Sugar, ah, honey, honey; You are my candy girl; And you got me wanting you…
– The Archies
Honey is delicious. As a tea drinker, I consume a lot of honey and try to keep a decent variety at home. It’s a natural and healthy sweetener. I’ve often dreamed of owning a beehive and producing my own honey. Bees live off honey, and without it, we’d have bland barbecue sauce, wheat bread, mead, cereal and so much more. Here are 5 benefits of honey to make life sweeter…
1. Honey Heals Boo-Boos
No household is complete without a bottle or two of hydrogen peroxide. If you can’t find any (or are out and about), natural honey (not the honey-flavored sweetener you’ll find at KFC or any other “convenience” store) can be used as a replacement.
Honey is made when bees collect nectar from flowers, add an enzyme to it, and store it in a beeswax honeycomb to evaporate. The process of adding the enzyme creates an all-natural hydrogen peroxide (as opposed to the lab-made stuff that only one company manufactures and sells to the entire world in those black plastic bottles…with no competition…seriously…why are you not out buying bees right now to take advantage of this gaping hole on every store shelf in the country?!)
If you’re unaware, hydrogen peroxide (and honey by association) is anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial. This means it cleans pretty much any infection or smell on or in your body, which brings me to another benefit…
If you enjoy natural remedies, check out: How to Cure a Sore Throat Naturally
2. Eating Honey Is The Opposite Of Smoking
Unlike smoking (which increases your risk of cancer, makes you smell disgusting, and draws the ire of onlookers and passers-by), eating honey has been scientifically proven to reduce the risk of cancer because it contains flavonoids, a word I did not make up, but instead is a plant-based metabolite that can inhibit tumors.
On the social side, I’ve never been eating honey on the street and had someone give me a dirty look over it. I don’t have to step outside and at least 500 feet away from the building to enjoy honey. You can give honey to a kid over one year old (seriously though, do NOT put honey in your infant’s bottle) without getting yelled at. You don’t have to ask anyone if they mind you consuming honey, and I’ve never seen any lasting relationship in which two people used “Cigarette,” “Tobacco,” or “Nicotine” as pet names.
If you still can’t stop smoking, at least check out: How to Keep Your Home from Smelling like Smoke
3. Honey Makes Great Homemade Botanicals
Honey can be mixed with castile soap, olive oil (which castile soap itself is made from if you want to go full DIY), and essential oils of your choice to create a homemade, all-natural shampoo that is better than anything you’ll get off the shelf for less than $100 a bottle. Follow this up with a conditioning mix of honey and extra virgin coconut oil for amazing hair.
To save yourself a lot of money on skin care, mix one teaspoon of honey and one teaspoon of olive oil for every one teaspoon of the following:
Cinnamon – to reduce/prevent acne
Plain whole milk yogurt (or powdered milk) – to soothe dry skin
Aloe vera gel – to ease sensitive skin
Lemon juice – to brighten skin and reduce blotching or scarring
You can put your custom mixture directly on your skin or mix it with any chemical-free, natural balm, lotion, or oil that strikes your personal fancy (coconut oil is great). Stir in ground nuts and castile soap to create an exfoliating scrub, or toss in an avocado or charcoal mud and make it a mask. Again, add essential oils to create the scent of your choice.
If you enjoy homemade beauty treatments, check out: 10 Homemade Beauty Treatment Recipes
4. Winnie Go Poo
There’s a reason Winnie the Pooh eats so much hunny – it’s not only delicious, but it helps regulate his blood sugar. It’s healthier than sugar and artificial sweetener, and it’s also a pro-biotic.
When used to sweeten yogurt, the stomach and intestines in the bowels of your body will be treated to a pleasurable experience that will make you tingle. Ha, ha, no, that tingling feeling isn’t scoliosis, and you won’t be needing any treatment (although if the honey doesn’t get rid of the tingle almost immediately, it’s probably a good idea to head to a neuropathy clinic). Honey hits just the right spot every time.
5. Going Green with Golden Honey
Sustainability is all the rage these days. I looked into sustainable environments, and a beehive is a very useful item to have in your survivalist setup. Not only will the bees help pollinate and maintain your plants, they produce honey, which has all of these amazing benefits. If you’re looking for a worthwhile investment, honey is the way to go.
