Don’t you love cinnamon?

A study published in the journal Diabetes Care found that half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day significantly reduces blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

It also reduces triglyceride, LDL cholesterol, and total cholesterol levels among this group.

Cinnamon’s other benefits include:

• Supports digestive function
• Constricts and tones tissues
• Relieves congestion
• Relieves pain and stiffness of muscles and joints
• Relieves menstrual discomfort
• Blood-thinning compounds that stimulate circulation
• Anti-inflammatory compounds that may relieve arthritis
• Helps prevent urinary tract infections, tooth decay and gum disease
• It’s a powerful anti-microbial agent that can kill E. coli and other bacteria [mercola.com]

Some of the healthy bloggers have just posted recipes using cinnamon that you can try this weekend:

• Anna with her musli cookies
• Laurie with her yummy banana bread
• Steven with his Quick Cinnamon Buns with Buttermilk Icing
• BlueJules with her Cinnamon Apple Wafer

Who is our “HEALTHY BLOGGER THIS WEEK” now?

It’s Hilda. Congratulations, Hilda!

Hilda is chosen because she made it to run for 18 miles in a damped air.

She prepared this marathon since the day before by consuming more complex carb. The next morning she woke up at 5.00 and had orange juice and oatmeal for the pre-training meal.

Five minutes afterwards, she started running. Thanks to her positive thinking, she made the 18 miles. And, she definitely enjoyed it.

She wrote this lovely last sentence in her post, “How nice is running, it gives you the nicest time to enjoy yourself, the only thing to be done is to go on no matter what is going on around.”

So, if you’re planning to include running in your exercise plan, you should look up to her.
Way to go, Hilda!

Yes, you can. There are like more than dozens of ways on how to get rid of your biggest fear in life.

One thing, you need one important key to start it: your strong will.

Sometimes, your phobia doesn’t affect your life that much, like fear of bugs, ants, or cockroaches. But, there are also those that might give you problems like fear of elevator, flying, or crowds.

However, whether it gives problem to your life or not, you can try to get rid of it.

Before starting, you can check out which type of phobia you have.

There are three main types of phobias:

• If you have a persistent, irrational fear of particular objects or situations, such as snakes, spiders, heights, blood, flying, or elevators, you have a specific phobia.
• If you have a persistent, irrational fear of situations where you may be scrutinized or criticized or embarrassed by other people, you have social phobia or a social anxiety disorder.
• If you fear leaving home, being alone, or being away from home in a situation where you feel trapped or helpless, you have agoraphobia. [webMD]

And, here are some ways that might help:

• Get cortisol treatments - new study shows that people with certain phobia become less fearful if they take the corticosteroids cortisol or cortisone an hour earlier.
• Desensitization therapy and relaxation techniques - both are great to treat specific phobias
• Try Hypnotherapy - it allows for unconscious change to those patterns of thought. Conscious awareness of the original cause and effect, it simply gives you confidence when you realize you have created the thought that create the panic, so you can create another thought to interrupt the panic.
• Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs, such as Celexa, Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft) - they can be especially helpful in the treatment of social phobia
• Face it - this is best for agrophobia, with a trusted person, get to the place and situation where you feel uneasy. Do it step-by-step, you will feel better during the process.

There are some that you can do it by yourself, but there are those which need some help from a therapist. Contact one as soon as you’re ready.

Actually, anything can be good, even bad things. It depends on how we see it.

Now, switch your anger into something beneficial.

Five Lessons About Anger Being a GOOD Thing
By Dr. Tony Fiore

Lynn, age 40 was in the luggage station at the airport with her sister-in-law. They patiently waited for the airline to find their luggage—as did her husband circling the airport in his car in attempts to transport the women home.

After two hours, Lynn decided to take action; she angrily confronted a supervisor, indicating loss of patience and incredulity at their lack of concern over the issue.

Guess what? Presto! The luggage was found within about 10 minutes with ample apology from the supervisor.

Clearly the angry confrontation “worked” in the sense that it got the desired behavioral result and there were no negative consequences or “costs” to the angry expression.

While anger is NOT appropriate most of the time, there are circumstances when anger expression is in fact the right thing to do.

(more…)

Water is definitely important if you wish to do a natural diet.

If you increase your water intake, you’ll naturally speed up your metabolism and allow your body to better assimilate nutrients from the foods and nutritional supplements you consume.

If you don’t consume enough water, your upper and lower intestine have a reduced ability to absorb nutrients. The result is that most of the value of your foods and supplements are lost and pass through your body without absorption.

Sugars and carbohydrates are absorbed and processed faster than other nutrients‚ so without an abundant intake of clean water, we can end up getting all the calories without the nutrition. Food cravings are primarily the result of nutrient deficiencies, it’s our body’s way of telling us we need something. If our food is not properly digested, nutrient absorption is not sufficient, then the body keeps telling us we need something in the form of food cravings. [aquasana.com]

Anne consumed 1L water yesterday. It’s a great start. Yet, it would be better if one can consume at least 2L a day.

Are you in a diet? Get as much water!

Dani’s son, Simon, has been vomiting several times. She has checked with the pediatrician and it seemed that he was ok. Yet, Dani is still worried.

So, if you have any experience, kindly share with this lovely mother.

Here are several reasons–as mentioned at WebMD–why your kids are vomiting:

• it can be caused by a viral stomach flu if followed by diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps, with home treatment, vomiting can stop within 12 hours
• it also can be caused by an infection in another part of the body
• although rarely happens, it might be caused by blockage of the digestive tract, too
• they might have just swallowed medicines, household liquids, or other poisons, check out for empty containers and spills
• they might also fall down and forcefully hit their head or abdomen, check out bruises and injuries

But, as long as your kids don’t experience any of the things mentioned below, no need to worry:

• Severe dehydration
• Shock
• Severe difficulty breathing
• Extreme sleepiness or is very difficult to arouse

So, Dani, since your son is energetic, playful, and in good humor, no need to worry. Maybe, it’s just a phase. Take care, Simon!

If you are detoxing, it’s better to have a detox journal. That way, you can:

• record how you feel–both physically and emotionally
• write down all ideas about your hopes, your fears, your thoughts about the past, and your feelings about the present and he future

The journal can be a notebook or a even blog–if you’re ready to have others read it.

Nice writing!

Chalicechick made the best decision when she decided to have lettuce as appetizers on the baby shower.

Lettuce helps digestion and liver health. It reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke and cataracts. More, it also helps to reduce the risk of cancer, helps prevent spina bifida and anaemia and may ease nervous insomnia.

Here are the nutrition facts of one cup raw leaf lettuce, chopped as mentioned by www.urbanext.uiuc.edu

Calories 9
Dietary Fiber 1.3
Protein 1 gram
Carbohydrates 1.34 grams
Vitamin A 1456 IU
Vitamin C 13.44
Calcium 20.16
Iron 0.62
Potassium 162.4 mg

Have you had lettuce today?

Researches done by the experts have shown that vitamin E is not only good for your skin, but also good to avoid heart disease and stroke.

Make sure you get enough of these 3 important nutrients

“Vitamin E

Why you need 15 milligrams a day: It protects against heart disease and boosts immunity.”

Reduced risk of Stroke and diseases shown with Natural Vitamin E Tocotrienol Supplements

“Studies from Ohio State University Medical Center found that taking a natural form of vitamin E was able to successfully reach the blood in humans, sufficient enough to reduce the risk of stroke and other diseases.”

Studies Advocate Natural Form Of Vitamin E

“In the first study of this form of the nutritional supplement in humans, Ohio State researchers determined that a moderate dose of tocotrienol reached concentrations in human blood plasma that would be more than adequate to protect against neurological damage that follows stroke.”