Why Use Raw Honey?

Raw honey and butter on toast

Unlike refined sugar which has all the good stuff stripped out in processing, raw honey still has good enzymes in it to aid in digestion.  Honey is a natural sugar, a monosaccaride (allowed on SCD and GAPS diets) that has been valued throughout history. This raw opaque honey from Tropical Traditions still contains the pollen, which if you get local honey, is thought to help prevent seasonal allergies.  I think only clear honey is allowed on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, but GAPS allows opaque.  Not recommend for children under one year of age due to the (very very very small) risk of botulism.

The benefits of honey:
  • Honey may keep blood sugar more steady than refined sugar 
  • Can be applied to a wound for antibacterial affect (it sucks the water right out of bad bacteria cells)
  • Contains enzymes to help us with digestion.  In Nourishing Traditions Sally Fallon says that if you spread honey on a piece of bread, the enzymes in the honey will start to pre-digest the bread for you.  
  • In labor, honey can be a great way to keep your energy up.  Since it's a monosaccaride, it's absorbed directly into the blood stream so it's not adding any more work to digest.  I keep a bottle of honey with my birth supplies.

Uses for honey:
I am learning that honey can replace sugar in nearly every recipe.  I've started making cookies with honey rather than sugar, and I use it in my whole wheat bread as well.   Due to cost, I use the less expensive pasteurized honey from Costco in everything that will be cooked.  I save raw honey to stir into my coffee, to mix with water for the toddler's 'juice' in a pinch, and to spread on toast or other things that aren't going to be too hot to ruin the enzymes.  We like our yogurt sour, but if you like sweeter yogurt, honey would be a great addition to that too.

Tropical Traditions honey is great because it comes in a glass jar, is organic, and is raw! The only thing better would be local.




More:
Honey almond brittle
About fermented honey from the Weston Price site
Stay tuned for the refined-sweetener free challenge next month!
Subscribe by Email here or
 Subscribe in a reader


Giveaway:
Tropical Traditions is offering a giveaway for one pound of organic raw honey in a glass jar! (pictured)

#75 won, Andi at The Learning Pomegranate
To enter:


First, sign up for their newsletter here if you haven't already. You have to do this step to be entered.








If you're a first time customer of Tropical Traditions, I'd love it if you would use my referral code #5682145 and you get a free book on the benefits of coconut and I get coconut oil credited to my account.  See my reviews of their other products: Coconut oilCoconut Cream ConcentrateShredded Coconut, and Coconut Flour.  
Hint: I wait until they have a sale; usually once a month a gallon of expeller pressed coconut oil goes on sale for $39 or less, which is a great deal.
  • And post a comment to let me know you did.  
  • Let me know if you're using honey to replace sugar in your recipes as well.
  • Leave your email address if it's not hooked up to the profile you're commenting from! 

For extra entries:
~please post a separate comment for each one, and if you're already doing them you can count them too (make sense?)
@HealthHomeHappy is giving away a jar of @troptraditions organic raw honey!  Enter here: http://ow.ly/1oUoh


Giveaway ends 3/27/10 and I'll pick a winner from random.org


Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Subscribe to receive free email updates:

0 Response to "Why Use Raw Honey?"

Post a Comment