The Power of Cinnamon

Who doesn't love the beautiful fragrance of a freshly baked cinnamon roll?! Or a cup of hot apple cider spiced up with a fresh cinnamon stick? Or my all-time favorite cheap treat - cinnamon toast! Yum! There has to be a reason we love cinnamon so much, and I'm going with "it's so darn good for you."

And it actually is!

Cinnamon has been at the top of my favorite foods list since childhood. I can barely resist all the otherwise unhealthy foods that are loaded with cinnamon--like all the aforementioned sweet treats. Cinnamon is usually buffered with sugar because of its strong dry taste. A piece of cinnamony apple pie tastes lovely, but any benefit you might get from the cinnamon content will be offset in spades by the inflammatory sugar and trans-fats that are also present.

Fortunately, the power of cinnamon extends beyond food. I would list all the wonderful properties of cinnamon, but you can find that information with a simple internet search, so since this is just another blog and I'm not a certified nutritionist, I'll just tell you what I've discovered personally.

Gets Rid of Belly Button Infection/Fungus/Etc.
Gross, I know, but part of life for some of us, it turns out. For quite a few years now, I've experienced mild belly button infections off and on that have, up until recently, been easily solved with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol. But over the past year, what looked a lot like skin tags began to develop. After researching for this article, I am beginning to think they might have been tiny cysts, but at the time, I thought the little icky growths might be a type of fungus. Since I'd been venturing into the world of essential oils, I decided to slather on some cinnamon leaf oil to see what effect it would have.

The effect was serious burning. One thing I learned very quickly is that when the essential oil experts tell you that a particular oil is hot and should never be applied directly to the skin, you should listen to them. They know what they're talking about. The next thing I did wrong was to apply my homemade body butter made from tallow and coconut oil. Now the skin was not only burning, but also not breathing. Thank God for aloe vera gel!

Now that I've told you what not to do, you'll be happy to know, it all turned out well in the end. Instead of slathering on the oil as I did to start with, I applied it very carefully just to the inside of the navel with a Q-tip (still full strength) twice a day. In the space of two weeks, the growths were gone and my belly button was once again pristine.

I still can't tell you whether what I had was a bacterial infection, a fungus, a skin tag or a cyst. But what I can tell you is that the cinnamon oil conquered it in short order.

Minimizes Size and Duration of Cold Sores
If you've never experienced a cold sore, sometimes referred to as a fever blister, then you are indeed fortunate. Cold sores are caused by the herpes simplex virus and usually emerge uninvited somewhere on or near the lips. They are very painful, not to mention ugly, and typically last two to three weeks. I've tried the standard Blistex and Abreva, and they work about as well as Vasoline.

Late last month I developed another one in my long history of outbreaks, probably brought on by my recent head cold. So right away I went to my health-food store looking for a topical remedy. I found an essential oil blend for cold sore treatment and applied it faithfully twice or three times a day. Notwithstanding my diligent devotion to natural remedies, the blister bloomed into one of the biggest nastiest sores I've ever had and lasted about two and a half weeks. Then about three weeks later, to my horror, I felt another one coming on - in the same spot! I've never had two outbreaks in a row like that before. I was on vacation at the time and all I had with me was the cinnamon leaf oil I was using to treat my previously discussed navel issues. So I decided to dab a little of that onto my cold sore before I went to bed, just to see what it could do. The blister was about 2-3 mm in diameter (roughly twenty percent the size of the first one). By morning, the blister was no worse. I dabbed the cinnamon oil morning and evening and within a week it was mostly healed.  By two weeks the cold sore had completely disappeared.

Nature's pantry turns out to be nature's pharmacy as well. Isn't God good?! His remedies for good health are always the best ones. Sometimes we just have to figure out what they are. (What happened to all the old wives?!)

One thing is for sure-- cinnamon oil will be a regular part of my medicine chest from now on. Who knows what other good uses I might find for it.