Here I was on a beautiful morning in the comfort of my home while getting ready for a meeting with a client. My regular morning activities had been done and everything was ready to go. All I needed to do was to take a bath, get dressed and step up for a busy day. What else could go wrong, right? As I stepped into the bathroom, I slipped my footing on the wet, tiled floor and Boom! All hell went loose. I landed face first on the ground before the rest of my body followed suit. By the time I could get some strength and feeling in my legs enough to stand, I already had a bleeding gash just beneath my chin! Nothing I or my spouse did could stop the bleeding even with all the first aid tools on hand. Our best option was to rush down to the nearest hospital which I reaaallyyy was not looking forward to.
Suddenly, like a rush of wind on a rainy day, I remembered I had raw honey in the house and I had been a witness to the use of honey for the treatment of a major surgical wound some years back. Now this got me thinking. If honey could work for that, how much more my bleeding gash? Without further ado, I brought out my honey, applied it to the wound, and covered it up with some bandages and within minutes, the bleeding stopped. Wow! I continued applying honey for some weeks and now, the rest is history. There is little or no sign of my previous ‘accident’! This led me on a journey to find out more about this amazing creamy substance known as honey.
Honey has been used by countless cultures all around the world over the past 2,500 years and can be found as an essential commodity in many homes, mine included. Many do know the name, ‘honey’ but what exactly is honey?
Honey is a sweet, viscous food substance produced by bees and some related insects. Bees produce honey from the sugary secretions of plants (floral nectar) or other insects (aphid honeydew) through regurgitation, enzymatic activity, and water evaporation and they are stored in wax structures called honeycombs. But there are two categories of honey which are the raw, organic honey and the processed honey.
What is raw honey? It’s a pure, unfiltered and unpasteurized sweetener made by bees from the nectar of flowers. Most of the honey consumed today is processed honey that’s been heated and filtered since it was gathered from the hive. Unlike processed honey, raw honey does not get robbed of its incredible nutritional value and health powers because it is unprocessed and locally grown. It contains a number of minerals and vitamins, including vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, and calcium. There are also important antioxidants, such as flavonoids and alkaloids. There are trace amounts of more than 15 amino acids found in raw honey!
But what makes honey so popular? Most likely, it is the ease with which it can be consumed. One can eat it directly, put it on bread like a jam, mix it with juice or any drink instead of sugar, or mix it with warm water, lime juice, cinnamon, and other herbs to make a medicine. I have been able to come up with a healing recipe as a medicine for a respiratory ailment I had been battling with for a while now and I must say, my health has really improved with the use of honey. You can read more about my experience and my healing honey recipe here.
Health benefits
Honey is savored by all due to its taste as well as its impressive health benefits, making it extremely useful and versatile. Its benefits include the following treatments, taken from both traditional and modern medical experts.
· Energy Boost
According to the USDA, honey contains about 64 calories per tablespoon. Therefore, it is used by many people as a source of energy. On the other hand, one tablespoon of sugar will give you about 15 calories. Furthermore, the carbohydrates in it can be easily converted into glucose, since it is very simple for the body to digest this pure and natural substance.
· Healthy Sweetener
It can be used as a substitute for sugar in many foods and drinks. It contains about 69% glucose and fructose, enabling it to be used as a sweetener which is far better for your overall health than your plain white sugar.
· Weight Loss
Though it has more calories than sugar when consumed with warm water, honey helps in digesting the fat stored in your body. Similarly, honey with lemon juice or cinnamon helps in reducing weight.
· Rich in Vitamins & Minerals
It contains a variety of vitamins and minerals. The type of vitamins and minerals and their quantity depends on the type of flowers used for apiculture. Commonly, honey contains vitamin C, calcium, and iron. If you check the vitamin and mineral content in regular sugar from any other source, you will find it completely insignificant.
· Wound Healing
Significant research is being carried out to study its benefits in the treatment of wounds. I have also been a case study due to my experience stated above which led to my research about the healing properties of honey.
Honey possesses antimicrobial properties that help to speed up the healing process by stimulating wound tissues. It deodorizes malodorous wounds, helps in promoting moist wound healing and also to initiate the healing process in dormant wounds.
· Antioxidant Properties
It contains nutra-ceuticals, which are very effective for the removal of free radicals from the body. As a result, our body’s immunity is improved against many conditions, even potentially fatal ones like cancer or heart diseases.
· Improves Athletic Performance
Recent research has shown that honey is an excellent ergogenic aid and helps in boosting the performance of athletes. It is a great way to maintain blood sugar levels, recuperate muscles, and restore glycogen after a workout, as well as regulate the amount of insulin in the body.
These healing powers are not overstated.Not all honey is created equally, so the quality is different. The color of honey is a very useful tool to judge its quality. Light colored honey is more valued than dark colored as the former has a delicate flavor. It becomes darker upon storing and heating. Heating honey leads to drastic changes in its chemical composition. As a result, heating at high temperatures reduces its benefits.
You can buy raw honey at grocery and health food stores but the best places to find raw honey are in the local neighborhood near you. Local farmers markets are also great places to pick it up.
Raw, organic honey is indeed good for health. It is unprocessed, so it retains all the minerals and antioxidants, which is what you want. If you process honey, very often you’re only left with sugar, which is the worst part!
We hope this information has been of great help to you. If you have also tried using honey for health purposes just like I did, please share your experiences with us in the comment section below. It would be great fun to know much more benefits of honey. Cheers!