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

Chew Gum, Stay on Track

Even as I type this, I'm already chewing a piece of gum.  I'll be honest, I love the stuff, and I'm not alone.  Thousands of people chew gum for different reasons, whether it be to freshen their breath, cure temporary boredom, work out the jaw, or even help them stay on their diet.  Gum is a great tool in many regards, and if you don't already chew it on a regular basis, I hope this article might help you to take advantage of some of the benefits gum can offer.

First of all, before I say anything else, I recommend SUGAR FREE GUM.  This is the stuff you want, not its sugar packed cousin.  Sugared gum will have quite a few more calories and will most likely spike your insulin unnecessarily, kicking your diet off track little by little.  Sugar free gum only has sugar alcohol, which is only partially digested, so the calories are next to naught.  There are between 3.5 and 5 calories in sugar free gum, depending on whether you get the longer flatter pieces, or the shorter, more compact, thicker pieces.  Just check out the nutrition label on the back of the package.

So what are some of gum's most awesome benefits?  Let's examine a few, shall we?

Curbs Appetite:  Yes that's right, gum might keep you from overeating.  Because the action neccessary to chew gum so closely resembles consuming food, you may be able to trick your body into thinking it's actually receiving food when you're actually not!  Neat!

But don't go overboard on this nifty little fact.  Gum won't keep you full, and generally the effect will wear off or even reverse after a certain amount of time, because your stomach keeps expecting food it's not getting.  Gum should never be used as a meal replacement, or even a snack replacement.  It should be used as temporary tool to curb any existing hunger after you've known you already ate enough, or wish to take the edge off before a meal.  Simple things like that.  It doesn't work miracles, but it can definitely help you stay on track.  For example, it's said that gum chewers consume up to 10% less than non-gum chewers.  Not a bad figure, especially for such a simple solution.

Decreases Anxiety:  I bet you've noticed this effect before, as I certainly have.  Gum can help calm your nerves, as it focuses the mind elsewhere and gets rid of a little pent up, tension related energy.  This effect, in the long run, can end up helping you eat less, because anxiety is a HUGE culprit of binge eating.  If you're a little nervous, a simple stick of gum might do wonders for you.

Oral Health:  OK, I'm not going to say that chewing gum is a replacement for brushing your teeth, so don't get too excited.  But studies have show that chewing sugar-free gum can both directly and indirectly decrease the effect of plaque on your teeth.  Direct effects may include the actual removal of harmful food matter off of your teeth, and indirect effects include the stimulation of salivary glands which will help to fight the effects of plaque after a meal.  So pick up a stick of gum after dinner and you might impress your dentist a little more come your next appointment! (Though they always seems to complain anyway, don't they?)

Cognitive Performance:  Amazingly, gum can help your mind perform more sharply and efficiently.  There have been all sorts of studies done on gum and its effects on the brain, and many have shown that chewing gum can help test/school performance as a whole.  In fact, this article describes one of the studies quite well:

It turns out there’s an excellent rationale for this long-standing cultural habit: Gum is an effective booster of mental performance, conferring all sorts of benefits without any side effects. The latest investigation of gum chewing comes from a team of psychologists at St. Lawrence University. The experiment went like this: 159 students were given a battery of demanding cognitive tasks, such as repeating random numbers backward and solving difficult logic puzzles. Half of the subjects chewed gum (sugar-free and sugar-added) while the other half were given nothing. Here’s where things get peculiar: Those randomly assigned to the gum-chewing condition significantly outperformed those in the control condition on five out of six tests. (The one exception was verbal fluency, in which subjects were asked to name as many words as possible from a given category, such as “animals.”) The sugar content of the gum had no effect on test performance.

That's pretty remarkable if I don't say so myself.  Although I bet you're asking why this effect occurs.  This article goes on to state that this temporary sharpening of the mind (yes it's temporary, in the same article it said effects were only noticeable for about 20 minutes) is due to "mastication-induced arousal."  Now don't read that phrase out loud, as it will probably cause you to burst out laughing, but it basically means that chewing something wakes you up and causes you to be more alert.  It's a pretty simple concept, yet definitely one worth noting.

Chewing gum can definitely be an advantageous activity, and the great news is that it's probably one you already enjoy.  So chew with confidence, as you know you're doing your body a bit of good!

Remember, sugar-free.  Good Luck!


A few References:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/the-cognitive-benefits-of-chewing-gum/

http://www.wrigleydentalcare.com/orbit_us/media-area/articles/the-oral-health-advantages-of-chewing-sugarfree-gum/index.htm