Health Benefits & Practical Home Remedy of Honey

What do Winnie the Pooh and I both like? Hhmm, did you say "honey"?  Yup, you guessed it right!  If you are familiar with this cute and huggable bear from Hundred Acre Wood, Winnie the Pooh loves to eat honey.  And what's common between us is our fondness for honey.  We both love it!

We commonly know honey to be a natural sweetener.  It’s an excellent substitute for the common refined white sugar in our food and drinks.  But more than just a sweetener, honey gives us a wealth of health benefits that I really, really like.  Some of honey’s health benefits and uses are:

• It promotes good health, vitality, strength, stamina, growth, healing, and resistance to disease and stress reduction.
• Feeds, rests and rejuvenates the liver
• Excellent source of vitamins like vitamin A (Carotene), B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B8 (Biotin), B12 (Folic Acid), C (Ascorbic Acid), and E, and minerals like Potassium, Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Iron, Sulfur, Copper and Zinc, as well as various amino acids and enzymes that are essential to our health
• Has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal substance
• Excellent remedy for cough, colds, and other respiratory ailments
• A natural antiseptic; contains anti-microbial agents. Primary treatment for burns, ulcerated wounds, stomach ulcers, diarrhea, constipation, asthma attacks, fatigue, insomnia, anemia, and other digestive disorders
• Good source of antioxidants - plays a big role in the prevention of cancer as well as heart disease
• Has some positive effects in regulating and facilitating blood formation
• Acts as a facial cleanser and quickly remedies acne and pimples
• Makes a great moisturizing pack and lotion for dry patches of skin

At home, I always keep a stock of honey.  And I prefer the locally-harvested raw honey.  We basically use it almost everyday for several purposes.

-        As Substitute - A great substitute for pancake corn syrup and refined white sugar for some beverages and desserts, just as it’s commonly used.

-        For Immune System Booster - 1Tbsp. of honey mixed with 1mL of bee propolis extract in a glass of water to be taken on an empty stomach before breakfast as a daily health supplement and to strengthen the immune system.  My kids and I call it “honey juice”.

-        For Constipation - Mix 1Tbsp. of honey cider vinegar and 1Tbsp. of honey in a glass of water and give it first thing in the morning, about 30 minutes before breakfast.

-         For Hypertension - Take about 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic and drink 1Tbsp. of honey cider vinegar and 1Tbsp. of honey in a glass of water in the morning and/or before bedtime.

-         For Cough, Cold, Flu and Fever – Take honey with very small hourly doses of bee propolis at the first sign of cough, cold, flu or fever. Take it liberally with lots of liquids and rest.

Like I mentioned earlier, honey has lots of uses, and so far, we’ve been using it at home for the reasons I just mentioned.  However, I’m willing to try honey (or experiment on it) for other purposes, should the need arise.  I like beauty and personal care products, too, that have honey as one of the active ingredients.  By the way, I didn’t just invent the “concoctions” above. (Haha!)  I learned them from a local honeybee keeper, and did my own research, too.  I’m just so happy to be residing in a provincial city near the cool and clean highlands of another province where there’s a wonderful honeybee farm.  So whenever I (or with my family) get the chance to drive all the way to this place, I try to stop by to this honeybee farm.

I also mentioned earlier that I prefer to buy raw, unprocessed honey that is harvested from local honeybee farms, unheated and unfiltered, because all the beneficial nutrients or enzymes that raw honey contains are destroyed  and eliminated during the heating and filtering process, which are common to commercially manufactured and distributed honey that we can find on supermarket shelves.  So I get our stocks directly from a local honeybee farm or from an organic store nearby (yes, thank God there’s one here already near our place!), or from my mother’s province, Marinduque, whenever I get to visit (and when there’s harvest, of course). 

Winnie the Pooh may like honey because of its sweet and yummy taste.  And I like it, too, not just for the taste but, more importantly, for the abundant health benefits it gives.  So if you’re not diabetic, you might want to consider switching to this healthy sweetener and natural remedy for illnesses.  But, you know what, even if you’re diabetic, honey is still a better alternative to refined white sugar than artificial sweeteners, but it has to be taken in moderation, of course.

"Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off." - Proverbs 24: 13-14

Some Helpful Sites:
Health Benefits of Honey
The Healthy Benefits of Locally-Grown Raw Honey
How to Tell If Honey is Raw