1 ACNE (Brush off blemishes):
Red dots on your face, back, and shoulders are the scourge of the young and beautiful. But adults aren't immune from adult acne or flare-ups. As a teen, I blamed my mom and dad for my blotchy face. (Genes and hormones can play a role in acne.) I turned to gooey Clearasil cream and smelly Stridex pads and went to war like a fearless Indian using war paint and getting ready to go to battle. But my efforts didn't work.
I ended up going to a dermatologist and using a potent topical medicine. After applying more rather than less (I don't follow instructions) I ended up tying a navy blue bandana across my forehead to hide the unsightly blotchâand was grateful for the hippie fashion trend. If I had known that there was a gentler cure to clear up my face, I would have used it in a heartbeat.
What Honey Rx to Use:
Put a dab of honey (a darker variety such as manuka) on blemishes. Repeat twice per day. Sip a cup of chamomile tea to chillâand drink 6- to 8-ounce glasses of water daily and stay clear of the empty nutrition of sugary beverages with caffeine.
Why You'll Bee Happy:
It's the antibacterial compounds in honey that work to help fight redness, inflammation, and infection and dry up the blemish. Manuka honey is antioxidant rich, which can help give you a clearer, smoother complexion. “As a teenager,” recalls one honey lover, “I would smear raw, organic honey on my face and did it after I came home from school, every day.” Two months later, he recalls seeing sweet resultsâa 50 percent clearer complexion. The credit goes to using the right “type” of honeyânot processed kinds.
2 ALLERGIES (Stop seasonal misery):
Dealing with annoying acne is no picnic, but sneezing, a runny nose, and coughing can ruin an indoor or outdoor event, thanks to seasonal pollen. Every year when the yellow pollen arrives like an uninvited visitor at Lake Tahoe I hold a tissue in one hand and am on the phone to a pharmacist with the other. I am always on a mission to find the natural remedy to stop my sniffles.
What Honey Rx to Use:
Try eating a tablespoon of locally produced honey. Proponents of honey tell me that your immune system will get used to the local pollen in it (it should be within a 50-mile radius from where you live).
Why You'll Bee Happy:
By taking the honey cure, you may lose your allergy symptoms. Or not. It's worth the effort and is less pricey than a visit to the doctor or an allergist. Also, honey is a natural remedy and doesn't come with unknown side effects linked to allergy medications or pricey shots. One summer day, I looked outside and the Tahoe yellow pollen was everywhereâon cars, trees, and the ground. I started putting honey (not just the local alfalfa variety) in my tea, yogurt, and baking. Two days later, my sniffles were history. Whether it was coincidence or a honey cure doesn't matter. It worked.
If you have mild respiratory problems, from allergies to asthma, honey may enhance the immune system to build up a better arsenal against airborne allergensâand help you breathe easier. Honey enthusiasts like D. C. Jarvis, M.D., believe honeycomb is excellent for treating certain breathing problems. The honey prescription, according to him, was chewing honeycomb, which may line the entire breathing tract.
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Also, eating honey on a daily basis was recommended: “As far as I have been able to learn, Vermont folk medicine uses honeycomb as a desensitizing agent; from the results obtained by its use it appears to be anti-allergic in its action.” Dr. Jarvis gives credit to the honey bees.
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Beekeepers tell me that honey may help allergies linked to trees and ragweedâthe culprit in hay fever and its irritating symptoms during spring and autumn months and often right before. If mold and food allergens are bothering you, honey is not going to be your allergy cure. As beekeepers are busy at work selling local honey to allergy sufferers, I am busy including all types of honeys in my diet because I want to be covered in both seasons. And if honey can help me cope with congestion and sneezing, I'm in. While further research is needed, I'm not going to wait for scientists to go to their lab rats for a go-ahead. More honey, please.
3 ANEMIA (Iron up):
Allergies can affect people of all ages, but anemia may be more of a problem for people who are dieting or vegetarians who are not getting sufficient iron. Simply put, anemia is a lack of red blood cells and hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that moves oxygen to cells in your body. The symptoms can include feeling tired and light-headed.
What Honey Rx to Use:
Try incorporating a dark honey, such as buckwheat, in your daily diet. Pair it with Mediterranean iron-rich foods, including fish, seafood, apricots, and figs.
Why You'll Bee Happy:
If you're borderline iron deficient, you need to pump more iron into your body. The daily recommended value of iron is 18 milligrams. If you are borderline anemic, you can boost your iron intake by increasing iron-rich foods and dark honeys containing iron, which can help boost red blood cells in the body.
4 ANXIETY (Beat the jitters monster):
Anemia sometimes comes with warnings of symptoms, but when anxiety hits (often worsened by stress) you know it like when an earthquake strikes. Anxiety can wreak havoc on your nervous system and up your odds of experiencing heart disease, stress eating, and other chronic health problems.
What Honey Rx to Use:
If you're under pressure and feeling high anxiety or sense a stressful event is in the works, make a cup of chamomile tea. Put in 1 teaspoon of your favorite honey. Repeat twice a day as needed.
Why You'll Bee Happy:
Honeyâall varietalsâis touted by folk medicine healers for its calming effects. The natural superfood can help soothe your nerves rather than put you in higher anxiety mode. The relief it provides may be due to its multiple vitamin B contentâantistress vitamins. Pairing it with calming tea or milk (which is rich in tryptophan, an essential amino acid that helps to alleviate feelings of anxiety and stress) can help you to chill. So next time you want to relax, one of the best cures is carbohydratesâand the fastest worker to giving you a chill pill is nature's sweet honey.
5 BAD BREATH (Freshen up your mouth):
Feeling anxious if your breath is not as sweet as it should be? Bad breath can be linked to a variety of causes, from a bad tooth, gingivitis, and eating onions to sinusitis.
What Honey Rx to Use:
Try 1 teaspoon of honey in a cup of herbal tea. Repeat as needed.
Why You'll Bee Happy:
If you are suffering from postnasal drip, drinking hot tea with honey (which has antibacterial properties) can help clear up mucus and that'll help sweeten your mouth. Drinking a cup of honey and chamomile tea will also soothe inflamed gum tissue because of its anti-inflammatory properties. Onions, like any pungent food, will take a while to fade out, but a honey and tea remedy may offer a quick fix. And if you have a tooth that needs attention, seek it and save that sweet tooth.
6 BEDSORES (Stave off a sore spot):
Halitosis can be a sensitive issue for folks, but bedsores are another pain (at any age). If you've been a caretaker for an elderly person (or if you're the one who is dealing with bedsores due to being bedridden) you're aware of the potential of getting and coping with pain and potential infection.
What Honey Rx to Use:
Try applying a medicinal honey, such as manuka, on the sore. Repeat in the morning and night. Follow directions on the product you use, because there are different forms available.
Why You'll Bee Happy:
Scientific research proves honey contains powerful antibacterial compounds, which can help soothe inflammation and heal soresâall kinds. So, if this tried-and-true all-natural cure works, it will provide a sigh of relief and honey power will be a welcomed change for the better.
7 BED-WETTING (Catch a break):
Coping with bedsores can be a challenge, but so is not knowing what to do when your child wets the bed. This is not a new or abnormal problem, but it does take patience to find the right cure. I recall in the film
2012
the mother pointed out to her husband that yes, their seven-year-old daughter still wet the bed and gave him the bed gear to dealâas we see her at the store buying more nighttime diapers. But wetting the bed doesn't have to be the end of the world, because in the real world there is the honey cure that may really work wonders for you and your child.
What Honey Rx to Use:
The Vermont country doctor D. C. Jarvis recommends 1 teaspoon of honey at mealtime and before bed. Avoid giving water a few hours before bedtime.
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Why You'll Bee Happy:
One reason why this cure may do the trick is because honey contains tryptophan, an amino acid that can relax the nervous system and allow sleep to be without interruptions. A dry bed will make you and a child feel empowered, boost confidence, and give incentive to continue the old-fashioned remedy until the mission is accomplished without super sci-fi gimmicks.
8 BLAHS (Try a sweet pick-me-up):
Bed-wetting to blahs, both woes can take a toll on one's well-beingâbody and mind. If the bills are stacking up and you're working hard for the money or are out of work, you may be feeling down-and-out like an ailing honey bee. Or maybe family members or friends are unhappy? Is the cat or dog sick? Temporary setbacks and stressors in life can zap our Pollyanna type of mood. Can there be a kitchen cure that can make you feel not all gloom and doom?
What Honey Rx to Use:
Put lemon juice from one lemon into an 8-ounce cup of water with ice or cup of hot water. Add 1 teaspoon of wildflower honey (it has medicinal properties) and stir, sip, and wait for a change in your spirit. Repeat as necessary.
Why You'll Bee Happy:
Make way, sugary sodas and caffeinated java! This honey cure has fructose and glucose that are absorbed in the bloodstream faster than you can say, “I feel under the weather.” It's a natural jolt to your nervous system and naturally refreshing, so it provides a worker bee pick-me-up. Think a buzzing honey bee on a wildflower in the springtime.
9 BONE LOSS (Prevent brittle bone disease):
Osteoporosis, with the loss of bone density, is often thought of as an older person's disease, but just like feeling blah, it can strike at any age. Bone loss can happen for many reasons, including if you have a small, thin frame (like I do), a family history of osteoporosis, are postmenopausal (like I am), are sedentary (as an author I am, but I exercise daily), and eat a diet low in dairy products and other sources of calcium (I am a yogurt and low-fat milk addict).
What Honey Rx to Use:
Include a teaspoon of honey (in pure liquid form or bee pollen) in a cup of plain yogurt or smoothie with low-fat milk each day.
Why You'll Bee Happy:
Honey contains calcium and B vitaminsâincluding vitamin B
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. The bone-building nutrient plays a big role in bone metabolism because it's necessary for hydrochloric acid production, which is required in calcium absorption. Best food sources include poultry and fish. These foods can be teamed with honeys, such as glazes. (See chapter 18: “Ciao, Honey!”) to enjoy the variety of recipes that can help you maintain strong bones.
Boron deficiency may also be connected with an increased risk for bone loss. Boron, like vitamin B
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, helps metabolism of calcium and magnesium. Boron is richest in honey and fruits, especially apples, pears, grapes, dates, raisins, and peaches, and in legumes, soybeans, and nutsâall of which the honey bee pollinates.
Also, use whole foods rather than processed ones. This way you'll not lose nature's nutrients. Whole foods include whole grains (brown rice and whole-grain flour), which you should use instead of white flour products. Use fresh vegetables, rather than canned. Opt for beans, fresh fruits, nuts, and seeds. All of these nutrient-dense good foods (strong bones need more than B vitamins and boron) can be enhanced with good honey to maintain strong bones.
A Back-to-Nature Bee Girl
Meet Angela Ysseldyk (
www.beepollenbuzz.com
), nicknamed Bee Girl. She grew up on the Dutchman's Gold bee farm in Carlisle, Ontario, Canada: “When I was a young girl growing up on a bee farm, my mom made sure I was fed plenty of raw honey and bee pollen. I can even remember sprinkling bee pollen granules on my homemade granola!”
Sweet honey was the folk medicine of choice in the house when she or one of her four siblings got a cold. “It was raw bee propolis for us and not antibiotics,” says the pro-bee girl who is buzzing about the fact that her mother raised her holistically. The diet of the farm for her family was whole, unprocessed foods, and there was no junk food allowed in the house.
As time passed, Angela got her calling to teach people about good nutrition, supplements, and organic food. So, the next stop was attending the Institute of Holistic Nutrition in Toronto. The end result: One bee girl blossomed into a Registered Holistic Nutritionist who teaches people at a health-food store about the healing powers of honey and its healing by-products, including royal jellyâthe gifts of bees and fed to larvae and virgin queens and queen bees.
10 BURNS (Baby skin burns):
Bone loss doesn't hurt until you fall, but a burn can be painful immediately. When I was a kid I recall my mom was frying chicken, the oil splattered, and she burned her arm. It was butter that she used to soothe the inflammation and pain. It was a big deal because I saw the popping oil and small stovetop fire. These days, if I experienced a cooking burn I'd try a different quick home cure.
What Honey Rx to Use:
Apply manuka honey or a first-aid lotion with manuka honey on the burned area.
Why You'll Bee Happy:
The Vermont country doctor D. C. Jarvis recommends honey for burns because it can relieve the painful smarting, stave off blisters, and speed up the healing process of the burned area.
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