Down yonder, a reader writes:
If you’re concerned with keeping blood-sugar levels down or stable,
I read an article on new scientist that cinnamon works. Just half a
teaspoon per day will do it. Have you tried it or heard anything about
it, Jimmy?
Actually, I have.
I’ve read about cinnamon having a beneficial impact on carbohydrate metabolism and recently bought a bottle of the spice to use when eating some of my highER-carb (but still low-carb) items–the idea being to diminish my blood sugar upon eating these items.
What I haven’t seen up to now is a write-up (even a journalistic write-up) discussing the basis of this in scientific studies. I wanna thank you for sending along the link to the NewScientist article. I’d like to see more studies done on this (any study done in Pakistan–even under U.S. supervision–raises a skeptical reaction in me). I’d like to see more studies on the point.
It is also being reported that cinnamon has a beneficial effect on cholesterol, though not as much as statin drugs.
A few notes about using cinnamon:
- If you want to use it, find a way to add it to your diet without adding extra sugar or refined carbohydrates. DO NOT eat cinnamon buns or cinnamon toast made with hi-carb bread or sugar. If you add sugar and refined carbs to your diet, you’ll be fighting the effect of the cinnamon.
- If you want, stir cinnamon into something else that you drink or sprinkle it on food–even meat.
- If you can’t think of anything else, stick half a teaspoon of it in your mouth. It doesn’t burn, and you’ll be surpised at how sweet its natural form is.
- Don’t go hog wild with this stuff. Half a teaspoon a day is safe for humans, but apparently large doses can have adverse effects.
For further reading,
HERE’S THE SITE OF THE FOLKS WHO DID THE STUDY.
A use for cinnamon that folks may not have thought of is in chili or taco meat. I always add a square or two (depending on batch size) of baking chocolate (the unsweetened kind) and cinnamon to my chili recipes. This kind of pairing together is actually authentically Mexican. And a beanless chili can work well in a low-carb diet.
True, Steve – you find cinnamon & chocolate in many mole recepies! And Mexican drinking chocolate has cinnamon already in it, great stuff.
And, Jimmy, thanks for these postings on carbs & noodles & cinnamon, etc. They totally fascinating!
What is sold as cinnamon in the US often isn’t the real thing, but the bark from a different tree (according to Alton Brown), so, which one is the one that is supposed to be thus beneficial?
I’m going to try some in my morning joe. Sounds yummy!
Eating cinnamon on your meat is not uncommon in either Middle Eastern or medieval cooking. And since people aren’t used to tasting it that way, you can watch them go slowly nuts trying to figure out what you spiced it with…heh heh….
Tim J, a friend of mine will buy cinnamon chips, or break up a stick in her coffee grinder & put it in with her coffee grounds. Excellent! It’s very subtle but very nice. Far, far better than those nasty *flavored* coffees, IMO. Try it!
Success! Powdered cinnamon works just great in a mug of coffee. Delicious! Just a sprinkle on top. I use cream, also, which is a nice complementary flavor. The cinnamon can settle to the bottom, tho, so you might want to give it a stir now and then.
I don’t know if I would want to use it in alot of meat dishes, though I have used it in chili.