An elderly lady I know slightly, sent me a very long e-mail listing the fantastic benefits of both of these, especially together. You name the malady and this mix cures it. It ends with the exhortation to forward it to all one’s friends. Has anyone else seen it? I consdered posting it here for comments, but I didn’t want to ruin the day for Asanta, Brennen and Doug.
sounds great for open wounds, like in Merry ol England.
with a little luck you’d have a dog handy who could help with cleansing and adding antibiotic saliva - just gotta hope the dog hasn’t eaten any droppings lately.
Cinnamon and Honey are good on hot toast, and cure a cold winter morning.
I’ve heard people say to pour honey on wounds. My grandmother’s nurse used to pour honey on her bed sores. I asked if she learned that in nursing school (she was an LPN going back to night school for RN at the time) She said “No, I read it in Reader’s Digest.” No harm done, grandma was almost gone anyhow and had no idea what was going on.
To the same extent of honey treatments, I’ve heard people say to pour sugar into a wound.
10 years ago I sliced my finger open with a razor box-cutter trying to open a large UPS box that had been delivered to the office. Blood spurting everywhere, me swearing loudly and hopping in a circle (I rarely use foul language, but this hurt really bad!) I ran to the kitchen to get paper towels and try to bundle it up and see the extent of the damage while holding it over the sink for less mess. At this time everyone had followed the swearing and yelping noises. Well EVERYONE had their own first aid advice to give, and I wanted none of it! One girl told me to hold my arm up in the air, which I did until blood started dripping through the paper towels and down onto my head. Another ripped open a packet of sugar by the coffee machine, and wanted to pour it in the wound! She was grabbing my arm, and said “I took a first aid course, they said to pour sugar into cuts!” At this point my swearing got much louder than when I initially cut myself, “You are NOT pouring &)W@#()#R$ sugar into it! Now everyone stop @#$@#$ touching me and figure out WHO IS DRIVING ME TO GET STITCHES! I drive a stick shift and I can’t shift with this hand bleeding everywhere!”
I don’t know who suggested putting sugar into a wound, or what kind of first aid course teaches that. She said it was a Red Cross course. I still find the sugar thing hard to believe, unless it was “if you don’t have any supplies and you must treat with what you have handy.”
Funny, after that incident our office purchased a large first aid kit, to keep in the kitchen.
If anyone would like to read Occam’s honey and cinnamon email, I found it on Snopes. It’s so ridiculous they didn’t even research it. They just wrote “status undetermined.”
Love how it says to avoid asthma inhalers and their “pricey and mysterious chemicals” and chew Altoids instead. I feel sorry for the kid whose parents heed that advice, they could die!
Although I do like the tip of removing a splinter by applying Elmer’s glue, and peeling it off when it dries. Ever have those splinters where it’s just below the surface, and you can’t grab it with tweezers? That might be worth a shot, before resorting to the dreaded NEEDLE! Especially kids splinters, they are terrified of the dreaded needle.
Yes, it’s a shame when people can’t stop at “yummy” and have to add a bunch of supposed health benefits to their praises of some spice or other. One of my vices is ridiculously overpriced tea from Teavana, and when I make my semi-annual stop there to stock up, the nice, earnest little hippy boy or girl behind the counter always regales me with all the health benefits of each tea and its various ingredients. Occam will no doubt be shocked to learn that I keep my opinions to myself and select the tea that best pleases my palate, not my liver, coronary arteries, or prostate.
I got into an argument with an idiot diabetic who swore that cinnamon controlled blood sugar—you know, it NATURAL, so he stopped taking his insulin (he had type two), I argued with him for an hour. He didn’t even know that cinnamon comes from two DIFFERENT species, and he didn’t even know WHICH one was ‘recommended’ for blood sugar control. They BOTH can’t work!! They are chemically different! He was also taking herbs to control his high blood pressure at the recommendation of a friend into ‘natural’ cures. He stopped taking his meds and “never felt better”. No, his doctor didn’t know, because he stopped going to his doctor. He just wanted to put all those chemicals into his body,and he was under the influence of ‘big pharma’ anyway. I’ve never seen him since, I suppose he is either dead or on dialysis by now, but I spent a LOT of time trying to convince him he was wrong…
Well I like the tip in that email that honey and cinnamon tea “reduces the weight of even the most obese person” and “prevents fat from accumulating in the body even if the person eats a high calorie diet.”
Oh how great that would be. I could drop those 10 pounds that have been bugging me, and stop sweating on that darned elliptical exercise machine for a half-hour every night. It would be so much easier to just have cinnamon and honey tea.
It’s been over fifty years since I read the composition of honey, but I seem to recall that the major sugar in it is fructose, that widely attacked sweetener in many soft drinks. While I think both of those extreme positions are crazy, I’ll bet that the honey believers would have a major cognitive dissonance problem if they connected these two ideas.
My girlfriend’s uncle died about five years ago after he was diagnosed with an easily treatable, but fatal if left untreated, cancer and decided to go the holistic route. Instead of the unpleasant, but proven effective, chemo and radiation therapies he took to homeopathy and herbal remedies. He was dead in six months.
I read somwhere that honey is sterile. Apparently it contains a substance which prevents spoiling. Thus honey can be stored for long periods of time without spoiling, but it may crystalize, losing its fluidity.
I can see honey being used as an antiseptic ointment, preventing further exposure to the air and bacteria. In the absence of sterile measures, this might offer an effective advantage over other compound natural “healing” salves.
Seems Cinnamon is a very ancient and valued spice from Sri Lanka, perhaps with spiritual connotations. It was used as incense as well as an exotic sweet flavoring for the wealthy. Apparently it has a potent active oil, to which healing properties are ascribed.
How exactly does a “potent active oil” work? Why is it potent? How is it active? What type of “healing properties” can we find in cinnamon? In what quantities? What is the optimal dosage of cinnamon to result in healing? Sounds like woobabble to me, Write4U.
How exactly does a “potent active oil” work? Why is it potent? How is it active? What type of “healing properties” can we find in cinnamon? In what quantities? What is the optimal dosage of cinnamon to result in healing? Sounds like woobabble to me, Write4U.
It doesn’t help matters that there are about a dozen Cassia trees that produce ‘cinnamon’, but the cures never specify which one you should use.
I like the part about spreading honey on an aching tooth - just what a cavity needs a direct application of sugar… oh I forgot, it’s honey - honey. Maybe the cinnamon neutralizes the fructose
Though I’ve found that whole cloves do numb a toothache somewhat.
There have been some studies on honey or sugar used to prevent infection in wounds that have to be left open to heal when there isn’t enough healthy skin to close them surgically. The sugar works by creating an osmotic environment that kills bacteria, but it has to be replaced multiple times a day since if it gets diluted by tissue fluids it can be a great medium to promote bacterial growth. No one is certain whether the honey works due to osmotic effects or antiseptic chemical present in it, but again as long as you’re equipped to do intensive management of a messy, messy wound packing, it can be used to prevent infection. There are, of course, safer and easier options, so I don’t see either used in practice ever, at least where these other options are available.
How exactly does a “potent active oil” work? Why is it potent? How is it active? What type of “healing properties” can we find in cinnamon? In what quantities? What is the optimal dosage of cinnamon to result in healing? Sounds like woobabble to me, Write4U.
Beats me, I am not advocating the use of honey or cinnamon as medicine. I like honey on my toast and cinnamon in my tea. Both provide sufficient sensory satisfaction.
