Over the Counter Natural Cures (25 page)

Richard Anderson, PhD, a researcher with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has studied the antidiabetic effects of cinnamon for twenty years, along with more than fifty other natural products. Nothing outper-formed the tasty spice in increasing insulin sensitivity. Further studies have isolated two active ingredients, known in scientific circles as MHCP (methylhydroxy chalcone polymer) and cinnamaldehyde.

In one of the most well-known studies, sixty insulin-resistant patients were given 1, 3, or 6 grams of cinnamon per day and were compared to control subjects who received a placebo. The placebo group's blood sugar levels did not change. But the researchers found that the cinnamon
group's blood sugar dropped, on average, from 208 mg/dL to 156mg/dL! Even the lowest amount of cinnamon (less than half a teaspoon) was shown to reduce blood sugar by 20 percent. These findings have been supported by other well-designed human studies.
¹³⁴

Blood sugar levels are highest after you eat. The sooner your body eliminates sugar from the blood, the healthier you are because your hormonal intelligence is able to rebound faster. The
American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition
showed that taking 6 grams of cinnamon with meals
lowered blood sugar twice as much within ninety minutes, as compared to meals without cinnamon.
¹³⁵

Writing for
Phytomedicine
, researchers found that the active ingredient cinnamaldehyde caused blood sugar to dive by as much as 63 percent. This was accompanied by a beneficial drop in the age-accelerating process known as glycation (as shown by A1C blood tests) and the formation of the sugary rich, triglyceride molecules.
¹³⁶

Cinnamon doesn't simply mask the insulin-resistant symptoms of high blood sugar. It is powerfully effective at overcoming bad blood because it activates the essential reaction known as phosphorylation. In other words, cinnamon increases insulin sensitivity by mimicking all the positive effects of insulin. When consumed, cinnamon rushes to muscle cells, attaches to them, and does what insulin cannot: it triggers the uptake of glucose and other lifesaving nutrients from the blood by eliciting phosphorylation. It brings numb, insulin-resistant cells back to life and maximizes hormonal intelligence.

The easiest way to harness the benefits of cinnamon is to buy it organically and use it before meals three times per day. The two main types of cinnamon are
Cinnamomum cassia
(sometimes labeled Saigon cinnamon) and
Cinnamomum verum
(sometimes labeled Ceylon cinnamon). Saigon cinnamon is the common form used in the studies and is readily available on grocery shelves.

Cinnamon's positive effect on health is a stark reminder that nutrient logic is man's best bet for optimal health. Its value has been proven historically and with modern drug-discovery techniques. Since cinnamon isn't man-made and cannot be patented like commonly used drugs, don't wait for your doctor to prescribe this nutritional supplement.

THE OVER-THE-COUNTER NATURAL CURE TO BAD BLOOD

Spring Valley brand sells cinnamon capsules at Wal-Mart for about $8.00 per bottle. I recommend taking one capsule thirty minutes before each meal. This will prime your system for food to ensure that you don't suffer from bad blood each time you eat. If you already suffer from bad blood, adding a small dose before bed will help keep it in check while you sleep and the following day. Using cinnamon three times daily would cost you $4.00 per month.

Spring Valley cinnamon is manufactured under FDA-approved good manufacturing practices, and my independent lab analysis showed that it did not have adulterants or excess fillers. This can be verified with the certificate of analysis found at my website, www.overthecounternaturalcures.com. Since cinnamaldehyde has been shown so effective at lowering blood sugar, I ran further tests to isolate and quantify the amount of this ingredient in each capsule. The COA shows the average amount shown in each capsule, so you can be sure you are getting medicinal-grade cinnamon.

Don't worry about toxicity. Cinnamon use dates back as far as 2,400 BC. Nobody has ever died from it.

ONE POTENT WEAPON AGAINST HUNGER

By itself, cinnamon may not save you from the metabolic nightmare. While it might help lower blood sugar, taking part in other healthy life-style habits is usually required. Great supplements require great lifestyle
habits, and vice versa. One of the most important habits that should accompany cinnamon use is proper eating frequency.

Despite what the diet gurus insist, you don't need to eat four to six meals per day. Stop doing it. This myth comes from exercise-addicted diet gurus who usually offset the fat-building effect of grazing with excessive exercise.

Each time you eat, you raise your fat-storing hormone, insulin, while at the same time pushing your fat-burning and antiaging hormones from the blood. High insulin and hormonal intelligence cannot coexist. This phenomenon explains why studies on caloric restriction show that it increases functional lifespan. Your hormone intelligence is being optimized to keep you alive longer, courtesy of proper eating frequency and controlled insulin.

Grazing is for cows. Stick to eating only three meals per day. Each meal should be spaced out by four to five hours, and cinnamon should be consumed with the meal or thirty minutes before. If you're accustomed to grazing, your brain and body will demand food due to the Pavlov effect. Familiar surroundings will be cueing you to eat, not your body. For instance, if you habitually eat popcorn during a movie, your body is trained to demand it once the show starts. It's an addiction, not a hunger. Ignore it, and as time passes, the addiction will fade.

One potent weapon against hunger between meals is lemon juice in purified water. Use it to fend off food cravings and addictions. After a few weeks, snack cravings will pass. As your hormone intelligence becomes optimized, you'll never feel hungry and your metabolism will be at its best. The metabolic nightmare of bad blood will be nothing more than a bad dream.

SO INEXPENSIVE, IT'S ALMOST FREE

Health takes a back seat to wealth in the business of corporate drug dealing. That's why cinnamon rarely makes the news and why it isn't being pushed on you by television advertisements and paid celebrity endorsements. The goal of Big Pharma's business model is to sell you on costly, man-made versions of Mother Nature, while concealing the safer, less expensive natural-healing compounds. Don't be fooled.

The average annual cost of an antidiabetic drug like Actos or Januvia can range from $2,500 to $3,000 per year. Proper cinnamon supplementation can cost as little as $48.00 annually. Use this nutrient logic to protect your health and wealth. You can become more aggressive at defying obesity and diabetes by adding the five lifestyle habits found in chapter 11 to your daily routine.

 

 

 CHAPTER 11 

Wouldn't it be nice if we could indulge extravagantly in life and then take a pill to avoid ill consequences to health? I'd love to drink my body weight in wine every night and wake up lean. It'd be great to eat cake daily and lose fat. Even better, avoiding sit-ups while still building a sexy, six-pack would be a dream for me. And my wife would still drool over me when I take my shirt off. Perfect.

Many supplement hucksters would have you believe this dream and, at the same time, offer you a pill to offset your indulging habits. Swallow the magnesium supplement for instant control of blood pressure. Choke down the protein shake for fast muscle growth. Swig some sugar water for quick energy. Take that diet pill for the belly fat cure. This is Supplement Scamming 101. The importance of habits and their impact on health are often forgotten for supplement profits. You're smarter than that. You know that great supplements require great lifestyle habits. While the right supplement can sometimes serve as a Band-Aid to poor health, great habits make that bandage stick. But what are they?

The best lifestyle habits are those that control blood sugar. The intentional act of controlling or lowering blood sugar is almost a silver bullet for living young. It's one single method for controlling a host of illnesses.

Controlling blood sugar isn't as hard as you might think. In addition to drinking plenty of purified water, five simple habits have been proven to keep it in check. Following them will ensure that you get the most out of these ten lifesaving supplements for less than $10.00.

1. IGNORE DIET GURUS: EAT MORE FAT

First and foremost, start eating more fat. I'm not talking about the artery-butchering, belly-inflating trans fats. I'm referring to healthy, naturally occurring fats in the form of grass-fed beef, seeds, nuts, butter, avocados, eggs, coconut oil, and fish.

Healthy fats help your body better absorb lifesaving supplements. Without healthy fats, many nutrients will pass right through you, without eliciting any benefits! As more motivation to eat healthy fat, keep in mind that it will also help you live slim and thin. Yes, this goes against traditional advice.

Traditionally, a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet has been recommended. This is the foundation of the government-mandated food pyramid. This low-fat approach is based on simple math. Fat has about twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrates and protein. Therefore, the knee-jerk reaction is to avoid the calorically rich food and instead stuff your face with the lower-calorie carbohydrates. Regardless of the decreased calories, applying the theory has proven disastrous.

Carbohydrates raise blood sugar, low calorie or not. This, in turn, causes the pancreas to produce and spike the “Oh no, please don't take your shirt off” hormone insulin. This tells your body to store, store,
store and your brain to eat, eat, eat. Carbohydrate-laden diets have single-handedly expanded America's waistline to epidemic proportions. No surprise: math isn't the best measure of a food's effect on the body. Biochemistry is.

Sure, healthy fat has more calories, but it won't spike blood sugar and insulin. As an added bonus, since healthy fat is richer with calories, you'll satisfy your hunger faster. The combined effect of controlling blood sugar and preventing you from eating too many calories keeps your waistline where it should be—in your pants, not “muffin topping” over them. This phenomenon has been proven many times.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
showed that eating
twice
as much fat led to greater weight loss.
¹³⁷
Researchers compared two eating plans that were similar in caloric intake but vastly different in fat consumption. Obese individuals who consumed 61 percent fat energy for eight weeks lost 18 pounds; those consuming a mere 30 percent fat lost 14 pounds. (They replaced the fat intake with 46 percent carbs). Far more staggering than the differences in weight loss are the differences in biochemistry among the two groups.

Low-fat, high-carbohydrate eaters are shown to have the perfect biological environment for obesity and type 2 diabetes. Their blood levels of glucose, insulin, and triglycerides skyrocket. The Nurses' Study by Harvard found that women who adhere to the
Big Fat Scam
and eat mostly carbohydrates increase their risk of diabetes by two and a half times! Men are not immune to the fattening carbohydrate effect either.

Judge your food based on its healthy fat content, and the higher, the better. Then count your calories to make sure you don't overindulge. You'll see the results fast and prove me right. In a matter of weeks, you'll notice a significant drop in your percentage of body fat accompanied by a welcome increase in energy.

Stop futzing around with fad diets and self-proclaimed weightloss gurus who push low-calorie carbohydrates like whole grains, fruit juice, sugary yogurt, candy bars disguised as health bars, and most anything else served out of a box, package, or window. In other words, if it tastes sweet, spit it out. That's the next habit. Don't worry. I'll be gentle here.

2. IF IT TASTES SWEET, SPIT IT OUT

At first glance, you won't like this habit. But trust me, in addition to helping your supplements work harder for you, this one habit can make you look and feel ten years younger. If it tastes sweet, spit it out. Sounds hard, I know. But I promise to make it easy. I'll show you how to get your sweet fix without sabotaging your health.