Since time immemorial, honey has been an effective household remedy. And with good reason. Long known as having excellent healing qualities, recent biomedical research (Jan. 2000) has now shown that honey is also a potent antibiotic, when applied to cuts, bruises and burns.
The excellent nutritional value of honey is also highly preferable to white sugar - which, besides pure carbohydrates - has practically no nutritional value at all. But honey also has an as yet unrealized but very powerful nutritional value. All wild flower honeys in particular - honey gathered by bees foraging in the wild - contain the full natural range of the 72+ nutritional trace elements, without which we sicken and die long before our time.
The following is a list of ailments and conditions for which folklore has found honey to be an effective alternative remedy. Much of this effectiveness can be attributed to the presence of the complete natural range of the 72+ nutritional trace elements in all wild flower-derived honey.
Folk Lore Remedies
- Wounds or Grazes - cover wound with honey and a bandage. Excellent healer.
- Honey for Burns - apply freely over burns. It cools, removes pain and aids fast healing without scarring. Besides being a salve and antibiotic, bacteria cannot live in honey.
- Bed Wetting - a teaspoon of honey before bed, aids water retention and calms fears in children.
- Sleeplessness - a dessert spoon of honey in a mug of hot milk aids sleep and works wonders!
- Hyperactivity - Honey is a mild sedative with minerals, vitamins, amino acids etc. Replace all white sugar with honey. White sugar is highly stimulating with no food qualities!
- Nasal Congestion - place a dessert spoon of honey in a basin of hot water and inhale fumes after covering your head with a towel over the basin. Very effective.
- Fatigue - dissolve one part of honey in 3 parts of water and keep in the fridge. Honey is primarily fructose and glucose and so it is quickly absorbed by the digestive system. (Honey is a unique natural stabilizer - ancient Greek athletes took honey for stamina before competing and as a reviver after competition).
- Facial Deep Cleanser - mix honey with oatmeal approx. 50/50 till thick and apply as a face-pack. Leave on for half an hour then wash off. Great as a deep cleanser for acne etc.
- Poor Digestion - mix honey with apple cider vinegar approx. 50/50 and dilute to taste with water - aids digestion. (Also reputed to be wonderful for the joints).
- Hair Conditioner - mix honey with equal quantity of Olive Oil and rub into hair. Cover head with a warm towel for half and hour then shampoo off. Feeds hair and scalp. Hair will never look or feel better!
- Sore Throats - let a teaspoon of honey melt in the back of the mouth and trickle down the throat. Eases inflamed raw tissues.
- Stress - honey in water is a stabilizer - calms highs and raises lows (true). Use approx. 25 percent honey to water.
- Food Preservative - cakes with honey replacing sugar stay fresher longer due to natural antibiotics. Reduce liquids by approx. one-fifth to allow for moisture in honey.
- Baby's Bottle - four teaspoons of honey to a baby's bottle of water is an excellent pacifier and multi vitamin additive. If baby's movements are too liquid then reduce by half a teaspoon; if too solid increase by half a teaspoon. [see caution regarding infants below].
- Teething - honey rubbed on a baby's gums is a mild sedative and anaesthetic. [see caution regarding infants below].
- Osteoporosis - English research has shown that a teaspoon of honey per day aids calcium utilization and prevents osteoporosis. Essential from age 50 onwards.
- Long Life - one common fact worldwide is that the most long-lived people are regular users of honey. An interesting fact yet to be explained is that beekeepers suffer less from cancer and arthritis than any other occupational group worldwide. (due to the 72+ trace elements in wild flower honey).
- Migraine - use a dessert spoon of honey dissolved in half a glass of warm water. Sip at start of attack. If necessary repeat in 20 minutes. Always effective (so tip goes) as migraine is stress related. (here is another tantalizing indicator that migraine headaches may be nothing more than a trace element deficiency).
- Conjunctivitis (pus in the eye) - honey dissolved in equal quantity of warm water. Apply when cooled as lotion or eye bath.
Those interested in a more scientific explanation can refer to Kaye M. Russell's 1983 MSc thesis, Waikato University, "Antibiotic qualities of NZ honeys" - a long-ignored paper, which has been validated by very recent biomedical research (Jan. 2000); available through the public library on request.
