Cinnamon: A Spice For Life!

It's not just the whole foods we consume that can have a positive (or negative) effect or our bodies, the spices we add can really introduce an entirely new spectrum of health to the foods we enjoy.  Today I'd like to discuss what may be one of my favorite spices of all time, cinnamon.  I love cinnamon!  I love it on oatmeal, with apples, in soup, and of course on some sugary sweets.  Cinnamon compliments all sorts of tastes so well, and in my neck of the woods it shows up in all sorts of year round recipes.  Boy do I love it with apple cider, or in healthy pumpkin pie my mom has gotten so good at making.  It's a flavor I never want to live without, and I'm sure most of you can agree with my affinity for the stuff.  The great news is: this spice is also quite healthy!  It's got all sorts of little nutritional nuances that in the end can really do you and your body some long term good.  But first, as always, let's look at where this stuff comes from in the first place.

Cinnamon is actually collected from the inner bark of a tree, specifically trees of the Cinnamomum genus.  It's originally native to southeast asia, but has obviously become one of the most widely used spices in the world.  That's why you'll be able to find cinnamon in basically any grocery store you happen across.  All the better for us, right?  Cinnamon is actually harvested through coppacing, which basically means chopping down many young trees that are all growing from one stump.  These trees rapidly replace themselves, and therefore the cinnamon yield is very consistent.  As with most things, there are all types of cinnamon, but we won't concern ourselves with the details at this point.  Let's just get down to the fun little nutritional facts that make cinnamon such a uniquely healthy spice!

Stabilizes Blood Sugar:  Cinnamon is actually quite effective at mimicking insulin in our body, and therefore has been shown to decrease/stabilize blood sugar levels.  This is not only great news for diabetics, but also those looking to lose weight more quickly, as your body will be less likely to store fat when blood sugar levels are stable.  So sprinkle some cinnamon on your morning cereal, oatmeal, toast, waffle, etc. and you'll be more likely to keep your weight loss on track (as long as that cereal/toast/waffle is full of whole wheat, fiber, and low sugar of course!)

Lowers Bad Cholesterol:  There was a study done a while ago that showed cinnamon may have an effect on lowering bad (LDL) cholesterol.  Unfortunately more recent studies have shown that cinnamon may have no real effect on cholesterol levels, but hey, adding a little here and there to the healthy foods you love definitely won't hurt you!  I always say that if there's at least a chance something's healthy for you, you might as well give it a shot, right?  Many Americans would love to have a lower level of bad cholesterol, and a sprinkle of cinnamon is just one more little step you can take!

Anti-Clotting:  Your blood works much more effectively if it's flowing smoothly.  In your blood, there are little cells called platelets, which are meant to clump together under "emergency" circumstances like a cut or gash in which a vein/artery is punctured.  The platelets clot up and stop the leak, and in turn keep you alive.  That's all fine and dandy, but unless you really need the clotting action, platelets can inhibit smooth bloodflow if they clot together when they're not supposed to.  Cinnamon actually helps reduce unnecessary clotting (without affecting clotting when it's needed, don't worry), and therefore can help your blood flow more smoothly, taking a load off your heart and circulatory system.

Brain Booster:  Surprisingly, cinnamon has been shown to have a positive effect on cognitive function!  Even smelling the spice increases brain activity, and several studies have shown that cinnamon flavored gum or even just the scent of cinnamon can help students score marginally better on tests.  Cool stuff, right?

Other Nutrients:  Cinnamon can also give you a little bit more of the stuff your body really needs right along with your whole foods, like critical vitamins and minerals.  Courtesy of WHfoods.com, here's a nutritional profile for cinnamon:

Cinnamon 2.00 tsp 5.20 grams 12.84 calories
Nutrient	Amount	DV (%)	Nutrient Density	World's Healthiest Foods Rating
manganese	0.91 mg	45.5	63.8	excellent
fiber	2.76 g	11.0	15.5	excellent
calcium	52.10 mg	5.2	7.3	very good

I for one love cinnamon over almost any other spice.  It's easy to fit into my diet, adds so much flavor and character to food, and is just plain healthy!  You really can't go wrong.  I hope some of you learn to enjoy it as much as I do, and try it with a few of your favorite foods.  Seriously, oatmeal and cinnamon go together like bread and butter.  Apples too =].  What are you waiting for, start sprinkling!

Good Luck!


References:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=68#nutritionalprofile
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon

Does The Food Even Matter? (Is a Calorie a Calorie?)

For a while, the health world has been split over an interesting dilemma.  Nearly every fitness expert out there will tell you to eat healthy, watch your nutrient consumption, pig out on more leafy greens, yadda yadda yadda, knowing full well that healthy eating isn't the only way to lose weight.

Wait...WHAT?  Yeah, you heard correctly.  You can eat like crap, and still drop weight.

This was evidenced in a study done by an overweight professor named  Mark Haub who wanted to support the fact that all that was required to lose pounds of body fat was a caloric deficit (eat less calories than you burn in a day.)  His theory was that it didn't matter where those calories came from, a calorie was a calorie, so that was that.  His diet was called many things, but the two most memorable names for it were the "convenience store diet", the "Junk Food Diet", or even MORE memorably, the "Twinkie Diet."  He basically consumed junk food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, taking out all other meat, carb, and fat sources from his diet.  He did have one serving of leafy greens each day, a protein shake, and a multivitamin (these were in hope to slightly offset the ridiculously poor nutrition he was receiving.)  At his initial weight, his maintenance calorie consumption was about 2600 calories.  He limited his intake to 1600 calories of junk.  At the end of it all, this guy lost 27lbs of body fat, lowered his blood cholesterol, and was unarguably leaner.  I know what you're thinking.  What...the...hell?

WHY HAVE I BEEN WASTING MY TIME WITH SPINACH!?!

Well you see this diet made professional dietitians and fitness experts feel many things.  They were baffled, furious that it worked, yet also confident that the science behind it makes sense.  The bottom line is that if you consume less energy than you expend, your body must use some of its own energy stores to compensate.  Eat in a caloric deficit consistently, and you WILL lose body fat.

Mark Haub, Twinkie man himself

But don't you dare go and run off to buy a box of Yodels just yet.  We're not through here.  I have a question for you.  Do you honestly think you can get away with eating pure junk food for weight loss?  Yeah, this guy did it, but he didn't keep doing it.  This diet isn't by ANY means sustainable.  You can't eat junk food and expect to be healthy.  In fact, you can't even expect to be thin.  Why's that?  Well first of all, despite having a set number of calories, those calories go right through you, causing no sense of satiety and huge cravings for more sugar.  You WILL overeat if you try this diet.  Why didn't this guy overeat?  Well, portion control is a lot easier when you know you're going to rock the whole world with your findings (at least in my opinion.)

Plus, you are going to be the unhealthiest hulk of a human being by the end of the diet (if you decide to give it a go, which I strongly recommend NOT DOING.  Actually, strongly is an understatement.  DO NOT DO THIS DIET.)  This guy was thinner, sure.  Was he healthier?  Um....NO!  Listen here.  Healthy foods make your body want to be leaner.  They support all these critical carb/fat/protein/blah blah ratios in your body that basically make it a lean, mean, muscular, fat burning machine!  Eat healthy, you'll end up being lean.  Eat too much healthy food, sure you might put on a little weight, but you can bet it'll be a hell of a lot harder to store body fat off of salads and chicken breast than it would be to store it off one too many cinnamon buns.

Another reason not to try this diet?  You'll feel like utter crap, guaranteed.  You'll have so much sugar coursing through your blood you won't be able to maintain a mood for more than a few minutes.  No focus, no lasting energy, no calm stomach.  Not to mention that extended periods of time on a similar diet will skyrocket your chances of contracting diabetes.  Not what you want, I bet.

Here's what I really think.  A calorie may be a calorie, sure, but wouldn't you want to get the best for your money?  I make my calories work for me, and you should do the same.  What do I mean?  Well I make sure that almost every calorie I consume has some sort of vital nutrient critical to my health, basically giving my body the best chance to stay lean, healthy, and strong.  It's like gasoline, would you rather run off 87 octane, or 93?  I'll take the high test all day.

But this diet escapade did give us one important nugget of information, one I believe you should keep in your back pocket throughout your own diet endeavors.  If you slip up, eat a face sized chocolate cookie, and feel guilty, stop for a minute and remind yourself that no matter how unhealthy that cookie was, those calories were just calories, and stick them into your daily total.  Then you can make a great attempt at organizing the rest of your meals to still fall into a deficit, or maintenance, or at least minimize the excess.  Barely any food in moderation will set you back far, if at all.

Keep healthy, don't stress, and stay away from the junk whenever possible.  GOOD LUCK!