Is chilli or cayenne bad for you?

[roony]

I read somewhere on this forum chilli pepper or cayenne was bad for you, anyone know why?

[TylerDurden]

That's just a rzc notion. Raw omnivores don't have a problem with it. Indeed, cayenne can be very useful as a stimulant etc.

[roony]

Isn't it supposed to be a poison or something? albeit a weak one?

[TylerDurden]

Isn't it supposed to be a poison or something? albeit a weak one?

A very mild poison can in moderate amounts be beneficial rather than toxic if it boosts the immune-system. For example, excess bacteria activate the immune-system thus boosting mood-levels via increasing serotonin levels.

[roony]

What are the side effects for excessive use? I had some kombuchua & im finding some pretty bad contraindications, i feel so moody its unbelieveable lol

[djr_81]

Kombucha used to make me feel good at first then within an hour I'd feel tired and moody. I chalked this up to feeding my overgrowth of Candida; wonder if it was something else?

[roony]

That's just a rzc notion. Raw omnivores don't have a problem with it. Indeed, cayenne can be very useful as a stimulant etc.

Oh yea, why do rzc's see it as bad

[Ioanna]

maybe for being a nightshade??  if you try some, tell us about it  

kombucha is so entirely horrible for me!  so is raw apple cider vinegar.

[goodsamaritan]

Cayenne is one of the best, most useful herbs out there.  We have some form of cayenne in the home at all times:

- home made cayenne tincture for instant circulation needs and medical emergencies

- dried ground cayenne to instantly stop bleeding and heal wounds

- fresh cayenne for soup (my wife and kids are not raw paleo) when they have mucus (because they are not raw paleo)

don't abuse it. keep it handy.

[Ioanna]

gs, are the 1st and 3rd with dry, ground or fresh cayenne?

[roony]

gs, are the 1st and 3rd with dry, ground or fresh cayenne?

fresh for tinctures, ground or fresh for soup, both good

[goodsamaritan]

For soup, we have fresh cayenne. 

For the cayenne tincture, here are instructions how to make it:

CAYENNE PEPPER TINCTURE:

NOTE: Parts EQUALS Volume, and NOT Weight in the following Tincture Method. Modify this procedure by using DRIED Herbs ONLY, if FRESH Herbs are NOT AVAILABLE, and when making other Herbal Tinctures also. Also if you want to make a SUPER-POTENT Tincture (i.e. - Cayenne Pepper & Lobelia Seed Pod - see below), then allow the Mixture to sit for a FULL 3 Months!
1. Start to make this and ANY Tincture, if possible, on a NEW Moon.
2. Take a Quart Canning Jar and fill it 1/4 FULL with DRIED Cayenne Peppers, getting the HOTTEST ones (i.e. - Habanero, African Bird, Serrano, Jalapeno - 200,000+ Heat Units), that you can obtain.
3. Add ONLY enough 50% Grain Alcohol (100 Proof Vodka) to COVER the Cayenne Peppers, which have been chopped FINE, using a Blender or Grinder.
4. Use enough FRESH Cayenne Peppers, that you can blend with 50% Grain Alcohol (100 Proof Vodka) to turn the Mixture into an Apple Sauce-Like Consistency.
NOTE: If you can't find 100 Proof Grain Alcohol, then use 190 Proof Grain Alcohol and dilute it by 50% with Distilled Water.
5. Add this Mixture to the 1st Mixture, filling up the Canning Jar 3/4 FULL.
6. Fill up the rest of the Canning Jar with MORE 50% Grain Alcohol.
7. Shake it as MANY times as possible, during the Day.
8. Let this Mixture sit, until the following FULL Moon (15-16 Days), but OPTIMALLY until the following NEW Moon (28-29 Days)!
9. Strain this Mixture through an UNBLEACHED Coffee Filter.
10. Bottle the RESULTING Tincture.
11. Take 2-3 dropperfuls - 3-4 times per day, when needed.

http://healingtools.tripod.com/thn8.html

[roony]

Lobelia Seed Pod combine well with cayenne?

[PaleoPhil]

My understanding is that chili and cayenne peppers are both nightshades. Nightshades contain natural insecticides at relatively high levels (as compared to luscious fruits and greens) that recent research has shown may be a problem for people with autoimmune disorders (and tendencies in that direction). I used to poo-poo the talk about nightshades contributing to inflammation, arthritis, etc., but eventually I tried eliminating them and found that my health improved significantly as a result. So I don't poo-poo the dangers of nightshades anymore.

I'll repost some stuff I posted before on this, because I think that most people are unaware of the dangers with nightshades (as I had been largely unaware):

Tomatoes contain natural toxins that act as natural insecticides and anti-fungal agents: tomato lectin and alpha tomatine. Tomato lectin and alpha tomatine can work together to increase gut permeability and contribute to “leaky gut syndrome,” which itself can contribute to IBS, arthritis and a host of modern syndromes and diseases.

Many plant foods (generally speaking, the nonfruit plant foods) contain natural insecticides they use to defend themselves against insects and other predators. The human digestive system has evolved enzymes that break down and thus detoxify some of these plant toxins, but it appears it has not had enough time to develop this adaptation to certain plant foods, such as tomatoes and other nightshades, and it may be that it cannot completely detoxify even the plant foods to which we are most adapted without additional help (after all, even mountain gorillas must regularly detoxify by supplementing with clays or charcoal to avoid excess accumulation of plant toxins, despite many millions of years of adaptation to eating plant foods).

The Centre for Drug Delivery Research in the UK and the Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques in France state that "Tomato lectin (TL) is a bioadhesive glycoprotein that has been shown to bind selectively to the small intestine epithelium."
[html= http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7W-3WMJSNY-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=fd27edca692b7072d14f7f8a2ee6bf28]Studies on the uptake of tomato lectin nanoparticles in everted gut sacs[/html]. Tomato lectin interacts with gastric parietal cells in patients with autoimmune gastritis (see http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/95/4/563).

Here is an excerpt of a presentation by Dr. Cordain on MS and diet that discusses tomato lection and alpha tomatine:

How to Treat Multiple Sclerosis with Diet (multiple videos; covers the role of tomatoes in MS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhkmDHLCUEs

From the description: "Of Tomatoes, Vaccines and Autoimmune Disease - Tomatoes are almost universally considered to be healthy foods, though there are anecdotal reports that avoiding consumption of nightshade plants, including tomatoes, may improve symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

In this cutting-edge report you'll learn about a component, tomato lectin, which has the capacity to interact with the immune system in a way that may promote autoimmune disease.  You'll also learn about another component of tomato, alpha tomatine, which can act as an adjuvant and boost the immune response to tomato lectin, and also increase gut permeability."

Here is Ashton Embry, the MS diet expert, discussing Dr. Cordain’s presentation:

The Role of Lectins from Grains and Legumes in the MS Disease Process
Ashton Embry
http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=show&pageid=2344
 
"I want to summarize a number of important points that Dr Cordain made in his presentation. Some of them were new to me and they are most important for understanding why it is essential to avoid eating gluten grains and legumes as well as a few other types of foods including tomatoes. His work has also put the concept of the role of a leaky gut in MS in a new context and this also has ramifications for understanding how potentially problematic food and bacterial-derived protein fragments can cross the intestinal barrier and engage the immune system. Dr Cordain’s presentation is quite technical but to me it is imperative to understand how various proteins derived from foods can be part of the MS disease process on a molecular level. This provides a solid, science-based rationale for WHY it is critical to avoid foods such as legumes and grains if one wants to keep the MS disease process well controlled."

It was quite a shocker for me to learn that some of the foods that we were taught by scientific consensus and media hype to consider “superfoods” are not necessarily so super, and I’m sure it will be quite a shock to many other people as well and there will be enormous resistance to accepting this, unsurprisingly. We are on the cusp of a revolution. Such changes to the reigning order tend to be tumultuous.

[roony]

Excellent post paleophil, arent cayennes & chilli's beneficial precisely because of their high level of natural insecticides, this insecticide causes the burning sensation via its seeds, pods etc.,

[PaleoPhil]

Plant insecticides can have medicinal effects when taken very briefly, but based on much of what I've read, it's not wise to ingest plants that are high in such insecticides over long periods, as staple foods, at least not without periodically taking detoxicants like clays, charcoal, etc. Plants high in toxins, like nightshades, will apparently pose more of a problem to people with sensitive immune systems, such as myself, than to others.

[roony]

Plant insecticides can have medicinal effects when taken very briefly, but based on much of what I've read, it's not wise to ingest plants that are high in such insecticides over long periods, as staple foods, at least not without periodically taking detoxicants like clays, charcoal, etc. Plants high in toxins, like nightshades, will apparently pose more of a problem to people with sensitive immune systems, such as myself, than to others.

I've noticed my water intake rapidly increases, throughout the day after ingesting cayennes or chillis, i actually feel alot better after drinking large amounts of water, even hours after ingesting the cayenne

I also feel amazing after taking charcoal,

thnx for pointing that out paleophil

[goodsamaritan]

Yes our family avoids all forms of nightshades.

But we make an exception for cayenne for treatments / remedies / emergencies.

Treatment is not the same as making it a food.  Do not make cayenne a habit.

Cayenne is one of the most important herbs out there because of it's circulatory properties it enables all other herbs to work.

Know how to use cayenne.  It's a good tool.

[PaleoPhil]

Yes, well said, GS. Unfortunately, the people who were well-schooled in how to use plants as medicinals have largely been wiped out. So it's crucial that we protect the few who remain, try to keep their knowledge alive and spread it to the modern world. I saw a lecture by an ethnobotanist who started a shamanic medicine school in the Amazonian rainforest for this purpose. I wish I could remember his name.

[roony]

Yes, well said, GS. Unfortunately, the people who were well-schooled in how to use plants as medicinals have largely been wiped out. So it's crucial that we protect the few who remain, try to keep their knowledge alive and spread it to the modern world. I saw a lecture by an ethnobotanist who started a shamanic medicine school in the Amazonian rainforest for this purpose. I wish I could remember his name.

What about Richard schulze?

[PaleoPhil]

What about Richard schulze?

Given that I'm testing a raw carnivore diet, whereas Richard Schulze apparently follows a vegan diet (is it cooked vegan?), and given that no shamanic society has every followed a vegan diet, I think you can guess what my opinion of his work would be.

[RawZi]

Unfortunately, the people who were well-schooled in how to use plants as medicinals have largely been wiped out. So it's crucial that we protect the few who remain, try to keep their knowledge alive and spread it to the modern world.

    I loved hanging out with the old ladies in the rainforest.

- fresh cayenne for soup (my wife and kids are not raw paleo) when they have mucus (because they are not raw paleo)

don't abuse it. keep it handy.

    I used to do that one.  I wasn't raw paleo either.  When I gave it the cayenne pinch in soup, my hypothyroid started to become more balanced.  It's good for some things.  It's not the right medicine for everything.

[roony]

Given that I'm testing a raw carnivore diet, whereas Richard Schulze apparently follows a vegan diet (is it cooked vegan?), and given that no shamanic society has every followed a vegan diet, I think you can guess what my opinion of his work would be.

He doesnt promote a vegan diet, he's a brilliant herbalist & a naturopath first, i've never heard him promoting a vegetarian diet, i've been following his work for years, in a lot of ways he understands human biology & physiology, better then aajonus & cordain put together, because he was taught by one of the best herbologist naturopaths of our time, Dr. John R. Christopher

He pointed out the facts of fats, & bechamps germ theory etc., years before aajonus & the primal diet, aitkins etc., came on the scene

Most importantly like aajonus, he got results, he genuinely heals people

For example Dr. Schulze on how expertly he uses cayenne pepper to heal people from gangrene & save people from heart attacks

   "Cayenne increases blood circulation and eases the pain of congested swollen veins. Veins, unlike arteries, have thinner, less muscular walls. Because of this, they easily herniate, swell, and collapse. Cayenne helps the blood move through the veins easier. It even dissolves clots, and being a very rich source of vitamin C and bioflavonoids, and other vitamin C complex nutrients, it actually strengthens the walls of the veins, and has been proven to clean them and help them regain their elasticity. I have seen many diabetics, and others, with horrible circulation problems in there legs and extremities - some so far gone with gangrene they were scheduled for amputation - who recovered.

    Cayenne is most effective for heart and blood circulation problems, and for angina pectoris, palpitations, and cardiac arrhythmias. It's a miracle for congestive heart failure. It is a specific for anyone who has any type of circulatory problems, such as high or low blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, triglycerides and fats, even varicose veins. With the heart, cayenne is great for prevention as well as for the treatment of disease. It relieves the pain of angina pectoris by helping get more blood to the heart muscle itself. And, if a person has a heart attack, cayenne is the surest first aid remedy. I have had almost a hundred patients actually save their lives by using a tablespoonful of cayenne pepper in a glass of warm water, or 10 dropperfuls of the tincture, and drinking it down fast. In every case, it brought the person right out of it with minimal damage, some with no damage at all."

[invisible]

I think spices are bad for you. Sweating, runny nose and flushing is pretty standard. Sign of an allergic reaction. Would never eat them again.

[RawZi]

I think spices are bad for you. Sweating, runny nose and flushing is pretty standard. Sign of an allergic reaction.

    I'd rather wait to see and hope I get a cold if I need a runny nose.  Cayenne is a nightshade.  It goes best with pasteurized cow or dairy, need I say more?  I completely avoid spices most of the time.

    My husband argues a friend of his taught him cayenne is good for health.  Mind you, this friend died many years ago, of a health problem, circulatory system, young age.  No one including him or the doctor even knew he had a circulatory problem until it was too late.  He was possibly accidentally masking the fact he had a health issue, by using cayenne.