Honey

jellybaby84
jellybaby84 Posts: 583 Member
edited October 4 in Food and Nutrition
What do you think of it? Is it 'healthy'? Is it a 'clean food'?

I don't actually like honey at the moment. But having cut out refined sugar and artificial sweeteners I would be prepared to try and make myself like it to get something sweet!

Replies

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,207 Member
    Well, it's not altogether nutritionally void like most refined sugars, but it's still basically the same thing, added sugar.
  • mattellis2
    mattellis2 Posts: 152
    Well, it's not altogether nutritionally void like most refined sugars, but it's still basically the same thing, added sugar.

    but it is oh, so good. :)

    i usually have a tablespoon or so mixed in with my oatmeal each morning.
  • forthespace
    forthespace Posts: 15
    Honey does contain sugar- a decent amount. But then again, so does fruit. If you are to be consuming any kind of sweetner, honey should be the one!! Not only is it more pure and natural then any other form of 'sugar', but eating it also helps to combat hay fever and things like that :)
  • radicalreader
    radicalreader Posts: 207 Member
    I buy local honey at the farmers market.
    It helps lessen my seasonal allergies.
  • ennaejay
    ennaejay Posts: 575
    I buy local honey at the farmers market.
    It helps lessen my seasonal allergies.

    ^^ i've read about this too. the stuff that comes from overseas can be harmful, don't get mass-produced overseas and then distributed here in US. buy actual local honey, it's worth the $$.

    It seems more natural because it's not refined like white sugar or chemically processed like some artificial sweeteners. But isn't it actually bee vomit??
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
    I buy local honey at the farmers market.
    It helps lessen my seasonal allergies.

    ^^ i've read about this too. the stuff that comes from overseas can be harmful, don't get mass-produced overseas and then distributed here in US. buy actual local honey, it's worth the $$.

    It seems more natural because it's not refined like white sugar or chemically processed like some artificial sweeteners. But isn't it actually bee vomit??

    you're going to be upset when you find out what milk is.
  • jellybaby84
    jellybaby84 Posts: 583 Member
    Well, it's not altogether nutritionally void like most refined sugars, but it's still basically the same thing, added sugar.

    Oh ok, shame. :(

    I refuse to get worried about fruit (though I know many people say you should limit that too) and was thinking maybe honey is no worse than fruit. But I guess logicall it probably is.

    Bee vomit?!?! - eeew! Mind you, someone told me that milk was cow sweat once. Don't know if that's true.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    I'm a honey snob! I LOVE it--but I never buy the cheap stuff because it's as tasteless and bland as sugar water (anything in a bear squeeze container is RIGHT OUT!). I get it from local beekeepers, and seek it out when I travel internationally (have a stash from 5 different continents now).

    GOOD honey has the depth, breadth, and variety of flavor of good wine or expensive olive oil. Like wine or olive oil, good honey exhibits the "terrior" of its origins-- its geography, climate, and vegetation. I have a beautiful Argentinian high-mountain forest honey that is as thick as molases and green in color with the most heady aroma-- earthy and rich like a forest right after a rain! I have another honey that is as clear as filtered water and also very runny, but tastes like it has been infused with flower blossoms. It came from an unusual Spring when it temperatures were warm enough in mid-February for the an urban beekeeper friend of mine's hives to collect from the the Bradford pears (popular landscape trees) blooming in Lexington, Ky.


    I don't use it as an every day sweetener, but as a special treat or dessert, there's nothing better than a piece of warm sourdough bread with a drizzle of exotic honey on it.

    I also try to support local beekeepers because colony collapse disorder has hit them hard. There are less than 2000 professional beekeepers nation-wide, yet one out of every three calories we eat comes from agricultural products pollinated by honeybees.

    The one "everyday" use I do have for it is baking (which my husband does more of than I do). He buys it by the large mason jar in season from a local beekeeper and then uses it instead of sugar for breads. Honey is hydrophilic (it "likes" water), so it tends to hold moisture in baked goods better--making a more tender and moist dough, and also increasing the shelf life without added oil.

    Oh, and it's also a great field antiseptic! I' smeared it on an open gash I acquired on my leg while back country camping, and even though it was 3 more days before I was able to clean it properly, the honey kept if from getting infected.

    Regarding the health benefits, well, it IS sugar. But you can use MUCH smaller quantities of it than other sweeteners so calorie-wise it's pretty sane. And if you get it locally, it can be great for allergies and respiratory ailments.


    Oh, and about the "bee vomit" thing-- Yes, a bee produces honey by consuming pollen, letting the enzymes in its stomach break it down in to simple sugars, and then "spitting" it back up into the comb where it is fanned until the water evaporates away. But the enzymes that break down the honey in a bee's stomach are COMPLETELY different that what's in our stomachs--namely a strong acid that breaks down foods for passage through the digestive tract-- so what comes back up a bee's gullet is NOT vomit!

    Just make the effort to buy local honey. You'll be glad you did!
  • MrsNoir
    MrsNoir Posts: 236 Member

    It seems more natural because it's not refined like white sugar or chemically processed like some artificial sweeteners. But isn't it actually bee vomit??

    ennaejay I really hope you don't like eggs, because if you think about it that way, they must be disgusting too. XD


    Hi jellybaby84!

    I've done some research before answering your question.. and I came accross with the following web page that deals with your worries. http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/calorie-in-honey.html

    " While the amount of calorie in honey is more, we actually use less of it since it is sweeter than table sugar. And for many people, honey is still a preferred healthier choice because of its vitamins and minerals that can aid in digestion, and its anti-oxidants which can also bring health benefits. In fact, it is a carbohydrate that is recommended in fasting because of its vitamins content and antioxidants effect."

    But you'll find all the other benefits and so on in that page.. it has more than I thought.. I always have a piece of toast with honey for breakfast!! and I absolutely like it. I don't know if it's bee puke... but it tastes sooo nice on top of the melted butter!. And is also great to sweeten your teas... if you have any. And also... it soothes your throat if taken with hot water and lemon juice! :D. So yeah... GO HONEY, it can't be worse than sugar as explained in the web page!

    And no, cow's milk is not cow's sweat!... cow's milk is the same as mum's milk, only that theirs aren't soooo sweet, I guess because there is no glucose in the fields, as it's usually grass all they eat. :).
  • kristelpoole
    kristelpoole Posts: 440 Member
    And no, cow's milk is not cow's sweat!... cow's milk is the same as mum's milk, only that theirs aren't soooo sweet, I guess because there is no glucose in the fields, as it's usually grass all they eat. :).

    Usually grass? Oh, if only that were true...sigh. Gotta love those GMOs they usually pack into the "recommended" 3 glasses of milk a day. Yuck. (Sorry, no offense to you or your comment, but let's be honest, most milk cows aren't just eating grass on sunny days...haha)

    To the OP:

    LOCAL RAW HONEY. Use it sparingly and you'll be fine. The raw honey taste is so much more intense and delicious than that crap they market as "honey". I get it through my local CSA. :)
  • Krisengel
    Krisengel Posts: 161 Member
    [/quote]

    Oh ok, shame. :(

    I refuse to get worried about fruit (though I know many people say you should limit that too) and was thinking maybe honey is no worse than fruit. But I guess logicall it probably is.

    Bee vomit?!?! - eeew! Mind you, someone told me that milk was cow sweat once. Don't know if that's true.
    [/quote]

    As a dairy farmer, I can assure you milk is not cow sweat! Milk is produced by the cow, the same basic way a woman produces breast milk.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    IT'S NOT BEE VOMIT!!!!!!!

    YES, designated worker bees produce produce honey by consuming raw pollen, letting the enzymes in their stomachs break it down in to simple sugars, and then "spitting" it back up into the comb where it is fanned until the water evaporates away. Once it's in honey form, then all the bees in the hive are able to consume it.

    What's in a honeymaker's stomach is COMPLETELY different that what's in our stomachs. What's in a mammal's stomach (like our own omnivorous selves. . . ) is a very strong acid that breaks down foods for passage down the digestive tract,. When we vomit, it's because we';re sick or our digestive tract has rejected something, and so what's in our vomit is a combination of undigested food in a pool of strong acid.

    A bee doesn't return something up its gullet because its digestive tract has rejected it; and there's NO acid and no undigested food in honey-- SO IT'S NOT VOMIT!!!!!

    AAAGH! Really, people!
  • jellybaby84
    jellybaby84 Posts: 583 Member
    Wow, thank you so much for all the information. Think I will try some good quality local honey.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,207 Member
    Well, it's not altogether nutritionally void like most refined sugars, but it's still basically the same thing, added sugar.

    but it is oh, so good. :)

    i usually have a tablespoon or so mixed in with my oatmeal each morning.

    Absolutely. I live in a terroir that has a lot of apiaries and I buy from 3 different sources, one actually 1 click from my house...... and they all have slight difference and taste completely removed from the store bought varieties, thank god.
  • PB67
    PB67 Posts: 376
    I live in a terroir

    1191990410parson_russell_terrier.jpg

    How do you fit in there?
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,207 Member
    Haha...........lol. Lots of those too.
  • Balsaboy
    Balsaboy Posts: 29 Member
    I keep bees. I currently have 6 hives, two in my backyard and several more scattered throughout the city I live in. I think the issue of sugars in our diets is an important one, we do need to cut down on sweets in general, but if you are able to be selective about the type of sweeter you use, I'd strongly suggest you consider locally produced honey in your diet for a couple of reasons.

    We are very close to a tipping point with honey bees-- wild bee populations are next to nonexistent. Colony Collapse Disorder, as well as mite infestations and other diseases, are destroying bee populations, and we're left with the eighty or ninety percent of the honey bees pollinating the foods we love coming from "kept" hives. Without beekeepers, we'd basically have no honey bees, and without the honey bees, some estimates say we'll have no fruit or veggies within four years. Say hello to a high carb, grain only diet!

    On MFP we can be careful about the amount of sugar we consume, and hopefully we're all that much more aware of the foods we ingest in general. So when I do use a sweetener in my coffee or when I bake, I turn to locally produced honey (in this case my own!), and we could make a huge difference if we all did the same. Without sounding too dramatic, beekeepers are keeping honey bee populations alive, and this keeps the fuits and veggies pollinated and growing, season after season.

    Support your local beekeeper! Anyway, that's what drew me to beekeeping, and every time I visit the hives in my yard, it's a decision I'm glad to have made.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    I live in a terroir

    1191990410parson_russell_terrier.jpg

    How do you fit in there?

    I suspect your yard has a terrior of terrier!
  • kristelpoole
    kristelpoole Posts: 440 Member
    I keep bees. I currently have 6 hives, two in my backyard and several more scattered throughout the city I live in. I think the issue of sugars in our diets is an important one, we do need to cut down on sweets in general, but if you are able to be selective about the type of sweeter you use, I'd strongly suggest you consider locally produced honey in your diet for a couple of reasons.

    We are very close to a tipping point with honey bees-- wild bee populations are next to nonexistent. Colony Collapse Disorder, as well as mite infestations and other diseases, are destroying bee populations, and we're left with the eighty or ninety percent of the honey bees pollinating the foods we love coming from "kept" hives. Without beekeepers, we'd basically have no honey bees, and without the honey bees, some estimates say we'll have no fruit or veggies within four years. Say hello to a high carb, grain only diet!

    On MFP we can be careful about the amount of sugar we consume, and hopefully we're all that much more aware of the foods we ingest in general. So when I do use a sweetener in my coffee or when I bake, I turn to locally produced honey (in this case my own!), and we could make a huge difference if we all did the same. Without sounding too dramatic, beekeepers are keeping honey bee populations alive, and this keeps the fuits and veggies pollinated and growing, season after season.

    Support your local beekeeper! Anyway, that's what drew me to beekeeping, and every time I visit the hives in my yard, it's a decision I'm glad to have made.

    Locally, organically (with or without the official gov't stamp of course) produced honey. Commercial beekeeping is ridiculous, no? Queen breeding and the like.

    If anyone is unfamiliar with the honeybee situation, I strongly recommend watching Vanishing of the Bees. It's an EXCELLENT documentary about this exact topic.
  • MrsNoir
    MrsNoir Posts: 236 Member
    Well, at least the cows in Spain eat grass in the fields, lol.. I haven't been in a milk factory lately, lol, but well if they eat other stuff... it doesn't matter, after all whole fresh milk always tasted good for me.. semi skimmed is not as nice and that's what we have at home to keep the weight down.. so I only have it with coffee or hot chocolate, so any other than grass lol.. gets lost with the sugar of the coffee or the chocolate!:D. Don't worry, not offense at all taken :D
    And no, cow's milk is not cow's sweat!... cow's milk is the same as mum's milk, only that theirs aren't soooo sweet, I guess because there is no glucose in the fields, as it's usually grass all they eat. :).

    Usually grass? Oh, if only that were true...sigh. Gotta love those GMOs they usually pack into the "recommended" 3 glasses of milk a day. Yuck. (Sorry, no offense to you or your comment, but let's be honest, most milk cows aren't just eating grass on sunny days...haha)

    To the OP:

    LOCAL RAW HONEY. Use it sparingly and you'll be fine. The raw honey taste is so much more intense and delicious than that crap they market as "honey". I get it through my local CSA. :)
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