6. Balance the 5 elements:
Honey has been used in ayurvedic medicine in India for at least 4000 years and is considered to affect all three of the body’s primitive material imbalances positively. It is also said to be useful useful in improving eyesight, weight loss, curing impotence and premature ejaculation, urinary tract disorders, bronchial asthma, diarrhea, and nausea.
Honey is referred as “Yogavahi” since it has a quality of penetrating the deepest tissues of the body. When honey is used with other herbal preparations, it enhances the medicinal qualities of those preparations and also helps them to reach the deeper tissues.
7. Blood sugar regulation:
Even though honey contains simple sugars, it is NOT the same as white sugar or artificial sweeteners. Its exact combination of fructose and glucose actually helps the body regulate blood sugar levels. Some honeys have a low hypoglycemic index, so they don’t jolt your blood sugar.
8. Heal wounds and burns:
External application of honey has been shown to be as effective as conventional treatment with silver sulfadiazine. It is speculated that the drying effect of the simple sugars and honey’s antibacterial nature combine to create this effect.
9. Probiotic:
Some varieties of honey possess large amounts of friendly bacteria. This includes up to 6 species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria. This may explain many of the “mysterious therapeutic properties of honey.”
10. Beautiful skin:
Its anti-bacterial qualities are particularly useful for the skin, and, when used with the other ingredients, can also be moisturizing and nourishing!
Just Apply and leave dry!
11. FOR HANGOVERS:
When you get a hangover from drinking too much alcohol, combat its effects by applying honey remedy. Honey is gentle on the stomach and contains a mix of natural sugars such fructose which is known to speed up the oxidation of alcohol by the liver, acting as a 'sobering' agent. Follow this recipe: 15ml of liquid honey with 80ml of orange juice and 70ml of natural yogurt. Blend them together until smooth.
Under What Circumstances would honey be beneficial?
1. Next time before you go for a workout, take a spoon of honey to enable you to go for the extra mile.
2. If you are feeling low and lethargic in the morning, instead of reaching out for a can of carbonated energy drink, try honey. Spread it on hot toast or replace the sugar in your tea with it for a refreshing surge of energy.
3. If your kids are finding hard to cope with the physical strain from the buzzing activities at school, prepare them a honey drink, some sandwiches with honey, butter and ham to make sure they have enough energy to sustain through the day. And for optimal sleep and recovery cycle at night, give your child a spoonful of honey before sleep on a daily basis. They may not care a bit about the health benefits of honey now, but will be grateful and love what you do for them when they grow up!
Note to Mums!!:
You probably also have heard people warn about honey and infant while learning all the possible health benefits of honey. Honey should not be given to infants under the age of 18 months (to be on the safer side, though some doctors would say 12 months). This is because some honey contains low count of naturally occurring bacterial botulinum spores, which bees collect together with the nectar. These spores cannot be removed during honey processing and cannot be detected by consumers. A baby's immature digestive system is not yet acidic enough to inhibit the toxin from being produced, whereas the digestive system of an older baby and adults is. Hence, there is a potential for these organism to thrive and grow in the intestines of young infant's intestines and produce toxin, possibly causing a serious form of food poisoning known as infant botulism. The typical symptoms of this illness are constipation followed by general weakness and poor feeding ability, and in worst cases, they can lead to sudden death. One aspect that parents tend to forget is that are also processed foods with honey added as an ingredient, such as crackers, cereals, bread, etc. Infants should also be kept safe from these foods.
Pregnant mums!!
And how about a pregnant mom or a nursing mom? Can she safely eat honey?
Yes, it is safe. The digestive tract of adults is able to fend off the botulism spores, render them harmless, and prevent them from growing. Since the spores would be killed in the gastrointestinal tract, no toxin will be produced to endanger the foetus of the pregnant mother. Similarly, for nursing mothers, these spores would not make it into your bloodstream and therefore cannot be present in their milk.
In fact milk with honey is good and safe for pregnant women who are desperate to get a good night's sleep. Carbonated drinks, coffee and other caffeinated drinks should be restricted from their diet as much as possible.