Happy Thanksgiving everyone! What a beautiful time of year to share with our loved ones and to experience deep appreciation and gratitude for all of the blessings and things going right in our lives. Science shows that the more we focus on appreciation and gratitude, the more we attract and NOTICE the abundance available for all of us in the Universe. Of late there have been many articles talking about monitoring the health of our amazing honey bees here on planet earth. The Vedas talk about tracking the health of our frogs to know the health of our water. Well, the health of our bees could signal the state of health of our food. Many of us love honey and know the incredible healing qualities of honey. Ayurveda instructs us to use raw honey as a carrier for our herbs, as it assists in better saturation in the tissues of the herb. Coconut oil and ghee are also beneficial herb carriers. My readers, clients and radio listeners have heard me espouse the inflammatory danger of sugar, any many have concluded that eating honey as a substitute is a good alternative. I would say yes, as long as the honey is RAW. The following post comes from a wonderful Ayurvedic blogger and talks about how the amazing healing power of honey is transformed into toxicity when it's heated to over 115 degrees F. A better alternative is cooking with coconut palm sugar or coconut nectar. Enjoy your low glycemic index Thanksgiving treats using coconut sugar and leave honey out of those baked treats. Have a happy, healthy holiday everyone!
Why is it not ok to cook with honey?
Posted on November 21, 2013 by PranaMAMA
First of all, let's acknowledge that honey is a gift from the gods and an astounding food for us. We are very lucky to count it among our allies in health and wellness. And, if we take good stewardship of the bees who make it, honey is free for the taking! How great is that?!
Honey should never be raised to a temperature above ~115° F because that heats the honey past its raw state, and this heating transforms honey into something fundamentally different. In fact, it becomes ama (a toxin to the body).
"Ayurveda suggests to eat only raw, unfiltered, uncooked honey. It is said that if honey is raw it can scrub impurities from the body. Once it is heated, it changes its properties and becomes an indigestible, toxic substance Ayurveda calls ama.
"Beekeepers routinely spray diluted raw honey on the hive to calm the bees before managing the hive. Interestingly, in one report, when bee keepers sprayed cooked and filtered honey on the hive within 20 minutes a significant number of the bees sprayed were dead. While this was not a scientific study, it does allude to the drastic alteration that occurs in the processing of honey and concurrent removing of pollen."
"Raw honey is an alkaline-forming food that contains natural vitamins, enzymes, powerful antioxidants and other important natural nutrients. These are the very nutrients that are destroyed during the heating and pasteurization process. In fact, pasteurized honey is equivalent to and just as unhealthy as eating refined sugar.
"Raw honey has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties. It promotes body and digestive health, is a powerful antioxidant, strengthens the immune system, eliminates allergies, and is an excellent remedy for skin wounds and all types of infections. Raw honey's benefits don't stop there. Raw honey can also stabilize blood pressure, balance sugar levels, relieve pain, calm nerves, and it has been used to treat ulcers. Raw honey is also an expectorant and anti-inflammatory and has been known to effectively treat respiratory conditions such as bronchitis and asthma."
When you buy honey from a store or a farmer's market, be aware that although it may say "raw", it may not BE raw. The pasteurization process requires temperatures of 161 °F (72 °C) or higher. It is, of course, easier to bottle jars of honey when the honey is warmer and thus flows easier. It is not uncommon to find honey that has been heated to a temperature higher than 115° F but lower than 161° F and is thus technically "raw." But it is not truly raw. If, when you hold a jar of honey up to your eye, you are able to clearly see your fingers on the other side of the jar, it is NOT truly raw.
Take another look at the image at the top of this post. You will notice that, yes, this is a very dark honey, but there is no way you could see through it. You can't even see the light bulb that is right behind it. You can, however, see the thick, rich goodness of the healthy constituents found in honey.
As an extension of this philosophy, never cook with honey since cooking raises the temperature of honey well past 115° F. Think of baked goods, which are routinely cooked at ~350° F. Honey that has been warmed up to 115+° F is a toxin to the body. Avoid it. If you come across a recipe that lists cooking with honey, you can simply substitute with maple syrup.
For those of us who like to add honey to warm beverages, such as tea, this is also something to keep in mind. You should wait until the tea has cooled down to ~115°F before adding any honey to it. This works out because 115° F is approximately the temperature that is comfortable for drinking the tea. So, heat your water, add it to your tea (or vice-versa), let it steep and cool down, THEN add your honey, and enjoy.
From Dr. Keesha
Colon Hydrotherapy