Honey, I love and adore you
Colorado Springs — If any substance on Earth can
be described as a "miracle food," that substance
would be honey. And for something that proves to
be this good for us, and for it to be as tantalizingly
delicious as it is, it just goes to show that there is yet very real magic alive and well in the world, even today. Honey is a medicinal miracle, as well as a sensuous culinary delight. Honey is...marvelous!
Add honey to your coffee — trust me — it is delicious and complements the duskiest of coffees, and especially to all teas — blacks, greens, herbals — honey is a welcome, healthy, tasty addition. But taste is not the only enhancement that honey offers (although it is certainly enough, so great is that taste), but antioxidants (many, and varied), nutrients, and the best of healing sugars — and if that last statement made you fall out of your chair, note, natural sugars are a very different influence than the processed sugars (and horrid synthesized sweeteners) offered in most venues.
Honey. Oh honey, I love you. Oooh, I love you so much. I could almost burst into an old Archie's song: "Honey! Ah sugar, sugar! You are my candy, girl! And you got me wanting you!"
A wonderful book that does not have a lot to do with honey, but instead is all about bees and the current environmental and industrial threats against them is Fruitless Fall, by Rowan Jacobsen. Following are several crucial medicinal value points about honey detailed in the book, almost as if in afterthought:
Honey, the super probiotic
Honey in barbecue sauce prevented the carcinogenic effects of grilled meat. Honey’s natural anti-inflammatory properties made it as effective as prednisone in treating inflammatory bowel disease. Forty percent of cancer patients fed honey needed no colony-stimulating factor (which costs thousands of dollars a day) to boost their immune systems following chemotherapy. Honey is an effective probiotic, boosting the populations of good bacteria in the gut (as it does in bees themselves).
Honey, Mr. Sandman
A teaspoon or two of honey before bed promotes deep, restful sleep, weight loss, and long-term health. In children, it promotes learning and growth.
Honey, the cough syrup
Researchers at Penn State found that a single dose of buckwheat honey was significantly more effective than dextromethorphan or a placebo in reducing kids’ cough symptoms and promoting a good night’s sleep. Buckwheat honey was chosen because it has one of the highest antioxidant contents of any honey, but the researchers don’t yet know whether honey’s antioxidant, antimicrobial, or throat-coating properties were responsible.
Honey, ancient medicine
Every culture that has had access to honey has used it medicinally. Ancient Hindu, Sumerian, Egyptian, Chinese, Greek, and Roman writings all consider honey a basic component of any first-aid kit. It’s an intuitive understanding. Only we in the twenty-first-century industrial world seem to need scientists o tell us what humans have always known.
Honey, antibiotic
As we all know, antibiotics don’t always work anymore. Antibiotic-resistant staph infections have become rampant in Western hospitals, killing tens of thousands of people a year, and are now epidemic in Africa and other parts of the developing world. Yet honey works beautifully on many of these infections, as well as being far more affordable than the rarer antibiotics, and it is once again becoming the wound dressing of choice for many doctors.
Honey and the Vegan dilemma
Although some (not all) vegans object to the consumption of honey (on the moral stance that humans should not be stealing things from living creatures), honey is not a stumbling point for all vegans, as there is a definite moral boost in the fact that purchasing and consuming honey products from organic sources — especially raw honey from sources where the welfare of the bees is a higher priority than the profit of the beekeeper — ensures an ongoing support of bees, and more importantly healthy bees. Bees are in trouble. No, bees are in big trouble. No. It is much worse than big trouble. Currently, chiefly due to industrial almond pollination, bees are under threat of utter extinction. Utter annihilation by people, greedy, greedy people. Plus, honey is as healthy for vegans as it is for vegetarians, and for the lowly carnivore as well!
Honey Exclamatory points
1. Fat Free!
2. Cholesterol Free!
3. Vitamin-Packed!
4. Antioxidant Rich!
5. Sodium Free!
6. Antiseptically Miraculous!
7. Microbe Fighter!
8. Skin Cream Bounty!
Honey and the Bible:
The law of Yahweh is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes.The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of Yahweh are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. - Psalm 19:7-10
Honey and the Quran:
"And the lord inspired the bee, saying: Take your habitations in the mountains and in the trees and in what they erect. Then, eat of all fruits and follow the ways of your Lord made easy (for you)'. There comes forth from their bellies a drink of varying colour wherein is healing for men. Verily in this is indeed a sign for people who think." [Qur'an 16:68-69]
Especially in the time of pandemic flu, invest $10 or so in a bottle of organic, raw honey. If you have never tasted organic, raw honey, oh boy are you in for a shock, as it can hardly be compared to its processed cousin found on most supermarket shelves (and while that stuff is good, despite all its processing, it has lost quite a lot in both taste and medicinal value). You might want to go with the clover honey first, as the wildflower honey could send you for a brief journey deep into the Land of Frodo.
Slowly eat a teaspoonful at the first tickle of a cough. For general health, take a spoonful in the morning, and one at night, and also for enhanced sleep, and deeply sleeping, all through the night. Add a teaspoon of honey to your coffee (and a dollop of Silk soy milk), and sprinkle some cinnamon on top (oh are you in for a treat). Also, if you have trouble sleeping, warm a glass of soy milk in a pot, stir in a teaspoon of honey, sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg and a little ginger, stir and enjoy, slowly, and slowly, slowly enjoy. Oh, the enjoyment, did I mention the enjoyment, the pleasure, the shocking delight?
Next time you visit Starbucks, try ordering a "Vente Soy-Coffee Miso, with One Honey and a Sprinkle of Cinnamon." Tell them Douglas Christian Larsen sent you (and then laugh, and laugh very loudly at their blank stare). I wish I could join you in making that order again, today, for the first time.
Raw fresh honey is available in the Black Forest, sold in Colorado Springs.
Black Forest Honey is honey that is local to El Paso County, Colorado. Our honey is raw and unfiltered, never heated to a temperature that could harm its natural benefits.
God bless you and your family!
Art et Amour Toujours
