The Benefits of Honey and Cinnamon: Honey and Cinnamon work well together. This combination has been used over centuries to help treat colds and flu and other minor health ailments. Note: Some people have an allergy to cinnamon: cinnamon does not necessarily work for everybody. Ask your doctor or naturopath or ayurvedic practitioner before you use cinnamon as a treatment.
Nowadays, many people are looking to the honey and cinnamon diet to help reduce weight, and to help lower cholesterol and blood sugar. In my experience, honey and cinnamon really do work together to help you lose weight; but of course, the amount of weight lost will depend on what and how much you are eating whilst you take this remedy.
Effects of Honey-Cinnamon-Ginger-Lemon Juice on Ear Infection and on Weight Loss:
I had reason to use a honey and cinnamon diet recently, with some added ginger powder and lemon juice, to treat an ear infection on the right side – the cell phone ear. Incidentally, using the cell phone over the past week whilst I had the infection increased the pain and the swelling dramatically. To my mind, cell phone usage is probably about 70% of the cause of this recent trouble. The other 30% would be liver and bowel toxins which need clearing, combined with the effects of using a toxic incense recently: smoke causes congestion in the sinuses, and this can cause ear infection.
The object of using the honey and cinnamon diet was specifically to treat the ear, and not to lose weight. Anyhow, I rested as much as I could, with spiritual healing; a hot-to-warm hot water bottle on the ear; tea tree combined with olive oil put in and massaged around the ear; and between four to six cups of ginger and cinnamon tea with lemon juice and honey each day for about three days. After the three day period, only one or two cups a day was taken for a few days longer.
Dose which I used: I used a small teaspoon of powder per cup of tea, from a jar which had one part cinnamon powder to two parts ginger powder in it. Four to six cups of cinnamon-ginger-honey-lemon juice tea were taken for the first three days, then I cut the tea down to one or two cups per day. However, I think this dosage was a bit too intense, as I shall explain.
I did lose quite a bit of weight over the past week, partly because the ear infection made me feel sick and took away my appetite. However, I am pretty sure the cinnamon powder itself, combined with ginger, also quelled my appetite, and caused me to lose weight: this was an unexpected, but rather pleasing side effect on its own, but for the side effect of nausea.
Cinnamon bark contains a compound called coumarin, which is toxic to the liver in large amounts. I felt that it was the coumarin in the cinnamon powder which made me feel slightly nauseous: I have since judged the dose I took – four to six cups a day, of cinnamon and ginger tea, to be on the high side, because of the side effects which I experienced.
Sensible Usage: Four to six cups of cinnamon ginger tea daily is rather excessive, as this equates to about two teaspoons of cinnamon for the day, far more than you would ever eat in a cookie, or a curry, or anything else. I think no more than one to two cups of this tea daily would have been a better dose for my body type.
Be careful not to overdose on cinnamon: There are many different recipes being passed about for using honey and cinnamon in various combinations and dosages, and for a wide range of health issues: a big list of remedies for using cinnamon with honey was given to me only two weeks ago. I think this source may have been the internet. However, the doses on this two page hand-out ranged from using just one teaspoon of cinnamon, which is still high, in my estimation, to using two tablespoons of cinnamon.
Two tablespoonsful of cinnamon is just ridiculously excessive and could be very damaging to your liver and your health if you are using the type of cinnamon known as cassia cinnamon.
Cassia cinnamon contains large amounts of coumarin. Ceylon cinnamon does not have such high amounts of coumarin in it, and so ceylon cinnamon is the type of cinnamon which should be used if you are going to use the honey and cinnamon diet, or cinnamon teas.
In my experience, the honey and cinnamon with ginger and lemon did help my ear infection, and did cause me to lose weight. However, I believe that whilst this combination effected a cure, it also made me feel sick. I would caution anyone intending to try this combination to ask a medical person, or an alternative practitioner first, especially if you are taking any medications, or even vitamin and mineral supplements.
And taking more than one teaspoonful at a time of a 3 to 1 mix of ginger and cinnamon will probably have the effect of harming your liver. You will definitely lose weight, because your liver will be put under strain, and so you will eat less, but using large doses of cinnamon in order to reduce weight is NOT a healthy way to lose weight. Your liver is vital to good health, and anything which might cause damage or strain to the liver must be avoided.
Cinnamon, therefore, because of its coumarin content which can affect the liver adversely, must be used in moderation.
Note for Denture Wearers: Cinnamon and dentures do not go well together. Anyone who has a plastic denture must be careful not to use cinnamon tea too often. If you do use the honey and cinnamon diet, under the guidance of a health practitioner, then you should really remove the dentures before drinking the tea. This is because cinnamon has the power to extract chemicals from plastic, which will cause an ongoing leaching of chemicals into your body.