If Honey Could Talk… (Since it can’t i’ll share some of it’s amazing benefits, internally and externally)
You guys, do you know how good honey is for you?? Honey has some serious secrets and I wish it could talk but since it can’t I’ll do some talking for it. The stuff is pretty amazing, over the years as I have gotten more into clean eating honey and it’s awesome benefits have been something I have slowly learned more about, I now ALWAYS have a bucket of raw local honey in my pantry. I use honey daily at my house it’s been a life changer for me and my family, the stuff is amazing. I’ll let you read the list of why this stuff is awesome but i’ll tell you what since we started to use honey almost daily at our house I have noticed a significant difference in how often my kids get sick. We are a family of 10 so really someone should be sick most of the time but over the last year and a half I am not kidding we have stayed so healthy. Call it the honey or call it the fact that I do cook a ton from scratch (not always) and clean a lot (never enough) but seriously I am giving the honey and homemade yogurt (the recipe is on my blog) most of the credit, there’s no science behind what I am saying obviously it’s just me guessing but it’s just awesome that we haven’t been sick much over the last year and a half and we use a lot of raw local honey so I am giving it some credit. Here’s the skinny on the sticky stuff…
- Honey is antibacterial when used for wound care and is also a natural antibiotic both internally and externally, externally it seals out bacteria and contains enzymes like hydrogen peroxide that can disinfect wounds. It can also help speed up the healing process and help reduce swelling. Put a small amount on a bandage and you’re set to treat burns, scrapes, and cuts. There was a study done in 2005 where a group of people who suffered from wounds and leg ulcers used honey topically and all of the patients in the study except one showed very significant improvement after applying honey to their wounds.
- Honey is an excellent source of all-natural energy it has 17 grams of carbohydrates per tablespoon, its a natural unprocessed sugar that directly enters the bloodstream and can deliver a fast kick of energy it’s great as a short term energy source for workouts especially when the workouts are long and a lot of endurance is involved.
- Honey is a great sore throat reducer it helps soothe the irritation in your throat that causes you to cough.
- Honey is a natural moisturizer it pulls moisture from the air and binds to it so it makes a great skin softener, keep a small bottle in the shower and when you wash your face use a small amount of honey on it as well. Use it on your hands too it will make your skin nice and soft.
- Honey can be used to treat allergies, it may not take away all the symptoms but it should help reduce them. It’s important to use local raw honey to help with the allergy effects because the bee’s use local pollen and by eating the honey it allows you small exposure to the pollen that causes you to flair up helping your body build up defenses towards those allergies.
These are just some of the benefits, I’m telling you it’s awesome you need to try it, make it a staple and part of your everyday cooking and use. It is super important to buy RAW LOCAL honey to get some of these benefits, the little honey bear from Wal-Mart won’t give you near as many benefits as raw local honey that is un-processed. Raw means it wasn’t processed (only heated just enough for it to pour) and local helps with those allergies that are all around you in respect to your location. Just google raw honey in your area and you should get some options of where to buy it around you to pop up.
If you are local to the Boise Idaho area here’s two honey farms I would recommend. Steele farms in Eagle, Idaho and Treasure valley bee’s in Parma, Idaho. I have bought honey from both of these farms and the honey is delicious and raw.
Here are my bread recipes, here and here, I use honey in both of these recipes. Another tip to using it more is try substituting honey in place of sugar when cooking and baking so often you can substitute it in recipes and you will never know. You can even sweeten your smoothies with it instead of using sugar. I’ll give you a recipe for easy amazing honey butter soon that my kids use everyday on toast.
I love the little honey jar that I used in the picture at the top of the post, I don’t have one yet but I will be ordering that one soon, here’s the link, Le Creuset has one on Amazon as well for more than triple the price and this one got great reviews and they look very similar so that’s the one i’ll be getting, I can’t wait to buy it, it will be a great way to store some on my counter instead of all of it in a big bucket in my pantry.
*The information from this post came from an article I read from the Costco Connection magazine (that magazine is amazing, read it sometime), www.diynatural.com and from information I have gathered and stored in my brain over the years.