Experiment of the Week – Apple Cinnamon Water

You may have noticed that I share a lot of mind-body-spirit experiments on my blog, including ones specific to health and diet.   Starting this week, I’ll share my “Experiment of the Week,” whether it’s a new recipe, way of eating, supplement, etc.

What’s so great about Apple Cinnamon Water?

Apple Cinnamon Water is another recipe suggestion trending on social media, and supposedly, it’s great for two things I’m most interested in:

1. Lowering my blood sugar
2. Losing weight

Yeah, those two go hand in hand, and my blood sugar has always been just a tad above the norm.  It’s likely that this recipe aids weight loss for two reasons other than their ingredients:

1. Drinking a gallon of water a day means the body will help you to stop retaining water, as counter-intuitive as that might seem
2. If you’re drinking apple-cinnamon water, you’re NOT drinking soft drinks, beer, fruit juices, etc.

For the purpose of this experiment, these two factors aren’t really players.  I already drink more than a gallon of water a day, and I don’t consume soft drinks unless there is nothing else to drink at all (there was this one restaurant where I didn’t trust the water….)  though I will occasionally drink tea.  So my experiment will be to test the ingredients, not the amount of water, to see what effect they have in this form.

How to make Apple Cinnamon Water

1. Core and slice an apple.   Drop the slices into a large pitcher or beverage dispenser.
2. Sprinkle 1 tsp Ceylon cinnamon (also known as pure cinnamon) on the slices.
3. Cover the slices with ice cubes.   (I usually put in about 3-4 cups of ice.)
4. Fill the container with water.  Place in refrigerator and let settle before you pour yourself a tall glass (over ice is fine).

Why this recipe is a little different from others online

Some recipes call for astick of cinnamon, but most of the cinnamon you find in grocery stories isn’t “pure cinnamon” but rather, it’s cassia.  Cassia  cinnamon in large quantities can have a blood thinning effect if taken for prolonged periods.  I myself wouldn’t have an issue with using Cassia for a week or maybe a month, but I’d have reservations about using Cassia in a nightly tea or all my water for the next six months.  Still, if you consume a lot of cinnamon, I think it’s worth being aware of the difference.

Ceylon cinnamon is more finely ground and doesn’t have the blood thinning effects of Cassia. It’s also more expensive and harder to find.  Even my local Vitamin Shoppe where I buy many of my supplements couldn’t help me.   Here’s my source for Ceylon cinnamon:

1/2 pound powdered organic Ceylon cinnamon

Ceylon cinnamon sticks

The results of the Apple Cinnamon Water experiment

I’ll drink this throughout the day for the next week and update this post to share my results.   If you’re playing along with me, please let me know in the comments below –and share your results, too.

Updated….

After a week of drinking apple cinnamon water, the results are in.  No change in blood sugar.  As for weight loss, my inches remained the same and my weight fluctuated by four OUNCES.

Given that I’m already drinking the prescribed amount of water without the apples and cinnamon in it, simply adding these ingredients to the current water intake has had no effect.  I’ve also not felt particularly better or worse in the past week.

I do believe that drinking a gallon to 100 ounces of water a day is beneficial and can aid getting rid of water retention as I’ve had positive results from water intake alone.   Probably the biggest benefit for adding apples and cinnamon is that some people may prefer the taste to plain water.

Will I continue?  

Eh.  No.