Monday, February 05, 2007

I'm in LOVE!!

Over the past several months my soon-to-be 90 year old mother
has begun to have issues with Type 2 Diabetes. That is difficult enough,
but add to it the fact that: (1) she lives in an Assisted Living Facility that doesn't seem to want to cater to too many special dietary needs and (2) she is confined to a wheelchair so doesn't get too much exercise. I read a great article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution's food section the other week extolling the virtues of cinnamon, especially in regard to lowering blood sugar levels. For the next few days I tried adding a bit of cinnamon to my coffee (very chic, non?) and then it seemed that the cinnamon was adding itself to so much of our diet. When I felt very sure of myself, I visited Mom, armed with a jar of Penzey's cinnamon. She was a bit leery at first - after all, she's my mother! - but she gave it a try and now she is sprinkling it on everything too! C and I grind our own coffee beans and use a cute little coffee press, so I just sprinkle the cinnamon over the beans before I grind them. Right now I'm sipping on a cup of Starbuck's Extra Bold French Roast with a sprinkle (or 2 or 3) of cinnamon and a spoonful of Ghiradelli hot chocolate.....now this is to die for!!!! TRULY. You can go here for more info on the wonders of my new love, cinnamon.

I am now "working" in the mornings from about 8:30 'til noon. I've found that I am sharpest and most productive then, so why not take advantage of it. In the afternoons, Barker and I walk, I do my desk work, visit my Mom, and putter around the house...sometimes "working" at my fiber stuff then too. So far this new scheduling seems to be a good thing. Do others of you have "work" schedules too? I'm curious. I'm just so thankful that I don't have to go out to a real job...I'd be too tired to do my fiber stuff in the evenings.

Gerrie asked to see a shot of the Sowz Earz lining, so here it is:


I've got two more purses almost ready to line, and will include some pics when they are done.

So long for now..........and go have some cinnamon!












3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, the lining is beautiful - really makes it classy. I must try the cinnamon since I have trouble with my blood sugar. I do love cinnamon, but on a sticky bun usually - ha!

Debra said...

Thank you for sharing Penzey's with folks. It's a great spice store (and catalog). One of the first spices I ordered from them was their cinnamon (it was like tasting it for the first time).

And yes, I have a work schedule. But I think I'll blog about it instead of taking up the space in your comments.

Eva Hagbjärn said...

Your coffee mixture sounds very good and tasteful. Home grind coffee beans, chocolate and cinnamon, but be careful though!
Cinnamon contains coumarin, a substance which can be harmful in bigger quatities and damage your liver.
It has also been very popular here in Sweden with all kinds of cinnmon products. At first everybody praised it to the skies, but lately it has been warnings against it because of the coumarin. (The investigations of the substance coumarin came from the German authorities).
Cassia-cinnamon, from China, contains more coumarin than the finer Ceylon-variant.
I don’t know the exactly amount of cinnamon you can eat a day, but from the articles I have read about the danger of eating to much cinnamon, they just recommend cinnamon in normal doses. Like when you spread it over your morning porridge and so on.
Here’s an other example:
If your weight is 75 kilo, you shouldn’t eat more than 7,5 mg coumarin a day. But who knows how much cinnamon you have to eat before you get that amount of coumarin?? I’ve tried to find that kind of figures, but it seems impossible :-(
Well, I don’t think you have to be afraid to eat your cinnamon, but do it with moderation ;-)