Love and honey

Honeybees make honey, a complex substance that requires nectar and other sweet materials from trees, flowers, and other plants. Bees start the honey making process by gathering the nectar from plants and flowers. Bees carry the nectar in a special pouch in their bodies that is separate from the bees’ digestive stomach, but there is a valve that connects the two areas so the bees can eat some of the nectar. Bees must visit between 100 and 1500 plants and flowers to gather enough nectar to make honey. The special pouch is usually full at this point, holding about 70mg of nectar, and is almost equal to the bee’s entire weight. The nectar is almost 80% water at this point and 20% complex sugar. The bees then carry the nectar mixture back to the beehive and transfer it to other bees that suck up the nectar and use special enzymes to break down the complex sugars into simple sugar that are digestible for the bees. The bees then deposit the mixture into honeycomb cells that the bees build inside the beehive. The bees then evaporate most of the water from the nectar mixture by the maintained warm temperature (at least 95 degrees Fahrenheit) and moving air across the combs of honey. The bees control the air movement by cooperating with each other and fanning their wings simultaneously. This evaporation process creates a buzzing sound. After the process is completed, the nectar mixture is then thick and sticky honey that has a moisture content of about 17-18%. Once the process is complete the bees cover each cell of the honeycomb with beeswax. The honey serves as a source of food for all the bees in the colony. One colony of bees eats between 120 and 200 pounds of honey each year.


*Why is honey so healthy?* Many people wonder why is honey so healthy. There are a lot of reasons this sweetener is better for you than other ones.

Honey is actually nutritious for you, and is a lot better than table sugars and artificial sweeteners you find crowding the shelves. Honey contains an abundance of vitamins, such as B6, calcium, potassium, zinc and magnesium, for starters. Honey also contains Glycemic Index, which means that the sugars that are in it are actually digested better than those of other sugars.

Honey also helps the body build up an immunity against certain sicknesses. It contains a natural antioxidant that helps kill off certain chemical agents that have been known to aid diseases like cancer. These antioxidants also help with the growth of newer tissues in the body. For this reason, the use of honey has also been marketed as a home remedy in many different areas of the world.

Honey also has the ability to energize you. This is one of the biggest reasons that people use honey in their diet. Honey contains a natural source of carbohydrates that helps provide a much needed boost of energy, as well as strength. Honey can help with endurance and actually reduces the amount of fatigue that athletes feel in their muscles. There are natural fruit sugars, fructose and glucose in honey, which get digested into the bloodstream quickly and efficiently. Honey also has no cholesterol in it; so many people use it to keep their cholesterol levels low.

Another reason that honey is so healthy is that it can help with beauty rituals. There are many honey products on the market today that are for persons’ hair, nails, and skin. You can get lotions, face scrubs, and a conditioner that contain honey, which in turn helps the skin stay hydrated and offers a natural antioxidant for the skin.