Natural Cures Not Medicine: raw honey

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Showing posts with label raw honey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label raw honey. Show all posts

Top 20 Natural Painkillers You Already Have In Your Kitchen

Image: www.herbs-info.com
We just discovered a fantastic, fascinating list of natural painkillers that are common kitchen ingredients! What’s interesting is that the list is not just a basic list – but also gives specific information as to the type of pain that researchers have found that these natural ingredients may assist with – and the way in which the food is used (not all of the remedies involve actually eating the herb / food in question!)

This list is absolutely incredible – and the uses are based on reports from scientific research (this info is included at the source article – link at the foot of my commentary). The original list is a bit of a long read though, requiring much scrolling – and so we thought it might be good to seem them all “at a glance” – so for those who want to “skim” through the list really quickly, I made a “short version” of the top 20, together with a summary of the condition each item is used for.

Once again, the miracles of nature have astounded me and made me wonder if the modern world will tamper with everything before going full circle and realizing that “natural is best” after all! Thankfully there are still many good scientists doing groundbreaking work in this field and I take my hat off to you.

Top 20 Natural Painkillers List

Ginger (add to 1-2 teaspoons daily to diet for general muscle pain) 10 more health benefits of ginger
Cloves (chewed gently for toothache / gum inflammation)
Apple Cider Vinegar (1tbsp mixed with water before meals for heartburn) More apple cider vinegar uses
Garlic (made into a special oil for earache – recipe at the original article)
Cherries (joint pain, headaches – 1 bowl per day)
Oily fish (Salmon, tuna, sardines, trout, mackerel, herring – intestinal inflammation – 18oz per week)
Yogurt (PMS – 2 cups per day)
Turmeric (chronic pain – 1/4 teaspoon per day) Turmeric is more effective than 14 different pharmaceutical drugs
Oats (endometrial pain – they are gluten free)
Salt (hot, salty foot baths for ingrown toenails – 1tsp per cup of water – 20 mins twice daily)
Pineapple (stomach bloating, gas – 1 cup of fresh pineapple)
Peppermint (add a few drops of the essential oil to bath for sore muscles)
Grapes (back pain – 1 heaping cup per day)
Water (general injury pain, helps wash away the pain-triggering histamine – 8 x 8 ounce glasses per day)
Horseradish (sinus pain – 1 teaspoon twice daily)
Blueberries (bladder / urinary tract infections – 1 cup daily)
Raw Honey (topical application 4 times daily for cold sores / canker sores) (see also our special report on raw honey) More health benefits of raw honey
Flax (breast pain – 3 tablespoons daily – must be ground or seeds will pass right through!)
Coffee (migraines – caffeine stimulates the stomach to absorb pain meds better)
Tomato Juice (leg cramps – tomato juice is rich in potassium – 10oz daily)

Can you think of any more? Let us know in the comments.

Source: herbs-info.com

Raw Honey Garlic Lemon Shots

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Here Is A Simple Recipe To Supercharge Your Immune System:
by Natasha Longo from Prevent Disease
One criticism often received by recipes involving cooked onions, garlic and other alliums is that the heating process destroys much of the allicin that leads to its protective effects. While this is partially true, knowing how to optimize garlic before eating it raw or cooked will maximize garlic enzymes and give them the best chance to survive meal preparation. I’ll share a very simple recipe to use regularly during the cold and flu season that will supercharge your immune system.
With their unique combination of flavonoids and sulfur-containing nutrients, allium vegetables–such as garlic–belong in your diet on a regular basis. There’s research evidence for including at least one serving of an allium vegetable–such as garlic–in your meal plan every day. If you’re choosing garlic as your allium family vegetable, try to include at least 1/2 clove in your individual food portion. If you’re preparing a recipe, you should use at least 1-2 cloves.
Washington State University showed that garlic is 100 times more effective than antibiotics at fighting disease causing bacteria commonly responsible for foodborne illness. Its anti-viral potency is perhaps even more effective.
Allicin, one of garlic’s most highly valued sulfur compounds–stays intact for only 2-16 hours at room temperature when it is present in purified (extracted) form. But when it’s still inside of crushed garlic, allicin will stay viable for 2-1/2 days.
If you give your chopped/crushed garlic time to sit before changing its temperature (through cooking) or its pH (through the addition of acidic food like lemon juice), it will give the alliinase enzymes in garlic an opportunity to work on behalf of your health. For example, in the absence of chopping or crushing, research has shown that just 60 seconds of immediate microwaving will cause garlic to lose some of its cancer-protective properties.
Before cooking or adding chopped garlic to lemon juice, let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes to maximize its potency. The following recipe has minimal preparation time and maximum benefits to your health, especially during cold and flu season. I call them shots because they’re a cocktail of beneficial immune boosting constituents inside a lemon half that you can eat in just a few bites. My recommendation is to have one or two of these per day during peak flu activity when viral transmission is at its highest (usually Jan-Mar).


Raw Honey Garlic Lemon Shots

1 lemon (preferably organic)
1-2 cloves of garlic (depends on size of cloves)
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon of honey (preferably Manuka but at least Raw)

Step 1 – Cut a lemon in half






Step 2 – Squeeze all the lemon juice out of one half and place in a small bowl. Keep the half you extracted the juice from for Step 6 (store the other half for later use).



lemon2


Step 3 – Chop the garlic and it let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Then add it to the lemon juice with the cayenne pepper.



lemon3


Step 4 – Add the honey to the mix and stir all ingredients well.



lemon4


Step 5 – Pour the entire mixture back into the lemon half (which you extracted the juice from in Step 2)



lemon5


Consume the finished product in its entirety including all the lemon pulp. Hold it in your hand and cup it as if you’re holding a fruit. Repeat recipe in 4 hours with the other lemon half.
Viruses hate this information, so spread the word.

Raw Honey: Liquid Gold in Your Pantry!

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When selecting foods for your stockpile, the most budget-friendly, space-conscious way to do it is by selecting items that multitask.  This criteria places honey high on your “to-buy list”.  Tess Pennington of Ready Nutrition lists honey as one of the top SHTF sweeteners to store.
Honey is indeed nature’s sweetener, but don’t write it off as just a condiment.  The sticky sweet substance is far more than something to stir into your tea or spread on your toast.
Since ancient times, the healing properties of honey have been documented.  Some of this knowledge seems to have been forgotten (and purposely marginalized), and drug companies have replaced honey with chemical ointments, antibiotics and antivirals. (This is, as always, about money – they can’t patent honey, can they?)
  • Honey has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for more than 4000 years.  Honey is an ingredient in 634 remedies in ancient Hindu vedic texts.
  • The Ebers Papyrus of ancient Egypt expounded on the medicinal properties of honey, and it is contained in nearly every ancient Egyptian remedy.
  • In ancient Greece, Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine” wrote,  ”Honey and pollen cause warmth, clean sores and ulcers, soften hard ulcers of lips, heal carbuncles and running sores.”

Just Because the Label Says “Honey” …

Now, you can’t go and get the ubiquitous squeezy bear full of honey at the grocery store and expect it to cure all your ills.  In fact, the some of the squeezy bears don’t even contain real honey at all. Our good friends at the FDA have defined  honey as “anything containing pollen.
Even with that broad definition, some of the Chinese companies have “ultrafiltered” the honey that goes into those little bears to the point that there isn’t even any pollen left.
I bet you wonder why – I did.
Ultrafiltering removes the pollen so that the source of the honey cannot be determined.  Providers of cheap honey do this so that consumers cannot  discover the origin.  Often the cheap honey is tainted with pesticides, illegal antibiotics, and heavy metals.  Some of the cheap honey is watered down with High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Much of the questionable honey originates in China.
According to independent testing ordered by Food Safety News and performed by Vaughan Bryant, a professor at Texas A&M University and one of the nation’s premier melissopalynologists, or investigators of pollen in honey.76% of the golden stuff sold in grocery stores as honey doesn’t contain even one little drop of pollen.
  • 76 percent of samples bought at groceries had all the pollen removed, These were stores like TOP Food, Safeway, Giant Eagle, QFC, Kroger, Metro Market, Harris Teeter, A&P, Stop & Shop and King Soopers.
  • 100 percent of the honey sampled from drugstores like Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS Pharmacy had no pollen.
  • 77 percent of the honey sampled from big box stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Target and H-E-B had the pollen filtered out.
  • •00 percent of the honey packaged in the small individual service portions from Smucker, McDonald’s and KFC had the pollen removed.
  • Bryant found that every one of the samples Food Safety News bought at farmers markets, co-ops and “natural” stores like PCC and Trader Joe’s had the full, anticipated, amount of pollen.
The  FDA, despite their definition, doesn’t seem to care about the false labeling of these products.  The FDA has ignored requests from Congress, beekeepers and the honey industry to develop a U.S. standard for honey.  Less than 5% of honey on store shelves has been tested by the FDA for purity.

How can you be sure you are actually buying honey?

As with most products, the closer you can get to the actual source, the better off you’ll be.  Short of scooping the sticky stuff directly from the hives, purchase as locally as possible, directly from beekeepers or at your favorite farmer’s market.
There are more than 300 varieties of honey sold in the US.  The difference in these varieties is the source of the pollen.  Buckwheat honey is reputed to have the most healing properties of any type of honey.  As a general rule of thumb,  the darker the honey is, the more benefits it has.

Pasteurized vs. Raw

The FDA seems more concerned that honey be pasteurized (i.e.,heat  processed) than that the honey actually be honey.  The problem with pasteurization is that it kills off many of the beneficial components in the honey, most particularly propolis.
…The processing of honey often removes many of the phytonutrients found in raw honey as it exists in the hive. Raw honey, for example, contains small amounts of the same resins found in propolis. Propolis, sometimes called “bee glue,” is actually a complex mixture of resins and other substances that honeybees use to seal the hive and make it safe from bacteria and other micro-organisms. Honeybees make propolis by combining plant resins with their own secretions… Other phytonutrients found both in honey and propolis have been shown to possess cancer-preventing and anti-tumor properties. These substances include caffeic acid methyl caffeatephenylethyl caffeate, and phenylethyl dimethylcaffeate. Researchers have discovered that these substances prevent colon cancer in animals by shutting down activity of two enzymes, phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C and lipoxygenase. When raw honey is extensively processed and heated, the benefits of these phytonutrients are largely eliminated… (source)
Despite the important benefits of raw honey, there are some caveats.
  • Infants under the age of 1 should not be fed raw honey because of the risk of botulism.  Their underdeveloped immune systems cannot prevent the Clostridium botulinum pores from multiplying.  Botulism can cause paralysis and death.
  • People with bee venom allergies sometimes suffer an allergic reaction to honey.  These allergic reactions can easily become life-threatening.
  • There is a higher risk of food poisoning when you consume raw honey vs pasteurized honey.
With the knowledge of the above warnings, I still purchase only raw honey for my household.  The pros outweigh the cons for me.

 The Benefits of Raw Honey

Raw honey is anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal, making it one of the most healing substances on earth.  It is also highly nutritious.  Honey is a natural multivitamin.  It contains significant amounts of: B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium chlorine, sulphur, and phosphate.
Honey has been used historically both internally and externally for a variety of concerns:
  • Apply honey liberally on a wound to speed healing.
  • Apply honey to a rash, burn or scrape, and cover loosely.
  • A tsp taken 3 times per day can help prevent seasonal allergies.
  • A tbsp of raw honey sprinkled with cinnamon taken 3 times per day can boost the immune system and fight off a cold or sore throat.
  • A spoonful of honey can soothe a cough caused by a tickle or sore throat.
  • A couple of tablespoons of honey stirred into hot tea can lessen the symptoms of a cold or flu.
  • Honey mixed with equal parts coconut oil makes a wonderful skin conditioner.
  • Some studies say that honey can help control blood sugar fluctuations.
  • Raw honey increases the production of antioxidants in the bloodstream.
  • Recent studies proved that honey reduced overall cholesterol levels when taken daily.
  • Honey applied topically to a wound or incision moistens the skin and helps prevent or reduce scarring.

Recipe: Homemade Cough Syrup

I keep a honey-lemon-ginger remedy in my refrigerator all winter long.  Learn more about honey as a flu symptom remedy HERE.
I always keep a jar of this homemade cough syrup in my refrigerator.  It tastes so good that I don’t have to ask my kids twice to take it.  You can also stir a few tablespoons of the syrup into hot water for a homemade “Neo-Citran”-style hot drink without all the nasty chemicals.
Ingredients
  • 2 lemons, scrubbed and thinly sliced
  • 6 tbsp of grated ginger root
  • Honey as needed
Directions
  1. In a glass jar, layer the lemon slices and grated ginger until the jar is full.
  2. Pour honey into the jar, using the blade of a kitchen knife to move the lemon and ginger around and make room for it.
  3. Store it in the fridge for at least 2 weeks before using it.  Then, take 1-2 tsp 3 times per day, as needed, for coughs or sore throats.

Long Term Storage of Honey

The great news about buying honey for your stockpile is that it stores forever.  Literally.  Honey was discovered in the pyramids of Egypt – over 5000 years old – and still edible. Given that, I strongly suspect it will remain viable in your stockpile for as long as you care to store it.  The only thing that will happen is that, in time, it will crystallize.  You can resolve this issue by placing the jar of honey in a bowl of hot water until it returns to liquid form. However, you can also use it in its crystallized form – you can stir it into tea, spread it on hot toast, or take a spoonful of it as one of the remedies mentioned above.
Frequently heating and cooling honey can lessen its nutritional potency, so I recommend putting honey in a small jar for regular use and using the big jars just to restock your little one.
Store your honey in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.
Are you wondering how to use all that honey?  Read Show Me the Honey: How to Cook with that Gooey Goodness.
 
About the author:
Please feel free to share any information from this site in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to this website and the following bio.
Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca
- See more at: http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/raw-honey-liquid-gold-in-your-pantry-03262013#sthash.lcMzCB0V.dpuf

The Health Benefits Of Raw Honey

RAW HONEY BENEFITS  

Raw honey contains: All of the B-complex, A, C, D, E, and K, minerals and elements: magnesium, sulfur, phosphorus, iron, calcium, chlorine, potassium, iodine, sodium, copper, and manganese. One reason honey may be so great is because of the live enzyme content of honey is one of the highest of all foods. Honey also contains hormones, and antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. Much of raw, unfiltered honey’s effectiveness and health benefits may be due to the presence of Bee Pollen and Bee Propolis Found To Slow Tumor Growth  but there are reports of more substances in honey as yet unidentified, that may be responsible for its fantastic health benefits and effects.

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