Honey - The Wonderful Health & Healing properties: by Mark Bunn

Honey has been recognized as a powerful healing remedy for thousands of years.

That’s right, it’s not just an alternative sweetener, it’s one of Nature’s most potent ‘medicines’.

Among the many medicinal properties of honey are,

1. Its Astringency:

In addition to being ‘sweet’, honey has the unique quality of being ‘astringent’ also.

This enables it to ‘draw fluid to it / draw out’ fats/pus etc.

* This is what makes it such a great sweetener for ‘weight management’ etc.

2. It’s Antibacterial, Anti-viral, Anti-Fungal etc:

Honey contains vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. It is popular today as a beauty accessory that nourishes the skin etc.

More than that though, honey is ideal as a wound healer (burns, cuts etc). It acts as a powerful antibacterial agent and helps disinfect wounds. Soldiers throughout history (WW1 etc) have had their wounds treated with honey.

Honey be great for relieving sore throats (anti-inflammatory), allergies (depending on the cause) and it’s free-radical fighting properties are becoming more and more well documented.

3. Its Free-Radical Scavenging Effects / Anti-Oxidant Properties:

Recent research at the University of California, showed a clear link between honey consumption and raised antioxidant levels.

Each day for a month, 25 people ate between four and 10 tablespoons of buckwheat honey, in any natural form (it couldn't be baked or dissolved in tea). Many participants simply ate the honey straight from the spoon.

The result: Antioxidant levels rose significantly.

* Note: Antioxidants are the ‘good guys’ who protect your cells from excessive free radical damage, that plays a lead role in aging, and many diseases.

We now know that honey (depending on the variety), contains as many antioxidants as many fruits. * Generally speaking, the darker the honey, the higher the anti-oxidant levels.

4. Pyhto-Nutrients:

Phyto-nutrients are basically ‘plant nutrients’ - these power-packed nutrients are a key part of Mother Nature's medicine cabinet.

Some phyto-nutrients found in honey have been shown to possess cancer-preventing and anti-tumor properties.

Gribel' NV, Pashinskii VG. [The antitumor properties of honey]. Vopr Onkol 1990;36(6):704-9.

Keast-Butler J. Honey for necrotic malignant breast ulcers. Lancet 1980 Oct 11;2(8198):809.

Some Key Uses:

Natural Sweetener / Sugar Alternative:

Honey is a more stable and nutritious ‘energy’ source than sugar.

Weight Loss:

* Honey is the only sweetener good for weight loss

* Add on toast or with ‘cleansing/de-tox type’ drinks etc (not ‘hot’ ones)

In the ancient science of Maharishi Ayurveda™, honey is often used to counteract the effects of ‘heavy sweets’. E.g. cream based desserts etc - instead of adding jams etc, the astringency of honey, helps offset some of the detrimental effects of the cream - ‘heaviness etc’.

Daily ‘Internal’ Fighter (General Population):

* Honey is good in small doses for optimal immunity, germ resistance etc

Medicine Cabinet ‘Essential’:

* Great to keep on hand for congestion, colds/flu’s, acne etc

* See home remedies below

4. Diabetes & Cholesterol:

By understanding the properties of honey (and early research is starting to back this up), one would expect honey to have a positive effect on cholesterol & blood sugar levels.

In a series of experiments involving healthy subjects and those with either high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes, honey proved itself a healthier sweetener alternative.

Over 15 days, 8 healthy subjects, 6 patients with high cholesterol, 5 patients with high cholesterol and high C-reactive protein (a risk factor for cardiovascular disease), and 7 patients with type 2 diabetes were given solutions containing comparable amounts of sugar, artificial honey or natural honey.

In healthy subjects, while sugar and artificial honey had either negative or very small beneficial effects, natural honey reduced total cholesterol 7%, triglycerides 2%, C-reactive protein 7% and blood sugar 6%, and increased HDL (good) cholesterol 2%.

In patients with high cholesterol, artificial honey increased LDL (bad) cholesterol, while natural honey decreased total cholesterol 8%, LDL cholesterol 11%, and C-reactive protein 75%.

And in patients with type 2 diabetes, natural honey caused a significantly lower rise in blood sugar than either dextrose or sucrose (refined sugars).

Al-Waili NS. Natural honey lowers plasma glucose, C-reactive protein, homocysteine, and blood lipids in healthy, diabetic, and hyperlipidemic subjects: comparison with dextrose and sucrose. J Med Food. 2004 Spring;7(1):100-7.

Best Types:

When choosing a honey, always go for ones that are most natural. Look for ones that,

1. Are from ‘Isolated Unpolluted (‘Natural’) Environments:

* The benefits of honey are greatly affected by the quality of the environment.

* Many commercial brands contain heavy metals, pesticides, antibiotics – AVOID!!!

2. Have ALL/Most Pytochemicals Retained:

* Look for ‘pure, raw honey’, with no pyto-nutrient reducing processing.

3. Are Non-Pasteurised/Heated:

* Many commercial brands are heated (this not only destroys many of it’s medicinal

effects (pyhto-nutrients), but makes it ‘indigestible’ – more below.

4. Are Darker in Colour:

* Dark colour indicates high mineral (and probably anti-oxidant) content

Some good brands (not exhaustive):

Maharishi Honey, Forever Living Products, Yellow Box, Red Gum

* Going ‘organic’ is a good place to start.

CRITICAL HONEY TIP:

'Never ever add honey to 'Boiling Hot' water.

Big in the media these days, is the virtues of adding honey to hot drinks.

Do you ever do that? DON”T!!!!

From the ancient science of Maharishi Ayurveda™, heating honey above 42 degrees centigrade, the all-important 'medicinal' molecular structure of honey is irrevocably changed (for the worse). It actually makes the honey ‘indigestible’ (in a sense...toxic!!!).

It’s what in Maharishi Ayurveda™ is called ‘ama’. Ama is what blocks the ‘channels’ of the body, and is at the basis of all forms of disease.

So if you are ever adding honey to a hot lemon drink or use it instead of sugar as a 'natural' sweetener in your tea, that's fine, but just wait until the water/tea has cooled somewhat...until it's nicely warm (rather than boiling hot), before you add the honey.

A simple test (to know when the temperature is below 42 degrees C. is that you can comfortably hold a sip of the drink in your mouth. i.e it doesn't burn your tongue.

* This is not a commonly known fact in modern science (or even many of the newer natural health sciences - naturopathy etc). However heat/increased temperature, always changes the 'effect' of anything in nature (sometimes for the better, sometimes worse).

E.g. the only difference between milk that causes allergies, congestion and all the other problems people associate it with, and milk that is easily digested and completely nourishing, strengthening and health producing...is heat…i.e. boiling it first.

HONEY HOME REMEDIES:

Here’s a few Maharishi Ayurveda™ home remedy uses of honey, you might find useful.

1. Cold’s / Flu etc (‘congestion’/sniffle stage)

⅛ tspn black pepper

⅛ tspn fresh ginger powder

½ tspn honey

* Avoid honey in ‘dry throat stage’

2. Sore Throat

½ cup ‘warm water’ (not ‘hot’)

2 tspn sesame oil

2 pinch licorice powder

1-2 pinch turmeric

½ tspn honey

* Gargle for 30 secs, rinse mouth with warm water & repeat 2-3 times, 2 or 3 times/day.

3. Digestive Strengthener (Ginger Pickle)

2 tspn ‘grated fresh ginger’

10 drops lemon juice

2 tspn honey

1 pinch of salt - * rock or black (‘pink’) salt best

* Take 10-15 minutes before main meals

4. Blemish-Free Skin (acne remover)

Mix 1/2 cup warm water with 1/4 tspn salt.

Apply directly to blemish(es) with a cotton ball…

maintaining pressure for 1-2 minutes.

Dab honey (cotton swab), on blemish(es) &

leave on for 10-15 minutes. Rinse and pat dry.

Spray face with Rose water Spray (or similar)

* Final Note:

Like all naturally occurring foods, the benefits and exact effects of consuming honey, depend on the quality and exact type of honey consumed (based on the type & quality of the plants/pollen that the bees collect).

Also, ‘processed’ honey can be quite different to ‘raw’ honey – processing often removes many of the important phyto-nutrients available in raw honey. If honey is extensively processed (and heated), the benefits of these phyto-nutrients can be significantly reduced…destroyed!!!

Yours in great natural health & wellness.

Mark

Article written by Mark Bunn - guest speaker & writer of health speakers articles.

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