Honey for Health Healing
Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009
by Yulia Berry
Great Home Remedies
Honey has been utilized for generations as a healthy supplement as well as a healing agent. It makes a great sweetener for coffee, tea and cereal and is a rich source of nutrients that can provide a person with a lot of energy and even aid digestion. It can also be applied to the skin as a healing agent and beauty aid. Let us take a look at the multitude of uses that honey has.
Honey is mostly made up of carbohydrates, sugar and water which is why it is such a potent source of energy. It also contains the following beneficial vitamins and minerals:
- Niacin
- Riboflavin
- Pantothenic acid
- Calcium
- Copper
- Iron
- Magnesium
- Phosphorus
- Potassium
- Zinc
Honey as a healer
The antioxidant capability of honey gives it the power to help us recover from wounds better by boosting our immune system. Ingesting Honeys can also help our digestion. Research has shown that enzymes in honey enhance the growth and viability of bifidobacteria (beneficial bacteria) along the same lines as yogurt. Honey has also been used to soothe sore throats because of its anti-inflammatory properties.
Honey has also been applied to burns and wounds for centuries because of its antiseptic properties. The glucose and fructose content of honey causes the substance to attract water. When applied to a wound, it dries it out and inhibits the growth of bacteria and fungi. On top of that, raw honey also contains an enzyme called glucose oxidase. When this enzyme combines with the attracted water, it produces hydrogen peroxide which serves as a mild antiseptic.
Honey and looking good
There is a good reason that honey can be found as an ingredient in so many beauty products. It contains a lot of vitamins, minerals and amino acids that can make your skin and hair healthy and shiny. Additionally, if you take honey as a supplement over a period of time it will began to give you a radiant glow and even help you look younger by reducing wrinkles. Honey is a natural skin cleanser and moisturizing agent making it a favorite ingredient in many beauty salons. It also helps exfoliate and renew the skin cell, making the skin softer and more youthful looking.
How to take honey as a health supplement
You can take a teaspoon of honey first thing in a morning before breakfast. You may also take Royal Jelly and propolis along with the honey. These are byproducts of honey that are prized by saloons for their ability to give you a healthy glow as well as athletes who benefit from the added energy boost.
How about if you are glucose intolerant? Good info. MarijoResearch studies using humans have shown that honey consumption will result in lower blood sugar levels by as much 60 to 100 mg/dl at 60 and 90 minutes following ingestion of a comparable amount of sucrose. Therefore it is not surprising that the HbA1c levels will be lower by as much as 2 to 4%. This dietary change alone would mandate tremendous differences in the treatment recommendation guidelines followed by most physicians. It would no doubt result in much less medicine being prescribed.
In fact, the more advanced one’s glucose intolerance, or in other words the worse their diabetic condition, the greater the positive impact on blood sugar levels from ingesting honey. Logic would dictate that the addition of honey to the diet, along with the elimination of most sugar and HFCS should be the first recommended treatment of choice for Type 2 Diabetes.
It may surprise most Americans to learn that in many countries around the world that is, in fact, the case. How can this be so and what makes honey so tolerable for those with conditions marked by glucose intolerance? The answer is really quite simple. The balance of sugars and the presence of multiple co-factors in honey serve to make this natural food quite different than table sugar, HFCS or other artificial sweeteners. Honey is an intelligent food, an informed food, a miraculous natural substance!
The physiologic mechanisms responsible for this unique response of the body to honey versus other sugars, HFCS or other starches are not completely understood. We do know that honey is directly converted to liver glycogen and does not raise blood sugar levels as does sucrose or HFCS even though it contains the same simple sugars. This fact alone is indication enough to recommend honey for diabetics.
Excerpted from The Honey Revolution - Restoring the Health of Future Generations, Ron Fessenden, MD, MPH and Mike McInnes, MRPS, WorldClassEmprise, Inc, December 2008.
A Fabulous article and well written.I must include a precaution that you did not mention.Honey should NEVER be given to children under the age of two as it has bacteria most toxic and potentially lethal to this age and sadly many fatalities occur each year.Yes, I do agree with it. Thank you very much for the addition, it is very helpful!you're berry, berry welcome!(smile):paul schroeder
