Should Cinnamon Be Part of Your Daily Supplement Routine?

A 12-week London study was recently conducted involving 58 type 2 diabetics with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels over 7 percent. Hemoglobin A1c is a marker for long-term glycemic control in diabetics.

After 12 weeks on 2g of cinnamon per day, study subjects had significantly lower HbA1c levels, as well as significantly reduced blood pressures (systolic, SBP and diastolic, DBP).

The researchers’ conclusion:

“Intake of 2g of cinnamon for 12 weeks significantly reduces the HbA1c, SBP and DBP among poorly controlled type 2 diabetes patients. Cinnamon supplementation could be considered as an additional dietary supplement option to regulate blood glucose and blood pressure levels along with conventional medications to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus.”

Six Tips for Moving Through and Beyond Your Emotions with Meditation

Meditation is not all about watching golden lotuses, says meditation master and teacher, Sally Kempton. Even the great meditators, she says, have to wrestle with unwelcome thoughts and feelings that surface right in the middle of a mantra.

In her book, Meditation for the Love of It: Enjoying Your Own Deepest Experience (Sounds True, January 1, 2011), Kempton helps to move us through the “mentalogue,” beyond the troubling thoughts and emotions that surface during meditation to a more profound practice of self-discovery. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, calls Kempton’s teachings, “the most important travel guide you’ll ever encounter,” one that can show us how to replace the “mundane din with a mind of quiet wonder.” (Gilbert penned the book’s foreword.)

But the act of sitting quietly and focusing inward produces more than just a mundane din. “It can churn up a whole host of buried beliefs and heavy emotions,” says Kempton. Meditation allows these obstructive ideas and painful emotions to float to the top of our consciousness, where they can be recognized and removed.

No need to analyze them (even those feelings about your mother). Just witness them; then breathe them out, releasing on the exhalation. “With practice,” says Kempton, “we learn to use this “inner witness” as a platform from which to look at and heal these feelings, to let our own Consciousness dissolve them.”

Since the process of meditation is ultimately about self-confrontation, self-recognition, and the gap between who we’d like to be and who we are, even the most embarrassing, hostile or frightening thoughts need not disturb us. The important thing to remember, believes Kempton, is that whatever shows up comes out of Consciousness and therefore, love.

Here are a few of the many tips Kempton offers when thoughts and feelings make meditation tough:

Let go of tension. At the beginning of the meditation, scan the body noticing where you feel tight or uncomfortable, and then breathe out the tightness. Breathing out the tightness in the body does more that relax us physically, it quiets the mind.

Sweep your heart with a mantra. An empowered mantra acts as a sort of cleansing force, a subtle but extremely strong broom that sweeps away the mental and emotional “stuff” in the basement of our subconscious.

Let go of your attachment to being the thinker. Instead of identifying with your inner thinker who focuses on thoughts and desires, identify with your inner witness, the watcher of the thoughts. Don’t try to cast out thoughts. Let them be there, but pull back from them.

Don’t judge the content of your thoughts. Negative thoughts exercise a particular power over us, partly because we tend to judge them more harshly than other thoughts. Don’t push them away—they can take you where you need to go.

Look at the shifts in the way you feel about yourself since you began your practice, the changes in your character and the subtle shifts in your inner atmosphere. Write down what you discover; take some time to honor your own process.

Keep on meditating. No matter what’s going on. Spiritual progress is not a straight line, but rather a zigzag of two steps forward and one step back. It is for most people a slow and gradual process. If we keep at it with strong intention, we do arrive at the destination.

About the Author:

Sally Kempton is an acknowledged master teacher of meditation, subtle energy and Tantric wisdom who has been practicing and teaching since the early 1970s. A former swami in one of the Saraswati orders of India, Kempton is a teachers’ teacher whose students now include leading teachers of yoga and meditation around the world. She teaches at the Kripalu Yoga Center, Esalen and other notable centers; leads retreats and workshops internationally; and writes the popular “Wisdom” column for Yoga Journal.

People Who Regularly Eat Whole Grains Pack On Less "VAT"

Just in case you needed one more reason to eat your healthy grains, according to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, individuals "who regularly eat whole grains rather than refined grains pack on less" visceral adipose tissue (VAT), "the type of fat linked to a higher risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes." Investigators conducted "an analysis of dietary surveys and body-fat scans conducted among more than 2,800 men and women between the ages of 32 and 83." According to one of the study's co-authors, "VAT volume was approximately 10 percent lower in adults who reported eating three or more daily servings of whole grains and who limited their intake of refined grains to less than one serving per day."

Going Off Processed Foods for 30 Days: A Call to Action

What does it mean to eat an unprocessed food diet? For starters, it means no longer do you have a long laundry list of unpronounceable ingredients affixed to your meal, no excitotoxins like monosodium glutamate (MSG), artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup. An unprocessed food diet is one comprised of whole foods: vegetables, fruits, healthy grains, brain fueling essential fatty acids in the form of oils, grass fed, all organic meats and dairy products. It means you enter the grocery store in the produce section, purchase a very large bulk of what you are going to eat, make your way around the outer rim of the store, taking one trip through spices because you definitely want your food to have great taste and one trip for grains but deviating very little from the outer edges of the store.

What would it mean to go 30 days without processed foods? What would it mean for your health and your body?

I always enjoy a challenge and recently came across a fantastic web site which encourages a 30 day elimination of processed foods and asks the visitor to join in on this pledge. Their description of unprocessed food is quite acceptable. It is as follows:

[Excerpted from www.eatingrules.com]

Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.

It doesn’t mean that you have to be able to make the food — but that the food could be made in a home kitchen by someone who knows what they’re doing. If it needs high-powered, industrial equipment, or could only be made in a laboratory, then it’s out.
Here’s a good example. Look at the ingredients for a PowerBar Triple Threat®

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crisp:

CORN SYRUP, SOY CRISPS (SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, RICE FLOUR, ALKALIZED COCOA), CHOCOLATEY COATING (SUGAR, FRACTIONATED PALM KERNEL OIL, COCOA, WHEY, NONFAT MILK, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL VANILLA FLAVOR), WHOLE OATS, DRY ROASTED PEANUTS, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, INULIN (FROM CHICORY), NATURAL FLAVORS (CONTAINS PEANUT, MILK, SOY LECITHIN), RICE CRISPS (MILLED RICE, SUGAR, SALT, BARLEY MALT), SALTED PEANUT BUTTER, VEGETABLE GLYCERIN, AND LESS THAN 2% OF PEANUT FLOUR, ALMOND BUTTER, SALT, SOY LECITHIN, MINERALS: CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, FERROUS FUMARATE (IRON), VITAMINS: ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), VITAMIN B6 HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMINE MONONITRATE (VITAMIN B1).

Compare that to the ingredients of a Cashew Cookie Lara Bar:

CASHEWS, DATES.

I’m absolutely certain that a cook with average skills could make something comparable to the Lara bar in your kitchen. But the PowerBar? Not so much.

Okay, so let me toss out a few other specific foods that I’ve been asked about:
Chocolate. Yup, it’s okay, because it’s possible to make chocolate at home.
However, if the store-bought chocolate contains extra emulsifiers, flavorings, or other additives that you wouldn’t use if you were make it at home, it’s off the list.
Coffee. Yup. Try this fun project: Buy some green coffee beans (they’ve already been cleaned for you), and toast them in your popcorn air popper. (Skip the little yellow, blue, or pink packets and the powdered creamer.) Or you could grow your own coffee plant, and then wet-process the beans yourself. Totally doable at home (how much time do you have?)

Beer. Yup, I’ve got quite a few friends who make beer at home (one even grows his own hops — he makes truly incredible beers. Just saying.)

Wine. Yes, I’ve got quite a few friends who make wine at home. There is the question of sulfites, though. My winemaker friends usually add sulfites (sourced from winemaking suppliers, not from your regular grocery story, I believe) — so you’ll need to decide for yourself if you’ll seek out sulfite-free wines.

Vodka, Gin, and other Spirits. Although I don’t recommend distilling your own (and it may be illegal), it’s certainly possible to do this at home. Just skip the gimmicky flavored ones and I’m sure you’ll be fine. Of course, it depends on how picky you want to be. You may wish to consider what sugars/starches are being used to feed the fermentation process. If you want to research this some more, please report back!

Bacon and Sausage. As long as there are no additives (nitrates, flavorings, etc.), and it’s a high-quality product, you’re probably okay here. Maybe this is a good opportunity to get to know a local butcher.

“Veggie Burgers “and “Fake Meats.” Most of these should be avoided, as they usually contain a lot of textured vegetable protein (which I’m almost certain you couldn’t make at home). But if you are in a pinch, you can probably find something that’ll work. You’ll really need to read the ingredient list: An All-American Flame-Grilled Boca Burger is definitely out. Dr. Praeger’s Gluten Free California Veggie Burger is certainly better, though it’s got a couple of ingredients that are questionable. (Personally, I’m going to do my best to avoid these).

Cooking Oils. It is possible to press your own oils at home, though it would be a rather inefficient process. I would expect that nut oils would be easier (just grind them up and let them separate, like your jar of peanut butter, right?). Also, these old oil press instructions and drawings are fun.

Salt. Depending on how refined it is, this may or may not be okay. Stick with the natural, unprocessed salts such as the fabulous Fleur De Sel .

Sugar. Usually, the term “sugar” refers to bleached table sugar, those fine-white granulated crystals that come from sugar cane or sugar beets. The bleaching is done with sulfur dioxide, an ingredient that hopefully isn’t in your pantry. Next!

Turbinado Sugar (“Raw” Sugar) is the same stuff — but it hasn’t been bleached. I think it would be possible to make turbinado sugar crystals at home, if you had some sugar cane stalks ready to go. Although there are a couple of steps in the commercial process that you couldn’t do, I’m guessing you could still get the crystals if you’re patient enough (perhaps a countertop food dehydrator would help evaporation).

Honey. Good to go; in fact, this is probably the most “unprocessed” sweetener available.

Agave Nectar. You’re probably okay with this one. Some agave is simply heated (at relatively low temperatures). It may also be enzymatically processed. Any agave experts out there want to weigh in?

Corn Syrup and High Fructose Corn Syrup. Both of these are too complicated to make at home. Off the list.

Flour. As long as it’s 100% whole grain flour, it’s okay. You could certainly grind whole grains in your kitchen. As Bob’s Red Mill says, one pound in, one pound out. Refined flours, however, have had the germ and bran removed (leaving just the fluffy endosperm) — and are likely bleached or brominated, and may be enriched with nutrients that had been previously removed.

[Flour Update: Refined flour, as long as it's unbleached and unenriched, actually would pass the Kitchen Test. Check out this flour followup in the forums.]

Corn Meal and Masa. Again, if these are made with the whole grain (such as the whole grain cornmeal in my Bob’s Red Mill giveaway), then it’s all good.

Butter. Yup, you could certainly make real butter at home, if you’re so inclined.
Cheese. Yup. In fact, I already make cheese at home. Skip the “pasteurized processed” cheeses, or “cheese foods,” of course.

Nut Butters. Look at the ingredient list. If it’s just “Nuts & Salt” (or better yet, just Nuts), then it’s great. But if it’s got stabilizers, sweeteners, and oils, it’s a no-no (Skippy, I’m looking at you!)

Spices. Yup, these are okay. You could certainly grow them at home, dry them, and then grind them as needed.

Breads. Again, it’s all about the ingredient list. The best option, of course, is to make it at home. But if it’s store-bought, read the ingredient list. The flour should be whole grain (avoid these pitfalls), and there shouldn’t be fillers, preservatives, artificial sweeteners (yes, they sometimes add those to 100% whole wheat breads. Oroweat, I’m looking at you and your acesulfame potassium!)
I think you will find that your health has improved so much by the end of the 30 days, your taste buds more alive than ever before, most likely you will never return to the center aisles of the grocery store!

If you want added incentive, get informed about what is in your food by watching an informative DVD like Food Matters or Food, Inc. Both extraordinary documentaries which will permanently open your eyes to the importance of changing your diet.

Emotional Stress: How Chronic Emotional Stress Can Ruin Your Health

by Dr Ben Kim

What's the most powerful step you can take to dramatically improve your health? My answer is this: Learn how to effectively manage emotional stress

All of my clinical and personal experiences over the years have me convinced that no other factor has more influence over your health. Not diet, not exercise, not even how much you sleep. Why is emotional stress one of the most significant causes of all chronic health challenges?

Because your body cannot defend itself against the damage that emotional stress quietly creates over time. Your body pays a heavy physiological price for every moment that you feel anxious, tense, frustrated, and angry.

I'm not suggesting that you should strive to never feel these emotions. Anxiety, tension, frustration, and anger all serve important purposes when they first arise. The danger is in experiencing these emotions on a chronic basis.

Emotional stress sets off a series of reactions in your body that involve your sympathetic nervous system, the portion of your nervous system that would increase your chance of surviving if you were to run into a mountain lion during a hike. In such a situation, your sympathetic nervous system would:

* Speed up and intensify your heart and breathing rates, so that you could have more oxygen and nutrients available to your muscles to run or fight.
* Divert the bulk of your blood supply to your large muscles groups to run or fight.
* Slow or even shut down your digestive system so as to not waste blood, nutrients, and oxygen that could be used to run or fight.
* Stimulate the release of extra glucose into your blood to give you a burst of energy, just as a cheetah's spleen gushes extra blood into its circulation when it needs a burst of acceleration.
* Cause your adrenal glands to release epinephrine and norepinephrine into your system to increase cardiac output and increase blood sugar.
* Stimulate the release of cortisol from your adrenal glands to increase blood sugar and energy.
* Increase the diameter of your pupils to allow for more light to enter your eyes and more acute vision for fighting and running quickly on any type of terrain.

See Article in its Entirety Here.

Five Steps to Becoming Drug Free

By: Paula Rothstein©

It is estimated that in the United States last year, nearly $2 Trillion was spent on treating disease with a very small amount being spent on prevention. Despite this massive expenditure, the United States is ranked a paltry No. 37 by the World Health Organization, a number used to convey quality and success. In fact, we are sandwiched between Slovenia and Costa Rica! We are hopelessly failing because our approach relies almost exclusively on prescription drugs and not on prevention. More Americans than ever before are afflicted with diseases which are largely preventable such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

In alternative health matters, individuals play a more active and centered role with regards to their health. These individuals are better informed via the Internet and various health publications offering alternative explanations and remedies of which one’s physician might be unaware.

To fully address and resolve a health condition, five basic questions must first be answered:

1. Is the condition caused by deficiency of something – what must be done to get better (e.g. Vitamin D, magnesium, electrolyte or essential fatty acid deficiency)?

2. Is the condition caused by something one needs to avoid – what is making it worse? (example: wheat or milk allergy, gluten intolerance, processed carbohydrates, artificial sweeteners, sugar, caffeine, etc.)

3. Is the condition caused by something that needs to be eliminated? (example: heavy metal poisoning, parasites, toxic relationship or destructive job, etc.)

4. Is there a past interference that is preventing healing and restoration? (e.g. trauma, burn, surgery, scar from an infection, emotional event that has been imprinted into the autonomic nervous system).

5. Is there an emotional behavior or a core belief that impedes progress and recovery? (e.g. excessive worry to the point it is detrimental, eating the wrong foods repetitively).

The following is information that I believe would be useful at a physical exam: (i) a reading of one’s nutritional status; (ii) analysis of antioxidant activity in the body; (iii) assessment of one’s toxic burden. We have the ability to obtain this information and it would certainly prove useful in the prevention of disease. Someone could very quickly learn what dietary changes are necessary to sustain good health and assess the strength of one’s immune system. The truth is, 100 years have been lost chasing disease rather than approaching health. The European system of healthcare, as well as eastern countries like Japan offer an integrative approach to healthcare, offering natural alternatives in addition to prescription drugs. We call that “quackery” here in the U.S. and blacklist doctors for such behavior. Instead, we are limited to the chemical approach and it is literally killing us.

Often times, it is merely the act of placing your symptom into the hands of conventional medicine that can lead to endless tests and eventually a prescription drug and quite often a series of drugs and additional health challenges. Many patients enter their doctor’s offices with an annoyance and over time this small thing gets bigger and begins to multiply because the root cause is never addressed. That is the nature of chemical dependence and the drug companies are profiting enormously from society’s indifference.

Make no mistake, the pharmaceutical drug companies want you and you do not need to be sick for them to want you. They want your inability to sleep, your anxiety, restlessness, sadness, compulsive behavior, disorientation. They want your addiction, flu-like symptoms, your aching muscles. They want your child’s mind and body. They most definitely want to drug the elderly. The pharmaceutical drug companies will attempt to profit from your every grievance until you have absolutely nothing left to complain about because you are either dead or without money or insurance, whichever event occurs first.

Meanwhile medical practitioners cower in fear of lawsuits from patients and rightfully so for these are litigious times. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult to receive a thoughtful diagnosis for these doctors cannot practice independent thinking. Both the doctor and patient would prefer the pill a day approach rather than a complete overhaul of one’s diet and lifestyle. The doctor’s existence is justified as the dispenser of pills but not when he or she sends you on your way with a grocery list.

We are a toxic people in love with our chemicals. The love affair should have ended many years ago as the red flags furiously waved but we remain in this abusive relationship for it would require a great deal of discipline to get out. We are both the abusers and the abused – consuming endlessly the things we should not consume and polluting a world we should actively protect.

Thankfully, we now have the Internet and the information moving rapidly through its wings is responsible for exposing a great deal of deception. We now find kindred spirits who have learned a lesson and are willing to share. We now can research health and if you choose to look today, you will find solutions to your problems. All be it a maze to carefully navigate through, the answers are there and many truly heroic health professionals are hard at work providing guidance that is quite contradictory to that which is being promoted by conventional medicine and its drug industry counterpart. In fact, I believe the scrutiny of trans fats today and the impending ban of this dangerous ingredient is due to the ready access of information. Many health professionals knew for decades about the dangers of trans fats but the public did not understand. Now they do and there is a demand for change.

The five steps set out in this article are an excellent tool to help you find the trigger of your symptom. If you are tired of living with the side effects of drugs, now at the start of the new year would be a great time to make the necessary life changes to get well. At your next doctor’s visit, arrive with knowledge, research your condition and research any drug prescribed by your doctor. Understand that a potential side effect is a POTENTIAL side effect. If the drug causes, for example, kidney failure in rare instances, you could indeed damage your kidney. Are the risks as noted on the drug sheet ones worth taking?

Alternative health arms the patient with the knowledge and tools necessary to embark on a healthy, drug free life. Quite a different thing from modern medicine. It is believed that the two types of patients – those choosing all things natural and those choosing chemicals – are becoming more distinct. Of course, this clarity makes choosing one’s path that much easier. Intent is of the utmost importance if you are to progress beyond symptom suppression and instead develop a life state which is fulfilling and healthy.