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I’ve gotten to a point where I prefer to drink a hot spicy soup in a cup over many things. If I drink coffee, it also always burning hot with a solid mix of cre

I’ve gotten to a point where I prefer to drink a hot spicy soup in a cup over many things. If I drink coffee, it also always burning hot with a solid mix of cream, sugar and cinnamon. One of the things it helps me achieve is a small warmth that also helps me sleep. I don’t even resort to hot sauce for the broths anymore, just cutting up one or two small chili peppers makes the soup hotter. The soups are becoming a really good diet trick because they have little to no calories (but have insane amounts of sodium). Some chicken bullion, ginger/lemon grass (paste or the real deal), chili peppers, black pepper and salt has truly started becoming my morning coffee.

saiya-jin 4y ago
Drinking regularly drinks that are too hot significantly increases the risk of throat cancer. I can't find the paper anymore that I read few years ago, but they did check various cultures where drinking very hot tea is traditional, controlled for other factors and the results were not nice. IIRC the threshold where risk became significantly higher was around 70-75 degrees celzius. I mean think about it - around 60 degrees C proteins are getting hammered in all cells. Doing frequent small burns in cells lining your throat damages them (also teeth), make it a habit and bad things will eventually happen. There wasn't enough time to develop protection when we moved from hunters and gatherers. That your specific brain interprets this as somehow pleasant isn't telling much, some people get off on extremely painful experiences that nobody normal considers a good idea.
- epgui 4y ago
  Biochemist who went to med school: very hot beverages will indeed cause tissue damage, and can cause oral cancer. Though English uses the same word to describe both (“hot”), there is no relationship between “spicy” food and high temperature stuff, apart from the fact that they both stimulate pain receptors (but in very different ways, one being harmful and the other being harmless).
  - overthemoon 4y ago
    Why does tissue damage increase the risk of cancer? My guess is that more damage -> more cells created to replace damaged ones -> more opportunities for mutation. Is that right? If you bite the inside of your lip a lot, is that bad? Uh, asking for a friend.
    - yamtaddle 4y ago
      > If you bite the inside of your lip a lot, is that bad? Yeah, um, gonna want an answer to that too. This: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morsicatio_buccarum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morsicatio_buccarum Makes no mention of cancer risk even in fairly extreme cases of cheek-biting. The "Oral Cancer" article also doesn't list it as a risk factor or cause. So... probably not that bad?
      - epgui 4y ago
        Yes, constantly biting your lip (I’m talking about injuring the tissue, not just nibbling) will increase your risk of oral cancer too. It’s not something most people do super often, so I’m not sure if we’d even have a risk measurement for that. In almost all cases of accidental biting risk is basically nil / negligible… But theoretically nonzero. A reference (somewhat taken at random) for more explanations of the general concept: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803035/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803035/ It’s a well-established principle, and is one of the main reasons why smoking anything in general will cause lung cancer, why hepatitis frequently leads to liver cancer, why IBD frequently leads to bowel cancer, why alcohol consumption causes oral cancer, etc.
    - Cerium 4y ago
      When you have damaged tissue you must replace it sooner. Tissue replacement is by division of cells, which carries the risk of a transcription error. If the wrong error occurs and is not caught you have cancer.
      - epgui 4y ago
pelagicAustral 4y ago
I have a cup of Bovril with a bit of pepper and some Tabasco every morning. Pretty good stuff.
bergenty 4y ago
All my snacks now are some sort of crispy vegetable with very hot chili powder, a little bit of salt and lemon juice. Chop up some cucumbers/radish/Lima beans/tomatoes/carrots/chickpeas etc. add a chili powder, lemon and salt and I’m good to go. Ready in seconds and way better than eating potato chips and gives me a little bit of an endorphin rush.
- wizofaus 4y ago
  I'd love to see someone peel and chop enough carrots for a worthwhile snack in seconds! How do you chop chickpeas?
  - bergenty 4y ago
    Oh come one, I obviously don’t chop the lima beans or chickpeas. I don’t peel carrots, wash and then chop in under 20 seconds per carrot literally. If I want to make them really fine I use a peeler to thinly slice them into discs (I’ve gotten very good at this, can probably do a carrot in a minute. I don’t have a mandolin slicer).
    - wizofaus 4y ago
      Actually with a mandolin and skipping peeling you literally could do a carrot in 4 or 5 seconds, but the slices tend to be so thin you'd have trouble eating them as finger food. Anyway I'm keen to try your suggestion.
      - bergenty 4y ago
        Yeah I really need to get one.
      - bergenty 4y ago
        Also in the same vein if you want to try things out. Take eggplant/squash/beans/spinach etc., chop them up into cubes, slice some onions and some garlic, add a half teaspoon of black mustard, a pinch of whole cumin, some asafetida, salt, whole dried red chili peppers, about a table spoon of fresh grated coconut (you get frozen packs of pre grated coconut), and some tamarind or lemon juice in a pot. Cover, let it simmer or medium high for 10 mins and there’s another health snack to go. The whole thing takes me 15 mins to make and I can snack throughout the day.
agumonkey 4y ago
I have a tendency to put sriracha in everything

saiya-jin 4y ago

Drinking regularly drinks that are too hot significantly increases the risk of throat cancer. I can't find the paper anymore that I read few years ago, but they did check various cultures where drinking very hot tea is traditional, controlled for other factors and the results were not nice. IIRC the threshold where risk became significantly higher was around 70-75 degrees celzius. I mean think about it - around 60 degrees C proteins are getting hammered in all cells. Doing frequent small burns in cells lining your throat damages them (also teeth), make it a habit and bad things will eventually happen. There wasn't enough time to develop protection when we moved from hunters and gatherers. That your specific brain interprets this as somehow pleasant isn't telling much, some people get off on extremely painful experiences that nobody normal considers a good idea.

epgui 4y ago
Biochemist who went to med school: very hot beverages will indeed cause tissue damage, and can cause oral cancer. Though English uses the same word to describe both (“hot”), there is no relationship between “spicy” food and high temperature stuff, apart from the fact that they both stimulate pain receptors (but in very different ways, one being harmful and the other being harmless).
- overthemoon 4y ago
  Why does tissue damage increase the risk of cancer? My guess is that more damage -> more cells created to replace damaged ones -> more opportunities for mutation. Is that right? If you bite the inside of your lip a lot, is that bad? Uh, asking for a friend.
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    > If you bite the inside of your lip a lot, is that bad? Yeah, um, gonna want an answer to that too. This: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morsicatio_buccarum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morsicatio_buccarum Makes no mention of cancer risk even in fairly extreme cases of cheek-biting. The "Oral Cancer" article also doesn't list it as a risk factor or cause. So... probably not that bad?
    - epgui 4y ago
      Yes, constantly biting your lip (I’m talking about injuring the tissue, not just nibbling) will increase your risk of oral cancer too. It’s not something most people do super often, so I’m not sure if we’d even have a risk measurement for that. In almost all cases of accidental biting risk is basically nil / negligible… But theoretically nonzero. A reference (somewhat taken at random) for more explanations of the general concept: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803035/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2803035/ It’s a well-established principle, and is one of the main reasons why smoking anything in general will cause lung cancer, why hepatitis frequently leads to liver cancer, why IBD frequently leads to bowel cancer, why alcohol consumption causes oral cancer, etc.
  - Cerium 4y ago
    When you have damaged tissue you must replace it sooner. Tissue replacement is by division of cells, which carries the risk of a transcription error. If the wrong error occurs and is not caught you have cancer.
    - epgui 4y ago

pelagicAustral 4y ago

I have a cup of Bovril with a bit of pepper and some Tabasco every morning. Pretty good stuff.

bergenty 4y ago

All my snacks now are some sort of crispy vegetable with very hot chili powder, a little bit of salt and lemon juice. Chop up some cucumbers/radish/Lima beans/tomatoes/carrots/chickpeas etc. add a chili powder, lemon and salt and I’m good to go. Ready in seconds and way better than eating potato chips and gives me a little bit of an endorphin rush.

wizofaus 4y ago
I'd love to see someone peel and chop enough carrots for a worthwhile snack in seconds! How do you chop chickpeas?
- bergenty 4y ago
  Oh come one, I obviously don’t chop the lima beans or chickpeas. I don’t peel carrots, wash and then chop in under 20 seconds per carrot literally. If I want to make them really fine I use a peeler to thinly slice them into discs (I’ve gotten very good at this, can probably do a carrot in a minute. I don’t have a mandolin slicer).
  - wizofaus 4y ago
    Actually with a mandolin and skipping peeling you literally could do a carrot in 4 or 5 seconds, but the slices tend to be so thin you'd have trouble eating them as finger food. Anyway I'm keen to try your suggestion.
    - bergenty 4y ago
      Yeah I really need to get one.
    - bergenty 4y ago
      Also in the same vein if you want to try things out. Take eggplant/squash/beans/spinach etc., chop them up into cubes, slice some onions and some garlic, add a half teaspoon of black mustard, a pinch of whole cumin, some asafetida, salt, whole dried red chili peppers, about a table spoon of fresh grated coconut (you get frozen packs of pre grated coconut), and some tamarind or lemon juice in a pot. Cover, let it simmer or medium high for 10 mins and there’s another health snack to go. The whole thing takes me 15 mins to make and I can snack throughout the day.

agumonkey 4y ago

I have a tendency to put sriracha in everything