More often than not we don’t think of our kitchen spices as medicines. They are ! There are many kitchen spices which have medicinal and health benefits. One of these common kitchen spices is Cinnamon There are many reasons to add cinnamon to your food.
One of the best benefits involves your blood sugar. Cinnamon has been studied to help treat Type II Diabetes. Diabetes is one of the twin epidemics in the United States. The other is obesity. Both of these epidemics lead to Cardiovascular Disease — the number one killer in the United States. Cinnamon has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce blood sugar levels.
In addition there have been studies to show that cinnamon can also lower blood cholesterol levels. I use many supplements and herbs to reduce cholesterol, but cinnamon is one not to be left out.
One of the best anti microbial herbs is Garlic. Studies have shown that cinnamon is an effective antibacterial and antifungal herb/spice. This is due in part to the many anti inflammatory properties of this herb. It is great for arthritis in addition to other herbs as tumeric , ginger and Devil’s Claw.
A very cool way to use cinnamon is as an insect repellant. Cinnamon oil can help keep mosquitos, ticks and spiders at bay. It also has been used as a natural insecticide.
So when you think of cinnamon as just a flavor for your hot chocolate…think again