Health Benefits Of Honey
As we live in the honey producing community of Valencia, we thought that it would be good to introduce you to the benefits of using honey for your physical, overall health.
You may or may not be aware of the powerful vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, that honey possesses, but it really is liquid gold when it comes to keeping your body in good condition. Honey is full of extremely beneficial nutrients that with regular consumption improves our bodies over time.
Honey provides us with the minerals like potassium, sodium and magnesium which helps our bodies function. It’s great for strengthening the heart muscles too. Diabetics be aware that it is very sweet so honey should only be consumed in small quantities and you can manage it carefully with your blood sugar control.
Here are a couple of reasons why you should be adding it to your daily routine:
- Honey contains vitamins and minerals that help prevent or reduce cholesterol.
- It’s suitable for treating people of all ages and completely natural.
- Its cheap!
- A teaspoon of honey every day is great for the immune system, helping to strengthen your defence system, preventing illnesses.
- Honey is a natural laxative.
- Less calories than sugar.
- Honey is great for sore throats.
There are many local honey shops to buy it from in the local area, one of the main ones being Naturval Apicola in Monserrat. Naturval was founded in 1996 by Pilar Evangelio, the grand daughter of Mr. Bernardo Gospel Godoy who started working with bees at the age of 17 in his local town. It was only after the civil war when he moved to a town in Cuenca when his hobby started to grow.
The young Bernardo decided to ask the local carpenters to make him a couple of hives so that he would be able to make his own honey. Things went well so he increased the number of hives.
After the birth of his grand daughter, Pilar, Bernado moved to Monserrat and continued with his hobby of keeping bees. With the beautiful landscape here in Valencia, he was able to make the now famous orange blossom and rosemary honey.
The young Pilar would go with her granddad to collect the honey from the hives. She too had the entrepreneurial spirit like Bernado and in time she co-founded Naturval Apicola with Vicente Moreno and the rest is history as they say.
Naturval has fulfilled the dreams of Bernado as being one of the leaders in the bee keeping sector of Spain through their innovation of combining age old traditions with modern technology.
Naturval produce 25 varieties of honey and its derivatives, so you really are rather spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing. When you enter the shop there are many different types of honey on display so here’s a quick guide to see which one would suit you best:
To Relax – Azahar (orange blossom), limon, (lemon) & tilo (lime).
Anti-Catarrhal (Remove excess mucous from the body) – Espliego (lavender), eucalipto (eucalyptus) & tomillo (thyme).
Stomach/Digestion – Acebo (holly), anis (anise), castano (chestnut), cantueso (lavender), encina (oak) & zarzamorra (blackberry).
Lungs/Asmatics – Acebo (holly), espliego (lavender), eucalipto (eucalyptus) & tomillo (thyme).
Anaemias (Low iron) – Aguacate (avocado), encina (oak) & limon (lemon).
Anti-inflammatory – Aguacate (avocado), romero (rosemary), tomillo (thyme) & zarzamora (blackberry).
Constipation – Acacia (acacia tree), encina (oak), nispero (nispero tree).
Sore Throats – Almendro (almond), castano (chestnut), encina (oak), eucalipto (eucalyptus).
Urinal Treatment – Brezo (heather), tomillo (thyme).
Everybody can use honey as a medicine (even diabetics) as it has natural anti-biotic, anti-inflammatory and disinfectant properties…it is more than capable of treating superficial cuts and burns.
It’s especially good at treating mouth ulcers too. A little goes a long way in this instance, and it’s a great deal more effective and cheaper than a tube of Bonjela.
So next time you have an ailment, instead of rushing out to buy something from the pharmacy, think about the liquid gold sitting right at home in your kitchen cupboard!