11 Cinnamon Health Benefits
Rock Your Body With This Awesome Spice
You probably didn’t know it, but cinnamon health benefits are rockin’.
Like Turmeric, cinnamon has been used in Ayurvedic and Eastern Medicine for thousands of years. Many cultures around the world have been aware of its powerful healing properties and have found ways to use it in their diet. This isn’t as uncommon as you might think. The health benefits of cayenne pepper have been known about for centuries!
Cinnamon is a small tree that is found in South Asia and the Middle East. The cinnamon you find in the supermarket is made from the bark and is sold as cinnamon sticks or ground up into a fine powder.
11 Cinnamon Health Benefits
- It’s antifungal. Fungus or fungi (the word for more than one fungus) can be found on different parts of the body. Tinea, Athlete’s Foot and Candida all fall under the fungi banner. Cinnamon’s antifungal properties work to prevent and heal conditions like these.
- It’s antibacterial. Infectious bacteria can make you ill and reproduce quickly in your body, giving off dangerous toxins in the process. With time, this damages tissue and makes you sick. But when cinnamon walks into the room, fortunately it tends to kill off these types of bacteria.
- It’s antiparasitic. One of the great cinnamon health benefits is that it kills off parasitic infections. Parasites are organisms that live inside another organism and deprive their host of important nutrients. You don’t want parasites.
- It prevents blood clots. Cinnamaldehyde is an active component within the bark of cinnamon and it prevents unnecessary clotting. It does this by preventing platelets (constituents of blood) from clumping together too often. This also improves circulation as a whole.
- It boosts brain function. To get the benefits, you can eat it OR smell it. Just getting a whiff of the odor of this sweet spice boosts brain activity, improving memory and performance of a variety of tasks.
- It’s anti-inflammatory. Fried, fatty and processed foods cause inflammation within your internal organs leading to heart disease. Consume some cinnamon and you’ll lower the effects of these foods and also the chance of contracting heart disease.
- Relieves joint pain. Use cinnamon to relieve pain and stiffness within muscles and joints. The health benefits of celery juice are very similar.
- Aids digestion. The fiber and assortment of important vitamins and minerals all contribute to good digestive health, keeping your vital organs in tip-top shape.
- Natural preservative. Due to its antibacterial qualities, cinnamon is a great food preservative. It inhibits bacterial growth and prevents food from spoiling.
- Loaded with nutrients. In a piece of cinnamon bark, you’ll find a stack of manganese, dietary fiber, iron and calcium. Fiber keeps you regular and is vital for healthy bowel function.
- Control blood sugar. A famous study was conducted in 2003 in which 60 people in Pakistan who had Type 2 Diabetes ate 1 gram of cinnamon a day for 40 days. At the end of the 40 days, they all experienced a significant decrease in their blood sugar levels, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides. To learn more about diet and diabetes, go to Juicing for Diabetes.
Uses for Cinnamon
To enjoy the health benefits of cinnamon, here are a few ways to consume it:
- If you come down with a cold, add a cinnamon stick to boiling water for two minutes. After the two minutes has passed, take the cinnamon stick out of the water and replace it with a green tea bag. Drink this two times a day and your cold should be gone within three days. If not, consult your doctor.
- To relieve a toothache, mix one part cinnamon with five parts honey and rub into the affected tooth a few times a day. The benefits of lemon juice are also great for teeth.
- Cinnamon is used in cooking around the world, often in sweet things like cinnamon scrolls and donuts. If you want the health benefits of cinnamon, rather than eating scrolls, find some healthy cinnamon recipes.
- Order a chai tea next time you’re out – it is packed with the cinnamon health benefits and oh so tasty!
Don’t Get Carried Away!
- Don’t try and consume loads of cinnamon to get the great cinnamon health benefits. Like most things, cinnamon is toxic in high doses.
- Don’t stop taking your medication in favor of cinnamon and the cinnamon health benefits.
- Don’t start gorging yourself on fatty, processed and essentially unhealthy food simply because they have some cinnamon on or in them (I love cinnamon scrolls).
If you enjoyed this article, you’ll also enjoy:
- Milk Thistle Health Benefits
- Nutritional Benefits of Drinking Cabbage Juice
- Health Benefits of Juicing Tomato
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