The Many Health Benefits of Honey

Honey is more than that great tasting, sweet syrup you bought from your local grocery store. It can give you more than that, health benefits and all.

Honey is made by bees. For bees to be able to make honey, they need to swallow, digest and regurgitate nectars. These nectars contain more than 600 compounds making it very valuable to health. Thus honey has been nicknamed, liquid gold—very apt for its benefits.

Honey can be raw or filtered. Raw honey is at its purest form, not filtered nor strained or heated above 115 Fahrenheit. Commercial honey varieties however were processed that many of its beneficial compounds and enzymes are destroyed or lessened.

Today honey is being integrated into daily diets and even in modern medicine. Yes, honey has a medicinal value which has been discovered way back in time in traditional medicine settings. The many health benefits of honey include its anti-bacterial properties which has been known to humankind back 5,000 years ago.

When Sweet isn't Bad News

We've always known that too much sweet may be bad news for your system, say hello to diabetes. Yes, toxic processed sweeteners can be bad but natural and delicious array of natural sweetener from nature has been changing that.

And doctors advice? When on a sweet binge, try to reach for honey or when sweetening your food, have some honey poured in it instead of sugar.

It boosts Immune System. Since honey is loaded with vitamins, enzymes and lot of minerals, it can help boost immune systems' health and keep it awake against possible unhealthy attacks. Conditions such as flu, coughs and sore throats can be kept at bay by honey.

Can Help You Lose Weight. It may sound farfetched to some but it has been proven. You can have warm water with lemon and a dash of honey in the morning to detoxify. And it has been a craze for about some time even among celebrities. It can cleanse your liver; flush out toxins as well as fat from the body.

Heart Risk reduction. Honey mixed with cinnamon can help reduce cholesterol in the heart thus reducing heart disease risk. You can have it every day to stop serious attacks.

Aids in Digestion. Honey has antiseptic properties which can relieve hyperacidity attack in the stomach and can alleviate indigestion problems. It can help aid in gas problems and can soothe stomach in case you overeat.

Keep your Energy High. Honey is filled with sugar, the healthy one of course, which can be a compound that can energize your body and help you get through a tough day. Honey can help you fight fatigue and a good alternative against coffee.

Clears Your Skin. Honey also has some anti-microbial properties. It has been proven to ease pimple problems when applied topically in the face. A honey left in the face overnight can help clear skin out in the morning it can also be of help for skin conditions such as ring worm, psoriasis and eczema since it can relieve dryness and stop inflammation.

Ease Anxiety. Honey can calm the mind and can ease anxiety.

It can slow down aging. Aging and other external factors can deplete enzymes in the body. But honey can help slow down these aging processes by the ingestion of amylase. It can help restore damaged skin and make you look younger.

With these sweet benefits, you may try to look at honey now not only as a food, a sweetener but a health aid as well. So yes, better start packing up those artificial sweeteners and move into this sweeter and healthier treat.

By Photo: Andreas Praefcke (Own work (own photograph)) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons