Sunday, October 26, 2014

Bee Healthy With Honey



Bee Healthy With Honey


                Raw honey is perhaps one of the best natural sweeteners that we can make part of our eating habits.  Although there is some debate about the appropriateness of honey due to it being a sugar source and high in calories (roughly 60 calories per teaspoon), there are potential benefits across much of the wellness continuum that can be observed with its consumption.

1)      Contains antioxidants—As we have seen throughout the blogging calendar this year, antioxidants are critical to consume to ensure that we fight toxins and maintain our health.

2)      Could be used as an anti-bacterial agent—Bees actually aid in hydrogen peroxide manufacturing when they are making honey due to an enzyme that they produce. Theoretically, honey could be used as a cleansing agent in the form of something similar to soap.

3)      Cough suppressant—Honey can bring soothing to a cough similar to that experienced by cough drops. It could be ingested raw or it could be made as part of a liquid. Honey can work great to use with children as the sweetness of the taste helps, not to mention, there are no chemicals or other unnatural preservatives as might be the case with other manmade cough suppressants.

4)      Blood sugar regulation—Honey can be used as a natural means to regulate blood sugar. One thing to remember when using it as a potential tool for blood sugar regulation is that different types of honey have different glycemic index readings depending from which source the honey was made.

5)      Skin aesthetics and health—There are properties associated with honey that can be attributed to improving the aesthetics of our skin as well as providing it nourishment for overall skin health. It is also a natural moisturizer.

Honey has many faces that can serve us in many different ways beyond the scope of just making our foods taste better. As you can see here, honey provides us balance, beauty, and bolstered immunity all rolled into one.

Mark Maule
Adjunct Instructor, Health and Wellness

                                                            

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