Friday 28 June 2013

Got that Friday Feeling!

As I open my locker and reach for the familiar plastic container, I can feel the curious eyes of my colleagues following each movement.  Despite being considered somewhat of an eccentricity by most of the people I work with, my herb stash still generates a great deal of interest months after I started feeling comfortable bringing it in to work.  For a moment I pause, as if contemplating (it's almost funny, watching them feign interest in yesterday's free-newspaper whilst trying to see what will come out of my little box next) Then, pushing the box aside, I reach further in for what I was after - the jar of cinnamon.

Whilst I am not a qualified medical herbalist, I spent a couple years studying towards that goal at university when I was younger and herbal remedies are usually my first response for my own minor ailments.  There's just a few essentials I like to keep with me including, my preferred digestive, cinnamon.

It's not as a digestive that I'm using it today, though.

In July 2007, Fertility and Sterility published a pilot study in which cinnamon was shown to reduce insulin resistance in women with PCOS as cinnamon increases the effectiveness of insulin. It also slows down the movement of food from the stomach to the small intestine which slows down the breakdown of carbs, increasing absorption, regulating blood sugar and aiding in weight loss. Score!

And why am I pulling out the fertility spices today? Our plans have started moving forward. R's screening passed muster and he's been loading up on fertility foods like oysters, sweet potatoes and pomegranate juice.

Today is day 5 and it's looking good!