I absolutely love spicy food, and it’s never affected my gut. I was actually confused when I read about people getting the shits after a curry and wondered if it was a joke. I’ve had curries so hot it caused people to recoil into a coughing and sweating fit after they dipped their finger in and had a taste and I have one every other day. I feel the burning in my mouth, my face turns red, my forehead sweats, my esophagus feels weird, but (tmi I know lol) when I go to the toilet I’m completely fine. no gut pains either.
I only ever hear that in movies. I assumed it happens if you eat low grade meat or smth like in the wild west in the US back in the day and it just became an old wives’ tale turned pop culture myth.
I do actually not like spicy food though, especially Chinese and Indian, but I’ve had enough of it to know I never had any gut issues.
It supposed to affect your gut?
As somebody who’s stomach is SEVERELY affected by spicy food, I suspect that you’re just a statistical outlier, like myself. Don’t sweat it. Instead, lean in. Be the “I can eat anything spicy and be fine” guy amongst your friends.
Boring ass comment, but same. I’m 36 and can’t stop eating spicy foods.
I was unbothered by it as well, at least intestinally, the physical pain of something hot enough was certainly something I could experience and dislike at the extreme end but my stomach and bowels would have been fine. That it until about the past 5 years or so when my stomach suddenly decided it couldn’t handle all kind of things that were never a problem before and now I totally get what people were talking about. It’s pretty sad, I miss being able to reliably tolerate highly spicy food.
Question: do vinegar based spicy sauces hurt?
I have this talent as well; I use sriracha instead of ketchup on my burger and fries, with hot peppers.
But let me warn you, do not think this holds true when you have hemorrhoids. It will put you in a different universe of pain.
How old are you? I used to be like you. I still hold the spice tolerance. I recently ate a spicy chicken burger they made me sign a waiver for because of how spicy it is. My body handled it okay. While I didn’t get diarrhea, my gut’s complaining.
32 and I’ve been into spicy food since I was like 20 lol
You’ve got a limited amount of years before it changes. It might not be dramatic, but you’ll reach a point where things start catching up with you.
ok now I’m definitely treating myself to a curry tonight lol, I’m gonna milk this blessing for all it’s worth 😂
My man! Im 32 as well and have been feeling a bit worse for wear, it couldnt be all the alcohol right?, and some nice spicy curry sounds delicious for tonight.
You know what? I forgot to account for the alcohol. You’ll probably be fine for a lot of years. I’m not the average person when it comes to that and I definitely noticed a lot of other changes to my health when I sobered up for a month last year. Having a convo with a friend about how we don’t heal as quickly as we did in our twenties probably distorted my thinking a bit.
idk i’m pushing 5 decades and i ferment my own habanero hot sauce cuz i can’t buy anything hotter. I eat gochujang with pretty much everything. The only time i have ever suffered from hot things is when i ate one of those One Chip Challenges. I usually stay away from capsaicin extracts/concentrations but my kid wanted to do it. My stomach hurt for about 30 minutes then stopped, that was the extent of it!
This is the answer. I would put the ‘nuclear death in a bottle’ type sauces on everything in my 20s. Switched to more normal hot sauce in my 30s. Since 40, even that has to be done in moderation. My fridge is full of hot sauces gifted to me that I won’t touch, but the extended family still thinks I like.
Spicy food never has an effect on me once it’s done burning my mouth.
Maybe there were a few times that it felt a little spicy coming out, but that’s very rare.
Yeah I’ve never had issues with spicy foods causing anything but mouth feels and I’ve tried sauces like the last dab (not often but I tried their nugget w/ 3 sauces they had in the freezer section)
I get heart burn more from sugary shit it seems.
Same. Unless there’s another thing eaten with it causing intestinal distress (lactose intolerance or especially greasy food), I’m fine.
I have legitimately gassed out my parents house with airborn capsaicin making salsa (also, don’t rinse out a cooking pot using steaming hot water, folks!) using some unusually potent habaneros and scorpion peppers. Great way to clear your sinuses, lingered for a couple days though
The other day I had some actually spicy Indian food, followed by two cups of chai. Delicious, but my lactose intolerance got its revenge
chai doesn’t always need milk in it
There’s a few factors.
First is genetics. Not everyone has the same base level reaction to peppers and/or capsaicin. And it can be either of them causing intestinal rebellion. Some people just don’t respond well to even sweet peppers.
Second is habitation. The more spicy stuff you eat in general, the more your body adapts to it.
But, there’s also variances in mucosa. Our guts, the colon in specific, opportunists produce snot. It’s essentially the same as what coats your throat and sinuses. Not exactly the same, but the same basic ingredients and purpose. Separate from how you respond to the food, and how used to it you are, some people produce more than others.
In your case, I suspect that you have a higher resistance genetically, and produce mucous in your gut that protects you from the irritants that spicy foods have.
If you also have a healthy gut biome going, it’ll add a layer of resistance to things being over stimulated.
And that’s what causes the diarrhea and cramping for most people. The chemicals irritate tissues, so your body treats or like an emergency. That means to increase bowel motility and flush the guts with water. Which means squiiirt.
Same! A few days ago I consumed a very spicy hot pot meal. It was spicy enough that my eyes were watering uncontrollably and I might not have eaten it except that I do not have much money and I’d already paid for the thing (and there’s also my occasionally problematic waste aversion but I digress). In the days since I’ve been hoping to experience some toilet spice but it just hasn’t happened! I wonder if I’ll get to experience it if I get older?
I share this blessing. I’m still confused by how exactly people are tasting how spicy their precious meal was when it’s on the way back out.
I used to live in New Mexico for a while and there was a common joke: how do you tell if someone is a native New Mexican? They keep a fire extinguisher in the bathroom.
It’s not so much that you taste it on the way out, it’s that there’s undigested capsaicin that burns, uh, other mucus membranes on the way out. Fortunately not something that bothers me much either, but I get hints of it sometimes when my niece makes what I call her nuclear fire curry.
The uhh, simplified version, is that the way out has the same reciptors as the way in when it comes to spiciness.
Most people have taste receptors in their gut as well as on their tongue. It helps regulate how quickly your muscles contract to move stuff along through your intestine.
Some people don’t have as many, and some people build up a tolerance to capsaicin (in both their mouth and gut).
Capsaicin trigger nociceptors, tricking the brain into believing you’ve hurt yourself. It’s not a flavour.
I use obscene amounts of Tabasco. The only thing it does to my gut is that my stomach can become a bit too acidic.
What were things like for you pre-tabasco?
Pretty basic, I’d assume.
and that’s not a lye
How do you expect them to remember being in the womb?
I felt the same until I had one of those challenge peanut things that add straight up capsaicin crystals. It made my tummy feel not so good when I had it on an empty stomach, but I never had the “spice burns twice” effect until I had malatang and I asked them to do a spice level above their written max level.
