More on the cinnamon, diet, exhaustion, and the start of school
More on the cinnamon... have taken off two more pounds and my weight is still stable. I had to moderate my use of the supplement... it made me feel a little over-energized and anxious. Instead, I've been occasionally taking the supplement and consistently adding cinnamon to at least one food a day.
I've really been feeling great, but today I noticed that I am TOTALLY exhausted. Like I-almost-passed-out exhausted. And the Red Cross rejected my blood today because I was too anemic to donate. :( I think I need to go back to taking a multivitamin and take it a bit easy over the weekend. I spent the whole week pretty much running around. Literally. I've walked up to campus three days (including the big hill) and have been running errands and meeting people.
As for the start of school, I am surprised how excited I am to get back to my real "work." There is the obvious benefit of getting my loan money in. I am still poor, but not brutally so. I am excited about my classes, including one with a faculty member who is interested in my research and is involved with similar work on what she calls "de-converting" (leaving a faith). Seeing my school friends this week has been marvelous. I've spent hours going over progress in our programs, checking in with friends, chatting about life (...the universe, and everything), faculty personalities, and how long we REALLY think our PhD's are going to take us. In particular, I talked for quite some time with my friend and colleague H., a rather endearing, exceptionally intelligent, rip-roaringly funny, and openly gay man who specializes in identity issues, Latin American and Asian culture and religion, and Queer theory and theology. In the last few months, he has settled into a comfortably domestic relationship. And he's been dodging jokes about his conformity to more conservative norms ever since. I told him that he needs a T-shirt that reads: "Just because my relationship is heteronormative, doesn't mean I can't Queer the system."
I only have one complaint so far... There is only one person enrolled in the liturgy class I'm teaching. I'm getting worried what will happen to my fellowship if enrollment doesn't go up by the time class starts on Tuesday. Plus, I've spent a HELL of a lot of time working on the course over the summer, to the exclusion of other things. So, keep your fingers crossed and tell your friends!
I've really been feeling great, but today I noticed that I am TOTALLY exhausted. Like I-almost-passed-out exhausted. And the Red Cross rejected my blood today because I was too anemic to donate. :( I think I need to go back to taking a multivitamin and take it a bit easy over the weekend. I spent the whole week pretty much running around. Literally. I've walked up to campus three days (including the big hill) and have been running errands and meeting people.
As for the start of school, I am surprised how excited I am to get back to my real "work." There is the obvious benefit of getting my loan money in. I am still poor, but not brutally so. I am excited about my classes, including one with a faculty member who is interested in my research and is involved with similar work on what she calls "de-converting" (leaving a faith). Seeing my school friends this week has been marvelous. I've spent hours going over progress in our programs, checking in with friends, chatting about life (...the universe, and everything), faculty personalities, and how long we REALLY think our PhD's are going to take us. In particular, I talked for quite some time with my friend and colleague H., a rather endearing, exceptionally intelligent, rip-roaringly funny, and openly gay man who specializes in identity issues, Latin American and Asian culture and religion, and Queer theory and theology. In the last few months, he has settled into a comfortably domestic relationship. And he's been dodging jokes about his conformity to more conservative norms ever since. I told him that he needs a T-shirt that reads: "Just because my relationship is heteronormative, doesn't mean I can't Queer the system."
I only have one complaint so far... There is only one person enrolled in the liturgy class I'm teaching. I'm getting worried what will happen to my fellowship if enrollment doesn't go up by the time class starts on Tuesday. Plus, I've spent a HELL of a lot of time working on the course over the summer, to the exclusion of other things. So, keep your fingers crossed and tell your friends!
posted by Rochel Leah at
6:48 PM
3 Comments:
Question on the cinnamon diet: Are you saying that if one eats the exact same types of food, and adds cinnamon, one has lost weight (i.e. your sister and you); or are you simultaneously cutting back on sugars, fats, etc. while adding cinnamon?!
By
Anonymous, at 9:25 PM
I also got turned down for blood donation yesterday for the same reason. I wonder if I need to wait 2 months to try again, or if I can take some iron and go back tomorrow. I don't even know if blood donations are so desperately needed right now (especially from here) but it just feels important to do something.
By
Anonymous, at 8:22 AM
Hmmmm... Anonymous?
Yes, if one eats the same food and has a problem such as sub-clinical or clinical insulin resistance or Type-2 (adult-onset) Diabetes, then adding cinnamon to one's diet is likely to help one lose weight. It works by increasing insulin sensitivity. If one is insulin-resistant, then one can eat the exact same diet as a person but use and store the calories in a totally different and unhealthful way. Although calories count, it is important to know that not everyone's body uses them the same way.
I had already modified my diet for about a month previous to the cinnamon, with no success. I had already been taking a flax oil (with lignans) supplement and one with evening primrose. And (in fact) I can actually eat fat (non-transfats, of course) in "normal" portions... it's mostly simple carbs and starches that I avoid. And, as I mentioned in my first cinnamon post, toward the beginning of my "cinnamon diet," I was still occasionally binging on my favorite comfort food, ice cream. And I still took off the first 10-12 pounds.
There are some post-cinnamon changes that have also allowed me to improve my diet. I will say that the cinnamon has also significantly cut my cravings. Yesterday, for example, I consumed NO chocolate. I even had a latte instead of a mocha. No joke. That would never have happened before the cinnamon. Plus, I think that increased insulin-senstivity has also made me feel full much more quickly.
Finally, on the blood donation thing... I asked about the period of deferment. If you are slightly anemic, you should be able to take a multi-vitamin every day for the next week and be able to donate afterward. It is not a deferment with a mandated time-frame.
By
Rochel Leah, at 1:41 PM
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