Honey: medicine in a jar

Don’t be scared away from honey products because of the sugar content. Top quality cold extracted natural honey is medicine in a jar. Honey products are extremely rich in nutrients including some that are not available from plant based products. This makes them extremely valuable for vegans and vegetarians.

However, for honey to have these wonderful healing properties it must have been handled correctly. It must be: 

• Pure 
• Raw 
• Unheated 
• Untreated 
• Cold extracted 
• Packed in glass. 

When honey is heated it degrades and the health giving chemicals are converted into HMF (hydroxymethylfurfural). The HMF levels in a honey are used to test just how much the honey has degraded.

You will find a wealth of information about honey on this site. http://www.maharishihoney.com/ The Maharishi brand uses additional Vedic processes to further enhance their product.

There are many different bee products; not just honey. Each works in slightly different way to help us heal.

Manuka honey
UMF Manuka honey was first discovered in New Zealand. All honey has some antibacterial properties, but Active UMF Manuka honey is especially potent.

It is effective against a wide range of bacteria and fungi including helicobacter pylori, the stomach-ulcer causing bacteria and "Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This is the MRSA superbug, otherwise known as "golden staph", that is infecting many who have open wounds while in hospital. In other words, it can treat infections that antibiotics cannot. When purchasing Manuka honey, make sure it does have a legitimate UMF rating. The higher the rating the higher the price.

Other healing honeys
Manuka honey was the first to be tested for its anti-bacterial qualities, but it is not the only honey with them. Other honeys are being tested and are now finding their way onto the market. One such honey is the Maharishi brand produced in Australia which claims higher anti-bacterial capabilities that Manuka UMF30 for one of its honeys.

Royal jelly
Royal jelly is food for a queen. The queen bee is fed on Royal jelly and lives up to 8 years compared to the normal 8 weeks of other bees. Royal jelly is much prized in eastern medicine as a longevity supplement.

Royal jelly is a natural source of concentrated vitamins, including the complete 'B' complex, as well as 16 minerals, 18 enzymes and 18 amino acids.

Propolis
Propolis has the highest antibiotic properties found in nature. Since ancient times, propolis has been used to treat stomach aches and ulcers, open wounds, abscesses, coughs and colds.

Some cancer sufferers have found that taking propolis has helped their white blood cell counts to rebound after chemotherapy.

Bee pollen
Bee pollen is flower pollen mixed with nectar. Bee pollen is used to promote general health and well-being and can help to reduce allergies to flower pollen. Some people are allergic to bee pollen so it is normally packaged with a warning.

Bee pollen is the most nutritionally rich of all products from the beehive, containing 22 amino acids. Bee pollen is the only plant source of Vitamin B12 and so is useful for vegans who can get seriously ill from Vitamin B12 deficiency. 

Much of this information was summarised from http://www.superbee.com.au/, another great information source on honey.