Honey, Everlasting Superfood

The Martial Art of Wellness
Volume 9 – December 2010

(Archive of Previous BioNews)

DEAR FRIENDS

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

” Never must the physician say, the disease is incurable. By that admission he denies God, our Creator; he doubts Nature with her profuseness of hidden powers and mysteries. “

THIS ISSUE’S TESTIMONIAL:

without using medication

THE MARTIAL ART OF WELLNESS ( Honey, Everlasting Superfood )

I wrote at the beginning of the year that my goal for 2010 was to empower my readers with solutions that would increase your arsenal in the Martial Art of Wellness. Recently I visited the owner of a local business that collects and sells honey products, and has been doing so for 30 years. We have all heard that honey is good for us, but after speaking with her, I was completely re-enkindle about honey. There are certain superfood on earth like apples, aloe vera, how about cabbage, etc., that take the back seat while new stuff is presented as revolutionary. Well let me tell you that of all those dormant superfoods, honey is certainly one of the top six superfood on earth. To end the year with a bang, let me enkindle you about honey.

Honey, Everlasting Superfood

Honey is a viscous food made naturally by bees for their own nourishment. The fascinating process of making honey begins when the bees feast on flowers, collecting the flower nectar in their mouths. This nectar then mixes with special enzymes in the bees’ saliva, an alchemical process that turns it into honey. The bees carry the honey back to the hive, where they deposit it into the cells of the hive’s walls. The fluttering of their wings provides the necessary ventilation to reduce the honey’s moisture content, making it ready for consumption. Honey comes in a range of colors including white, amber, red, brown and almost black. Its flavor and texture vary with the type of flower nectar from which it was made. While the most commonly available honeys are made from clover, alfalfa, heather and acacia flowers, honey can be made from a variety of different flowers, including thyme and lavender.

History

Honey has been used since ancient times both as a food and as medicine. Apiculture, the practice of beekeeping to produce honey, dates back to at least 700 BC. For many centuries, honey was regarded as sacred due to its wonderfully sweet properties as well as its rarity. It was used mainly in religious ceremonies to pay tribute to the gods, as well as to embalm the deceased. Honey was also used for a variety of medicinal and cosmetic purposes. For a long time in history, its use in cooking was reserved only for the wealthy since it was so expensive that only they could afford it. The prestige of honey continued for millennia until the “discovery” of refined sugar made from sugar cane or sugar beets., Once these became more widely available, they were in great demand since they provided a relatively inexpensive form of sweetening. With their growing popularity, honey became displaced by sugar for culinary use.

Reasons Why Honey is a Superfood

Honey may be sweet, but the sweetest thing about this food isn’t just the taste. This health superfood contains powerful micro nutrients that can give your body natural armor against diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. Honey’s floral origins make it an effective all-natural solution for combating seasonal allergy symptoms. Add to this the fact that honey is a natural antimicrobial agent that banishes bacteria, and you’ve got a full scientific picture of what makes this ordinary household sweetener a secret health superfood. There are so many benefits to consuming honey; let me review just three of those benefits next:

Honey and Cancer

According to studies cited by the National Honey Board, this health superfood gets part of its nutritional punch from antioxidants. Antioxidants can help protect you from free radicals, molecules which can cause widespread cellular damage throughout your system. This damage leaves you more vulnerable to major diseases including cancer and Alzheimer’s. Honey helps you battle free radicals by pumping your system full of healthy, protective antioxidants. For maximum antioxidant power, opt for a honey that is dark in color rather than light. The color of honey tells you what kind of floral pollen went into the honey, and the pollen from flowers that produce dark honey contains the most micro nutrients, making dark honey a real health superfood.

Honey and Allergies

In addition to preventing major diseases, this health superfood can provide serious relief from the coughing and sneezing so well known to sufferers of seasonal allergies. Tom Ogren of Allergy Consumer Review points to honey as an effective, natural way to combat allergy symptoms. Honey contains trace amounts of pollen from any and all plants that the bees who made the honey came into contact with. If one of these plants is an allergy trigger for you, when you eat the honey, exposure to the small amounts of your allergen helps you build up an immune defense that can protect you from allergy attacks, and minimize your symptoms. If you’re looking to this health superfood as an allergy cure, locally-produced honey is the best choice, because it is most likely to contain the pollen from your area that sets off your allergy symptoms. Although scientists differ on the optimal dose of honey for allergy relief, try adding a few teaspoons of this health superfood to your daily diet for several months leading up to, and through, the height of allergy season.

Honey and Bacteria

According to bio-medicine.org, honey’s ability to curb the spread of bacteria has led to substantial interest and investigation by the international scientific community. Honey’s antimicrobial properties come from an enzyme in the sweetener which produces low levels of hydrogen peroxide, lending this health superfood a gentle dose of bacteria-fighting power. Because honey is harmless to humans but deadly to bacteria, it’s an effective way to fight infections, and has found success in topical application (to sterilize wounds) and when ingested (to fight oral bacterias that cause gum disease).

There is more to honey …

More than honey, bee products are very generous gifts from nature. It is important to choose all bee products (honey, pollen, royal jelly, and propolis) from conscious beekeepers that protect and take special care of their bees. Let me discuss propolis next:

Bee Propolis

Propolis is a natural resinous product collected from the buds of conifers and used by honeybees to fill cracks in their hives. It is a sticky mass that is greenish brown in color with a slight aromatic odor and is important in the defense of the hive. Scientific names: Propolis balsam, propolis resin, propolis wax. Common names: Propolis, bee glue, hives dross.

Propolis displays strong antimicrobial activity and has been used as a chemotherapeutic agent since ancient times Its use was found in folk medicine as early as 300 B.C. for medical and cosmetic pumoses, as well as an anti-inflammatory drug and wound-healing agent. More recently, it has been reported to possess versatile biologic activity as an antibacterial, antiviral, anti fungicidal, local anesthetic, anti-ulcer, anti-inflammatory, immunostimulant, hypotensive and cytostatic properties in vitro. Proponents of the use of propolis suggest that it stimulates the immune system, thereby raising the body’s natural resistance to intention. It has been advocated for both internal and external use.

Propolis is employed in a variety of topical and systemic preparations. Claims range from the treatment of wounds to improvement of the immune response. A number of in vitro investigations have found a variety of activities to be associated with propolis. Significant studies have shown the anti-inflammatory, anti tumor and antioxidant effects of propolis. These three capacities of the drug may contribute significantly to the medical field in the future. However, more studies are needed to confirm these effects.

Add bee products to your Arsenal for Wellness

Because bee products are concentrated, it has the potential to be medicinal, and for that reason you must use good judgment in selecting your products and provider. For its medicinal properties to manifest, it must be pure, organic and raw. Make certain to diversify your use of bee products: Royal Jelly, Bee Pollen, Buckwheat, Propolis.

A small percentage of people have an allergic reaction to bee pollen. If you have never tried this food before, take it in very small amounts and gradually increase consumption over time.