Is Honey Good For You?

Honey is a delicious sweetener that many people use to add into smoothies, acai bowls, hot tea and oatmeal. Honey is a great healthy alternative to many other sweeteners but is honey good for you?

Best Guide to Organic Honey

Healthy Foodies list of the best organic honey

I’m always looking for organic options so I created this guide for the best guide to organic honey. If you want some extra helping learning all about honey, checkout this book Sweet Nature, A Cooks Guide to Honey.

Trader Joes Organic Honey

Thrive Market Organic Raw Wildflower Honey

Nature Nate’s Organic Honey

Kirkland Signature Raw Organic Honey Bear

What are the Health Benefits of Honey?

Find out the 6 health benefits of honey. Try using honey instead of artificial sweeteners or processed sugar when looking for a sweetener.

Antioxidant effects: Natural honey has many antioxidant elements, including flavonoids, ascorbic acid, and phytochemicals. These antioxidant elements help reduce oxidative stress, therefore improving chronic health conditions. Antioxidants help reduce the risk of cancer and chronic disease.
Nutrition: Natural honey has tons of added nutrition. When you add honey to the food in your diet, you add some amazing nutrients. Some of these nutrients include niacin, calcium, riboflavin, manganese, potassium, zinc, phosphorous, and pantothenic acid. The sugar in honey is fructose, and therefore much healthier than table sugar.
Relieves Cough: One of the main ingredients in many cough syrups is honey. Honey is a safer method of cough suppressant. It coats the throat, soothing inflamed lymph nodes. Take a teaspoon of honey and avoid other liquids for a few minutes to relieve coughs or sore throats.
Treats Diarrhea: Honey has a natural rehydration element to is that helps those with diarrhea. Those who consume honey may recover from the illness quicker.
Brain Power: Raw honey may have ingredients in it that help fight inflammation in the brain. Consuming honey regularly could help keep your brain be strong and healthy.

Which is healthier, regular honey or raw honey?

The difference between raw honey and regular honey is that one is more processed. Regular honey undergoes a series of processes before it is bottled and shelved for consumers. These processes may remove pollen, which is beneficial to the body in many ways. This form of honey may also have fewer antioxidants present.

Raw honey, on the other hand, is just strained before it is bottled to make sure there isn’t any dirt in it. Since it undergoes minimal intervention, it retains the beneficial nutrients and antioxidants it came with. Organic honey falls into this same category because of the inspections it goes through before being sold to consumers. It has wonderful antifungal properties that are helpful in getting rid of harmful bacteria in the body.

Is a tablespoon of honey a day good for you?

While honey is beneficial in many ways, it isn’t advised that you consume a spoonful of honey on its own every day. The added sugar (while natural) from too much honey can still contribute to higher blood sugar levels. This added sugar can result in weight gain over time as well as a higher risk for type 2 diabetes or heart disease. Raw honey will be healthier to consume daily rather than regular honey with regular sugar added.

Are there risks to consuming honey?

There are no known risks known to adults who consume honey. The only ones that should be concerned with consuming honey are those with allergic reactions and infants under the age of one. It is not advised for children under 1 to consume honey in case they develop allergens toward it. Honey could also be dangerous for young children because of the bacteria is contains. Children are more likely to develop infant botulism, so steer clear of honey until they are at least 1 and check with your doctor.

Different Types of Honey

There are many types of honey that each have slightly different properties. There is raw honey and processed honey. You also have dark honey that comes in both varieties. When choosing honey, check the nutritional value on the bottle to see if it has healthy ingredients. A honey bottle should only contain honey and no other ingredients. Here are some common types of honey that people enjoy:

Manuka honey-Manuka honey refers to honey that comes from a specific plant in Australia and New Zealand
Buckwheat honey-Buckwheat honey is a highly nutritious honey made by bees that collect nectar from buckwheat flowers
Eucalyptus honey-Eucalyptus honey is a type of honey produced by bees that pollinate the blossoms of the eucalyptus tree
Wildflower honey-Wildflower honey is made when the bees gather nectar from a variety of flowers
Tupelo honey-Tupelo honey is produced when honeybees collect nectar from the blossoms of the white Ogeechee tupelo (Nyssa ogeche) tree
Clover honey-Clover honey is a variety of honey made by honeybees from a clover tree

Each type of honey comes from bee pollen. Those honey bees work hard to bring us quality honey that we can enjoy. Add honey to recipes or your charcuterie board, butter board or nibble board for a delightful addition to your next appetizer boards. Try it on a brunch board mixed with yogurt and granola.

All this being said, yes, this golden liquid is good for you. It probably isn’t the best thing to consume by the spoonful each and every day. When honey is added to your diet in small amounts, it can help rid your body of free radicals, heal a sore throat, soothe a cough and is a great alternative to high-fructose corn syrup. Overall, honey is a good alternative to other sweeteners and great for your overall health.