Honey is a useful product. It has long been recognized by mainstream medicine as a healing supplement to the primary treatment for colds, heart disease, and skin disorders, as well as a powerful recovery agent after illness or surgery.
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The secret of its undeniable benefits is in the composition. It consists of 78% sugars (levulose, glucose, sucrose, maltose), 20% water and two mineral salts.
Honey also contains many enzymes and microelements: potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iodine, iron. In addition, biogenic stimulants of honey increase the overall tone: vitamins B2, B6, pantothenic and folic acids.
Honey has a bactericidal and wound-healing effect. Beekeepers use it to treat burn wounds.
Remember that 1 kg of honey contains 3150 kcal. This is a real energy bomb. Therefore, honey is useful for athletes, people who work physically, adolescents in the period of growth and convalescent patients.
How to use honey
The daily norm of honey for an adult is 100 g, the maximum is 200 g. This amount should be distributed as follows:
- in the morning — 30–60 g,
- in the afternoon — 40–80 g,
- in the evening — 30–60 g.
You can take honey 1.5–2 hours before a meal or 3 hours after a meal. Children can be given honey in a teaspoon (30 g) per day.
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How to be treated with honey
The course of medical treatment lasts 2–3 months. To obtain the maximum effect, it is better to use honey in its pure form or drink it with warm water or tea (for gastritis with low acidity, one and a half to two hours before meals).
The main thing to remember is that honey is afraid of boiling water. It should not be heated more than 40 degrees — all vitamins and antibacterial substances will inevitably collapse. There are few of them, but still not very pleasant. By the way, honey does not become harmful if it is heated. It is a myth!
Be sure to rinse your mouth after taking honey. That is why it is believed that honey does not cause tooth decay.
Remember! Honey can cause serious allergic reactions! Even a teaspoon of honey can cause malaise, itching, nausea, dizziness, and fever. The most common manifestations are urticaria, eczema, difficulty breathing, vomiting, and diarrhea. If a person does not tolerate honey, then other bee products are also contraindicated for him.
Recipes
Honey is taken with a warm drink during a cold. Linden honey is especially useful in this case.
It warms and nourishes the body with minerals that help to withstand the fight against viruses or bacteria. After illness — to restore strength. Black radish juice with honey is a classic cough remedy.
- Honey for gastritis, peptic ulcer. It regulates the acidity of gastric juice. So, if you take it 1.5–2 hours before meals, then it inhibits the secretion of gastric juice, and vice versa, when taking honey immediately before eating, it stimulates its secretion.
“If you use honey dissolved in warm water, it helps to thin the mucus in the stomach and reduce excess acidity. On the contrary, a honey aqueous solution in a cold form increases the acidity.
- Honey from the seizure. Pass through a meat grinder 400 g dried apricots, 400 g prunes. Add 200 g of liquid honey to them and mix well. Take 1 teaspoon at dinner with warm water.
- Honey for gastritis. Take 500 g of honey, mix with 500 g of plantain juice and boil over very low heat for 20 minutes. Take chilled juice before meals, 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day. Store in a dark place.
- Pollen — from dysbacteriosis. Take pollen — 1/3 to 2/3 teaspoon 3 times a day. The course of treatment is 1–1.5 months.
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Which honey is right
To determine the maturity of honey, a spoon is dipped into it and rotated. Unripe honey flows off the spoon, and mature honey is wound, lying on the spoon in folds, like a ribbon.
Take liquid (non-candied) honey, dip a thin stick into a container. Real honey follows the stick with a long, continuous thread, and when the honey drains from the stick, it forms a turret on the surface, which slowly disperses. Fake honey flows profusely and drips from the stick.
Quality honey does not foam. Foaminess indicates fermentation, and natural honey cannot ferment, since it is bactericidal and bacteria and mold do not live in it.
If, over time, honey becomes cloudy and thickens (candied) — this is a sign of good quality. Liquid honey happens, as a rule, in the summer (July-August) during the pumping period. After a maximum of 1–2 months (depending on the variety), it crystallizes.
Therefore, if liquid honey is sold in winter or spring, it means that it is either warmed up or falsified. Most often, real honey is candied 2–3 weeks after harvest.
Given that the last bribe is taken in late September — early October, by October 20, natural honey can only be candied.
Only acacia and heather honey does not crystallize for a long time. If the honey crystallized over time from below, and a syrup formed on top of it, this indicates that the honey is immature and there is a lot of water in it.
Wrong, fake honey has no smell. The real one exudes aroma.
We buy honey
When buying honey, pay attention to the container. Honey can only be stored in glass, wooden or ceramic containers. And banks, in turn, cannot be rolled up hermetically with lids.
Which honey is better
Many sellers claim that mountain honey is better than lowland honey. Don’t fall for this trick. All honey (if it is of high quality) is equally useful and good. And its quality depends on the environmental situation.
