Cinnamon as a Holistics approach

Needing something to help with the swings in glucose levels through the day due to my hypoglycemic reactions at times, I looked for alternatives to medication.  I found that cinnamon is commonly used to keep glucose sugars at a nominal amount, along with various other things.  Naturally, I’m all for trying it out… after initial research to figure out if there are any known issues.

• Cinnamon in the United States is commonly version of cinnamon known as Cassia.  Cassia has a general toxicity level in the human body when taken over a certain dose, due to collection in the liver.  Cassia contains the chemical Coumarin, which causes this toxicity.  The level is approximately 5% in Cassia, and is also in Ceylon but at a negligible level. (0.005%)
• Cinnamon is an anti-clotting agent for the blood, and should not be taken medicinally without doctor approval if blood thinning prescriptions such as coumadin or others.  Also, use of aspirin and cinnamon at the same time may thin the blood since aspirin is has indirect blood thinning characteristics.

Of course, everything under the sun has issues in one form or another, it’s just nice to know about them to avoid any pitfalls.

I went the route of going with Ceylon cinnamon and spending a touch more, but it is well worth it in my opinion.  The flavor is more subtle, and not as bitey.  The difference unfortunately is about $5 extra for the 1.5 ounce container, and you need to go to a specialty store.

Caylon on the left, Cassia on the right

My findings

I had an immediate finding the first day of taking a teaspoon dose in the morning with my coffee.  The glucose regulation in my blood was a bit overzealous, and sent me into a hypoglycemic reaction.  I fixed this by spiking myself with sugar quickly to get my levels back up, but no worries of going too high.  I quickly found my body has sugars through the night in it and the regulation just hit the insulin resistance that naturally occurs in the morning and spiked it up to suck up the sugar.  My muscles probably loved it hah  None the less, eating in the morning with a glucose amount that can hold steady, and a complex carbohydrate count very high, really helps out with this.
That being said, most reports have been 40 days when the first plateau happens and 20 days when everything settles to normal.  it’s good there’s no “quick fix” to any of those, otherwise I’d be scared to even try it.

I also found that Mexican cinnamon is Ceylon, also.  It can be purchased slightly cheaper, but since Mexican cinnamon is so fuzzy with if it’s Mexican or just sold by a Mexican… you have to really know what to look at.  In most cases then, stick with Ceylon itself until you find a true Mexican cinnamon.