Awesome Benefits of Honey for Health & Wellness
Aptly known as ‘liquid gold’, honey is precisely regarded as the thick though delicious nectar which is a staple in almost every household, all over the world. It is a natural, unprocessed kind of sweetener, which is why the health conscious people, especially those who are weight sensible and also the ones suffering from diabetes, prefer to substitute their sugar and other sweetener intake with honey. Apart from imparting the warm, distinctive sweetness, honey also lends some moisture and a nice, caramel colour to the food. However, this five thousand or more years old dietary affluence has benefits that go way beyond its taste.
Elaborate Nutritional Profile
Honey has long been a favourite of many, not just due to the culinary but also remedial reasons for gaining health and wellness, and this is mainly owing to its rather impressive nutrition profile. These remarkable benefits include the likes of various vitamins, minerals, simple carbohydrates (sucrose and water), natural sugar (mostly glucose and fructose), enzymes, antioxidants, amino acids and phytonutrients – all that and much more, minus fibre, fat or cholesterol.
Amino Acids, Vitamins & Minerals
Among essential amino acids (EAAs), honey includes phenylalanine, proline, tyrosine and lysine etc. These play a significant role specifically in terms of growth and reproduction. When it comes to vitamins, we have vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) and vitamin C (ascorbic acid), which together form a small but vital part of honey’s overall composition. The same honey also includes minerals such as iron, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc and potassium. These vitamins and minerals together allow honey to metabolize any extra cholesterol in our body, thus preventing the chances of undue weight gain or obesity.
Various traditional practitioners of medicine, including those of Ayurveda and Preventive Healthcare, strongly recommend the use of honey to naturally cure a wide array of health-based conditions. Not only this, honey is not just a conventional approach to good health; its merits have well been backed by science, benefits that impart us with sheer healthiness and an overall welfare.
Ayurveda Support
Honey finds great importance in Charaka Samhita, the original text of Ayurveda wherein honey has been recognized as to be having substantial medicinal properties. When honey is taken in its natural and raw form, without cooking, baking or heating the same, it is assumed to be one of most healing substances available in Nature.
Sheer goodness!
Some of the valuable assistances of honey include the following:
- As this bioactive compound is loaded with several antioxidants, including the flavonoids, honey actually protects our body against the damage done by free radicals, while also boosting the overall immunity.
- Honey is also antibacterial in nature. Its strong bacteria-fighting assets have long been used as a conventional means to heal wounds as well as to fight infections.
- Honey is also a natural remedy against the problem of persistent cough and cold, besides many other respiratory tract infections.
- Honey also has a tendency to raise the HDL levels, while bringing down levels of LDL which is the ‘bad’ cholesterol.
- The fact that it contains much less calories than the other sweeteners, honey helps in the process of weight loss as well as weight management, thus preventing obesity and the long term problems associated with weight gain.
- Also, the topical application of honey by adding it to a face pack helps moisturize and nourish our skin from deep within.
- The very fact that honey is a little bit on the acidic side also prevents the growth of microorganisms.
- Honey is also a good source of gaining all-natural energy.
Honey has a rather long shelf life and many people like to believe that the older it gets, the better it tastes and it is all the more supportive for gaining as well as maintaining overall health and wellbeing.
About the Author
Dr Sonica Krishan is Author and Speaker in the areas of Healthy and Joyous Living through Ayurveda, Meditation, Yoga and other Contemplative practices. She is a leading Ayurveda Professional in India. She is also Health Writer, Columnist, Editor, Ayurveda Consultant and Holistic Healing Coach. Dr Sonica is open for National as well as International Collaborations with interested people / institutions in fields of Ayurveda, Meditation and Yoga.
Dr Sonica Krishan’s Books are available at Amazon
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