Cinnamon for Insulin Sensitizing!

I just added cinnamon to my diet (1 tsp a day) because there is strong evidence that it regulates blood sugar levels by decreasing insulin resistance.

That does 2 main things: 

1. It makes sure that the glucose you get from your food (or the glucose you make through gluconeogenesis, if you're following a low-carb high-fat diet) gets absorbed more readily by your tissues that need it for energy, and 

2. Because your glucose gets used the way it should be, your body produces less insulin.

Now, that insulin thing is fantastic, because what THAT then allows your body to do is SHED FAT. If you get the insulin out of your blood stream, your fat cells will start to convert triglycerides to fatty acids so they can be shipped to your bloodstream and converted to energy.

That is insanely fucking kickass. It ALSO improves your blood lipid profile, by markedly (by a factor of 10–20%) reducing your LDL and VLDL cholesterols (the bad cholesterol), decreasing your triglycerides, and therefore decreasing your total cholesterol. 

I'm adding 1 tsp a day to my coffee. You could have it in a glass of milk (I'm pretty sure you can also buy cinnamon supplements). I think 1/2 tsp is enough, according to 1 randomized controlled trial I saw. The 'dosage' is 1 gram of cinnamon per day. 1 tsp of cinnamon is about 2 grams per day. Also, it's easier to measure, in my mind. 

It's seriously worth trying, especially if you're a fan of cinnamon.

I had a two-week stall because I was in the last phase of my menstrual cycle, which increases insulin resistance because you have increased progesterone levels during that phase. My blood sugar was fairly high compared to the week before, and my ketone levels were low (and low ketones for me means my body isn't accessing my bodyfat for energy, because my insulin levels are too high). So, two days ago I added a tsp of cinnamon. Literally overnight, my beta-hydroxybutyrate [which technically isn't a ketone but I'm calling it that anyway] level tripled and my blood sugar started to decrease.

That could be either because of progesterone, or it could be because of cinnamon (or it could be because of both), but either way, I'll see next month how my body reacts to my period while I'm taking daily doses of cinnamon. 

Try it!

Incidentally, my weight is NO LONGER stalled since starting the cinnamon. I am now at 269, under 270 and almost at the 20 lb mark. :)

Ooh, also - this is day 28, I've lost 17 lbs :)

Breakfast of Champions

For at least the last week, my breakfast has been salted caramel coffee. I make this using my stick blender and lots and lots of fat!

Salted Caramel Coffee
2 tbsp butter (salted or unsalted, doesn't matter)
1 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp heavy cream
1.5 cups (or 2, or thereabouts - a big mug!) of coffee
1/8 tsp salt
a splash (maybe 1/2 tsp) of Torani sugar-free caramel syrup

Blend (takes SECONDS) and drink. This is so beyond fantastic, I just love it.

Weight Tracking

And why not graph weight?

My goal is 144. That's heavy for some people, but it's half my starting weight. As you can see, that'd be super light for me. I haven't weighed that 'little' since my teens.

Yum Yum Blood

That's my blood, yo! I've been tracking Beta-hydroxybutyrate and glucose levels in my blood, and acetoacetate in my urine (yum!) for a while now, and this is what I've found. My blood glucose levels have stayed pretty consistently 4.5ish since my BHB levels hit above 1.5. Today's reading of 4.4 for BHB was the highest I've seen yet, and it occurred a half hour after a 15 minute walk. 

Exciting stuff, to me. I love data.

And I can't get the graph to publish, so I'll be posting it in an upcoming post as an image instead of en embedded link to the Google sheet.

This is day 16. I've lost 10 lbs.

'nuff said.

Pickled Eggs

I moved on to pickled eggs today, after having a conversation with my brother about them. He's been home pickling eggs for about a month now and he loves them. He's gotten me past the initial fear of unknown territory, so I dove right in.

I couldn't find my pickling spice (which was hiding in plain sight all along), so I added the following to 1 cup white vinegar plus 1/2 cup water, and brought to a rolling boil:

about 1/2 tsp mustard powder
about 1/8 tsp each of ground ginger and allspice
about 6 whole cloves
about 1 tsp of whole coriander
1 cinnamon stick, broken in two
1 bay leaf

Once boiled, I poured the whole thing into a mason jar into which I had already put my still-warm peeled hard-boiled eggs, about 1/4 tsp of whole peppercorns, 1 thickly sliced shallot, and a few cloves of garlic, very roughly chopped.

You let it cool (I'm doing so now) and refrigerate. I'm told you need to give it a couple of days, but I'm probably going to dig in tonight.