ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Raw Honey: It's the Bees' Knees

Updated on March 15, 2012
Photo courtesy:  Health Benefits of Honey
Photo courtesy: Health Benefits of Honey

Honey has long been referred to as “liquid gold”; and, used as an allegory for luxury, ease and comfort. In fact, if a place is wealthy; the climate warm and sunny; and making a living is easy, that place is often referred to as “a land of milk and honey” symbolizing that it is a paradise to live in.

Honey has long been regarded as a medicinal aid used in a variety of ways. Since ancient times, raw honey has been used to cure all manner of ills. Ancient civilizations used only raw honey because pasteurization had not been invented yet. The honey they used was able to aid in maintaining peak health because it hadn’t had its enzymes or nutritional value partially destroyed by the heating process of pasteurization.

As early as 2500 BC, the Egyptians knew of the miraculous healing powers of honey and had an effective wound salve consisting of grease, honey and fiber. The Assyrians, Greeks, Chinese and Romans also employed it for wounds and diseases of the gut. Not surprisingly, due to its ability to stimulate good health, its effectiveness as a wound salve, and its flexibility of use, honey became the most popular Egyptian drug.

Hippocrates, the father of medicine; and, long believed to be a man of vision prescribed a simple diet favouring honey and vinegar for pain; honey with water for thirst; and, honey with water and other medicinal substances for acute fever. He also believed that pollen ensured good health and alleviated many of the problems associated with old age.

Primitive races used honey as a sweetener and medicinal aid while also recognizing the value of pollen. Britain became known among early Druid writers as “The Isle of Honey” and Welsh legends are full of references to honey and pollen. Mead, a popular drink in old Europe, was made of wine, honey and a tablespoon of pollen.

Honey in its natural, raw, unfiltered state contains 2 predominant natural sugars (fructose and glucose) 11 enzymes, 14 minerals, 21 amino acids, all the vitamins that nutritionists consider necessary for health A,D,K, Ruin, Nicotinic acid, B vitamins, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Antithetic acid, Pyridoxine and Biotin as well as Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C.).

Most honey sold today has been commercially processed. Finding raw, natural, organic, unfiltered honey is quite a challenge today; but, worth the effort for its healing properties. Raw honey granulates rather easily and loses its rich golden liquid state.

Today’s consumers have a passion for liquid honey so most honey available on the market is heat processed and then filtered through a cloth or fine filter paper. However, pasteurizing the honey results in destroying digestion-aiding enzymes and vitamins while removing protein-rich pollen and comb particulates. This ensures that the honey remains liquid for a very long time. When it finally starts to granulate, the crystals begin to form at the bottom of the jar and work their way to the top. This is a definite sign that the honey has been refined and processed whether it is labeled “pure” honey or not.

Photo courtesy:  Carlisle Honey
Photo courtesy: Carlisle Honey

Ways to utilize the health benefits of honey.

BURNS:  Apply liquid honey generously to the burned area and cover with bandage.  Honey cools, removes pain and aids in fast healing without scarring.

BED WETTING:  A teaspoon of honey before bed aids in water retention and honey possesses a calming ability that helps to soothe children’s fears.

HYPERACTIVITY:  Replace all white sugar with raw honey.  White sugar is highly stimulating with no nutritional value whatsoever.  Honey provides the same amount of energy without the “spike” sugar provides and it is a nutritional powerhouse that will help improve the child’s health.

NASAL CONGESTION:  Place a dessertspoon of honey in a basin of hot water.  Mix well, cover your head with a towel and inhale fumes over the basin.  Smells delicious!

FATIGUE:  Dissolve a dessertspoon of honey in warm water for a quick lift in energy. Honey is primarily fructose and glucose; so, it's quickly absorbed by the digestive system; and, honey is a unique natural stabilizer.  Ancient Greek athletes knew the benefits of honey before and after a competition.  The first thing a good Brit does after a shock is reach for tea with a lot of honey in it.

FACIAL DEEP CLEANSER:  Mix honey with an equal quantity of oatmeal, and apply as a face pack. Leave on for half an hour, then wash it off. Great as a deep cleanser for acne and other unwanted blemishes.

POOR DIGESTION:  Mix honey with an equal quantity of apple cider vinegar (with mother) and dilute to taste with water or herbal tea.  If honey is being added to a hot liquid, allow the liquid to cool before adding honey.  The recommended temperature for honey is 95˚ or lower.

ANEMIA:  Honey is the best blood enricher by raising corpuscle content. The darker the honey, the more minerals it contains.

FOOD PRESERVATIVE:  If you replace the sugar in cake and cookie recipes with honey, they'll stay fresher longer and retain their moistness.  Reduce liquids in the mixture by about one-fifth to allow for the moisture present in the in honey.

LONGEVITY:  The most long-lived people in the world are all regular users of honey.  Beekeepers suffer less from cancer and arthritis than any other occupational group worldwide.  Personally, I think it’s the ingestion of the raw honey along with the occasional sting they receive.  There has been some very exciting work done with Bee Venom Therapy.

 

Photo courtesy:  Wikipedia
Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Great video on the amazing wound-healing properties of raw honey.

Benefits of eating raw honey.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)