If you eat honey every day, you’ll soon realize its true benefits, which humans have been reaping from the hard work of bees for millennia. Its delicious nectar is found on every continent except Antartica.
According to a 2017 study, “honey is used not only as a nutritional product but also in health described in traditional medicine and as an alternative treatment for clinical conditions ranging from wound healing to cancer treatment.” The study goes on to elaborate that “evidence from Stone Age paintings shows treatment of disease with bee product such as honey originated from 8000 years ago.”
In modern times, people can use honey as sweetener for an afternoon tea or as an ingredient in sticky face masks and shine-producing hair masks. The cheap and delicious substance is safe to be consumed on a daily basis and, in fact, has been proven to have great benefits to our health when we ingest it. Let’s take a look at all the ways honey helps us humans when we eat it every day. Just remember to consume honey in moderation.
If you eat honey every day, your skin might clear up
Used as a beauty secret by people the world over, honey has some serious healing properties. It is very effective in the effort to clean, protect, and heal wounds. Désirée Lie, clinical professor of family medicine at the Keck School of Medicine (via MedScape), shared, “As a topical agent, honey has a debriding and cleansing action and acts as a barrier to prevent infection.” Honey has properties like hydrogen peroxide, proteins, and gluconic acid that act as healing agents. So, we know honey is helpful when applied to the skin, but what happens if you add a spoonful to your tea every day?
Nutrition author David Wolfe wrote in an excerpt of his book The Beauty Diet, as shared by Parade, “Honey’s amino acids support tissue rebuilding and repair to keep the foundation under the skin plump and strong.” In addition, honey contains melatonin, which helps in the quest for sleep, which we know is key to keeping skin looking healthy. So, if you eat honey every day, your skin might just look it’s best.
You may be able to detox free radicals in your body if you eat honey every day
The modern world around us is full of toxins that wreak havoc on us day in and day out. And we certainly don’t always help ourselves — from spending the occasional night out on the town to throwing down a few too many cheeseburgers, we sometimes indulge in foods and beverages that aren’t the kindest to our bodies. Luckily, nature provides a solution. Studies show that we can help detoxify our bodies if we eat honey every day.
A 2018 study reported that honey “as a conventional therapy, might be a novel antioxidant to abate many of the diseases directly or indirectly associated with oxidative stress.” This is partially due to the fact that the delicious substance is full of flavonoids. According to a 2014 study, “flavonoids serve as a potent treatment for oxidative stress.” That oxidative stress is caused by free radicals, aka toxins. As green tea is also full of those handy flavonoids, adding some honey to your morning beverage can doubly help get rid of those pesky free radicals.
If you eat honey every day, your athletic performance may improve
There is a good reason bears are famous for being unafraid to get stung by bees that are protecting their hive. Chock full of carbohydrates, honey is an important natural, nutritional, and energy-giving food source. And let’s face it — it is also delicious. That’s why athletes around the world turn to the substance to aid in athletic performance.
The USADA refers to carbohydrates as “The Master Fuel.” According to the USADA website, “a diet rich in carbohydrates increases both endurance and intermittent high-intensity performance because of the extra store of carbohydrates in the muscles and liver, called glycogen.” When in training mode, many athletes reach for sports gel to help them with endurance. Turns out honey is a natural alternative. Regarding a recent study of honey vs. sports gels, Richard Kreider, a principal investigator at the University of Memphis Exercise and Sport Nutrition Laboratory, told Scientific American, “We were pleased to find that honey, a ‘cocktail’ of various natural sugars, performed just as well.” So it just might be worth it to eat honey every day to boost your endurance.
You might ward off additional weight if you eat honey every day
Billions of bucks are spent every year in the quest to lose weight. While it might seem antithetical to eat honey with all its calories while on a weight-loss journey, it has actually been proven to be a helpful agent.
A 2011 study on rats revealed that honey resulted in 14.7 percent less weight gain in the rats that consumed honey instead of sucrose. In another rat-based obesity study in 2017, researchers found when comparing different types of honey and a pharmaceutical drug that “both honey types showed better effects compared to orlistat, a drug used to control obesity.” The study also noted that the two kinds of honey used were not created equal, as one performed better than the other in the attempt to squelch weight gain. Researchers claimed that “Gelam honey possesses lipid lowering and antioxidative effects in obese induced rats” and presented “weight-reducing ability compared to Acacia honey.”
When it comes to humans, studies are still being conducted, but a 2018 diabetes study found that “participants showed a significant weight reduction in honey condition and a significant difference in waist circumference changes between the two conditions.”
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