08-May / nutrition / 0 COMMENTS

For the past month I have been wanting to visit this HoneyBee Center in BC but just never got around to do it until now! The reason behind my visit was that I wanted to experience untouched, raw honey. Not the honey from most conventional grocery stores which are pasteurized and super filtered; I wanted to experience the real thing. The unpasteurized, raw honey.

I knew how the many properties of honey can be beneficial to our bodies but with the controversy found online and off about how honey has the same nutritional value as sugar, it got me thinking. Sugar? Really?? How about the minerals, enzymes, vitamins found in honey? These, last I checked, are no where to be found in sugar.

Back in the day, thousand of years ago, honey was considered medicinal from helping cuts and wounds to heal to alleviating cold and sore throats but now with the many antibiotic drugs out there, honey has taken a backseat. And, considering how the pharmaceutical industry is now a multi-billion dollar industry, I scratch my head wondering if there’s a connection.

Visiting this center I came out of there jammed packed with information I had never heard before. Did you know that beekeepers know the type of honey bees produce by releasing them within 3 kilometres of a certain field? I didn’t know bees can only fly 3 kilometres! I was then taken to see the bee colony and I was surprised to actually see the Queen Bee…laying eggs! I asked about going to a workshop since I was seriously fascinated but, unless I don’t mind sitting around with a group of kids, I’m free to participate.

Seeing how these little bees work so hard to gather pollen to then bring back to their hive and make honey, the best honey is the one that hasn’t been processed or heated such as the honey comb. By simply chewing the honey comb on a regular basis, allergies such as sneezing and runny nose are alleviated.

I remember in my teens, my dad would give me and my sister royal jelly and bee propolis as antiviral agents – although learning more about them now, I can see him doing this to help balance out our moods – in a house with 3 women he was at a bit of loss but I must say that I am so thankful for having had an all-round doctor as a father – he made a point to not limit his expertise and knowledge to conventional medicine.

Leaving the honeybee center, I walked away with a jar of wildflower honey but had the chance to taste many different flavours from many different flowers: blueberry honey, buckwheat, orange, and I vaguely recall a cranberry one. I would have bought all of them but I managed to contain myself *wink.

Next time you go to the grocery store, pay close attention to what’s in the honey you’re picking up. Whenever possible, go to your local farmer’s market or bee center. I’m sure there’s one around your local area.

I have been putting honey on whole grain toast as a snack, on bananas, oatmeal. Although processed much the same in our bodies as sugar, it’s the extra goodness that make honey a winner. The glycemic index of honey is just at the cut off of being considered low so the absorption and digestion process is slower, meaning a more gradual infusion of sugars into the bloodstream, but keep an eye out on how much you’re taking in.

What do you think – is this real love?

honey sweeteners