[gallery td_gallery_title_input="The benefits of honey with water " td_select_gallery_slide="slide" size="medium" ids="97946,97947,97948"] By Abdul Rahman M. Baig Saudi Gazette All diet experts agree that honey has a supreme advantage over other natural foods. Its natural soothing and rejuvenating effects on skin and hair surpass the great majority of advertised day or night care creams, lotions, shampoos, leave-in-conditioners, gels- you name it! Natural skin and hair products have honey as their main ingredient, but cheap chemical products abandon it. They say health and good looks come from the stomach, so you may reap more benefits by consuming honey drinks rather than applying it. Is honey good for you when consumed on its own? It definitely is good! So, do try to use honey not as tea, coffee or lemonade sweetener only. Think of it in another, much healthier way. It is true that we are all burdened with the harmful effects of white sugar to the extent that we avoid sugar in any edible form. Learn to differentiate honey drinks from the myriad of sodas, energizers, fruit yogurts, cocktails, milk shakes or other ready-made coffee drinks that contain harmful amounts of added sugar. What you need is pollen-rich honey to make a real change in your diet! 11 Health benefits of honey Honey unlocks your auto defense mechanism: Only raw, unadulterated honey can ‘unlock' your self-defense abilities and keep them ‘on guard,' because only raw, organic honey is loaded with helpful minerals, vitamins, flavonoids, and enzymes that keep your gut clean and healthy. Your immune system is simply in the ‘out-of-order' position when your body is not properly detoxified or hydrated. And bee honey taken with some water can be instrumental in flushing out the toxins from your body! Honey reduces cough and throat irritation: It helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey. In a study of 110 children, a single dose of buckwheat honey was just as effective as a single dose of the drug dextromethorphan in relieving nocturnal cough and allowing of proper sleep. Therefore, seasonal allergies, cold, and different strains of flu with symptoms like coughing, sore throat and bouts of fever, can be effectively warded off by consuming honey and water on a daily basis. Honey is anti-bacterial, antiseptic and anti-viral: The fact that all types of honey are antibacterial because the bees add an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide, as proven by Peter Molan, director of the Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Indeed, honey has powerful anti-bacterial, antiseptic, anti-viral and even anti-fungal properties. If you smear some honey on minor cuts and burns, it acts as an anti-bacterial and antiseptic agent, and also helps the wounds heal faster. It cleanses the affected area and speeds up the body's healing response. Actually, honey soothes any skin inflammation! Honey aids in indigestion Besides purifying our bodies of toxins, honey dissolved in water also aids indigestion (acid or upset stomach) by easing the food passage from the intestines to the colon. It neutralizes the gas produced in the body and soothes the stomach suffering from the after-effects of overeating. Recent research convincingly shows that honey treatment may help stomach disorders such as ulcers and bacterial gastroenteritis. Honey assists in weight loss Drinking warm water with honey and a few drops of lemon juice is part of the majority of detoxifying and weight loss programs. Since honey is naturally sweet, it will sweeten your food in a natural way. White sugar, which has lots of empty calories, can be replaced with pure honey, or honey and water, for a unique flavor in any home-made beverage. That expanding waistline, which has been bothering you for so long, can be under control very soon! Honey increases athletic performance Honey provides essential energy for a quality athletic performance. Ancient Olympic athletes would eat raw honey and dried figs to enhance their sports performance. This has now been verified by modern studies, showing that honey is superior to other sweeteners in maintaining glycogenic levels and speeding up recovery time. The naturally-occurring sugar in raw honey is a great source of energy for the body, minus all those calories which are linked to other sweet foods. Honey and water can also be used to suppress cravings for sugary cakes, pies or pastry. Adding honey to taste to your daily beverages will keep your energy levels up during the day. Honey says farewell to your allergies Did you know that locally-produced honey can help you ‘tune' with the pollens of the area where you happen to live? Indeed, your body will receive these bee-disseminated agents and its reaction to them won't be environmentally-allergic any longer! And while warm water is not an efficient remedy for allergies by itself, it still does help to dissolve the honey and make it more-and-faster digestible. Staying well-hydrated can be help ever, and hurt never! Honey will turn your gassy stomach into a ‘flat tire' If you have tried everything and you stomach is still gas-ridden, then honey-water maybe your last resort to solve the problem. Nobody feels comfortable with a stomach ‘inflated like a helium balloon,' so do try out the recipe below. Stomach gasses are largely due to age-related bad digestion and honey can eliminate them naturally. You won't need to take pharmaceutical preparations that may help you instantly, but after you stop taking them, gasses come back even more profusely. It is always better to be safe than to be sorry, right? Honey can skyrocket your energy! If you have been feeling saggy-and-baggy lately, you definitely need an energy shot. The carbohydrates and simple sugars found in honey even when is adulterated will boost your energy. So any time your body calls for a cup of coffee or a cigarette, do not give it this unhealthy gratification. Honey detoxes like a toxin-washing machine Most people feel ‘slackish' during workdays because they are not regular when it comes to stools. And what better detox way can you find than honey-water-lemon way? The lemon, that is the citric acid in it, helps with liver stimulation and "due urination," so it is never a miss to add it to any healthy drink. The more enzymes you place in your gastrointestinal tract (GI tract), the healthier you will be. Finally, honey can help you reduce that bad cholesterol and increase the good one Cardiovascular tension and low levels of the good cholesterol can be a thing of the past if you try this honey-water homemade drink. Bees' products can melt away bad body fats and make you feel as light as a feather. After all, we have never seen "a fat bee" simply because it is always on the right diet. So, it makes great sense to copy a bee's all-natural healthy diet of life, doesn't it? Honey Water Recipe: Ingredients: Organic raw honey Water Directions: 1. Add one table spoon of organic raw honey in a cup of warm (not hot) water and mix well. 2. In this simple recipe, you can also add some freshly-squeezed lemon juice and some freshly-ground cinnamon powder to enhance the taste. 3. This honey-water drink should be taken on an empty stomach in the morning for best results. Water is essential for your body's metabolism, so it is very important to get the right amount of fluid in order to be healthy. And water is simply indispensable for proper hydration of the skin as well. However, it is mixing honey with water, which this recipe suggests, that increases its potency multiple times. Prepare this ‘divine nectar' for yourself, and count on it to keep your body hydrated and supple all day long.
