The Amazing Benefits of Honey
When I was younger my Step Grandfather, Granput was a beekeeper. He would carefully tend to his bees every day and then would reward us with jars of his sweet local liquid gold, honey. After Granput passed away the remaining jars of honey were rationed until recently our family enjoyed the last few drops of his honey sweetness. What a wonderful gift of honey he bestowed on our family and to the bees providing them with a thriving hive.
My parents house is never without honey now, a favorite of my dad who has honey on homemade toast (made by my mom) every morning. My house has honey too from local hives from around New England and jars won at races better than any gold medal that one could earn.
What is Honey?
Honey is made by bees with the nectar of flowering plants. Bees carry the nectar back to their hive and store it in a new form in honeycomb (If you want to learn more about the scientific process of how bees make honey check out this could post on LiveScience). The flavor of honey depends on the plants that the nectar was collected from.
Raw honey is best for giving you the most benefits.
The Amazing Benefits of Honey
- Immune System Booster–Many types of honey contain large quantities of probiotics so can help in boosting the immune system.
- Possible Seasonal Allergy Relief–Honey may contain small traces of pollen so when consuming local honey on a regular basis you may improve your systems immune response to allergens.
- Natural Cough Suppressant–especially buckwheat honey
- Blood Sugar Regulation–Honey is easily digestible and does not cause the same sugar spike as regular sugars.
- Awesome Endurance Fuel–Honey has 17 grams of carbohydrates per tablespoon making it great fuel for endurance. All natural energy from honey is an excellent boost to your workout and easy to digest. Can be added to water or eaten during a workout in honey sticks.
Raw honey is great when blended into smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt. Raw honey is also a great cough and cold elixir when served with lemon and water.
* Honey should not be given to infants under 12 months as it can contain the toxin botulism.
* Disclaimer–I am not a medical doctor or a Registered Dietician/Nutritionist. I am a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Integrative Institute of Nutrition.
Do you have any favorite recipes that use raw honey? Do use raw honey to boost your endurance when you workout?
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I am a local honey fanatic– there is a little road side stand just a few miles from my house.. in fact I wrote about it on my most recent blog post. There is also a local Honey tasting room! I’d love to experience that. My favorite is avocado honey… it’s really dark and nutty.
I love honey so much, for all these reasons and more! Great list.
Emily recently posted…How to become a Clean Eating Ninja
Shhhh…don’t tell my kids all this! They love honey and want to use it all the time. I use it in recipes but that’s about it. Great to know it has so many benefits!
misszippy recently posted…International Women’s Day
I didn’t realize how many benefits that honey has. Thanks for sharing!
I have a on/off relationship with honey. But it can be just incredible–particularly local honey!
Susie @ SuzLyfe recently posted…Recalibrating my Post-Marathon Hunger Signals: MealEnders Review + Giveaway
I love honey! Thanks for sharing the benefits, I will have to start using more of it!
Toni @runninglovingliving recently posted…How I Stay #NYTough During Cold & Flu Season
This post reminds me I need to think more about honey as a sweetener!
Ooooh honey is fabulous. I use it whenever I can as a sweetener and even bake with it quite a lot.
heather @ divas run for bling recently posted…Pretty Pintastic Pinterest Party March 6, 2015
I LOVE honey. I use it in baking, oatmeal, smoothies, etc.
AJ @ NutriFitMama recently posted…Peanut Butter Banana Protein Bread Pudding {Vegan, Gluten Free}
I love honey! I always put it in my oatmeal for breakfast. I have tried using it for long runs as fuel but it makes me really thirsty for some reason – I’ve also tried the honey stinger gels.
Patty @ Reach Your Peak recently posted…Things I’m Loving Lately
I never thought to add honey to water. What a great idea. I love that you have been able to enjoy homemade honey. Bee keepers are amazing…and brave lol!
steph recently posted…Fukumoto Friday: Week 16
I do NOT use honey as much as I should! So many amazing benefits! Most recently we had a delicious snack, it was dried apricots with a dollop of goat cheese and a drizzle of honey. YUM!
I love honey, how cool that your family were beekeepers! I have started to use honey in a lot of things including cooking and baking. I’ve never used raw honey during a workout but I do use Honey Stingers for my running fuel.