Shake That Cinnamon Shaker
Greet Winter guests with a fragrant mug of hot cider spiced with cinnamon and cloves. It will do more than warm them up.

 Cinnamon and cloves are irresistible flavorings, but they aren’t just treats for your tastebuds. They also provide powerful health benefits, like helping the body process blood glucose — essential to avoiding diabetes. Keep both spices handy for baking, hot drinks, and savory dishes. Cooking with them is as easy as apple pie.

Cinnamon is well known as a stellar antioxidant and a potent germ-killer, and there’s a growing body of evidence that shows that a substance in the spice turns on insulin receptors to help the body use glucose. Which is a good thing, because too much glucose in the bloodstream is tough on your organs and a marker of diabetes. Cloves appear to have a similar effect.

 You can use cinnamon liberally, but cloves — ground or whole — really pack a flavor punch and take a lighter hand. For ways to get more of these good-for-you spices into your everyday life, try these tips:

Put half a teaspoon of ground Cinnamon on your breakfast cereal... 

        Sprinkle both on fresh apple slices and poached pears.
         Add cinnamon and cloves to slow cooked stew dishes for an Indian-inspired flavor twist.
         Add ground cloves to stuffing recipes.
         Use a cinnamon stick to stir your tea, hot chocolate, or warm soy milk.
         Sprinkle both spices into muffin batters and on whole-wheat toast.
         Keep a cinnamon shaker next to the salt and pepper on the table and experiment.

What's The Longevity Benefit... Keeping High Antioxidant ingredients in your diet improves your immune system... which will increase your longevity up to 6 years!

Corn syrup — it’s absolutely everywhere. And it probably making you fatter than you want to be!

 

Here’s why: High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), used to sweeten everything from the obvious (soft drinks) to the obscure (ketchup, salad dressing, bread), can trip up digestive system hormones that control hunger and appetite. The end result: Your brain misses out on hormone messages that signal a full stomach.

Start reading labels and see if you can cut back on the SIXTY THREE POUNDS!!! of HFCS most people consume each year... without even realising it! 

How??? Eat less packaged and processed foods... less pre-made sauces and dressings... take a minute and make them yourself.

 

So how does this High Fructose Corn Syrup affect us?   Your digestive system has two main hormones that control hunger and appetite. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach and increases your appetite. When your stomach’s empty, it sends ghrelin out, requesting food. Leptin tells your brain that you’re full. HFCS inhibits leptin secretion, so you never get the message that you’re full. And HFCS never shuts off ghrelin, so even though you have food in your stomach, you constantly get the message that you’re hungry.

That’s the physiology behind the fact that our increasing consumption of HFCS is one of many elements at play in the world wide obesity epidemic.  Interestingly enough... HFCS is not very prevalent in NEW ZEALAND...  hmmm every time I am there... I note how people seem to be thinner!  Could it be???

Because it’s cheaper than sugar, HFCS is used to sweeten many processed foods and beverages. And although manufacturers may eliminate fat from their products, they make up for its taste with sugar and HFCS. Which means that cutting down on processed foods and sweetened drinks — even the fat-free kind — is a good way to reduce your intake.

What's the Longevity Benefit?  Maintaining your weight and body mass index at a desirable level can make you live as much as 6 years longer.