Eat slim, sprinkle with pepper

Now that the holidays are lurking and the shop windows are filled with party outfits, we want to lose a few pounds as quickly as possible (but especially as much as possible) to appear fit at the Christmas table to be able to show up. Diet tips are flying across the table during lunch and occasionally you see someone already jump-squatting heading towards the toilet. All for that tight butt. In the category every little bit helps.

This time it's the Chinese who provide us with a very simple diet tip. Research shows that those who want to be a bit slimmer can simply pour an extra spoonful of sambal over their nasi. The spicy stuff would ensure that you consume fewer sugar or salt-rich products. And let that just be the devils in our food.

Through brain scans, researchers showed that our brains react in the same way to salty and spicy food. Spicy food can help curb our craving for salty products. The test subjects ate as much as 2.5 grams less salt per day and had lower blood pressure. ‘We think that spicy food can trick our brain when we taste salt. We actually taste just as much salt, even if we eat less of it,’ says Zhiming Zhu, professor of endocrinology and author of the study.

Especially those who were not used to eating spicy consumed an average of 70 calories less per meal when half a teaspoon of chopped red pepper was added to their meal. Tomorrow an extra jar of sambal will be on the table and the salt shaker will be filled with peppercorns, you understand.

All for that tight butt.