Christmas holidays are just around the corner! And with them, all the delicious food binges. That roast turkey, Christmas sweets, and sumptuous mashed potatoes. However, we have to be careful with the sugar spikes that always come with eating at these family gatherings. As much as we love to eat, and even if we don’t mind putting on a few pounds during the holidays, extreme fatigue, heaviness, and bloating are unpleasant and always come right after dinner.
No one said that Christmas food was healthy, and it ends up causing a kind of sugar tsunami that floods our bodies and leaves us feeling groggy. Although the best remedy for this is simply to stay away from Christmas pudding, there are some tricks you can try to mitigate the damage caused by this excess glucose. Here we explain this Christmas infusion which, apart from being delicious, can help improve digestion and prevent those insulin spikes.
The best Christmas infusion to aid digestion
This divine concoction helps you digest all that festive food and improve your digestion. It has three key ingredients: cinnamon, cloves, and bay leaves. Their combination creates a comforting drink that also smells unmistakably like Christmas. It’s very easy to make at home with spices you already have in your kitchen cupboard. You will need:
- 5 cloves (do not exceed this amount),
- 2 bay leaves,
- 1 cinnamon stick,
- and 1/2 liter of water.
To prepare it, simply:
- Boil the water in a small pot.
- Once the water comes to a boil, add the cinnamon, cloves, and two bay leaves.
- Let it simmer for 5 minutes to release the active compounds.
- Strain the infusion, serve it, and drink it on an empty stomach or before your heaviest meal.
Cinnamon’s little secret
However, we must warn you about something: if you plan to consume this infusion regularly, you should pay close attention to the type of cinnamon you use. Not all cinnamon is the same, and the most common variety—called Cassia cinnamon—contains high levels of coumarin. This substance, coumarin, can be toxic to the liver if consumed in large quantities on a regular basis.
We recommend using Ceylon cinnamon, which has much lower levels of coumarin and is the safest option for your health.
Although this infusion does not help to completely block excess glucose, the active compounds in cinnamon do help. We are talking about cinnamaldehyde, an active compound that helps to limit the function of insulin in the body.
It also improves the sensitivity of cells to insulin. This means that the infusion helps your own insulin keys to work more efficiently. Cinnamon supplementation helps to significantly reduce fasting glucose levels. It also improves cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
The other ingredients in this infusion
The other star ingredient, cloves, is what makes it smell like Christmas, but it also has many benefits as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. This is thanks to eugenol, which helps improve insulin function and glucose metabolism. By reducing oxidative stress and inflammation, cloves make it much easier for our bodies to process sugar.
Last but not least, bay leaves contain polyphenols and cineol. These bioactive compounds also contribute slightly to glucose regulation.
Why Christmas overindulgence is dangerous for our metabolism
To understand how this Christmas infusion can help us, we need to understand what happens to our bodies when we overeat during the holidays. When we eat carbohydrates—whether bread, mashed potatoes, or dessert—our digestive system breaks them down into glucose, which is our main source of energy. This glucose travels directly into our bloodstream, causing our blood sugar levels to rise.
When we eat a normal amount, this process is gradual. However, at a Christmas dinner or family celebration, the speed at which we consume refined carbohydrates causes glucose to flood our bloodstream. This is the so-called sugar spike that we are so often warned about.
When the pancreas detects this sugar spike, it releases a hormone called insulin, which opens the gates of our cells so that glucose can leave the blood and enter them. Once inside, the glucose is used for energy or stored. The problem arises when we have a massive excess of glucose, but the cells stop responding to insulin. This is called “insulin resistance,” which is so dangerous for people with diabetes and prediabetes.