Is It Sugar or Honey?

Please Bookmark:

The vast value of honey has been known since ancient times, as evidenced in the Bible and other documents. Unfortunately, sugar has become the primary sweetener in today’s society, leaving honey in its historical dust. Does it matter? Is sugar one of those great technical advancements of our time? Is honey just another type of sweetener?

All right, we always hear things about sugar being bad for us, and our craving for “sweets” is often associated with “unhealthy” lifestyles. So, what’s the deal, why do crave something that’s “bad” for us? Is it our fault?

We, as humans, have a natural hunger for sweets. This instinctual need to eat “sweets” was intended to be a good thing by giving us a desire for things we need in our diet. If you look at what we need nutritionally, and what nature provides to meet these needs, you will find that many are wonderfully sweet. Fruits quickly come to mind as sweet satisfiers. Think of all the deliciously succulent fruits that are wonderfully sweet and nutritionally necessary. Numerous vegetables are gratifyingly sweet, such as corn, beets, and peas and their nutritional value is undisputed. Honey too, is natures amazing way of satisfying our natural craving for something sweet, while providing our bodies with things it very much needs.

Now, what about sugar, I mean, hey, it comes from the sugar cane, so its natural goodness too, right? NO! Once upon a time, way back when it was a sugar cane, it was natural goodness, but by the time it ends up in a paper package on the grocer’s shelf, it is nutritionally void. During the process used to refine sugar, it is denatured, and polluted. The vitamins and minerals are either destroyed or extracted. Things like hydrochloric, phosphoric, and sulphuric acids and lime are added to sugar. What we’re left with after the refining is complete, is a nutritionally void, problem-creating substance that is also addictive. There is a difference between our natural instinct for “sweet” things to meet our nutritional needs, and the addictive craving of sugar. One study shows that the average American consumes 2-3 pounds of sugar a week and this number is on the rise. We don’t often realize the “hidden” sugar in things like bread, ketchup, peanut butter, and many microwave meals.

Okay, now what about honey? Honey is an amazing substance in so many ways, and one of them, is as a sweetener. Starting with the fact that is more than just sweet, it has a flavor unique to itself, its region, and the bees that produced it. Honey maintains its nutritional value by boasting its numerous vitamins and minerals. Honey is made of natural sugars like fructose, dextrose, and glucose. It contains minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium, and iron. Honey contains vitamins, like B1, B2, C, B6, B5, and B3. The amounts vary, based on the region from which it is obtained, and the nectar used in its production.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of the benefits of honey. You have good healthy desire for sweets because you have a need for the nutritional elements that “nature’s sweets” provide you. So, feed the need – feed it HONEY!