Benefits of honey? Honey can be an indispensable food on everyone’s menu. Honey is a sweet juice that bees collect from plants, process it, enrich it with enzymes in their nest and store it in wax combs. Honey gives a lot of energy to the trainees who use it.
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General information about honey
Natural honey for its taste and nutritional qualities is one of the most valuable foods known since ancient times. The famous doctor Avicenna recommended honey as a food that increases efficiency and prolongs life. According to him, honey preserves youth, sharpens the mind and restores memory.
The ancient Greeks worshiped honey, considering it an important element in nutrition, which is reflected in their mythology – ragweed, the food of the gods, a mixture of milk and honey. In England, mead has been known as a national drink for 2,000 years.
In addition to all the other valuable qualities it has, honey also helps with headaches and relieves hangovers. Honey contains fructose, which helps to break down alcohol faster.
In addition, it protects us from sudden changes in alcohol levels, which in turn causes a headache the next morning. It is completely absorbed by the body, as up to 3,400 calories of energy are absorbed from 1 kilogram of honey.
The relative weight of honey is 1.4 (the volume of 1 kg of water replaced by honey weighs 1.4 kg). Naturally, the property of honey is to crystallize sooner or later.
In our country this phenomenon is called sugaring and such honey is viewed with distrust. But in some far more developed European countries, crystallized honey is better accepted on the market, because it is certain that the water content is not more than 18%, and all other properties are preserved.
Crystallized honey has another advantage – it mixes better with other preparations in the preparation of medicines. In the liquid methods for the preparation of medicinal mixtures with honey there are difficulties due to the difference in the relative weight of the ingredients and their precipitation in layers.
You can also make sure of this by mixing two types of honey, for example light acacia and dark pine (the relative weight of dark honey is greater and it will separate at the bottom of the vessel, while acacia honey will remain above the pine).
Types of honey
By origin, honey is nectar and manna. The starting material for nectar honey is the nectar that bees collect from the flowers of plants, and for manna – manna. The latter is a sweet sap secreted by aphids and other insects that feed on the sap of linden, willow, oak and other trees.
There is also pine honey, which a person can brew himself, as long as he has pine tips, sugar and patience. The method of preparation resembles that of ordinary jam.
Composition of honey
Its composition is protein, vitamins – B1, B2, B3, B6, K, C, E, provitamins – A, PP, organic acids, enzyme invertase, lipase and many other elements that are found in the blood in small quantities.
Pure honey also contains: invert sugar (fruit or grape) – 73%, cane (beet) sugar – 2%, water – 20%, dextrin – 2%, nitrogenous substances – 0.99%, acids – 0.1 %, mineral substances – 0.1%. In 100 g of honey there are:
- water – 21%, protein – 0.4%, fat – 0%, carbohydrates – 78.3%, calories – 323, which are absorbed very quickly by the body.
- Carbohydrates (70-80%), represented mainly by glucose, fructose, disaccharide sucrose and about 20 other di- and trisaccharides.
- Organic acids – tartaric, citric, lactic, formic and others.
- Minerals – potassium, calcium, sodium, phosphorus, sulfur, magnesium.
- Amino acids, about 20 in number – glutamic acid, glycerin, tyrosine, lysine and others.
Health benefits of consuming honey for the trainee
Honey gives a lot of energy, strength and endurance to the trainees who use it. It is good to take before and after a workout, but it is not necessary, especially if you are on a diet (whether it is to increase or decrease weight). The combination of honey + nuts is very good.
From my personal experience I dare say that walnuts are best suited for this combination. Honey contains biostimulants, ie substances that increase the vital activity of the body. Observations have shown that athletes who consume honey before competitions or in the breaks between them, quickly recover the spent muscle energy.
Many doctors recommend honey to the elderly and children, as well as to people who need a quick recovery after a long illness. Honey has a healing effect if taken in appropriate daily doses.
It is most useful if taken in the form of a 12-13 percent aqueous solution (one tablespoon of honey in 1 cup of lukewarm water) 3 times a day, always 1.5-2 hours before meals.
The daily dose for an adult is about 100 g. Children are given 1 teaspoon 3 times a day, which is approximately 30 g. Larger doses of honey saturate the body and deplete the pancreas.
How to store honey
Honey is one of the most durable food products (unlimited durability). Store in glass, clay, porcelain, ceramic and wooden containers in a dark, cool and dry place where there are no side odors. It instantly absorbs the smell of fish, cheese, sauerkraut. So consider leaving jars of honey in the basement until winter.
The fridge is too humid for him. Direct sunlight is detrimental to honey. After 48 hours of continuous sun exposure, the enzymes in honey are destroyed. It is mostly inhibin – the enzyme with antimicrobial action. At temperatures above 150 ° the life-giving balm becomes just a carbohydrate mixture.
Honey should not be stored in metal containers because of the acids contained in it. They can cause oxidation, which in turn leads to an increase in the content of heavy metals and a decrease in the nutrients in honey. Such honey can cause stomach discomfort and even lead to poisoning.
And some recommendations :
- When you decide to use honey instead of sugar in cooking recipes, use an amount that is half the sugar.
- One spoon of honey contains 60 kcal. Taken in the morning on an empty stomach will help increase metabolism, hormone balance and fat burning.
- It should be noted that the consumption of honey should not go to extremes – it can not and should not be the only food source, ie honey is a wonderful healing and nutritional tool in combination with other foods. Thus, the body will be provided with everything it needs.
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