posted by Robin

Honey is used in Ayurvedic medicine on all three doshas, or primitive material imbalances of the body and promotes the healing process.
About – Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. Honey collection is an ancient activity and was depicted in a cave painting from at least 8,000 years ago, in Valencia, Spain. The benefits of honey have also been recorded in many ancient scriptures. In Hinduism, honey is one of the five elixirs of immortality. The Vedas and other ancient literature mention the use of honey as a great medicinal and health food. Honey is featured in Buddhist texts, as well as in both the Christian and Hebrew Bibles, and in the Qur’an, in which the Prophet Muhammad strongly recommended honey for healing purposes.

Make sure to buy unpasteurized honey, which is raw and commonly found in health food stores. Try to find a local source of it which is produced in a clean environment away from the city. Honey comes in a variety of colors and flavors depending on the type of flowers from which it was made, including: alfalfa, buckwheat, wildflower, heather, acacia, manuka, thyme and lavender.

Nutrition – Honey contains vitamin C, calcium, iron and a variety of other vitamins and minerals, which changes depending on on the flowers available to the bees that produced the honey. Honey also contains tiny amounts of several compounds thought to function as antioxidants including chrysin, pinobanksin, catalase, pinocembrin and its vitamin C.

Honey has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and hence it can be used as a natural antiseptic. It speeds up the healing process by stimulating wound tissues and helps especially in moist wound healing.

Recent research has shown that honey helps in boosting the performance of athletes. It helps with muscle recuperation, in balancing blood sugar levels and with glycogen restoration after a workout. Honey contains electrolytes, in the form of acids and minerals, and exhibits varying degrees of electrical conductivity. Measurements of the electrical conductivity are used to determine the quality of honey in terms of ash content. Raw unpasteurized honey retains its natural inherent enzymes and is more beneficial to the body.