The Power of Honey

I've been sick for a while,but now I am back on the road to health, thanks to the power of honey! Okay, also thanks to calling in sick to work yesterday and spending most of the day knitting and drinking tea on the couch, but honey's power cannot be discounted.

More than just a sweetener, honey's powerful healing properties have been used for over 5000 years. It soothes sore throats and its high potassium levels provide antibacterial/antibiotic action. You can dillute it in water or tea if you have a virus or infection, and you can even use it as a dressing for wounds. Seriously, next time you have a cut or scrape dab a little honey on it and bandage it up, and see if it doesn't heal more quickly than with Neosporin. And eating local honey specifically is good for alleving allergy symptoms (it needs to be local enough that the bees are collecting pollen from the same kinds of plants that are making you sneezy and eye-watery and miserable, it's a sort of homeopathic effect). Honey also has trace vitamins and minerals, and the sugar-energy in it is better for your body than that in cane sugar.

I've flirted with veganism now and then over the years, but I could never be hardcore about it because I like honey too much. Cheese I would miss, but I could learn to live without it, and I could get by with soy yogurt and ice cream, and I could bake with egg replacer, butit would just be too depressing to have to start using cane sugar in my tea. If I ever have the land for it, I'd really like to get a apiary.

My treatment de jour for head cold/sinus issues: Traditional Medicinals Gyspy Cold Care tea, with lots of local wildflower honey and a dash of lemon juice, alternated with Trad. Med. Throat Coat (also with lemon and honey) as needed. I don't get really sick too often, but this pulls me through every time.