Poisonous Health Eggnog

Eggnog healthy?
SCREECH!!! WARNING!!!
I got Coumarin poisoning from "cinnamon"!!! "Cinnamon" sold in the U.S. is a different plant "Cassia" entirely which contains toxic crap.
I also got nutmeg poisoning which isn't fun, just dumb.

Jeez. This is the worst instructable I've ever done. I'm confused and possibly brain-damaged. What's going on?

Okay, if you're not totally poisoned and If you're on a low-carb diet this stuff is totally within the rules.
This eggnog is low-carb and high-protein. It's so decadent and delicious it seems like it should be illegal. Check your diet rules, but if you're on a low-carbohydrate diet such as Atkins, Zone, Caveman, or one I'm working on, the "cavity healer" or "tooth" diet, this eggnog can be just the thing.
If you're lactose-intolerant either add a lactase pill or substitute your favorite <seedmilk plus calcium source> for the cow milk.

Adjust the recipe to conform to your rules and taste.
Here's the basic recipe:

quantity Ingredient
Milk 750ml
eggs 6 raw or boiled eggwhites, 1 or 2 yolks
olive and/or fresh flax oil 100ml
Cinnamon enough but not too much (it's fricking poisonous at more than 1 gram/day. see next step.)
Xylitol 1 level teaspoon - It's a natural tooth-healthy sugar
vanilla a few drops or a teaspoon.

FREQUENTLY ANTICIPATED QUESTIONS:
Q: POISONED??
A: see the next step.
Q: Other than being poisonous, such a rich drink is healthy?
A: Books such as Protein Power and the Atkins books explain body's metabolism and how getting your calories from protein and oil can be healthy.
When you quit carbs you'll need to eat a lot more oil than you're used to just to get enough calories. In the past I haven't managed to do this and have developed food cravings which broke the diet. My current "tooth-healing" diet isn't supposed to be a weight-loss diet, which makes it easier ingest enough fats and avoid food cravings. I haven't had bread, cookies, etc in months and don't miss them. I've got a lot more energy than I used to. I'm getting skinny but not losing weight, which means my muscles and skeleton are getting stronger.

Step 1: Coumarin poisoning from Cassia "Cinnamon"

I ate probably almost a cup of cinnamon in the last week while testing various versions of this project.
I feel weird.
Like I just want to stare at one point and let my eyes unfocus and not move my head.
But before everything goes to static I get fidgety and move my head.
Has this happened to anyone else?
I think I'll take a break for a while...

WARNING: Don't eat too much Cinnamon. according to wikipedia the "cinnamon" we get here isn't "true cinnamon" and it contains coumarin which bad for your liver and kidneys at least.

The Spice Page explains the different kinds of plants called "Cinnamon" and claims you can eat up to 1 gram of the local "cassia" crap per day without getting coumarin poisoning.

A friend of mine was eating cinnamon with a spoon because she'd seen reports of
cinnamon being investigated for diabetes/sugar metabolism and other health benefits.
So I thought I'd try it.
WHY DOESN'T THIS STUFF HAVE A WARNING LABEL???

Eggnog usually also has nutmeg in it, but having experienced a nutmeg poisoning/overdose, I never use it. See the comments for the story of how that was. Damn. Food is dangerous.
I guess it actually IS the leading cause of death here in the States.

Comments

[AL03U]

Coumarin is fat soluble not water soluble. To separate it from the cinnamon, I stir cinnamon powder in boiling water and let stand for a few minutes. Then I pour the liquid through a coffee filter (reusuable plastic kind) and dump the gooey mass at the bottom which contains the coumarin. I'm sure that this separated & filtered liquid is NOT 100% coumarin-free but nevertheless I feel better about consuming it, confident that there is much less coumarin there after this process.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
reference:

"However, essentially all toxic materials in cinnamon are lipid soluble, Dr. Anderson says. Therefore, he uses a water-soluble extract."

"We recommend that people take ¼ to 1 teaspoon daily," he tells us. "Or if they want to take more, to boil cinnamon in water and pour off the soluble portion and discard the solid cinnamon."

http://www.mendosa.com/newsletter_april.htm

[PatCater]

Cassia has 1250 times more coumarin than Ceylon Cinnamon. Relatively small amounts of coumarin can damage the liver of particularly sensitive individuals. So make sure that your Cinnamon is Ceylon Cinnamon.

[karikitty82]

The only issue here is that Ceylon Cinnamon does not produce the blood sugar benefits that the other, more common, forms of cinnamon give. Therefore, it may be safer but it isn't the same. It isn't harmful in small amounts (up to 1 gram) unless you are a very sensitive individual. Your safest bet is to consult a qualified herbologist and or a pharmacist when taking it as a supplement.

[DorthyBlueBird]

Be careful with xylitol. For some people, even traces can require sudden and furious visits to the WC.

[DorthyBlueBird]

Here's the thing that people don't seem to understand about food and herbs... Even NATURAL stuff is dangerous. Even organic plants and what not can cause grievous harm.

Um, excuse me, but digitalis grows very organically and naturally, and, unless you have a heart condition, and take *just* *the* *right* amount, it can easily kill you. Or make you very sick, at least. Some idiots use it for weight loss, and wonder why they get high blood pressure and... symptoms of poisoning! Imagine!

The USA has nothing to do with it... I'm sure you can poison yourself with a number of things on your spice rack in any country in the world. For example, lemon grass is pretty toxic, so is clove and mace.

Heck, using regular cinnamon the way he described using cassia might have been worse! Why? It would have caused him to go into hypoglycemic shock... that is, unconscious with VERY low blood pressure. BTW, he could have *died* that way, in fact, a good deal more likely than the coumerin poisoning.  That is, if he were alone and no one checked in on him for a day or two.

Also, coumerins are very natural. A large number of plants carry it, like king's clover, Mexican vanilla, and most things, to be honest, that taste like vanilla save the real thing. There are a number of commonly used herbal medicines that contain coumerins, and indeed, it's a part of the health benefit!

[patcholi1961]

Herbs are, and always have been medicinal. As far as side effects from cinnamon, headaches, dizziness and lack of coordination would even be expected with real cinnamon. It lowers blood sugar so drastically that it can provoke hypoglycemia in non-diabetics.

If you are all looking for a reputable source of properly identified herbs, consider buying organic products from a heath food store or herbalist. The standards are very different.

Sorry if I sound somewhat preachy. That always seems to happen when I speak English.

Thanx BayouMonroe for the clarification on Cassia/Cinnamon. I am a chartered Herbalist and I was unaware of this substitution.

[pechka]

Unhandyman, are you serious and knowledgeable about smoking nutmeg, or are you acting silly?  (If so, we expect better silliness....)

[pechka]

I'd heard that a rounded teaspoon of grated nutmeg can kill you (from my Pub. Health prof a million years ago), AND that Victorian ladies, who wouldn't dare drink alcohol, used to get high on grated nutmeg. 

I experimented with a 0.25 level teaspoon of grated nutmeg and had amazing energy levels for about 4 hours w/o any other noticable effects.   I suspect that potency varies with nutmeg just as it varies with other plant-derived intoxicants.

[Kwitmeh3]

 and you can smoke it to get high too

[Jake-off]

actually for my sociology class at school we had to do a presentation on drugs. in one of the books i read it said that a table spoon of the stuff is the equivalent to a joint

[harley_rly]

yep, but netmeg can make you start tripping out after so much...and will give you a bad headache if you overdo it

[BayouMonroe]

Most commercial versions of the spice labeled as "cinnamon" and sold in the USA are not actually cinnamon at all. Hence, the toxic side-effects. It is not the same spice our grandparents bought and consumed.http://www.ceylon-cinnamon.com/Identify-Cinnamon.htm
Thanks to the influence of giant corporations, the FDA now allows a cheap alternative called "cassia" to be sold and labeled as "cinnamon" but unfortunately, cassia "cinnamon" contains coumarin--which is potentially toxic. It also thins the blood and can cause liver and kidney damage.

This link has an interesting and helpful chart on identifying true cinnamon.

Unfortunately, the USDA allows spice importers to sell these faux cinnamon products without declaring them as such--and food manufacturers are allowed to use the term "cinnamon" as a generic phase. However, you can avoid these potentially toxic cinnamon imposters by purchasing the authentic item, which is labeled "Ceylon Cinnamon."

Please shop around because unfortunately, there are many websites that take advantage of consumer health concerns by overcharging for their Ceylon cinnamon products.

I buy Ceylon Cinnamon directly from "Surfas" (a chef supply source). For SoCalifornia residents, they have a store in Culver City'; or you can order Ceylon Cinnamon online at www.culinarydistrict.com. It's pure, it's safe and it's delicious.

Note: when you are consuming real cinnamon, you will notice you don't need to use as much as the cheap commercial type--because Ceylon cinnamon is more fragrant and flavorful.

Bon appetite and good health!

http://www.culinarydistrict.com/Products/Herbs-Spices/Ground-Ceylon-Cinnamon-4-oz

[d2j5]

i have that same bottle i think O_o

[skuitarman]

in wikipedia it said that artificial vanilla contains Coumarin not natural.

[theburn7]

always get naturally derived vanilla, artificial products kill us and natural vanilla plants produce coumarin, a natural poison within it's stalks as a biological process byproduct. NEVER DRINK ANY DIET SODA WITH ASPARTAME!!!! ONE OF OUR RELATIVES DIED FROM KIDNEY FAILURE BECAUSE OF IT!

[livibosch]

I agree with your suspicions about ingesting too much cinnamon. I recently read a Chinese Medicinal Herbal Book which contained advice about using cinnamon in daily drinks such a coffee (yum); to rid your body of excess water. As a female I am very interested in this concept at least once a month. However, while I did need to urinate every fifteen minutes I soon found that my kidneys hurt and I had a tremendous headache. Let me be honest, I really over did how much cinnamon I was using; and I continued its use for over four days before I noticed any side effects. Still, I have learned a lesson that even what seems as a modest kitchen herb can cause damage when used improperly. Hope this helps 

[TimAnderson]

What sort of side effects did you notice?

[seakrakken]

More than a teaspoon of real vanilla can kill you! Most vanilla in american grocery stores is artificial. I not certain if that is for safety or because real vanilla is expensive.

[rochellelewis]

I had heard the same thing about vanilla but you are right about the price, it is to expensive to sell the real thing

[LinuxH4x0r]

Looks delicious, I will have to try this! You OD'd on nutmeg? how? did you try to get high on it?

[TimAnderson]

I was baking and eating a lot of (health, of course) oatmeal cookies and I forgot the recipe after a while. I was putting teaspoons or tablespoons of nutmeg in and after a week or two I had an episode of not being able to understand many words. I was talking to my friends and they started making up really great words. I thought. So they rushed me to the hospital for $7k worth of tests. I missed the follow up visit though, because my brain wasn't working well enough to get me there.

[The Dark Ninja]

So.. I'm not 100% clear on the nutmeg issue. Was it an OD as in "deadly if not treated" or just "naturally stoned.. for a long time?" Not that I plan on doing this, but what were the final results of everything? Did they treat you for something specific like Greg House would or just flush you with fluids?

[LinuxH4x0r]

2 spoonfuls is supposed to make you hallucinate. Wow, thats horrible! Hope you are better now (maybe thats why you make such awesome projects....... sort of like alice in wonderland where the drugs help make an awesome story)

[NinjaSloth]

I know a guy who took a couple spoonfulls of nutmeg and starting seeing rats crawling on everything for a while... and he's pathologically terrified of rats so.... yeah

[Vauxhaulastra]

Lulz for American food.

[Grey_Wolfe]

Theobromine, the toxin in chocolate that is harmful to dogs, is actually not to good for people either. But since it comes in such small concentrations in chocolate, it doesn't usually bother us as we are not as sensitive to it as dogs. They have much more trouble breaking it down in there systems.

[kenny94]

so that's how they make those weird kool-aids and gums

[brettbarth]

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't keep a nice batch of xylitol on hand unless you count chewing gum, then I'm loaded. Anyway, with gas prices rising, I can't get to the store as much as I used to. Can the Xylitol be substituted for normal white or brown sugar?

[cowscankill]

probably. i wouldn't know, but it seems xylitol is just used to be healthier for diets and what not

[westfw]

We used to make something very like these as a semi-regular breakfast, or as food when we weren't feeling well, when I was young. We called them "eggnog milkshakes" - one whole egg, a cup of milk, a Tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla, whirled in a blender. Tim's version sounds slightly healthier... (we also occasionally ate raw egg yolks mixed with sugar, which I recall being better than it sounds, but it's not something I've been tempted to revive...)

[canida]

You can also get egg whites by the pint or quart for easy use & storage. This also decreases the salmonella risk, as they've been pasteurized.

[westfw]

As far as I know, all the carton'ed "egg substitute" materials (whites only, whole egg, or whites with fake less-fat-yolk-like-substitutes) are pasturized and therefore devoid of possibly worrisome raw-egg issues. They work great in things like caeser salad dressing, and I try to remember to use them when we're going to be eating more of the cookie dough than finished cookies.

[Wade Tarzia]

Interesting. I get god-awful carb cravings though I keep only whole wheat around (though I make a semi-monthly run to the man in the trenchcoat and tinted car windows who sells fresh French bread on the street corner). Wouldn't the Flax oil be best since it reputedly has good cardiovascular effects? Can the milk be nonfat? (trying to avoid stroke #2; cause of stroke #1 not well understood but doctors shrugged and through me on cholesterol-lowering drugs and etc. Always looking for stimulating but life-giving diet; sick of tofu!