It offers many health benefits that are much better and more significant than refined artificial sugar or any other synthetic sweetener. Despite this, however, care should be taken when it comes to eating honey since it also contains glucose and fructose just like refined sugar. Both honey and sugar can have negative impacts on blood sugar levels in your blood and should, therefore, be avoided by people struggling with keeping their blood sugar levels within the required healthy range.

Therefore, here are ten facts and benefits about honey that probably you haven’t know:

1. Treatment of the hair and skin

Honey is widely employed during treatment of the skin and is known to work wonders with burns, cuts, and infections on the skin. When mixed with milk and consumed regularly, it controls the aging process by getting rid of wrinkles, skin cells that are dead, etc. It also contains humectant compounds which help in moisturizing your skin. Mixing honey with lemon helps to improve the glow of your skin and for treating acne.

It also contains vital nutrients like minerals and vitamins which are excellent for dealing with hair issues like dandruff, hair fall, broken hair, and unhealthy hair.

2. Utilized for weight loss

It contributes to helping users to lose excess weight naturally by enhancing metabolism processes. When used in combination with lime, green tea, cinnamon, and water, precious bee nectar helps to control unwarranted weight gain.

3. Sound health

Honey is considered a good source of nutrients that are vital for the overall health of the human body. However, caution should be exercised to avoid side effects as a result of excessive use.

4. Energy food

It is an energy booster, thanks to the presence of fructose and glucose. These sugar molecules are not combined – as they are in refined white sugar – but are separated. This makes the glucose to act as an instant energy resource.

5. Digestion aid

It reduces gas, bloating, and constipation. It is also very rich in friendly bacteria which aids digestion and reduces allergies. Your immune system can also be enhanced when you use honey.

6. Helps kids to sleep peacefully

Several studies have shown that honey improves the quality of sleep in kids. As observed by parents during the tests, it reduced coughing spasms in children during the night, thereby helping them to sleep peacefully.

7. Precious since mid age

Honey was considered a high-valued commodity by the Germans as far back as the 11th century. It was so precious that the aristocrats in Germany forced poor peasants to pay them using honey as currency. It was in high demand back then since it was the right ingredient to making beers to taste sweet.

8. Boost your memory

It contains memory-boosting antioxidants.

9. Good for your eyes

Is known to have a relaxing and soothing effect on the eyes.

10. It can kill off some internal parasites

Several parasites always find their way into the human body and cause ill health. When honey is mixed equally with water and vinegar and then consumed, the parasites are killed off immediately.

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Without much ado, let’s dive in:

1. “Honey-carrying”

Honey bees are scientifically known as Apis mellifer, and this stands for ‘honey-carrying, bee.’ They are excellent pollinators of flowers, vegetables, and fruits, thus helping plants to grow and environmentally friendly as well. They do this by transferring fertilizing powder or pollen between the male and female parts of flowers and this transmission helps plants to grow their seeds and fruits at the end of the day.

2. Living in a colony

Honeybees live in colonies or hives and are divided into three types:

• Drones – These are male honeybees whose sole purpose is to mate with the queen. Hundreds live in each colony or hive during spring and summer seasons. But when winter arrives, the hive enters survival mode and the drones are driven out.
• Workers – They are females and their major purpose is to search for nectar and pollen from flowers. They are also responsible for building and protecting the beehive. Workers can also use their wings to circulate and clean the air. They are the ones that most people see outside the hive flying up and down.
• Queen – This is the bee that is in charge of the hive and her only job is to lay eggs. These eggs are the next generation of bees in the hive. The queen is also known to emit chemicals that direct the activities of the other honeybees.

3. Making the new queen

When the queen bee dies, workers create a new queen. They do this by picking out a young larva and feed it with what is referred to as ‘royal jelly’ which is special food. Royal jelly helps the larva to mature into a fertile or productive queen.

4. Magic food – superfood

Honey, that sweet substance produced by those amazing insects contains several nutrients which are vital for sustaining life. These are vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and water. What makes honey unique among other foods is that it is the only food that naturally contains an antioxidant that is known to improve brain function and is known as ‘pinocembrin.’

5. Speedy creatures

They fly at impressive speeds of about 25 kilometers per hour and their wings beat the air approximately 200 times per second, which is quite astounding.

6. The queen bee

The busiest time of the year for the queen is during summer and that is when she lays about 2,500 eggs every day. She can live for about five years.

7. A short life of working bees

The worker honeybee can only live for about five to six weeks during which she produces a small dollop of honey, about one-twelfth of a teaspoon.

8. Excellent sense of smell

The honey bee has a remarkable sense of smell, thanks to the 170 odorant receptors they possess. They use these odorant receptors for communication within the hive as well as to identify or distinguish different types of flowers when foraging for food. They also possess ten receptors for taste.

9. Dangerous “women”

Only female honeybees sting; the males don’t.

10. The royal jelly food

The only difference between queen bees and worker bees is that the latter receives additional rations of ‘royal jelly’ but they share the same genes.

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The honey-making process begins with the bees visiting flowers, especially when spring arrives. Bees sit on flowers and collect nectar – that is the sweet juice that is produced by different blooming flowers. When the need to gather nectar arises, bees tend to remain as close as possible to the hive and are known not to exceed a radius of 4 miles.

Bees gather nectar by making use of their tongue and creating a sucking action. This way, all the nectar in the flower is extracted and mixed with an enzyme that is secreted by glands in the mouth of the bees. After this process, the mixture is stored in the stomach of the honeybee. In case you don’t know, bees have two stomachs; the honey stomach and the food stomach.

As soon as the honey stomach is filled to its brim with the nectar mixture, the bees fly back to the beehive where they transfer the nectar mixture to other bees – i.e. the worker bees – via their mouths.

The worker bees continue the process of making honey by chewing the nectar mixture collected from the foragers for about thirty minutes. At the end of thirty minutes, a worker bee that has already chewed the nectar mixture passes it to another worker bee. So the chewing goes ahead, and the exchange from one worker bee to another continues until the nectar turns into thick and uniform syrup known as honey.

As soon as this transformation is made, the bees turn their attention to storing the honey. Honeycomb cells – which in reality are not cells – are jars created using wax. This is where all the newly produced honey is stored.

The honey is still wet when stored in the honeycomb; the bees get to work drying their cache of honey using their wings. This process also enhances the quality of the honey by making it stickier. Once the honey becomes dry and ready, the honeybees seal off the honeycomb cells or jars using a lid created with wax. Bees do this to protect the honey from contaminants in the air.

This task is tedious, and one would expect that it would produce a considerable amount of honey. But the opposite is the case as about eight honeybees can only provide just one teaspoon of honey throughout their lifetimes.

Bees make honey so that food can be readily accessible by everyone in the colony. The location also has an impact on how much honey is produced; in the southern part of the United States, a hive can survive on about 40 pounds of honey. But in the northern part of the country, honey that weighs up to 90 pounds is needed for the colony to survive in winter.

The post How Bees Make Honey? And Why? appeared first on Food Converter.

These are the benefits of eating raw honeycomb

• Protection of the liver – Honeycombs contains antioxidants that protect the liver. When a study was conducted to find out how active beeswax alcohol is when consumed by people with fatty liver, it was observed that honeycombs helped to improve the symptoms of fatty liver and normalize liver function.
• Glucose metabolism – The body relies heavily on glucose for energy which makes it vital for sound health. The waxy alcohols present in honeycombs promote glucose metabolism and also help to bring down insulin levels. They also reduce the markers for insulin resistance since the latter can lead to type 2 diabetes and other related health issues.
• Good cholesterol – The fatty alcohols found in honeycombs help in lowering bad cholesterol significantly and raising the amounts of good cholesterol in the body.

You can eat raw and natural honeycomb in several ways each of which is outlined below:

• Honeycombs are natural products, and you can eat them using your fingers. Children and adults alike always enjoy licking honey that oozes from their fingers.
• You can eat raw honey by serving it up with seasonal fruits on a platter. You can even consume this delicious natural product with homemade, organic or gourmet cheeses.
• You can also eat raw honey by merely spreading it on an English muffin, fresh bread or warm buttered toast.
• Simply bite in the honeycomb and enjoy chewing it, just like a chewing gum. You can swallow it or simply spit out what stays in our mouth at the end.
• Variety, they say, is the spice of life. There is nothing wrong with topping your fresh salad with several chunks of raw honeycomb along with goat’s cheese.
• You can also stir raw honeycomb into vanilla ice-cream as it makes a tasty dessert.
• Breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day, and you can liven it up by stirring chopped up raw honeycombs into Greek yogurt and blend them.
• Eating fresh, mashed honeycomb with runny brie, and a baguette is also another delicacy you should try.

A lot of people make the mistake of storing raw honeycomb in the refrigerator. But the best way to preserve the taste, as well as its antibiotic properties, is to store it at room temperature. Honeycomb is nearly always one hundred percent edible, though it depends on how long you store it.

In conclusion, if you were averse to eating raw and natural honey, the benefits outlined above, as well as the numerous suggestions about how you can enjoy this nutrient-rich gift of nature, should be more than enough to win you over. You can – and indeed, you should – enjoy the health-giving goodness of raw honeycomb at any time it pleases your fancy.

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Bee pollen is the composition of different substances such as honey, flower pollen, wax, nectar, enzymes, and bee secretions. Honeybees collect this substance from plants and carry it to the beehive, where it is put in storage to be used as food for the honeybee family or colony.

Propolis is a resinous material manufactured by bees from buds of cone-bearing and poplar trees. Honeybees use propolis to construct their hives. There are various commercial applications of propolis such as medicines, health therapies, cosmetics etc.

Royal Jelly is a glutinous or jelly-like substance produced by honeybees. It is used to feed the queen bees. The primary benefit of royal jelly is its usage in dietary supplements, where it is used to treat different chronic diseases and physical ailments.

Let’s now discuss the similarities and differences between these three bee products!

Similarities and Differences

Bee pollen, propolis and royal jelly are all ingredients derived from bees that are often marketed as traditional medicines. While the three come from hives, they are produced and used in different ways by bees. Affirmations about their effects on human health are controversial and research on their effectiveness is inconsistent.

Bee pollen is known as “Food of Life” because it contains eighteen different amino acids and essential vitamins. It also contains copper, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorous, carbohydrates, fatty acids, and proteins. Likewise, the composition of royal jelly contains an internal membrane protein known as acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that enables the nervous system to transmit important messages from one nerve cell to another. One similarity between bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis is that they all contain a wide variety of essential compounds such as vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, and proteins.

Royal jelly and propolis have indisputable benefits for a sore throat and cough. The first one produces more of a balsamic function, and the second one is more antibacterial, ensuring that it does not go any further. In the respiratory tract, it is a natural and anti-flu antibiotic thanks to its anti-inflammatory and anesthetic action. While Royal jelly and pollen is best taken in the morning, the propolis can be taken at any time of the day, and several times if necessary.

Bee pollen is promoted as a nutritional supplement that is said to improve athletic endurance. It is also used to treat a variety of conditions, including constipation, aging and wound healing. Propolis is marketed as an anti-inflammatory with anti-tumor and anti-oxidant characteristics. Royal jelly has been studied for many of the same uses as bee pollen and propolis and is also considered capable of effecting lipid profiles and has neurological and estrogen effects.

Claims for nutritional benefits of bee pollen have not been verified by scientific research. Royal jelly has been observed to have some of its purported affects, but it has not been vigorously tested in clinical trials. Propolis has presented antimicrobial and anti-tumor properties in laboratory tests but has not been subjected to large-scale clinical trials.

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There are many natural sugar supplements to choose from, but they are not all free from calories, they also vary in terms of their impact on your blood sugar levels. The major difference in the natural sugar substitute is whether they are nutritive sweeteners or non-nutritive sweeteners, says Melissa Mullins, who is a certified diabetes educator. Non-nutritive sweeteners actually provide no calories and no changes in blood glucose levels, which is definitely perfect for people who suffer from diabetes. Let’s take a look at a few options to consider when it comes to natural sugar supplements.

Honey

One of the best choices available in terms of natural sugar supplements is raw honey. When buying this, you really want to ensure it says “raw…” on the label as this is the healthiest kind. It’s always advisable to purchase it from a local source. Honey is quite amazing because it’s not just a kind of sugar, it’s actually also a food. Honey contains a decent amount of amino acids, antioxidants and antimicrobial elements that to a large extent, support the health of an individual. However, you need to be cautious to not take in too much, just one spoonful a day is an ideal and healthy amount adequate for most people.

Stevia

This is another option that is worthy of consideration; even on a more regular basis, especially if you are one with blood sugar issues, a plus size or have diabetes. It is worthy of mention that you should stick with full, green leaf stevia as there are many types of stevia which include chocolate stevia, vanilla stevia etc. Make sure you choose the most organic type available. One of the fascinating things about stevia is that there is no sugar involved at all and this positions it as one of, if not the best natural sugar supplements or substitutes around. Hence if you suffer from sugar related conditions like diabetes or plan to shed some body weight, this is undeniably your best bet.

Coconut sugar

Coconut sugar is largely organic unrefined sugar and another perfect natural supplement for it. Bakers will find this option very handy. If you are looking for an alternative to one cup of sugar for your baking needs, one cup of coconut sugar will be suitable and should fit into your recipe like a glove. Coconut sugar is gotten from coconut juice and is rich in potassium, electrolytes, and nutrients, so if you are looking for a sweetener that is nontoxic, non-genetically modified with good digestibility, it is your go-to option.

Maple syrup

Undeniably a brilliant natural sugar supplement, maple syrup has saved the lives of our grandparents; well not that they actively plan to live another 50years though, it has surely ensured that they rarely visit the doctor for sugar related problems. Maple syrup has been proven to be a fantastic sweetener and an ideal ingredient for making things like pancakes, waffles and other recipes where an earthy flavor is required. Maple syrup has got so many benefits apart from being a healthy sugar substitute. It is incredibly rich in antioxidants compared to refined white sugar.

Agave nectar

Here is yet another natural sugar supplement. ‘Ah-gah-vay’ (that’s the way it’s pronounced) nectar is considered a traditional sweetener that has been used for hundreds of years. It is quite far from what you are used to buying in gleaming plastic containers from your grocery store. The harvested plant is first crushed, with the juice extracted. Where natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup sweeten and give your meal a distinct flavor, agave nectar simply brings a pure dimensionless sweetness with no strings attached.

Refined sugar is bad for you, hence, all of the above should be considered and chosen ahead of refined white table sugar which most people are still very much used to. On the other hand, raw and unrefined sugar, otherwise known as brown sugar still retains some natural nutrients such as iron, magnesium etc. and is, therefore, a far better sugar choice. This natural granulated sugar is golden in color, has a similar taste to honey and is free of any kind of chemicals or pesticides.
So before you pour that cup of sugar into that meal, make sure you have adequately weighed your options. The above-mentioned options could conveniently pass for healthy sugar substitutes suitable for diabetics.

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Candida

Now let’s briefly discuss a very important sugar-related health threat known as Candida. Now you’ll wonder for a moment what Candida is and how it relates to our discourse. Candida is a fungus infection that tends to live harmlessly within the body system of individuals, in other words, Candida is a bad idea all day long. Now how does this information concern natural sugar supplements; you might want to ask.

Candida thrives in body tissues and sugars from food and could quickly monopolize the entire body systems such as the digestive tract, causing moderate to severe symptoms. So in essence, any individual who is fond of consuming sugary stuff, especially refined white table sugar, is at risk of harboring Candida in his or her body system.

What’s the remedy?

The anti – candida diet: With sugar being one of the main causes of Candida development, a viable treatment plan would be a low-sugar diet. Unfortunately, the modern western diet is absolutely full of sugar. The Candida yeast cells need sugar to build cell walls, expand their colonies and transform into their fungal form. The anti-candida diet is pretty important as it is a more advanced form of balanced diet, but one that eliminates excess sugar, starchy veggies, caffeine and just about any food with high Glycemic load. This diet is carefully designed to starve the Candida of food, yet; giving the host individual all the nutrition he or she needs. Some food items to consider when preparing an anti-candida diet are coconut oil, garlic, seaweed, ginger, lemons and limes, pumpkin seeds, cayenne pepper etc.

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