Green Options

With a lot of great health and fitness benefits, honey should be a common staple in people’s daily diets. Other than its great taste, it has numerous benefits for our bodies, immune systems, weight, and energy which you may not be aware of.

Honey is a source of a variety of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. The main vitamins it provides are niacin, riboflavin and pantothetic acid, and the main minerals are calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. Importantly, the amount of these substances in honey varies depending on its floral source, just as its color and taste vary.

On top of this, what are the main health benefits of honey?

There is new evidence that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may be a culprit in what is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), or the disappearance of honeybees.

Colony Collapse Disorder has killed off more than one-third of the bees in the United States.

Beekeepers know that when there isn’t nectar readily available to their hives, as in the winter months, some turn to supplements. Traditionally it was (guess what) honey. But that’s what you want to harvest, so many turn to cheaper substitutions. Cane or beet sugar, mixed with water, was seen as acceptable as long as you removed the part of the comb containing the sugar once bees started producing again. It was important to keep the bees fed so they’d keep brooding and ready to produce honey.

Except it hasn’t only been the occasional sugar-water substitution. We’ve substituted the substitute. People have also turned to high fructose corn syrup.

And once again, it seems our need for convenience and affordability has cost us: a new study shows that a contaminant from heat-exposed HFCS may be killing off the bees.

The scratching chickens that are found in and around many rural households provides cheap food at practically no cost - now its also happening in city and town houses in Europe and more recently the USA.

Bringing production to the household has no economy of scale but inputs including labour and part of the feed are essentially free. The reduction in transport and packaging cost have financial and environmental benefits.

Eggs from the Eglu

The Eglu is based on a plastic, waterproof box, where the hens shelter and lay their eggs. The box is attached to an enclosed run which can be placed on a lawn allowing the chickens to scratch for insects and grass. The run has a door to allow the hens a free range in the garden when its safe.

As you may have noticed we’re smitten with our glorious handmade skinnyskinny soaps featured below:

This season I also noticed the Green and Clean Guild of Esty handmade soap makers have some fabulous summer soother recipes. Another bathing beauty crafter I like is Alchemic Muse, a popular Green and Clean Guild member, who makes a fantastic cocoa bee soap:

The health benefits of honey are many and well-known.  From skin cleanser to antibiotic, cough suppressant, allergy relief to just plain old sweetener, honey can do it all.  But can it help you sleep?  Some studies are suggesting that it can.

I have to credit my sister-in-law for this one.  She’s a recent convert to “all things natural” and is [...]

Ready for a skin smoothing, luxuriously scented treat for warm weather skin?  Then it must be Suzanne aux bains Nourishing Body Millk ($30).  Lightly scented with Chamomile, Lavender and Incense essential oils, this creamy-dreamy body lotion is a sweet little indulgence for the skin.

The first time I used Suzanne aux bains Nourishing Body Milk I really didn’t put much thought into it, until later that is.  I  received a sample sachet and quickly applied some of the lotion to my arms and shoulders on the way out the door.  Later, as I was getting ready for bed, I couldn’t help but notice how soft and smooth my arms were, and had to think back to even remember what I had put on them.  Well, needless to say, I purchased a tube the very next day.

In drier winter months a body cream or butter provides us with a thicker, richer form of hydration for the skin.  In warmer seasons we need to switch to something lighter and more regenerative.  Suzanne aux bains uses Jojoba oil for deeply penetrating hydration and Lavender honey to gently exfoliate the skin.

Drippy.  Itchy.  Stuffy.  Groggy.  Sound familiar?  If you regularly suffer from springtime allergies, the answer is probably yes.  While loading up on the Claritins, Benadryls, or Zyrtecs is one option, you can also try some local honey.

When bees ingest the nectar from flowers, they’re also ingesting some of the plants’ pollen.  This nectar is later regurgitated by the bees and stored in their honeycombs.  After the bees use their wings to evaporate some of the water from the nectar, honey is created.

Ayurvedicaly speaking, the common cold results largely from an imbalance of the Kapha (water and earth) and Vata (air and space) elements in the mind-ody. Vata imbalances lower immunity and lead to a build up of the Kapha dosha elements to help ‘ground’ the system. However, Kapha mechanisms typically overcompensate to make up for the ‘dryness’ associated with imbalanced Vata and lowered immunity. The result is excessive ‘coldness’ that creates mucus. This in turn reduces your gastric fire often [...]

Looking forward to a big box of organic chocolate on Valentine’s Day, or maybe a couple of heart shaped cookies?  Your sweet tooth may thank you but your skin tells a different tale.  That’s right, refined sugar can weaken collagen and put skin at risk for premature aging.

It is not news that refined sugar and the yummy treats we make with it are bad for our bodies and our health.  They are empty calories that cause us to gain belly fat and send our blood sugar through the roof.  But they can be so very tempting, especially on a special occasion.

If you think honey is a healthy substitute for sugar, you’re right - but watch out for that alien toxic honey invading U.S. shores!  The fact is, about two-thirds of our honey is imported, and a good half of that comes from China, even if it doesn’t say so on the label.  And China, well, you know, lovely country and all that, but you really gotta keep an eye on those food issues, even when it comes to something pure and natural like honey.

Come fly with me beneath the fold and see how you can enjoy pure, healthy honey, worry-free.

What do you like in your oatmeal? Today I like thin sliced almonds and dried cherries, blueberries, cranberries, golden raisins and a twirl of honey (shown below). This tastes delicious with my black-cherry tea.