In the honour of the flu season I feel like writing my very first entry about other ways of fighting those viruses than codeine and paracetamol. One of nature's miracle workers is honey. When you're sick your body consumes a lot of energy so the natural sugars in honey provide a healthy energy boost. The glucose gets your blood sugar up quickly to make you feel better and fructose provides more sustained energy.
But what makes honey so wonderful is not the energy it provides but its antioxidant and antibacterial properties. The antioxidants in honey can destroy harmful chemical agents that cause diseases. The antimicrobial properties of honey are caused by enzymes that prohibit the growth of certain bacteria. So if you have a sore throat why not try a spoonful of honey instead of some codeine-containing cough medicine? Honey soothes your throat and thanks to the antibacterial properties it can actually kill the bacteria that causes the infection.
I've always preferred to sweeten my tea with honey instead of sugar but if you want to get all the health benefits you shouldn't heat it too much. In fact, heating honey to just 37°C destroys nearly 200 components, parts of which are antibacterial, and one of the important enzymes in honey breaks down at 40°C. Heating honey to 70°C causes rapid degradation. The best way to enjoy your honey is room-temperature. So if you feel like you need an enzyme-boost, one good idea is to let your tea cool down a bit before adding the honey. You can also try preparing yourself an easy lemon & honey juice. Lemon provides you with vitamin C which is also vital for your health.
Lemon & Honey Juice
Ingredients:
- ½ (organic) lemon
- water
- (organic) honey
Cut the lemon in half and juice it. If you don't have a juicer just squeeze it with your hands. Add the juice into a glass of water. Sweeten with as much honey as you like. Stir well.
Having a glass of this juice in the morning really gets you ready for the day but I have to admit it doesn't feel as nice in your throat as a warm cup of tea. I do add honey into my hot tea even after reading about how the enzymes break down in honey when heated - I just love the taste of it! My favourite drink when I'm sick is rooibos tea with ginger. It is something you can use to ease your flu symptoms even if you're a vegan. Simply prepare a cup of rooibos tea and add approximately 1-2cm ginger root (grated or cut into thin slices) into the boiling water. If you don't like rooibos just boil the grated ginger in few decilitres of water for a couple of minutes and drink it. The spicy ginger soothes your throat and it also calms down your stomach while rooibos tea is filled with antioxidants that help you stay healthy. After preparing the tea I often sweeten it with honey - but not before taking one spoonful of honey raw to ease my sore throat and fight off the bacteria.
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