You likely know by now that most sugars (especially high fructose corn syrup) are extremely unhealthy. Especially if you want to lose weight, tackle high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, arthritis and other diseases.
The fact is, artificial sweeteners are not any better. Studies have shown that diet sodas are just as bad for high blood pressure as sugary sodas and may indeed be worse for obesity.
But there is one sweetener that’s loaded with nutrition and antioxidant benefits.
Using it has been proven to help lower blood pressure, manage cholesterol, improve arthritis and even balance blood sugar for type 2 diabetes.
No sweetener comes close to having the health benefits of honey.
It can be consumed in drinks, foods or deserts. Or, it can be applied to the skin or added to your bath water.
Honey has been used for centuries as a natural antibacterial and antifungal medicine. How many of us had our mothers bring warm milk or hot lemon water with honey in it when we had the flu as kids?
It has also been used traditionally as antibacterial protection on open wounds. It can also be put on the face to heal wrinkles and bring out a healthy shine in skin.
Sugars and high fructose corn syrup are what we call empty calories. They are sweet, but include no nutrition whatsoever. Honey on the other hand, is loaded with nutrition, vitamins and minerals. Its antioxidant qualities are well known to enhance overall health, remove cholesterol buildup and even improve type 2 diabetes.
Honey seems to interact differently with the body than regular sugars; moderate consumption of honey doesn’t have to cause weight increase. Some studies have even indicated that consuming honey will help you lose weight.
One of the most detailed studies on honey for high blood pressure involved a study on rats. The scientist learned that the blood pressure of rats who supplemented with honey dropped while the comparison group stayed the same.
The wonderful thing to take away from this is that we don’t have to deprive ourselves of the sweet things in life. Just make small adjustments to choose honey over sugar and you’ll not only be avoiding the negative effects, you’ll also reap the benefits.
Want to learn more about tackling different diseases naturally? Check out:
Three-step approach that reverses type 2 diabetes in 21 days….
Step-by-step plan to cure arthritis in three weeks…
Three simple exercises that drop your blood pressure below 120/80 as soon as today…
But first, what do you think about today’s subject? Do you have a favorite honey recipe to share? Please leave your comments below.
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It is so nice to actually read that “Honey Is So Good For Us”, the fact that it is manufactured by those magnificent little creatures is nothing short of miraculous. When one considers the amount of work a Bee does, the tremendous distance’s they travel to obtain the nectar from which they make the honey is extraordinary. Then the Human Species rob their hives and that is in reality, a crime of enormous proportions and they allow us to keep on keeping on and are absolutely forgiving. Apart from this we all must take care with pesticides and other chemicals that farmers spray to reduce pest infestation as that too is also taking a toll on Bee Populations around the world, not only in so called civilised society’s but in native areas too. Bee’s are falling fowl of pesticide drift that crosses borders and is not monitored by as many authorities as it should/could be. One word of caution where Honey Is Concerned, not all honey is that good, if you can buy from a local Apiarist (Bee Keeper) and it is uncontaminated then that is best. However if you buy cheap honey from a supermarket you stand a chance of buying sub standard honey that has not only been heated, even boiled but adulterated with all manner of additives. It is common practice among those who are in this industry to add Molasses to Light Coloured honey and Glycerine to Dark Coloured honey to make it look better for marketing purposes. Of course the “Large Honey Industry Supporters” will deny anything of this nature for obvious reasons, but I have it on good authority from an Apiarist Friend and an insider, who works for one of our country’s biggest producers/marketers. So natural is always best, other wise you may be buying trouble that you are trying to avoid, be aware and demand that your Local Supermarket buys from Reputable Dealers or Supports Local Industry. A lovely big spoonful of honey makes the medicine go down and it is even good on breakfast porridge, added with butter to carrots or even cabbage and mixed into a nice curry just before serving and it gives a lovely rounded flavour to most dishes….I can’t resist a tea spoon or two of honey in my Peppermint Tea….?
Big problem finding unadulterated honey, though.
Honey is a brilliant substance. Proper Manuka honey fights gastric irritations, but does anyone know what its effects are on blood sugar levels if you are a food controlled type 2 diabetic?
What do you mean by unadulterated? We have several local farms that provide raw honey here.
Well done as usual.
so that's why we thrived on honey cake when I was a kid.
There is in fact a much healthier natural sweetener with no contra-indications, no age limit and no complications: date honey. In small amounts it can even be used by diabetics.
What is the word on Stevia as a healthy sweetener?
Thanks Jodi. My only challenge honey is always mixed with things like sugar, etc. I cannot trust honey in Uganda.
Hellen
It must be unpasteurised to have any effect.Ihave used it for years.Wounds, bites, stings, burns, and it will also stop gangrene, regenerate the flesh.Whilst cleaning the area.It is also good for the digestion.I could go on , and on………
I have been using honey in my coffee for years. Don’t really want to drink coffee without it. Its very hard to find local honey in our area. In the past few years, most of the honey bees have been killed out by mites. I remember when I was a kid growing up on a farm in Southern Virginia, we had a spring where we used to get water before we had a well. A gentleman who lived in a house on our property would watch bees drinking water at the spring and then follow them back to trees in which they had made their hives. Then he and my Daddy would go and ‘rob’ the bee trees and steal the honey. That honey was very dark, almost black, and so good! That is the standard by which I have judged all honey since then! I would love to have some of that kind of wild, raw honey right now. The darker, the better!
Honey is ~ 55% Fructose and contains only trace amounts of vitamins. You can use it topically, but don’t fool yourself about eating it.
I have not had sugar for years. Just honey. This morning i went to the dentist and had a back molar removed.My travels with dentists over decades has been horrendous.Good teeth accidently removed due to x.ray mix up. A denture costing the earth to cover gap left by said good teeth, did not fit, and damaged the tooth taken out today. The dentist then asked me if I used sugar and I said no. I said I only had honey and he said honey was as bad as sugar. Sweeterners were better. I said, “but they are terrible things.” He said he knew that but even so, far better than honey. So today you reaffirmed the value of honey and I shall ignore my dentist. I rinse my mouth out as my husband does if we eat anything sweet. We have porridge oats each mony- with sime honey. How can that be bad for us?. But thank you for your article today. I am now waiting for the numbness to subside ! ! Grace O. U.K.
Honey is wonderful if it is raw. Another magic, highly beneficial sugar is Xylitol. This is a glyconutrient that comes from birch tree sap. According to my dentist, who promotes xylitol, you can remove all tooth decay and gum disease by brushing with xylitol 3 times a day for 3 weeks. It covers your teeth with a solution that stops bacteria for getting to the tooth. It has the same effect at a cellular level with other glyconutrients. But you must only get birch tree xylitol and ensure the source is not China.
Most health-care providers advise diabetics to avoid sweeteners, because they cause spikes in blood-sugar levels. However, some studies indicate that honey, WHEN USED IN MODERATION, can be a healthful alternative to sugar. Honey is a lot sweeter than sugar so you don’t need to use as much of it. Plus, it gives your food a wonderful rich taste! Dr. Maria Collazo-Clavell of the Mayo Clinic advises that honey has more carbohydrates and calories than table sugar and counts as a carbohydrate in a diabetic eating plan.
Local village bees and local village honey…………lovely 4 euro a half ltr
Hmm .. I must admit that I am now even MORE confused about HONEY after reading all these Comments.. 🙂
Cure diabetes (type 2) by eating rolled oats, eating olive leaves (just chew them) and drink plenty of filtered water. And no white produce such as white sugar or pasta or rice or bread. New potatoes are excellent as they get the pancreas working to release enzymes to turn foods into glucose so the body absorbs sugars the way it should. A glyconutrient complex is also excellent for health, feeding life at a cellular, which is key to good health. Best place for glyconutrients is a company called Mannatech.
This is great news about the honey and I really didn’t know about all the benefits, but I am too also very confused after reading the coments, now I don’t know what to believe.
A very very fantastic artical, only if it is ok for a diabetic to consume moderately
Here is a honey recipe…
Goji Berry Truffles.
Ingredients:
1/2 tsp Avena's Coconut Oil (liquefied).
1/2 tsp Avena's Pristine Sea Salt.
1/2 cup honey (raw – unpasteurized).
7 tbs Avena's Raw Cacao Powder.
2 Tsp Lucuma Powder.
3/4 cup Avena's Goji Berries.
2/3 cup Buckwheat (soaked, sprouted and dehydrated).
3/4 cup oat Flour or raw dried coconut powder.
Directions:
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Form into ball and drop on parchment paper.
Chill and serve. I love to add chopped walnuts and dried apricots to this recipe to change the flavor!
For the raw ingredients and more recipes, go to: http://www.ProvenHealthSolutions.net.
Visit our blog… http://www.LeadingEdgeHealth.org
Questions… [email protected]
Thanks for the reminder of the benefits of honey.
Thanks Jodi. Indeed honey is a good sweetener and is healthy provided it is a pure honey and not added with syrup from sugar.
We live in New Zealand which produces Manuka Honey (actually the bees produce it)and we eat always have honey on the table. We also have it mixed with appple cider vinegar which is good for health. My favourite way of having honey is to spread it over cinnamon spread on toast -good for energy.
Someone was asking about Stevia. Stevia is one of the best sweetners ever. Very good for diabetics due is its low glymic content. Stevia does not leave after taste after you consume it.
Daisy
I was told, because of my diabetes, not to use unpasteurized honey because of the chance of infection, which diabetics cannot fight off.
So, what is the “unadulterated” truth, with all of these contradictory statements above?
I believe another worthwhile sugar is genuine maple syrup which like honey is not empty calories.
As I was saying, stevia is a plant and I only need a leaf of this plant to
drop in my tea. It is enough. Thre is no side effect, weight gain etc.
Honey may have good value but there is no way to control a person using it and the effects of over use is diabetis. Travel to the West Indies and see
the results of honey, blindness, amputation of limbs. My family are destroyed because of sugar, pop, and honey.
Is it stevia?
Can someone please tell me if xylotol is safe to consume? It is being added to chewing gum, toothpaste and dental tape and dental floss as an anti-caries agent. Dentists are saying it is safe even for babies. Is this true?
Raw honey is great, but according to Ayurvedic medicine–which is 5,000 + years old,
honey becomes toxic when heated. Put in search engine: Ayurveda + heated honey.
Xylitol is safeunless you are a type 2 diabetic and stevia is a far better sweetener than honey, especially for diabetics or anyone with inflammatory condition, especially of bowel as indeed, honey is 55% fructose. Manuka honey is my exception for people with bowel problems as 15% UMF (unique manuka honey) and over is helpful against H. pylori and other infections, especially if mixed with coconut oil.
Xylitol binds on to the receptor sites tht bacteria use to attach to your cells, similar to D Mannose. However it is not suitable for diabetics as alcohol just as problematic as sugar for diabetics.
As a side note, asked my nurse to pick up manuka honey with high UMF while she was in New Zealand. Ironically, she was only able to find low grade as all the high grade was apparently reserved for export. honeyworldz.com had much higher UMF manuka honey available than stores in New Zealand!
Or good ol fashion Honey.
I am one of nine children, the oldest is 90 yrs. We grew up with honey all our younger lives and were relatively healthy, so it must have helped. More importantly, has no one heard of Dr. D.C.Jarvis who wrote 2 books, “Folk Medicine” & “Arthritis & Folk Medicine” back in 1958 with 20 reprints by 1960 and a half million in hard cover.(@$2.95). A best seller. He expounded on his studies of natural cures in rural Vermont and the most important is Honey along with apple cider vinegar, iodine, kelp, plus a few more. The cures for animals and humans alike were astronomical, including many of things mentioned previously herein. There are too many benefits to mention here, but one example is Strep throat, my wife had same some years ago and medical cures were not working too well. I remembered reading in the Folk Med. book about Honey & Apple Cider Vin. in water, sipped every ten minutes would effect a cure in six hours and it worked. (No lie)
It is best if Honey is produced in the area where you live as the pollen the bees “use” relates to geographical conditions. Additionally, it should be unpasteurized as the heat is destructive to the good natural elements. Bodies found in the tombs that were embalmed in honey had not deteriorated.
Don Foell, Waterloo, Ont. Canada.
What about Xylitol?
My Dad is 95. He usually adds a tablespoon of honey for his Sri lankan tea. He doesn’t have any hart diseases or bad Cholesterol.
Great! I too will switch to honey instead of ordinary sugar.
Love the Bees……..
I love honey mixed with cinnamon
I am also now confused about using honey hesitating of whether I should continue using it or not but I have never experienced any problem with it, I use to take it with cinnamon as tea which can result in many health benefits when taken for a period of time