62 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
62 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
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In article <92126.115541SXL136@psuvm.psu.edu> SXL136@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
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>I am a big fan of Salsa on tortilla chips as I have always gotten a rush
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>from eating it (and it clears up my head if I have a cold), but I never
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>realized until a few days ago that eating very spicy foods can actually
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>release endorhpins into your blood stream....
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>
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>Sean
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This is from the _Austin Chronicle_ May 3, 1991 (Reprinted without
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permission).
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The Chile Pepper Counterculture
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-------------------------------
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(by Robb Walsh)
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Endorphins, those natural drugs that are 100 to 1,000 times more
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powerful than morphene, are released into our brain when we eat hot
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chile petters, according to a New Mexico University scientist. Like
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other psychotropics, including peyote, coca and tabacco, chile peppers
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alter our state of consciousness. In the case of chile peppers the
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high is non-hallucinogenic, but it is addictive. Experimental
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psychologist Frank Etscorn of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and
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Technology told the New Mexico Chile Conference that chile addicts are
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hooked on endorphins. "We get slightly strung out, but it's no big
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deal," he says.
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Getting a runner's high without the running may be a bigger deal than
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Etscorn imagines. It also explains a lot about the perverse
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psychology of chile-pepper lovers. Eating more chile peppers produces
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more pain, more pain produces more endorphis. Maintaining a steady
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burn has been called "mouth surfing" by many observers of the emerging
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chile pepper counterculture. The endorphins and physical sensations
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that flood the brain when a chile addict bites into a pepper suddenly
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interrupt the thought processes and overwhelm the senses. This
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phenomenon has been described by doctors as a "rush." According to
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Dr. Weil, a physician quoted by Austin chile expert Jean Andrews,
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chile junkies "glide along on the strong stimulation, experiencing it
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as something between pleasure and pain that ... brings on a high state
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of consciousuness."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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The overwhelming body of opinion indicates that the pain of peppers is
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intense but causes no real damage. That's why blistering or reddening
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is not associated with pepper pain. . . . But ... don't worry about
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hurting yourself eating chile peppers.
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The chemical capsicin is fooling your nerves into believing that they
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are burning in hell, when in fact nothing is wrong with them at all.
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And your dumb body rushes all those painkillers to those special
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receptors in the brain. That's a pretty good practical joke, huh?
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Pass the hot sauce.
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"Peppers, the Domesticated Capsicums"
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by Jean Andrews, University of Texas Press
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