The Many Benefits of Honey
Sugar is everywhere in our diet. Even the simplest items, like ketchup or low-fat yogurt contain high amounts of sugar. This leads to a slew of health problems like weight gain, metabolic issues, and more bad news for your heart.
Fortunately, there is a great sugar substitute that tastes just as good and can be combined with many other foods.
I’m talking about honey. This food is nearly unique due to its incredible shelf life. Very few microorganisms are able to grow in honey, so it can stay good for many years. In fact, honey dating back approximately 3,000 years, is the world’s oldest sample – and still perfectly edible!
Honey is produced by bees and a few other insects. It is stored naturally in wax structures known as honeycombs. Honey’s chemical properties make it ideal for baking and give it a distinctive flavor when it’s used as a sweetener.
Like many things, however, you need to use the right kind of honey in order to fully benefit from it.
Most of the commercial honey we see in stores has been heated at high temperatures and pasteurized. This means most of the beneficial antioxidants, enzymes and other nutrients have been compromised.
Due to its high amino acid and antioxidant content, bee pollen is one of the most nutritionally complete foods available to us. But with commercial honey, most of the bee pollen has been removed.
The key is to acquire unheated, unprocessed and unpasteurized raw honey. You’ll usually see a honeycomb in the jar if it’s raw honey. And you can be confident it contains plenty of bee pollen, as well as the natural antimicrobial agents and antioxidants. Don’t be thrown off by its “cloudy” appearance. That’s the way it’s supposed to look.
Honey not only has plenty of nutritional benefits for us. It also has a variety of purposes that make it a great survival stash item. Here are some of those uses:
- Wound Treatment. Because honey is a natural antiseptic, it can be effective in wound treatment the same way any topical antibiotic is. Just apply honey directly on the wound.
- Splinter Remover. Applying honey to a splinter will help draw it out.
- Sore Throat Relief. Adding a spoonful of honey to a glass of water will help soothe your sore throat. Even better, add juice from a lemon to the mix.
- Cough Suppressant. Some tests have shown that honey is a more effective cough suppressant than drugs, with none of the side effects.
- Nausea Relief. One way to counteract an upset stomach is by drinking a mixture of honey, ginger and lemon juice.
- Moisturizing Agent. If you have damaged or dry skin, apply honey to the area and leave it on for about 20 minutes before washing it off.
- Inflammation Reducer. Respiratory conditions such as asthma can be treated with honey, due to its anti-inflammatory agents.
- Energy Booster. Instead of a candy bar, which could give you a sugar rush but will also give you a sugar crash, swallow a spoonful of honey. Its natural sugars and fructose will provide you with the energy you need for your next task.
- Digestion Aid. Because honey does not ferment in one’s stomach, you can eat a tablespoon or two of it to help counter indigestion.
- Acne Treatment. Some people rub a small amount of honey directly onto a blemish, then cover it with a Band-Aid. Thirty minutes later, they wash it off.
- Sugar Replacement. You can use honey as a replacement for sugar in many baking recipes. For every cup of sugar called for, use three-fourths of a cup of honey instead.
I havevfreeze dried honey…just add water…it’s great…
Love Raw Honey, use it in my coffee everyday.
I also used honey in every thing that needs to be sweetened instead of sugar honey slim you down while sugar fatten
Yes thank u for good info.
I like the raw honey in yougart. Plain yougart and add honey, blueberries (I cook the blueberries and smash them. You can put honey in blueberries after it cools. Mix in yougart.
Honey is truly a ‘miracle’ food. The Egyptians knew of its properties as a sweetener as well, among other things, an antibiotic. For camping trips you could not do better than a jar of honey. I am addicted to it. Try adding honey to taste to plain yogurt…out of this world.
Totally agree! My dad raised bees all his life, from when he was a little boy in VA so I grew up around them and have pictures of my children next to a swarm. Dad reached in, took the queen bee to another hive and they all marched in! Another use of raw honey is to cover a burn!
I practice beekeeping, used to do it professionally. Although I’m not 100% certain, I believe that your estimate of the oldest known honey is shy. I was taught 6,000 year-old honey was found in the pyramids. I was also taught that real honey NEVER goes bad. Beware of honey made from Azalea nectar! It is highly toxic. It was once used in ancient warfare to eliminate the enemy (ancient bio-chemical warfare). I tried to add honey as a survival food suggestion to one of your posts a few weeks back, but I wasn’t able to leave a comment for some unknown reason.
Yes, bee pollen is probably the best source of every vitamin, mineral, amino acid, etc. nutrients that the human body requires. After all, it is simply bees’ collection of plant sperm. There is a tribe in Borneo which survives on only pollen for one month every year.
Nothing better for bedsores than raw honey direct from the hive. My mother had one down to the bone and I cured it with raw honey. This was after all the doctors had prescribed many other and more expensive medications.
Love honey. Thank you God for this nourishing food for our body.
Yeah, it’s great, isn’t it?