I am having a great visit with my mother this week and she asked me how my blog was going. I gave her a typical child answer: "it's good", then I realized that I haven't written anything in a while! I wanted to introduce her slowly into paleo and explain some stuff to her. I made great chili-lime chicken wings with a salad for her. It all turned out great and I never heard her complain about being bloated or hungry. I will give you the recipe in another blog.
For tonight, I'm going to write a bit about honey. I have been using a lot of honey lately to sweeten some food/drinks. According to paleo guides, it's acceptable to use it because it is naturally produced by bees and can be cultivated (with a few bee stings involved). Bees collect the nectar from various plants, fly back to their nest and this is where it gets weird. The bees actually consume the nectar and regurgitate it several times to make the honey. So yes essentially you are eating regurgitated food and most likely gastric contents. LOL.
Our mothers always told us to put honey in our tea to help sooth a sore throat. Some people put honey on open wounds to help heal. I found out that some properties in honey combined with body fluids and oxygen becomes anti-bacterial and create a slow release hydrogen peroxide. Because this process needs contact with oxygen, it makes for a bad topical antibiotic used with gauze. Diabetic ulcers are a great example for using honey.
Most importantly we use it for food. Because it is allowed in our paleo diet I've decided to really research how good it is. There are as many good things as bad things about this and I will leave it up to you to decide.
1. It is loaded with antioxidants,vitamins and minerals. Buckwheat honey is proven to increase the antioxidant value in the blood.
2. It can vary in glycemic index from low to extremely high, half of the sugar content is actually fructose, and does raise your blood sugar just not as much as regular dextrose and sucrose.
3. It helps reduce inflammation.
4. Lowers LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and raises HDL("Good" cholesterol).
Some of the big tips for honey is to choose a darker coloured honey and make sure it is unpasteurized. It is a healthier option in baking than processed sugar. And most importantly, It is still not recommended for someone who has problems with their weight and diabetics.
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