New honey study show amazing results.

[coco]

check out this yahoo news piece about the surprisingly powerful antibiotic properties of honey. it's been used as medicine for generations, of course, but scientists can't explain how it works better than their drugs even against antibiotic resistant bugs.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080924/health/canada_medicine_research_1
i still won't eat honey as a pleasure food at the cost of the innoccent bees but i am reconcidering it medicinally.

[Linda1970]

Great to know. I use honey regularly. Thanks for sharing.

[Crazy Healer Lady]

Fantastic article!

I don't eat honey as I consider it a medicine only, and have not yet used it medicinally for myself. When my body tells me it's time, I will, but I've always considered it a medicine. After all, we don't drink cough syrup all the time!!!

(By the way I am in no way criticizing those who do eat honey or use honey recreationally. To each their own :) )

[RawKnitster]

That is an interesting article. I hope young mothers that read it will be aware that it should not be given to children under one year old.

I need some proof about honey healing wounds. I've tried it on a cold sore with unfavorable results, actually made it much worse.

That said....Some years ago, before raw, I used to have problems with tooth decay. When I started using local raw blackberry and raspberry honey in my coffee (not anymore), and tea (now herb),

NO MORE TOOTH DECAY!

[Eva]

I wonder about the timing of this article. I am worried about the situation with the bees, worldwide. I'm just now finally ready to make a commitment to stay away from honey. I do still have a jar that is about 1/10 full that I got in July. This is good info, and I will use it medicinally if I need to rather than throwing it away...

Sigh. Maybe this is not an appropriate thread for more ranting about bees. :eek:

[Raw Joy]

For about the last 10 months, I've been washing my face with honey every morning. For moisturizers, I use jojoba oil, raw avocado oil or shea butter. Whichever one I feel like at the moment. At 53, my skin has never looked better. Sometimes on weekends, I'll leave the honey on for 20 minutes or so.

I have very dry skin and was one of those women who tried every skin care line out there, some of them quite expensive, to keep that young look. Now I look younger every day by spending pennies.

I'm not saying anyone should or shouldn't use it. Just saying what it's done for my skin.

[debilana]

I worry about NOT farming bees, for the future of crops.

I have visited compassionate beekeepers and I feel other than the idea of using a critter for a product, we may need these bees for the pollination of the very things we eat. If the wild bees are dying off, and we shrug off our local beekeepers as "bad", then what will pollinate our crops when they go out of business?

I want to be vegan but I feel deep in my heart I need to support my local beekeepers. I do not buy honey from large companies, only from the small folks that care about the lives of the bees.

but thats just me:D

[petaltothemetal]

Bless you, Debilana! (Says I, prez of Oregon Consumers and Farmers Association.) There is a HUGE difference between the way large scale commercial beekeepers and small diversified farms keep bees. The commercial keepers use incredibly strong insecticides against varola mites and other parasites that weaken the bees they are trying to protect - and they actually place this crap inside the hive when the bees are hibernating so the bees are forced to inhale it. They also regularly transport the bees to pollinate crops of other farmers, thus exposing the bees not only to shipping stress and disorientation, but also to genetically engineered plants and whatever insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc that farmer uses. They also take far more honey from the bees in the fall and substitute corn syrup (which is also usually genetically engineered) for feed in the spring. Small farmers who have a few hives on their own place typically have A LOT less honey to sell because they typically do not empty the hive! The primary goal of most small farmers with bees is to pollinate their own crops first.

I keep reading in the paper and on the net that "the verdict is out" on what is killing bees, but the verdict is NOT out. A number of scientific studies have PROVEN that certain insecticides, overuse of mite killers inside the hive and genetically engineered plants with mutated genes that travel from the seed to the pollen are the causes of worldwide bee death. Colony Collapse Disorder is the reduced immune strength of bees to fight off a barage of bad chemicals now that genetically engineered plants are so common.

[Eva]

I hear ya. It seems that you know a lot more about this than I do. I'm just a consumer who is trying to do the right thing. I do not know any local beekeepers but simply am not willing to buy honey again until/unless it is something I can feel ethically sound about.

Would you mind sharing more information about these aspects in a separate thread when you have the time? I feel like this issue is really important but don't want to flood coco's thread with info that's not "exactly" related to the article she posted.

:)

[RawKnitster]

Colony Collapse Disorder is the reduced immune strength of bees to fight off a barage of bad chemicals now that genetically engineered plants are so common.

That makes so much more sense than some of the other things I've read being blamed. Blaming it on cell phone usage is so much easier, because then the corporations that make or use these chemicals and engineered plants don't have to take responsiblity for poisoning the bees, and us. :(

Thank you for passing that on. I worry about the bees disappearing for lots of reasons, like the end of mankind. In the meantime....I will continue to buy fresh local honey from vendors I trust, because I love honey and believe it's good for me.

[souldanzer]

I work on a farm that keeps bee hives. It is true that the hives in the vicinity of the crops help with pollination.
Last week, we harvested the honey. I was excited about having access to local, 100% raw honey that I had helped to harvest. After we had put the hives back together (with part of the honey missing, the other part still in there for the bees for winter), we went back to work as usual. Less then an hour later we had two customers at our produce stand stung by bees in the head. They would aggressively attack anyone who would get anywhere close to them.
I love bees and I know that they wouldn't attack a person without reason. They were fine and doing their work along us doing our work in the field peacefully before we touched the hives.

I haven't decided about my use of honey. But the bees, they were :mad: at us!

Souldanzer :o

[rawstrength]

Fantastic article!

I don't eat honey as I consider it a medicine only, and have not yet used it medicinally for myself. When my body tells me it's time, I will, but I've always considered it a medicine. After all, we don't drink cough syrup all the time!!!

(By the way I am in no way criticizing those who do eat honey or use honey recreationally. To each their own :) )

Use honey recreationally? :confused: what does it do :o ?

I http://i.pbase.com/u29/miffyluvmiffy/upload/17792135.heart2.gif honey!

[Eva]

Use honey recreationally? :confused: what does it do :o ?

I http://i.pbase.com/u29/miffyluvmiffy/upload/17792135.heart2.gif honey!

She means to use it for sweetener rather than as medicine. Right?

[tanishamarshall]

This is great to hear. Thanks for sharing.

[coco]

in the article it states that it is only certain types of honey that are effective antibacterials, like manuka. it's not all honey, local honey here didn't do the trick at all. i probably wouldn't ingest it myself, just use it as a mouth or sinus rinse as suggested in the article. i have other things that i put on wounds like tea tree oil.
because honey is predigested it can cause a very rapid spike in blood sugar when eaten. it is one of the worst sweetners for our health in my opinion. i think dehydrated cane juice or maple syrup (which is only 65% sugar) even though it's not raw are better choices and there is always stevia.

as for the bees, honey bees aren't even native to north america. we have many of our own species of pollenators here. perhaps we need more pollenators because the population is very high and we are growing and consuming excessive amounts of food but in a natural state this continent gets along very well without honey bees.

[Eva]

in the article it states that it is only certain types of honey that are effective antibacterials, like manuka. it's not all honey, local honey here didn't do the trick at all. i probably wouldn't ingest it myself, just use it as a mouth or sinus rinse as suggested in the article. i have other things that i put on wounds like tea tree oil.
because honey is predigested it can cause a very rapid spike in blood sugar when eaten. it is one of the worst sweetners for our health in my opinion. i think dehydrated cane juice or maple syrup (which is only 65% sugar) even though it's not raw are better choices and there is always stevia.

as for the bees, honey bees aren't even native to north america. we have many of our own species of pollenators here. perhaps we need more pollenators because the population is very high and we are growing and consuming excessive amounts of food but in a natural state this continent gets along very well without honey bees.

VERY interesting!

[berrymarymac]

I had surgery two years ago and the area got infected. The doctor was extremely worried, so I washed the area with honey twice a day. A part of me was afraid to get a yeast infection, due to the sugar levels...but it healed in a weeks time. My doctor was amazed at how honey had done that.

[Raine]

I had surgery two years ago and the area got infected. The doctor was extremely worried, so I washed the area with honey twice a day. A part of me was afraid to get a yeast infection, due to the sugar levels...but it healed in a weeks time. My doctor was amazed at how honey had done that.

Honey is an interesting product.

I can't speak for all areas; however in Dallas, there is a husband/wife team that set up shop at Farmer's Market selling the honey they gather locally. They have homeowners that are willing to have hives placed in their yards and the duo handle the maintenance and collection of the honey. Also, Whole Foods carries locally gathered honey.

Local honey can be a wonderful way of dealing with seasonal allergies.

Honey as an anti-biotic has been used for hundreds of years.

Also, honey is good for hangovers. Take a tablespoon, work it around the mouth (good to get healthy things absorbed quickly under the tongue) and swallow. Honey has high potassium and hangovers have to do with potassium deficiency.

[firefaery]

all honey is antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal.

I have used it for serious infections, and most recently had someone use it for an abcess that nothing else would touch. Two days later it was gone.

I am currently using it an a wound that has been infected and isn't draining properly. It has been a month and it kept getting worse, until two days ago when I intro'd the honey. It's now almost unnoticeable.

I am a beekeeper is my father and I grew up with bees. We used honey for MANY things from burns, to infections, to cuts and finally as a stitches replacement.

I am pursuing my doctorate in homeopathic medicine currently. This is widely known and used in alternative medicine.

[Raine]

Good for you Firefaery on your educational pursuits!

[firefaery]

Thanks, it's been quite the journey! :)

[mongodelight]

I worry about NOT farming bees, for the future of crops.

I have visited compassionate beekeepers and I feel other than the idea of using a critter for a product, we may need these bees for the pollination of the very things we eat. If the wild bees are dying off, and we shrug off our local beekeepers as "bad", then what will pollinate our crops when they go out of business?

I want to be vegan but I feel deep in my heart I need to support my local beekeepers. I do not buy honey from large companies, only from the small folks that care about the lives of the bees.

but thats just me:D

Word! But AT LEAST organic quality! We have a seal that stands for keeping the bees as close to nature as possible. We need these bees. The situation is as it is. But make sure that they you buy the best(best treated bees) honey there is.

[mongodelight]

Some tell honey is the best for your health, some tell its the worst you can do.
Can somebody who really knows whats the truth tell me whats right?
Why should it be so unhealthy? David Wolfe said that the longest living people in russia are bee keepers. When its so unhealthy why do they live longer than any other "group" of people? I guess bee keepers are eating tons of honey.

[coco]

there is no way that one single thing a group of people eat or do is responsible for a huge difference in their health compared to another, similar group of people. health is an overall thing, it is way more than just diet. to say group a is healthy strictly because they eat more _____ than group b is misleading. i would want to take a look at the rest of their lifestyle.

they only way to determine what is healthy for you is to pay attention to your own body when you include it and when you cut it out and to see how it makes you feel. and read all the studies you can find for actually scientific info if you find that helpful.

personally i don't eat honey, bee farming simply isn't kind to bees no matter how conscientious a bee keeper is. there is no way to prevent harm to all the bees and no one is going to convince me that taking away half of their hard earned food source (and replacing it with sugar water) isn't stressful and a negative experience for the bees. we steal from them, those aren't the kinds of actions i find appropriate for a vegan. not for pleasure certainly.
as i said, i may consider using manuka honey medicinally but i am choosing that knowing that it violates my own personal vegan principles.
i'm not about to start gobbling it up every day though, i am pretty sure a small jar would last me for at least 3 or 4 years.

[firefaery]

I'm not sure who does that. I have never taken honey and replaced it with sugar water. That's just not something a conscientious bee keeper has to do.

[RawKnitster]

I need some proof about honey healing wounds. I've tried it on a cold sore with unfavorable results, actually made it much worse.




I TAKE THAT BACK! I felt the swelling and tingling of a cold sore coming on yesterday. This time I started using the honey BEFORE the cold sore blisters surfaced. I used "Really Raw Honey", unfiltered with the pollen and propolis still in it. I kept the area covered all day with a dab of honey, (luckily I was home all day) and ate a few spoonfuls, too. It worked! Today I have only 1 tiny little blister that can't even be seen.

[Amberly]

There are bee hives at my cabin (not my hives) and the honey from them is sold at Whole Foods (cool). Except there have been no bees in them in the last couple of years. (not cool).

[Irish_Vegan_Girl]

That's interesting, but I don't eat honey, I substitute agave nectar or maple syrup.

[Zanjabil]

I TAKE THAT BACK! I felt the swelling and tingling of a cold sore coming on yesterday. This time I started using the honey BEFORE the cold sore blisters surfaced. I used "Really Raw Honey", unfiltered with the pollen and propolis still in it. I kept the area covered all day with a dab of honey, (luckily I was home all day) and ate a few spoonfuls, too. It worked! Today I have only 1 tiny little blister that can't even be seen.

That's awesome!! Honey has worked well for us. I use it for my DS pressure sore he gets on his right ear. He has Cerebral palsy is non-verbal, non-mobile and has other special needs and prefers that side so much that he occasionally gets a sore there. Honey heals it up every time.

[RawKnitster]

I'm glad to hear it works for your son, too. It sure tastes a lot better than traditional medicine, and no worries about getting ingesting it. :)

[Irish_Vegan_Girl]

personally i don't eat honey, bee farming simply isn't kind to bees no matter how conscientious a bee keeper is. there is no way to prevent harm to all the bees and no one is going to convince me that taking away half of their hard earned food source (and replacing it with sugar water) isn't stressful and a negative experience for the bees. we steal from them, those aren't the kinds of actions i find appropriate for a vegan. not for pleasure certainly.


I feel the same way:)