The magic ingredient for healthier treats

**By special guest, James Bennett: Founder & Chief Happiness Officer at Mindful Foods**

Cinnamon is the bomb, because it is the answer to a sugar bomb.

Not-so-nutritious foods (like ice-cream) are often full of simple carbs, which can make your blood sugar spike. That’s bad news; it’s like having a traffic jam in your arteries. Sugars loitering in your vessels are like cars vomiting out noxious fumes. 

One of the best things you can do for healthier eating is to prevent your blood sugar from spiking too high.

Fortunately, cinnamon is like a traffic controller in directing the blood sugar out of the blood vessels and into your tissues. It waves around its magical compound MHCP (MethylHydroxylChalconePolymer) which can potentiate the effects of insulin up to 20 times!

In addition to that, cinnamon can slow the rate of simple carbs entering your system by inhibiting enzymes that break down long-chain carbs (such as α-glucosidase, sucrase and α-amylase). By slowing down this deconstruction of long-chains to short-chains, your body has a longer period to shuttle the cars out of the traffic jam.

Where’s the humour in Coumarin?

Most cinnamon on the market is from the Cassia variety. This has high levels of coumarin which is known to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing) and can be toxic to your liver. 

At Mindful Foods, we’ve chosen to use Ceylon cinnamon, which can have from 5 to 100 times less coumarin in it.

According to the numbers from the research above, it would require about 50g of Ceylon cinnamon (aka, the type we use at Mindful Foods) per day to reach the lowest threshold of concern for coumarin intake.

Let’s talk about our Maple Munchies for a moment. They are Kombucha-activated pecans and walnuts covered with nut butter and a caramelly cinnamon crust. They’re delectably crunchy, leaving you teetering between wanting more and feeling deeply, deeply satisfied. This is why they are one of our best sellers.

If you eat a bowl of ice cream for dessert (or anything with lots of simple sugars), we suggest adding some Maple Munchies on top. This is because, they will:

~ Slow the absorption and satisfy you more, because of the nut protein

~ Direct the sugar out of the blood vessels and into your muscles, because of the cinnamon

~ Taste like maple! Because of the maple!

You’ll be pleased to learn that we include cinnamon in almost every blend we make — not just Maple Munchies. It’s an obvious choice, for it makes the food healthier and tastier :)

And finally, did you know: One way to ameliorate blood sugar spikes after a meal is to do some light physical activity. A small walk, or even washing the dishes! 

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Due to popular demand, Mindful Foods have also shared their absolutely delicious Eros Cookie recipe - so those of you who have received our spring ‘Embrace’ retreat can put your jars of Mindful Food’s Eros Granola to great use (if you haven’t already gobbled it up!). 

You can find this here: https://mindfulfoods.com.au/blogs/news/eros-granola-cookies 

To shop with Mindful Foods, visit www.mindfulfoods.com.au and use discount code RYEMBRACE to get a jar of Maple Munchies when purchasing a large granola, until 28/02/23.