Honey and cinnamon cures - do they really work? Here's what you need to know

Hopeful newcomers to holistic health marvel at reports about honey and cinnamon as a miracle cure-all. On the other hand, alternative health skeptics scoff at the notion of cinnamon and honey as medicine, pointing out that the plethora of articles about the curative benefits of this food duo originated with a 1995 article in the tabloid newspaper Weekly World News. The truth is that cinnamon and honey have been used to promote health for centuries, but their efficacy depends largely on a lifestyle of energetic activity and whole foods.

Traditional Healing

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), cinnamon is viewed as possessing heat or yang, and is thus used to cure ills stemming from excess yin or coldness. Honey, in this system, is viewed as a neutral substance, balanced between yin and yang. Ancient practitioners of India's healing tradition, Ayurveda (from the Sanskrit Ayur meaning life and Veda meaning knowledge), classified 8 different varieties of honey each with its own healing properties. Ayurvedic healers use cinnamon to help heal gum disease, erectile dysfunction, and many other conditions.

Honey and Cinnamon Benefits

Folk wisdom still retains knowledge of the healing properties of both honey and cinnamon. Honey and cinnamon are still used as medicine in many situations, especially among people who, because of distance or income, have reduced access to mainstream health care.

Honey possesses natural anti-bacterial properties. Honey poured on wounds or burns prevents infection and promotes healing. Regular consumption of honey and cinnamon together, when combined with an overall healthy diet and moderate activity level, can prevent heart disease by clearing clogged arteries.

Drinking honey and cinnamon in lukewarm water results in them moving through the bladder and cleansing it, as well as clearing infections there. Drinking this beverage on a regular basis can also relieve, and in some cases entirely cure, arthritis pain.

This drink also strengthens the immune system, helping ward off colds as well as some viruses. Applying a paste of honey and cinnamon to infected gums can ease pain and bleeding as well as slow the progression of the infection.

When consumed together, honey and cinnamon can ease digestion, helping to prevent gas. Honey and cinnamon also provide energy, making people more mentally alert and ready for physical activity.

The two biggest claims for honey and cinnamon are that they enhance the ability to lose weight, and they are effective against some forms of cancer.

While these latter two claims are unproven, however nature does provide an amazing range of natural healing substances, most of which are untested by medical science. Relying exclusively on honey and cinnamon for either weight loss or eliminating cancer is not advisable.

How to Gain Maximum Benefits

Cinnamon and honey can boost your health, both separately and in combination. However, our modern dependence on the pharmaceutical industry has fooled us into believing that medicines should be able to provide a cure regardless of lifestyle. If you follow health news, it becomes obvious that the pharmaceutical industry's "magic bullet" drugs make one set of symptoms disappear, only to create a new set of symptoms.

Disease results from imbalance, so finding health and balance again requires a recalibration of choices about how we live. A couch potato who follows up a dinner of fried chicken and potato chips with a dessert of cinnamon and honey will receive few health benefits. You are more likely to reap the full healing power when you include honey and cinnamon as part of your healthy lifestyle. 

Sources: naturalnews

Honey Lowers Cholesterol

A Honey Spoonful a Day Keeps the Free Radicals at Bay!

There have been many reports that honey lowers cholesterol.

Now, what exactly is cholesterol? It is a type of lipid or fat produced by the liver needed to make vitamin D and some hormones, build cell walls, and create bile salts that help you digest fat. Our liver produces enough of this waxy substance (about 1,000 milligrams a day), so we don't have to worry if there is need to get supplements. In fact, many foods contain cholesterol and sometimes it's hard to ensure that we don't get an excessive intake of cholesterol that could lead to serious health problems. Eggs, meats, and whole-fat dairy products (including milk, cheese, and ice cream) are loaded with cholesterol, whereas vegetables, fruits, and grains contain none. Because cholesterol can't travel alone through the bloodstream, it has to combine with certain proteins, which pick up the cholesterol and transport it to different parts of the body. When the cholesterol and protein are combined, a lipoprotein is formed. Most cholesterol is LDL/bad (low-density lipoproteins) cholesterol which can narrow the arteries and clog the blood vessels that supply the vital organs such as the heart, brain, kidneys and intestines. This is why it's so important to start paying attention to our cholesterol levels by maintaining a healthy weight, keeping an exercise regime to strengthen your heart, avoiding foods that are high in saturated fat and trans fat and following a at a diet that contains many low-cholesterol foods such as fruits, veggies, whole grains (like breads and cereals), legumes (beans), and fish. When you eat more of these carbohydrate-rich foods, you will eat less of the foods higher in fat and cholesterol.

Honey and cholesterol-free recipes are often associated in the world of healthy foods. Not only is honey free of cholesterol, it has been reported that adding small amounts of it in the daily diet could even help keep cholesterol levels in check. High in minerals such as potassium, calcium and sodium and B complex vitamins, honey is known to be a cholesterol fighter - honey lowers cholesterol in our blood! The antioxidants in honey prevent cholesterol from being moved out of the blood and into the lining of the blood vessels.

Daily consumption of this natural sweetener could raise blood levels of protective antioxidant compounds in the body. It is believed that honey contains about the same range of antioxidants as green vegetables, such as broccoli and spinach and also comparable to fruits such as apples, bananas, oranges and strawberries. And the antioxidant level in mead , a wine made with honey is believed to be comparable to white wine in terms of its antioxidant capability. Generally, it's been known that dark honey lowers cholesterol more effectively than lighter honey. For instance, Buckwheat honey contains the highest levels of antioxidants. The intake of honey and cinnamon, mixture also has been reported to have innate healing characteristics that appear to help diabetics control both blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

So, see if honey lowers cholesterol by kick starting your day with this honey and lemon home remedy, cleansing tonic: mix a spoonful or two of honey and the juice of half a lemon into a cup of hot water and drink each morning before breakfast. Incorporate honey in more places where you might be using table sugar, and use it often as a home remedy, in no time, you may find a significant increase in the amount of antioxidant chemical compounds in your body.

By Ruth Tan