Health benefits of honey

[deena]

Let’s talk about honey. I read a testimony that someone eats it every day and it prevents their canker sores. I struggle with those and there is soooo little information about them so I’ll pretty much try anything. In my research I have read that it’s also good for allergies and wound healing. Ironically I just posted a few weeks ago on a vegan page if anyone knew if honey was harmful at all. I try to eat plant based for health reasons but if there is no heath reason to avoid it and, possibly many health reasons to eat it then we should probably be eating it. That’s my reasoning anyway.

[marbles]

I’m a beekeeper! I don’t know about canker sores specifically, but bees are really amazing. Find a local beekeeper who sells raw unfiltered honey, it will contain bits of pollen. It’s that pollen that helps with allergies. The closer to you the better. Bees also produce propolis which people make tinctures out of. A friend of mine actually sells propolis to local hospitals. That’s the sticky stuff they make that holds their hive together. You can ask around to find a beekeeper who aligns with your values, there are so many different approaches to management and care, but at the end of the day they're insects and if they don't like how you're managing them, they'll just leave. But for instance one person I know is very "eh it's one bee out of thousands" and then I know one who is very slow and careful to not harm any of them. Some people will kill a few drones and nurse bees to manage pests and some people will not. If you're concerned about eating an animal product, I do have vegan friends who eat honey, it's very possible to do it with no impact on the bees themselves. We make sure the bees have plenty to eat and we only take the extra honey they make, we don't take anything that has eggs or larva, we leave that with the hive. It's not an animal product, it's like your neighbor growing zucchini and they give you the extra.

[Llee]

L-lysine is what helps my daughter's canker sores.

[2sunshines]

Honey has so many health benefits! We use it for several things. I've never heard of using it for canker sores but I'd definitely try it.

[deena]

Originally Posted by marbles

I’m a beekeeper! I don’t know about canker sores specifically, but bees are really amazing. Find a local beekeeper who sells raw unfiltered honey, it will contain bits of pollen. It’s that pollen that helps with allergies. The closer to you the better. Bees also produce propolis which people make tinctures out of. A friend of mine actually sells propolis to local hospitals. That’s the sticky stuff they make that holds their hive together. You can ask around to find a beekeeper who aligns with your values, there are so many different approaches to management and care, but at the end of the day they're insects and if they don't like how you're managing them, they'll just leave. But for instance one person I know is very "eh it's one bee out of thousands" and then I know one who is very slow and careful to not harm any of them. Some people will kill a few drones and nurse bees to manage pests and some people will not. If you're concerned about eating an animal product, I do have vegan friends who eat honey, it's very possible to do it with no impact on the bees themselves. We make sure the bees have plenty to eat and we only take the extra honey they make, we don't take anything that has eggs or larva, we leave that with the hive. It's not an animal product, it's like your neighbor growing zucchini and they give you the extra.

So cool that you are a beekeeper. I will have to look into propolis. Sounds interesting! And I like the zucchini analogy.


Do you know if pouring boiling water on honey destroys any of its healing attributes?

[marbles]

Sort of. Honey begins to break down/caramelize at high temps. It will begin to lose some nutrients (using that word kind of loosely) at boiling temp but not immediately. It’s not like it’s suddenly worthless. It won’t be bad for you, just maybe might not be as good. Prolonged heating will continue to break it down.

[2sunshines]

When you say pouring boiling water over it, do you mean like adding honey to tea? Or something else? What would be the purpose of pouring boiling water over the honey?

[deena]

Originally Posted by 2sunshines

When you say pouring boiling water over it, do you mean like adding honey to tea? Or something else? What would be the purpose of pouring boiling water over the honey?

Yes, specifically, melting it into my “sweet tea”

[2sunshines]

That makes sense. I know a lot of people use honey in their tea. It's definitely a better option than sugar.

I've heard a few health protocols that use honey and warm water. So it seems that the warm water wouldn't negatively impact the honey too much....

[deena]

I had never heard of propolis, but as a supplement fanatic I HAD to try it. It’s mainly for healing/immune support (feel free to elaborate on that if you know more). I have been very impressed with the results so I wanted to report back. For me, it gives me nightmares, so now I only take it in the morning and that seems to work. I’ve had a range of mental health issues over the years so to me it makes sense that that is where I needed healing. My husband herxed from it (flu like symptoms) and he has plenty of reasons to believe he would have low lying pathogens lingering in his body including bartonella from years ago which hospitalized and nearly killed him six years ago. Most supplements don’t result in any symptom change at all. So, even though these were two negative reactions, I am impressed it did anything at all and am sure they were ultimately good things.