Just think of aphrodisiac foods as the culinary world’s love vitamins and you’ll be well on your way to nirvana. Here’s a sampling of nature’s gifts for enhancing your life between the sheets:

5 Ways to Dine Your Way to Great Sex

1. Chili Pepper.
Chili’s potent effects are almost immediate. Chili peppers release endorphins, causing the high of extreme physical exertion—a floating, energized feeling so powerful in its pleasure that it can cause addiction to spicy cuisine. They also increase heart rate, doubling the pleasure of a mealtime rendezvous.

2. Cheese.
Embraced in Italian culture as an aphrodisiac, cheese contains ten times as much PEA, phenyl ethylamine—believed to release the same rush of hormones as sexual intercourse—as does chocolate, the world’s most famous aphrodisiac. And all it takes is the time to digest to enjoy cheese’s pleasure principles.

3. Ginger.
You know that almost stinging spiciness you initially feel when you pop a piece of ginger in your mouth? This irritant is so successful in puffing lips to their most kissable it’s the secret ingredient in most lip-plumping glosses. Ginger also has the ability to increase circulation—to every part of the body. Try popping a chunk of crystallized ginger and feel this wonder drug’s immediate effects.