Most people associate chili peppers with super-spicy meals, not super-healthy ones. Maybe you never go near them because you don't enjoy a flaming tongue. If so, you're making a mistake: although chili peppers can be eye-poppingly hot, they are always a great addition to a healing diet.

Chili Pepper Nutrients
You're unlikely to eat a heaping serving of chili peppers at one sitting; fortunately, just one contains as much antioxidant protection as it does peppy flavor. One chili contains 100 percent of the RDA for beta-carotene and almost 200 percent of the RDA for vitamin C.

Both beta-carotene and vitamin C help the body fight free radicals that can lead to cell damage and, in turn, to cancer, cholesterol-clogged arteries, and heart disease. These antioxidant vitamins also help fight premature aging and work to strengthen the immune system.

Chili peppers contain a compound called capsaicin, which gives them their heat as well as many of their healing benefits. Capsaicin appears to help reduce dangerous LDL cholesterol and prevent blood clots, both of which are linked to heart disease.

Chili Pepper Pain Relief
Chilis have been used through the ages to relieve pain, and now there's proof they really work. Researchers have recently found that capsaicin temporarily blocks a chemical that transmits pain signals through the nervous system. It works so well, in fact, that capsaicin ointment is now used to relieve arthritis, psoriasis, and nerve pain. And researchers are testing capsaicin nose spray as a treatment for cluster headaches.

Capsaicin not only soothes pain, but it may also soothe your mind by releasing mood-lifting endorphins into your brain.

Chili Pepper Cold Comfort
Capsaicin is also responsible for chili peppers' congestion-clearing action. The peppers' heat stimulates secretions that help loosen mucus in you nose and lungs, providing the same relief as many drugstore cold treatments.

Chili peppers can irritate your face and eyes; be sure to wash your hands after cutting them. Cooking will destroy much of the vitamin C in chili peppers, but it won't affect the beneficial capsaicin. Also, be sure to eat chilis' thin, spongy membrane; it contains much of the capsaicin.

Many people think that if certain foods are good, a lot is better.
This is not always the case, and high doses of certain food are actually toxic.

Read about the healthy food, research the vitamins and minerals and check with your health care provider if you are unsure about how much to eat and how much may be too much.

The best way to get the daily requirement of 13 essential vitamins is to eat a balanced diet that contains a variety of foods and take a "Standardized" (quality) multivitamin supplement.

Coenzyme Q10 is used by cells to produce energy needed for cell growth and maintenance. It is also used by the body as an antioxidant.

Policosanol Over 15 double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials have been published to date, documenting policosanol efficacy, safety, and tolerability. Policosanol has also been subject to several unpublished, open label studies. Clinical studies demonstrate that policosanol, in combination with a healthy diet and moderate exercise, is safe and beneficial for healthy adult men and women concerned about maintaining a normal range of existing cholesterol levels, and for whom their physician has determined that dietary supplementation rather than medical treatment is appropriate.