In homage to honey

For the last few days, I've had a lump in my throat. Not a lump caused by fear or dread of the marathon (four more sleeps!) -- although it wouldn't be surprising if that were the cause -- but rather a lump caused by, what I suspect to be, some sort of viral or bacterial infection. My right lymph node is swollen and it's freaking me out. I simply cannot get sick at this point in the game, because I need to be in 100% good health when I cross the starting line on Sunday morning.

To stave off a full-blown infection, I've turned to raw honey. (There definitely seems to be an emerging theme this week of sweet, sticky substances.) I became a honey convert a few years ago, mostly because my husband's grandfather is a beekeeper in the Czech Republic and his entire family is hooked on the healing promises of honey. (Even better than honey is propilus (see below), but unfortunately I don't have any on hand.) Although I have some honey almost every day, this morning I consumed an unusually large amount -- melted in my tea, drizzled over my yogurt, and straight up. On my way into work, I stopped off at Fairway (the best or worst place on the Upper West Side, depending on your point of view) and purchased one pound of buckwheat honey. (It's always best to buy the darkest honey you can find, and buckwheat honey, in particular, is especially potent.) I intend to eat several tablespoons of it throughout the day.

I'm hoping that these extra doses of deliciousness will help to keep me healthy over the next few days. At the very least, it can be seen as a pure form of carbo loading.

In homage to honey, I've excerpted below just a few pieces of information concerning its truly amazing properties (taken from the website of The World's Healthiest Foods at http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=96#healthbenefits). Enjoy!

How Honey is Made
The fascinating process of making honey begins when the bees feast on flowers, collecting the flower nectar in their mouths. This nectar then mixes with special enzymes in the bees' saliva, an alchemical process that turns it into honey. The bees carry the honey back to the hive where they deposit it into the cells of the hive's walls. The fluttering of their wings provides the necessary ventilation to reduce the moisture's content making it ready for consumption.

Raw Honey - An Anti-Bacterial, Anti-Viral, Anti-Fungal Substance

The health benefits of honey - like all foods - depend on the quality of the honey. But in this case, the situation is even more extreme, because the pollen that collects on the bees' legs as they move from plant to plant is only as healthful and as diverse as those plants. In addition, the processing of honey often removes many of the phytonutrients found in raw honey as it exists in the hive. Raw honey, for example, contains small amounts of the same resins found in propolis. Propolis, sometimes called "bee glue," is actually a complex mixture of resins and other substances that honeybees use to seal the hive and make it safe from bacteria and other micro-organisms...Other phytonutrients found both in honey and propolis have been shown to possess cancer-preventing and anti-tumor properties...[but] when raw honey is extensively processed and heated, the benefits of these phytonutrients are largely eliminated.

Buckwheat Honey Instead of Cough Medicine

In a study [from the Penn State College of Medicine] involving 105 children aged 2-18 years with upper respiratory tract infections of 7 days or less and night-time coughing, a single night-time dose of buckwheat honey was an effective alternative treatment for symptomatic relief of nocturnal cough and sleep difficulty, compared to a single dose of dextromethorphan (DM).

Other Health Benefits of Honey

• Different varietals of honey possess a large amount of friendly bacteria (6 species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria), which may explain many of the "mysterious therapeutic properties of honey."
• Honey may promote better blood sugar control. Proper fueling of the liver is central to optimal glucose metabolism during sleep and exercise. Honey is the ideal liver fuel because it contains a nearly 1:1 ratio of fructose to glucose.
• In a year-long animal study comparing the effects of sucrose, honey and a low glycemic index (GI) sugar-free diet, rats on the honey-based diet showed: reduced weight gain and percentage of body fat, decreased anxiety, better spatial recognition memory, improved HDL cholesterol (15-20% higher than rats fed sugar or sucrose diets), improved blood sugar levels (HA1c), and reduced oxidative damage.
• The wound healing properties of honey may, however, be its most promising medicinal quality. Honey has been used topically as an antiseptic therapeutic agent for the treatment of ulcers, burns and wounds for centuries. One study in India compared the wound healing effects of honey to a conventional treatment (silver sulfadiazene) in 104 first-degree burn patients. After one week of treatment, 91 percent of honey treated burns were infection free compared with only 7 percent receiving the conventional treatment. Finally, a greater percentage of patients' burns were healed more readily in the honey treated group. Another study examined the wound healing benefits of honey applied topically to patients following Caesarean section and hysterectomy. Compared to the group receiving the standard solution of iodine and alcohol, the honey treated group was infection free in fewer days, healed more cleanly and had a reduced hospital stay.

Darker honeys, specifically honey from buckwheat flowers, sage and tupelo, contain a greater amount of antioxidants than other honeys, and raw, unprocessed honey contains the widest variety of health-supportive substances.