One day you may wake up and not feel like your normal self.
Suddenly, you begin to experience headaches, trouble concentrating, blurred vision. fatigue, and unexpected weight loss.
Without warning you’ve developed high blood sugar.
People with high blood sugar usually foster the disease from a diet rich in carbohydrates and uncontrolled sugar intake combined with a sedative lifestyle lacking exercise.
Overtime, if left unchecked, high blood sugar levels will leave you with some of the most undesirable diseases known to man such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
Even people who pay careful attention to what they eat may see their blood sugar levels increase as they get older. Likewise, aging is associated with a potentially hazardous decline in how efficiently our body regulates our blood sugar levels.
A healthy diet and active lifestyle are the two most important factors to keeping healthy blood sugar levels, but there are ways to bolster this process even further, our favorite being cinnamon.
Not only is cinnamon delicious, it’s proven to be one of the best natural ways to effectively manage blood sugar levels.
For example, just half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day has been shown to significantly reduce blood sugar levels and triglycerides.
Another study found that the spice increased glucose metabolism by about 20 times, which would significantly improve your ability to regulate blood sugar.
Cinnamon has even previously been indicated as a potential insulin substitute for those with type 2 diabetes due to a bioactive component with “insulin-like” effects.
Cinnamon lowers your blood sugar by acting in several different ways in the body.
It slows the emptying of your stomach to reduce sharp rises in blood sugar following meals, and improves the effectiveness, or sensitivity, of insulin.
It also enhances your antioxidant defenses.
One study state that “polyphenols from cinnamon could be of special interest in people that are overweight with impaired fasting glucose since they might act both as insulin sensitizers and antioxidants.”
Researchers have suggested people may see improvements in their blood sugar levels by adding 1/4 – 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to their food,
Other health benefits of cinnamon include:
• Supporting digestive function
• Relieving congestion
• Relieving pain and stiffness of muscles and joints
• Anti-inflammatory compounds that may relieve arthritis
• Helping to prevent urinary tract infections, tooth decay and gum disease
• Relieves menstrual discomfort
• Blood-thinning compounds that stimulate circulation
Choosing the best cinnamon
In order to reap all the benefits of cinnamon it’s crucial you buy the right variety.
The kind of cinnamon you find in most grocery stores is a variety called cassia cinnamon. But cassia can contain high levels of coumarin, a naturally occurring ingredient that, when eaten in large enough amounts, can cause reversible liver toxicity.
Some experts suggest investing instead in Ceylon cinnamon, a milder — and pricier — variety of the spice that comes from a tree distinct from but related to cassia.
Ceylon cinnamon provides all the incredible benefits we talked about above, but without the risk of consuming too much coumarin.