Friday, April 15, 2011

Manuka Honey and Reversing The Antibiotic Resistance!

Good morning!  I just read a Fox News article on Manuka Honey that gives some really exciting news about the benefits that may be received that was previously unknown.

If you have never heard of Manuka Honey, it is made from the nectar of bee's that collect from the manuka trees in New Zealand.  It is specially made for the treatment of cancer and the effects that occur from the harsh cancer treatements that patients receive.  I have read some testimonials on this brand of honey that are really amazing but now it seems as though there are even more benefits that are being discovered that could potentially benefit all of mankind. 

This new research is showing that Manuka Honey may be able to stop the resistance to antibiotics which is a growing concern in the medical field today.   You may check out this link to Fox ( http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/04/13/honey-stop-antibiotic-resistance/ ) that will give more detail on this research and I have several links here on my page that will direct you to Manuka.

Have a great day and keep checking back here for more updates as I find more uses for honey that may be of great benefit to you and your family!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

School Bus Drivers and Honey

Honey is a delicious way to receive a little bit of energy during the day as a pick me up.  That's right, honey is a natural source of energy!

As a school bus driver I am always in need of a little pick me up.  Working with children can be draining at times although over all it is a very enjoyable job.  A little bit of honey before my route as a substitute for a candy bar or caffeinated beverage really works for me.

Monday, March 28, 2011

What I Believe

When I decided recently to start blogging....the decision on what to blog about was pretty easy for me.  As a singer I was constantly bothered by a tickle in my throat, due to an allergy problem, and I had discovered that honey really was working for me when over the counter allergy medicines were drying out my throat and making it difficult for me to sing.  I began to dig around on the internet to find out more about honey and see if there might be other home remedies that I could use honey for.  I was amazed, and still am, at all that I find out there about how honey can be used to treat so many things. 

I am a firm believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I believe that God gave us certain plants and herbs to keep us healthy.  And I believe that honey is another blessing that He gave us to keep us healthy and help us treat different ailments that we may suffer from.  Recently I used a dab of honey on my arm when I managed to burn myself while cooking.  Instantly it took the sting out and I forgot that it had even happened until a few days later and I couldn't even find the place that had been burned!

Soon I am going to branch out a little bit and start investigating other plants and foods that the LORD has provided for us and I will be posting about those things as well.  Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions for things that you might want to know more about.....and may God richly bless you!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Honey: Facial Mask Recipe For Oily / Blackhead Prone Skin

Since I liked the honey and milk facial so much I decided to find another good facial mask using honey and I found a great one!  Try this recipe if you have oily skin.  It also very good for getting rid of blackheads.

Only 4 ingredients are needed for this recipe and you probably already have them in your kitchen.

2 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. of fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. of nutmeg

Put your honey in a glass bowl and set it in hot water and let the water warm the honey for a few minutes.  Next add in the lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix the ingredients until it becomes smoothe.  Apply to clean face and neck using either a cosmetic brush or your fingertips.  Then wait for 15 minutes and rinse off with warm water.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Honey: Recipes for radiant skin!

Because honey contains natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, it is a great natural cleanser, moisterizer, toner and healer for the skin!  I will address how honey can be used as a healing property for burns, ringworm and other skin infections at a later date.  For now, I want to focus on using honey as a beauty product for the skin.  Here are some good recipes for honey to refresh your skin and leave it radiant and younger looking!

Face scrub:

Combine 1 tbsp. of honey, 2 tbsp. of finely ground almonds, 1/2 tsp. lemon juice, and 2 tbsp. of dry oatmeal.  Apply this paste to your face and gently massage and then rinse with warm water.

To rejuvenate the skin:

Combine 1 tsp of honey, 1 egg, and 1 cup of tea glycerin and add flour to make a paste.  Apply to face and neck and let it set for 15 minutes.  Wash off in warm water.

Moisturizer:

Combine 2 tbsp of honey and 2 tsp. of milk.  Apply this mixture to your face and neck and let sit for 10 minutes and then rinse off in warm water.

Add to your bath:

Add 1/4 cup of honey to your bath for silky skin.

Acne:

Honey absorbs impurities in the skin.  Apply honey directly to blemish and let dry.  Wash off in warm water.

I will be adding more of these recipes for beautiful skin in later posts....so keep watching for them!



Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Honey: Cholesterol & Antioxidants

Do you have problems with your cholesterol?  If so, you might want to pay careful attention to this post. 

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is very important to the function of the body.  There are two kinds of cholesterol; one is referred to as "good" cholesterol and the other as "bad" cholesterol.  The "bad" cholesterol is known as LDL, or Low-density lipoproteins.  It is known as "bad" cholesterol because it sticks to the walls of the arteries.  High-density cholesterol, or HDL, is the "good" cholesterol because it cleans out the dangerous LDL stuck on the arterial walls.  High cholesterol is a major factor for heart disease, which is the nation's number one cause of death. 

Lower your LDL cholesterol with honey

Several important studies have been done on the effects of honey on cholesterol and it is being found that honey shows very good results in lowering the LDL cholesterol significantly and also increase HDL cholesterol.  Honey itself contains no cholesterol.

(For a little more information on the results of these studies see these two links:  http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/news/20020819/honey-almonds-lower-cholesterol
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2203073.stm)

Antioxidants

Results of various research has also shown that honey is a great source of antioxidants.  In fact, it contains about the same level of antioxidants as many fruits and vegetables such as spinach, apples, bananas, oranges and strawberries!  (It's the darker honey that has the highest amount and in a later post I am going to go into more detail about the different kinds of honey and the importance of what plants the bee's eat from that makes a difference in the honey.)

So exactly what is an antioxidant and why should I care whether or not honey is a source of antioxidants?  Well, antioxidents are a substance that protects cells from damage caused by free radicals.  And free radicals can lead to arthritis, cancer and stroke.  So, keeping your antioxident level up is important.  We get antixodents from vegetables, tea, nuts, fruit.....and honey!

The best way to incorporate honey into your health regime is to do it by replacing your sugar intake with honey and using it in various foods.  To lower cholesterol and boost your antioxident level use 4 tbsp of honey to 16 oz of water.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Honey as a sweetener

Honey can be used as a sweetener in the place of sugar or artificial sweeteners.  Some of my readers use honey in their coffee in replacement of sugar. 

While it is true that honey has more calories than sugar, people generally use less honey to sweeten a food than they do sugar and honey is better for you so it is a good tradeoff.  Here is a good article that can tell you a little more about that:  http://www.ehow.com/about_5463395_calories-honey-vs-sugar.html

Use honey on your favorite cereal!  Just had to try the new Banana Nut Cheerios!  It was great!  I added a banana, some wheat germ and a little bit of honey to it.  I usually add all three of these things to all of my cereal.  Without the extra's that I put in the Banana Nut Cheerios only have 100 calories per serving, og of saturated fat, 9g of sugar and 40 iu of vitamin D.  This cereal is so good you can eat it plain like a snack without the milk!

Do you use honey in replacement of sugar for anything?  Please share with me and let me know!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Honey For Arthritis & Gout

Back over 4,000 years ago honey was considered a valuable commodity.  It was given as gifts in the Old Testament.  See Genesis 43:11  And their father Israel said unto them, if it must be so now do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds.  Honey is a gift to us from God.  It is not only sweet, and good for us, but there are also some medicinal properties discovered in honey.  It seems like we are finding out more and more uses for honey as a healing agent all the time.  Take for example the use of honey for arthritis and gout.

Take 1 part honey to 2 parts warm water and add a teaspoon of cinnamon.  Take this mixture and massage into the affected part of the body.  The results should be noticed very quickly.  Arthritis sufferers can also make a tea with honey and cinnamon and drink it twice daily; one cup in the morning and one in the evening.  Use 2 tablespoons of honey and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon with hot water. 

Here is a link to some testimonials to how honey has helped with gout:  http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-and-cinnamon-cures.html

The elderly can often times be taking large amounts of pills for varied ailments and often these different medicines can interact with each other in a negative way.  If using honey can be replaced for one ailment to someone who is already taking a lot of medications......how wonderful would that be!

Honey can also be used on acne, for the healing of skin after surgeries and other uses which I will be posting on soon!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Recommended books

I was just over at Amazon.com and found that there are some great books out about honey!  I saw two that I am definately interested in:  Honey: The Gourmet Medicine and The Honey Prescription.

Honey to lose weight!

Can it be true?  Well, according to this well written article that I found it is!  http://www.naturalnews.com/022690.html  You make a tea with honey and cinnamon.  Now I haven't made the tea using the directions from this article but I have tried it a different way.  I have heard that it is important NOT to boil the honey.  What I do is boil the water, put a half a teaspoon of cinnamon in my coffee cup and  pour in the hot water and then add in a teaspoon of honey.  It really tastes great!  I can see where the filtering that this article suggests could be helpful as my method leaves cinnamon particles floating around in the tea but it really doesn't bother me.  I haven't tried this long enough to say for sure whether or not it will help you lose weight but one thing that I can tell you with certainty......it tastes great and in my opinion it surely must be better for you than drinking coffee.  I am not a coffee drinker and am not really a fan of hot tea either but this makes such a nice warm drink but it's not a caffeine type drink that you would find yourself having the jitters if you don't get your cup in the morning! 

You can also make a honey and lemon tea for weight loss.  Check out this link for more information on how this combination can be helpful to you in losing weight!  http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-and-lemon.html  Both recipes stress to take this on an empty stomache in the morning a half hour before you eat and in the evening before you go to sleep.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Honey to soothe the throat

I initially started using honey because my husband recommended it for my cough.  He urged me to take a teaspoon of honey one night because I had a nagging cough that was keeping me from getting any sleep.  I really didn't see how honey could help but I figured that it certainly couldn't hurt!  I took a teaspoon of honey and my cough immediately calmed down and I was able to go to sleep.  Now I take honey every time I even think that I may have irritation in my throat just before I go to sleep.  I love the fact that I am not having to take any kind of over the counter cough medicines for my cough but rather am turning to something natural.  And since I started using the honey for my throat I have done a little research and am constantly amazed at all of the health benefits of honey!  How can something so sweet and so good be so good for you!

Not long after discovering the benefits of using honey at night, I discovered that taking a teaspoon of honey before I leave to go sing helps keep my throat feeling smoother and enables me to sing with more clarity and ease.  A lot of times different over the counter cough supprestants and allergy medicines will dry out the throat.  Singing with a dry throat is not pleasant.  Not for the singer nor the listener!

There are many different kinds of honey and there are some that are better for some things than others are.  I have learned that for allergies the best honey is local honey.  You want to use honey that is made from the very plants and flowers that are triggering your allergies to begin with.  I am going to be writing here in the future about the different kinds of honey and what each of them are best for.

There are many different health benefits from honey that I am going to be writing about as well.  I am learning about honey raising white blood cell counts in people who are taking chemo, about it being helpful for those needing to increase their antioxident levels, a cure for acne, losing weight and also as a natural antibiotic.  I will be writing about all of this one subject at a time as I hope that in writing on this that someone will benefit from the information.

The Benefits of Honey

I have recently started using honey on a regular basis after reading about the benefits of honey.  I am going to be sharing things that I have learned about honey and how it has benefitted me on this blog page.  Please check back often as I will be updating on a regular basis!