Honey Archives - How to Become a BeeKeeper

www.howtobecomeabeekeeper.com - Benefits of Raw Honey Before I was a beekeeper, eating honey was a simple matter of buying a bear-shaped plastic container at the grocery store. I did not differentiate between brands or types of honey. The only consideration was the price of the container. However, my perception changed when my wife began learning about beekeeping and raw honey. She informed me that all honey sold in grocery stores undergoes processing and that raw honey has numerous benefits and nutrients. This revelation was a surprise to me, and I realized the value of raw honey for human health. Thus, I present to you a small guide to help you uncover the surprising benefits and nutritional power of raw honey. Raw Honey as a Super Food? Raw honey is a highly nutritious and health-promoting food that has been used for centuries for its medicinal and therapeutic benefits. Unlike processed honey, raw honey contains all of the essential vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytochemicals that are naturally present in honeybees' nectar. There is no single food that can provide all of the nutrients that the body needs, so a well balanced and varied diet is always recommended. However, Raw unprocessed honey, harvested straight from the hive, will consist of a primary nutrient known to us as Vitamin C, which is a powerful antioxidant that helps to fight off harmful free radicals and supports the body's natural defense mechanisms. Vitamin C also helps to stimulate the production of white blood cells, which play a key role in defending the body against infections and diseases. I had many questions when learning about raw honey. But one question I had to ask was myself was: What the heck is a free radical? So here is quick explanation: Free radicals are highly reactive chemical species that have an unpaired electron in their outermost orbital. This electron can cause damage to important cellular components such as DNA, proteins, and cell membranes. The unpaired electron makes free radicals highly reactive, causing them to attack and steal electrons from other molecules in the body, leading to a chain reaction of oxidative stress. This oxidative stress contributes to aging, cellular damage, and disease, including cancer, Alzheimer's, and cardiovascular disease. To counteract this damage, the body relies on antioxidants to neutralize free radicals and protect against oxidative stress. Antioxidants are compounds that can donate electrons to free radicals without becoming destabilized, which effectively neutralizes them. So even thought the above explanation is a bit sciency, the main point I took away was that Raw honey has been shown to help protect the body against oxidative stress, making it a valuable food for our immune system. And that is just the beginning of the benefits of Raw unprocessed honey. This "Super Food", can also benefit with arthritis, digestive disorders, respiratory illnesses, and other inflammatory conditions people suffer from. Raw Honey Reduces Inflammation in the body Raw honey reduces inflammations Raw honey has anti-inflammatory properties, making it beneficial for those who suffer from inflammatory conditions. Inflammatory conditions are illnesses that result from an overactive immune response, leading to redness, swelling, and pain in the affected areas. This is particularly important for individuals with autoimmune disorders, as infections can trigger flare-ups of their condition. Going down the rabbit hole of searching for medical information on the internet is a deep dark cavern of scary sounding words and documents about what our bodies can go through when encountering viruses, bacteria or toxic chemicals. Our immune system is an incredible biological machine that has first responders. These "first responders" are activated when they encounter a breaching operative in our bodies (like viruses, bacteria..) or when we suffer an injury. So when I learned that raw honey helps neutralize these unwanted operatives that can cause and trigger different types of inflammation in the body. I stopped buying that little bear-shape container and joined my wife in her new hobby. The honey that we were getting out of our hives was unlike anything I had tasted before. It was a million times better that the store bought honey and the thought of having it supplied from the bees in our back yard was a so satisfying to me. Not only were we helping the environment but we were also helping out our own bodies fight the intruders we don't see. The consumption of raw honey can be beneficial for those who suffer from inflammatory conditions. Its anti-inflammatory properties, combined with its high levels of antioxidants and antibacterial properties, can help reduce inflammation in the body and promote overall health and well-being. Don't count sheep, Count bees instead Raw honey stimulates melatonin Have you ever heard of melatonin? If you haven't, here is a brief explanation. Melatonin is a chemical that is produced in the brain in response to darkness. It helps to promote sleep in some individuals and can provide a person some well needed rest lasting 8 hours. When I was having a hard time sleeping a few years back, my wife would give me a small little pill that contained melatonin. Because I'm a curious google searching person, I did some reading on other ways to promote sleep in a natural way instead of taking pills. To my surprise, I learned that our brains create this chemical naturally. Reading more about the subject I learned that there were a few simple things that I could do to promote a more natural sleeping habit. Some being the most common like, not drinking caffeine 4-6 hours before bed, exercise more often, don't play on your phone in bed and the most surprising was that some foods promote the production of melatonin. I bet you can guess which food was on the list. Yup, Raw unprocessed honey was on the list. I know what you are thinking to yourself, Honey has sugar and sugar will keep me awake. True but.. and here is a big but... The type of glucose and fructose that honey has can regulate blood sugar levels. By regulating blood sugar levels, raw honey helps prevent sudden spikes and drops, which can cause restlessness during the night. The consumption of raw honey also stimulates the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, in the body. Studies have shown that consuming a small amount of raw honey before bedtime can improve sleep quality, reducing the amount of time it takes to fall asleep, increasing total sleep time and reducing the number of night-time awakenings. However, it's important to note that consuming excessive amounts of raw honey can have the opposite effect, causing an increase in blood sugar levels and disrupting sleep. Hence, it is recommended to consume raw honey in moderation before bedtime to improve sleep quality. So to our surprise, raw honey has been shown to improve sleep quality by regulating blood sugar levels and promoting the production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. Consuming a small amount of raw honey before bedtime has helped improve my own sleep quality and a much better rest. I'm no doctor. I'm a beekeeper. I can only tell you what I have experience. It could be that I'm not playing on my phone anymore, and I'm not drinking that extra cup of coffee in the afternoon. Or it could be the 2 table spoons of honey I take before bed. Or!! maybe it's a combination of all three. I don't know. What I know is that raw unprocessed honey has helped me with my allergies and that I feel better when it is in my diet. Final thoughts, I enjoy being a beekeeper and would like to invite you to do the same. Honey is only one of many byproducts that will result in this amazing hobby. And the more you learn about it the more you can understand why it has been a part of the human diet for centuries. Why it has provided medicinal applications before we could analyze it with microscopes and modern explanatory technology. Raw unprocessed honey can help protect the body from free radicals, it has anti-inflammatory properties that make it useful in the treatment of various inflammatory conditions. It can also boost a person's immune system with it's antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties. And don't forget that in some cases it can also help improve sleep quality by regulating blood sugar and promoting the production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. I don't know about you but I would definitely call this simple little bee product a super food. Raw unprocessed honey is a highly nutritious and versatile food that offers numerous health benefits. Would you consider Raw Honey a super food? Leave me a comment and share this with your friends.