Thinking of the beautiful spring, what all things come to your mind? The rise of temperature, beautiful trees and flowers, comfy lightweight clothes and many more. Do you know one more thing that blooms in my mind every spring? Its the fresh honey, its sweet pleasant smell, and the taste, just WOW!! Honey has a lot of names, starting with Madhu in the ayurvedic scriptures, which means ‘perfection of sweet’. Instead of being a sweetener, it serves a range of health benefits. It is an amazing superfood that is high in vitamins, enzymes, minerals, antioxidants, sugar, etc. Being such a simple yet complex food, you should consume it in the right way. So here we will know about the benefits of honey.
Must Know Essentials About Honey
Some of the essentials that you must take care of are:
1. Don’t ever boil or cook honey
The ancient ayurvedic literature recommends that honey should never be boiled or cooked. The reason behind this is, when honey is heated, the molecules in it become non-homogenized glue. This slows down the process of digestion and ultimately adheres to the mucous membrane and clogs the channels.
2. Never mix honey with hot foods
It is an unknown fact that you should not mix honey with food that is more than 40° C. It is very healthy to replace sugar with honey as an ingredient, but always make sure that the temperature is below 40 degrees. Adding honey with hot food enhances the poisonous properties and leads to an imbalance in doshas.
3. Strictly say no to honey and ghee in equal proportion by weight
Honey is heavier than ghee, which means taking an equal amount of ghee and honey would be okay (eg. 1tsp. honey and 1tsp. ghee), but taking in ratios that equalizes both the ingredients by weight is not healthy. It may instigate potential toxicity. Mixing honey and ghee in healthy proportion help intensify energy, rejuvenate the cells, and longevity of a happy life.
4. Honey as a remedy (inhale jug of honey)
Pulmonary health: The ancient ayurvedic texts acknowledge honey as an effective remedy for any imbalance in the lungs. It also states that if an asthma patient takes a jug of honey and inhales the air that comes in contact with the honey, the patient is likely to breathe easier and deeper.
5. Honey works well to lose weight and detoxify
One of the crucial features and benefits of honey is that it can fight away all the accumulation in the body system. Because of this, it is widely recommended to treat kapha imbalance. To be efficacious, honey should be consumed with slightly warm water along with apple cider vinegar drops or citrus juice in it. Consuming this mixture early morning with an empty stomach and after 30 mins following each meal would be good enough to stay healthy.
6. Do not consume honey when you are working in a hot environment
This is solely because when you are warm from inside the honey gets sticky and you will find it hard to swallow down the throat and this sticky behavior triggers mucus formation. This is not at all healthy.
Health Benefits Of Honey
Benefits Of HoneyIf honey is consumed adhering to the rules of Ayurveda, it can do astounding progress in maintaining your health.
- Honey is antibacterial in nature hence, is very effective for treating and preventing acne.
- Very effective in healing wounds. Manuka honey is used for medicinal purposes that act as a productive germ killer, and also helps in cell generation that heals the wound faster.
- Improves bad throat- if you ever suffer from a bad throat, just try devouring a teaspoon of honey and you will feel much better. This has been an old remedy for a sore throat.
- Honey acts as an antioxidant. It has nutrients in a form that acts as an antioxidant to our body, reducing the chances of strokes, certain types of cancer and also promotes a healthy eye. It is also a great young-looking ingredient.
Some of the Most Important Points
Excess heat to honey produces a chemical substance namely hydroxymethylfurfural, abbrviated as HMF which is said to be carcinogenic (having the potential to cause cancer).As a precaution, you should also remember that honey is formed by the nectar of various flowers some of which may be poisonous. And most importantly, uncooked honey is nectar, whereas cooked honey is no less than poison.
Also Read: 6 Health Benefits Of Clover Honey
