If you’re not taking full advantage of the nutritional and medicinal properties of honey, it’s time to begin doing so because honey is a remarkable healing agent for all sorts of ailments. People have been using honey for its antibacterial and antifungal properties since the ancient times. The Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians documented the healing properties of honey as early as Aristotle’s mention of it in 384 BC. Honey is certainly an old product that has been a favorite in the natural healing niche.

Honey is the way to go not just to replace sugar, but to add nutrition and wellness to your life.

In it’s most pure form, one tablespoon of honey is about 64 calories and has no fat or cholesterol. It includes vitamins, trace enzymes, amino acids, and minerals like calcium, iron, sodium chlorine, magnesium, phosphate, and potassium.

Because of its acidic PH level it also helps reduce bacteria growth and the antioxidant properties help it wipe out some free radicals. We even use it in wound care in the department I work in.  It’s called Medihoney and it’s honey impregnated gauze.  It is really amazing to see wounds heal quickly with it.

It’s also one of the best sweeteners on the planet and Lord knows, we all know that we could use less processed sugar!

Here are some more health benefits:

1. Helps prevent cancer and heart disease:
Honey contains flavonoids, antioxidants which help reduce the risk of some cancers and heart disease.

2. Reduces ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders:
Recent research shows that honey treatment may help disorders such as ulcers and bacterial gastroenteritis.

3. Anti-bacterial and anti-fungal:
All honey is antibacterial, because the bees add an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide, This is why it has an incredibly long shelf-life.

4. Increases athletic performance:
Ancient Olympic athletes ate honey and dried figs to enhance their performance. It’s been shown to help maintain glycogen levels and improving recovery time better than other sweeteners or recovery products. .

5. Reduces cough and throat irritation:
Honey helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey. In a study of 110 children, a single dose of buckwheat honey was just as effective as a single dose of dextromethorphan in relieving nighttime cough and allowed them a good night sleep.  I would much rather give my child this over medication.  But you do have to be careful and not give raw honey to infants.

6. Balances the 5 elements:
Honey has been used in Ayurvedic medicine in India for at least 4,000 years and is considered to affect all three of the body’s primitive material imbalances in a good way. It is also said to be useful in improving eyesight, weight loss, curing impotence and premature ejaculation, urinary tract disorders, bronchial asthma, diarrhea and nausea. Honey is referred as “Yogavahi” since it has a quality of penetrating the deepest tissues of the body. When honey is used with other herbal preparations, it enhances the medicinal qualities of those preparations and also helps them to reach the deeper tissues.

7. Helps regulate blood sugar:
Even though honey contains simple sugars, it is not the same as white sugar or artificial sweeteners. Its exact combination of fructose and glucose actually helps the body regulate blood sugar levels. Some honeys have a low hypoglycemic index, so they don’t jolt your blood sugar.

8. Heals wounds and burns:
Like I mentioned above, we use it in the medical field for wound care. They think that the drying effect of the simple sugars and honey’s anti-bacterial are what causes this to happen.

9. Is probiotic:
Some varieties of honey have large amounts of friendly bacteria. This includes up to 6 species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria. This may be another reason why honey is so good for you.  Remember when your mom said drink some hot tea with honey?

10. Helps improve skin:
Its anti-bacterial qualities are particularly useful for the skin, and, when used with the other ingredients, honey can also be moisturizing and nourishing.  Here’s a simple recipe for a face mask for dry skin.

HONEY FACE MASK FOR DRY SKIN

• 1 teaspoon mashed avocado
• 1 teaspoon plain whole milk yogurt
• 1 teaspoon raw honey

Mix ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Spread the mixture over your face and let it sit for 20-30 minutes before washing it off.

The fats in the avocado and whole milk yogurt are deeply moisturizing to the skin, while the lactic acid in the yogurt smooths your skin, refines pores, and stimulates collagen production.

This mask is rich in B vitamins, vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, copper, manganese and magnesium. It’s basically nutrition for your face!

So you can see why we want to have our own honey or at least support our local honey suppliers.  http://snohobeeco.com/

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