar, but the health outcomes are pretty sour – headaches, dizziness, memory loss, epileptic seizures. And the best reason to ditch the diet can – it’s carcinogenic.

BHA and BHT (Butylated HydroxyAnisole and Butylated Hydroxytoluene): Petroleum-derived antioxidants used to preserve fats and oils. It’s used by food manufactures to boost fat in products like butter, cereals, and cookies. Oh, and you wonder why beer gives you a belly, it’s also been added to your favorite ale. But a gut might be the least of your worries when you’re battling cancer – it’s been shown to cause cancer in the forestomachs of rats, mice, and hamsters.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS): A corn-derived sweetener representing more than 40 percent of all caloric sweeteners in the supermarket. It will take an entire Encyclopedia Britannica worth of paper to list every item that contains HFCS. You know the drill by now, if it’s sweet and manufactured, it’s lurking in there somewhere. Experts theorize that our bodies metabolize HFCS differently than other sugars, allowing us to store fat more easily. A study published in Environmental Health tested 55 common products with HFCS listed as one of the top three ingredients, and found that a third of them contained mercury.

Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil: By forcing hydrogen gas into vegetable fat to create trans fatty acids, it has a longer shelf life, and gives manufacturers more bang for their buck. And when it comes to heart disease, the buck really stops here, as numerous studies have linked trans fat to cardiovascular disease and complications. Fortunately most cities have approved legislation to ban trans fat in restaurant kitchens.

Red #3 (Erythrosine) and Red #40 (Allura Red): Food dyes that are orange-red and cherry-red, respectively. Red #40 is the most widely used food dye in America. It’s found in candy (think Twizzler-type trappings), beverages and fruit cocktails. The FDA once considered imposing a ban on the use of Red #3 in food, but thus far has not. However, after the dye was linked to thyroid tumors in rats, the FDA had the liquid form of the dye removed from external-use drugs and cosmetics.

Saccharin: An artificial sweetener that’s 300 times sweeter than sugar. It’s found in gum, beverages, sugar-free candy. However, the effects of sucking on saccharine are not so sweet. Studies have shown a link between high doses of the artificial sweetener and bladder cancer. Interestingly, rats on a diet of artificial sweeteners were more rotund than the rats who consumed regular sugar.

Yellow #5 (Tartrazine) and Yellow #6 (Sunset Yellow): The second and third most common food colorings, respectively. You can find these palatable food colorings in everything from chips to cookies, cakes, and condiments. They might brighten up food, but they also turn up hyperactivity in children – a UK study showed that 3-year-olds given a drink containing both dyes were more rambunctious than those who didn’t down the same chemicals. One study found that mice fed high doses of sunset yellow had trouble swimming straight and righting themselves in water – in other words, they failed the aquatic sobriety test. 

Click here to read the full article in Men’s Health.

Planning on pumpkin carving this Hallows’ Eve? Don’t jettison Jack’s fleshy insides, use them for a traditional pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin is packed full of beta-carotene and the antioxidant lutein, as well as proteins, minerals, healthy fats and a small amount of omega-3s – all treat, no tricks. Just be sure to follow a figure-friendly recipe so as not to scare off your diet plans – pumpkin is fat-free, low in cholesterol, and only 50 calories, which will serve as a nice respite from your candy corn coma. 

Click here to get a figure-friendly pumpkin pie recipe from the Food Network.

It’s becoming a little easier to munch on locally grown organic produce, and with a few label-decoding tricks the savvy consumer can sus out the sustenance value of most packaged foods and where they came from. However, in our consumer-crazed society it’s not just what we eat that’s turning up the heat on our planet. How do I know if my toddler’s “Tickle-me-Elmo” was made a million miles away from Seasame Street, or if the chemicals in my household cleaners are wrecking havok on the health of my family and the planet?

Unfortunately, unless you’re prepared to carry out a full due diligence on every item in your shopping cart (or you’ve got a masters in molecular biology), these questions have been difficult if not impossible to answer. It’s true, I’m guilty of subscribing to the notion that ignorance is bliss – who can possibly decipher the molecular components of mascara, and when it comes to lashes, bigger is always better, even if it applies to the cosmetic company’s carbon footprint. 

But alas, there’s no longer any excuse to unwittingly wreak havok on the environment, support poor labor conditions, or buy carcinogenic cleaning products. Need to know which bathroom cleaner has the least amount of harmful chemicals, was made by a team of fairly treated laborers, in a neighboring state?

Introducing The Good Guide, where a team of scientists and analysts have tracked down the products that have the least amount of adverse effects on our health, social communities, and environment.

The GoodGuide has rated a bevy of products –  from bathroom cleaners to baby food, cosmetics, medicines and toys – giving them all a score between 1 and 10 (10 being the best and 0 being the worst). Good Guide scientists have collected data from around the world on chemical ingredients, products, brands, factories, companies, industrial sectors, and even countries.

Here are some of the criteria used to calculate a product’s overall rating:

Health Performance

- Cancer risks

- Reproductive health hazards

- Mutagenicity

- Endocrine disruption

- Respiratory hazards

- Skin and eye irritation

Environmental Performance

- Environmental emissions and their impacts on air, water, land, and climate

- Natural resource impacts

- Environmental management programs

Social Performance

- Compensation

- Labor and human rights practices

- Diversity policies

- Working conditions

*Here are Good Guide’s top 3 rated household cleaning products:

1. Miessence Buzz Free Zone Personal Spray

2. Method Glass Cleaner

3. Seventh Generation Natural All Purpose Cleaner, Free…

*Here are Good Guide’s top 3 best hair care products:

1. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Organic Citrus Hair Rinse

2. Dr. Hauschka Neem Hair Oil

3. Burt’s Bees Rosemary Mint Shampoo Bar

 Click here to find Good Guide’s other top rated products.

There’s a good chance dehydration could be derailing your dieting efforts – it can slow metabolism rates by 3% – and it’s also the number one trigger of daytime fatigue, making the couch seem far more appealing than cardio. However, before you reach for a coke or some other sugar-laden carbonated beverage, there are a few facts to help you put down the can, and turn on the tap. Replenishing your body with water can provide a slew of significant health benefits.

Facts About Water

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (This likely applies to half the world population).

2. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.

3. One glass of water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

4. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day (half of that coming from food and drinks other than plain water) could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

5. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short term memory trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

6. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of water you should every day?

Facts about Coke

1. In many US states the highway patrol carries two gallons of coke in their trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.

2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke and it will be gone in two days.

3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the “real thing” sit for one hour, then flush clean. 

4. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous China.

5. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

6. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.

7. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes. 

 8. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.

Why is it that the streets of Paris are lined with svelte and stylish fashionistas, yet their cafes are filled with cream, cheese, and croissants – whereas every second ad in America is for a new weight-loss product, but we have the pudgiest population in the world? Portion control is the simple answer (fast food and giant food manufacturers is the bigger one, but I’ll save that for another post). A Parisian entree is less than half the size of a typical appetizer at Applebees. But with extreme eating and gonzo gastronomy gone wild, our idea of portion control is as out of wack as our expanding waistlines. It’s no secret that the amount of food on your plate is directly linked to your weight – and even if you’re eating healthfully, you can have too much of a good thing, but how much is too much?

WebMD has designed a portion control calculator that doesn’t involve toting around a set of scales everywhere you go. They use everyday objects like a baseball, a computer mouse, or a light bulb to indicate the correct portion for the entire gamut of gastronomical fare. Print out the refrigerator size portion guide and stick it to the fridge door to avoid eating its entire contents. If you’re away from the Sub Zero or the screen, there’s no need to overeat, you can print out a pocket size portion guide. 

For example, don’t know the correct amount of mashed potatoes to eat per meal – serve your self up a light bulb sized portion of spuds.

Here are some other helpful portion hints:

1 ½ ounces of hard cheese = 3 dice

1 cup of cooked pasta = 1 baseball

½ cup of cooked rice = 1 light bulb

2 inch square brownie = 1 pack of dental floss

1 cookie = 2 poker chips

Click here to see the portion sizes of a slew of other foods.

These days you could spray a cardboard box with Vitamin C and claim that it boosts immunity, curbs cardiovascular disease and aids digestion. Isn’t it enough that food manufacturers manipulate our palate with excess sugar, salt, and fat – but now they have the audacity to claim it’s good for our health. There’s no doubt the prominent use of  immunity claims to advertise sugar-laden cereals misleads the parents of young kids. However, I was over the moon when I heard Kellogg has agreed (under duress no doubt) to remove the “Immunity” claims that are plastered all over their sugar-suffused cereals. It’s time to start culling the rest of the culinary crap that goes on in our grocery aisles.

Click here to read the full article published in USA Today.