fciwomenswrestling.com article, pexels.com photo
Some movements start very peacefully packaged with a warm spirit and a very beautiful heartfelt song.
Scott McKenzie was an American singer and songwriter. He was best known for his 1967 hit single and generational anthem, “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)”
The song was released on May 13, 1967 in the United States and was an instant hit, reaching number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 in the Canadian RPM Magazine charts. It was also a number 1 in the UK and several other countries, selling over seven million copies globally.
His thought provoking song was truly an anthem for a generation that went beyond peace, love and gentleness.
It also seemed a part of the movement to live and eat healthier.
So much of the Health Food pathway started during that time period and high on the list of alternative foods to consume raw, as opposed to processed, was honey.
There is an eternal debate as to which is better for you. Raw Honey or the pasteurized processed kind.
Let’s dip our fingers in some, taste and do some research.
The experts at reallyrawhoney.com get us started. “Really Raw Honey® is totally unprocessed honey. It still contains pollen, propolis, honeycomb and live enzymes — all the goodness the bees put in! That’s why Really Raw Honey is creamy, smooth and spreadable with sweet and crunchy cappings. Really Raw Honey is gathered from fields of wildflowers planted by nature right here in the United States.
One whiff of our honey, with its distinctive aroma of wildflowers, tells you this is something special. With your first taste, you’ll know you are eating something utterly extraordinary. The flavor is unlike any honey on the market. The bees choose the color, flavor, and texture of our honey by the varieties of wildflowers and herbs they forage. We retain these qualities and all the nutrients the bees put in by making sure that our honey is never strained, never filtered, and never heated.”
Sounds good. Understandably a manufacturer would say that though so let’s keep digging.
The reliable health source livestrong.com adds, “Unlike processed honey, raw honey is not heated or filtered and retains more nutrients. Raw honey contains small amounts of the same resins found in propolis. Honeybees make propolis with plant resins and their own secretions. The bees use this substance to seal the hive and protect it from bacteria.”
There’s more.
We love healthline.com. They smile, “Raw honey contains antioxidants called phenolic compounds. Some types of honey have as many antioxidants as fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants help to protect your body from cell damage due to free radicals.
Free radicals contribute to the aging process and may also contribute to the development of chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Studies show that polyphenols in honey may play a role in preventing heart disease.”
At honey.com they report, “While there is no official U.S. federal definition of “raw” honey, it generally means honey that has not been heated or filtered. According to the FDA, “nutritious” can be used in reference to the diet as a whole, not an individual food. Nevertheless, we often see or hear claims that raw honey is “more nutritious” or “better for you,” primarily because raw honey may contain small amounts of pollen grains that are often removed during processing or filtering.”
Here is one group that will make that claim.
The group organics.org proclaim, “Believe it or not, not all honey was created equal. When you are grocery shopping, you may not realize that you may be losing out by buying fake honey. Bee pollen is considered to be one of nature’s best and most nourishing foods. It’s packed with protein that is combined with amino acids that can be easily used by your body.
The market is literally polluted with cheap, health damaging honey. So be careful when you make your choice. Find honey that is raw and organic. It has tons of health benefits and does not damage your health.”
Good to know. Now for the balance and this is important.
Back to livestrong.com. “There are both danger and benefits associated with this natural sweetener.
Botulism spores are in air, soil, water and plants. In the absence of oxygen, the spores germinate and produce toxins. The process of boiling destroys the bacterial spores and toxins. Raw honey is a potential source of the Clostridium botulinum spores. The Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Honey Board recommend that you not give honey to infants under the age of 12 months. Infant botulism is a rare disease caused by the bacteria, Clostridium botulinum. The disease causes varying degrees of paralysis. Children over age 1 and healthy adults have the mature digestive systems necessary to prevent botulism spores from thriving.”
And one more voice that shares the same concern so we visit healthline.com once again. “In addition to beneficial bacteria and nutrients, raw honey can also carry harmful bacteria such as botulism. This is particularly dangerous for babies, so you should never feed raw honey to babies less than a year old.
Botulism causes symptoms similar to food poisoning (e.g. nausea, vomiting, fever) in adults. See your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms after eating raw honey.”
We think we have found the balance.
In our circle, there is one writer that swears by raw honey over the more sugary, thinned out processed product. He knew this hippie type couple who ate health foods and the honey seemed to having a very soothing effect, especially with digestion.
So now that you have both types of honey petals in your hair, why don’t we relax, listen to Scott McKenzie’s San Francisco, place a flower in our hair and hear from a visiting female writer about why she loves honey.
By Laurel Abell Submitted On July 21, 2016
3 Amazing Raw Honey Benefits
When we talk about the health benefits of honey, we are specifically talking about raw honey benefits. The perfectly clear honey that most grocery stores carry has been highly processed. Unfortunately, when honey is processed, it becomes nutritionally depleted. In fact, processed honey is no more nutritional than ordinary table sugar!
Processed honey has been heated to very high temperatures, past the point of pasteurization, around 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius). This temperature kills most of the bacteria and fungi that naturally occurs in the honey. This prolongs the shelf life of honey by many months which converts honey into a more profitable product for food manufacturers. Heating honey to high temperatures also makes it a thinner fluid so it can be filtered through a very fine mesh to fully remove the particulates which some consider to be more aesthetically pleasing. Again, this is more profitable (or so they think). Thinner liquids can also be poured more easily into containers.
With the above information in mind, let’s discuss three amazing raw honey benefits:
- Raw Honey Contains Pollen
Bee pollen is so nutritious it is considered a superfood. It contains almost all the nutrients required by humans to survive. It is 40 percent protein and contains more essential amino acids ounce for ounce than beef or chicken. Furthermore, pollen protein is in the form of free amino acids which can be immediately utilized by the body, unlike having to wait for hours for your digestive system to break down the amino acids in meat and most vegetable proteins.
Bee pollen is so full of vitamins it is like taking a natural multi-vitamin, which is far more healthy than taking a synthetic form of multi-vitamin (most bottles of vitamins sold in drug stores). It should be specially noted that bee pollen is high in vitamin D, which is quite difficult to find in other foods, unless it has been “fortified” with synthetic vitamin D that does not confer the same health advantages natural vitamin D. Bee pollen is also a very effective natural allergy remedy and it is highly anti-inflammatory.
Bee pollen is filtered out of processed honey so you will not get these benefits if you buy filtered honey!
- Raw Honey Contains Propolis
Propolis, also called bee glue, has been highly prized for its medicinal value going back for thousands of years. To look at propolis, you’d probably never guess it is such an amazing natural healer because it looks like an amorphous mass of “gunk.” It is thought to have at least four hundred chemicals of medicinal importance. Scientists are only beginning to discover all the health values that propolis bestows, and the more they study it, the more they find!
Propolis is known to contain the most powerful natural antibiotics known! In fact, these antibiotics are so powerful, they have been proven to effectively kill MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections that very few synthetic antibiotics are able to kill. In this regard, Propolis holds great promise. Propolis is also being fervently studied for its anti-cancer properties. For example, it has also been shown to prevent the new formation of new blood vessels around cancerous tumors, thereby preventing them from metastasizing (spreading). Bee glue is filtered out of processed honey so you will not get these benefits if you buy processed honey!
- Raw Honey Contains Far More Micronutrients
Suspended in the matrix that is honey is a wide host of micronutrients treasured by natural health experts. These include trace minerals that are difficult to find anywhere else, a variety of antioxidants, living enzymes, and every form of natural vitamin that is easily absorbed by the body.
Pasteurizing honey denatures the vast majority of the micronutrients raw honey contains, rendering them useless to the human body. In fact, denatured micronutrients can sometimes actually be harmful to the body. Thus, this is another major advantage of eating raw honey over processed honey.
Final Thoughts
There’s one more important thing you should know about raw honey benefits. Scientists have tried for years to artificially synthesize “raw honey” in the lab. However, they haven’t even come close. This is a superfood that only Mother Nature can produce and the only source is raw honey!
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http://www.hiveandhoneyapiary.com
http://ezinearticles.com/?3-Amazing-Raw-Honey-Benefits&id=9476117
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Laurel_Abell/2312141
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9476117
http://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/top-raw-honey-benefits
http://www.reallyrawhoney.com/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/263668-the-dangers-and-benefits-of-raw-honey/
http://organics.org/differences-between-honey-and-raw-organic-honey/
