Right way to use honey
sweet, sticky, unctuous, cool, and delicious
Nature’s sweet nectar was considered by the ancients of Vedic civilization as one of the most remarkable git’s to mankind.
raw vs. pasteurised
Raw honey is not pasteurised. Raw honey contains healthful bee pollen, bee propolis, and plenty of antioxidants.
Pasteurised honey is heat processed and strained to kill bacteria such as those causing botulism.
Honey enters directly into the bloodstream because of its dextrin content, and this provides many benefits, according to Ayurveda. It is considered one of the finest all-purpose remedies for many different types of imbalances.
The qualities of honey
Sweet, heavy, astringent in taste, cool, light to digest, unctuous
Effect on tridosha - balances Pitta and Kapha dosha
Benefits of Honey
Improves appetite and digestive fire (agni)
Acts as a scrapper (inner side of the channels)
Good for the heart
Cleanses and heals
Promotes strength and intellect
Improves mental stability
Assists with chronic respiratory diseases, cough, cold
Penetrates deep into body channels
Natural detox agent
Useful in obesity and weight loss
Balances Pitta and Kapha
Recommended dosage and guidelines
Avoid adding honey to any hot/warm drinks in general (safer this way).
Also avoid adding to hot cereals, or having close to consuming hot milk or hot soup etc.
Honey acts as a scrapper, is more medicinal when combined with herbs as it acts as an anupan (carrier for the herbs to penetrate and digest into the dhatus/tissues).
When consuming Ayurvedic herbal pastes/jams or medicines when they have honey combined, rule of thumb is as follows for am or pm routine.
Take paste - wait 48 minutes (takes this long to digest) - then have hot drink
If you have hot water first - wait 20 minutes - then take your honey herbal paste/medicine
Can take 30 minutes before your meals on an empty stomach, wash it down with warm water.
Proper Intake of Honey
We have been brought up to put honey in our hot lemon ginger tea in the morning, cook with honey or however we may take it and don’t have the real understanding of this substance and how to correctly consume it.
According to Ayurveda, Ama — toxic undigested material in the body — is considered to be the root cause of most illnesses. Over time as toxins start to accumulate in the body this can provide development for disease to manifest.
It is written in Chakara, “Nothing is as troublesome as the Ama caused by improper intake of honey.”
The Heating of Honey
In the ancient Ayurvedic text, Charaka makes it clear that when honey is heated, it becomes very hard to digest and produces unwanted qualities. One of the hardest toxins to expel out of the body, it will take 2-3 panchakarma’s to remove heated honey from the body.
Heated honey is difficult to digest; it produces toxins, and the molecules become glue-like, adhering to the mucous membranes, clogging the channels and producing ama. Ama produced by the improper intake of honey causes instantaneous death like poison (247-248).
Honey has a toxic effect on the human body when heated past 35 °C. At this temperature, honey degrades, and it is composition completely changes. Many of the beneficial organic compounds and enzymes in honey are destroyed or inhibited by heat.
A chemical called hydroxymethyl furfuraldehyde (HMF), a substance linked in certain forms of toxicity and possible links to carcinogenic effects is produced when honey is heated. Heating honey also alters its chemical contents in other ways, by increasing the peroxides. Peroxides are known for their unhealthy effect.
*Take note and care should be taken when purchasing food goods to avoid cereals, breads, baked goods and other “health food” products that include honey which has been cooked.
Side Effects and Contraindications
Honey is not recommended for people with diabetes.
Equal quantity of honey and ghee is incompatible and should not be consumed.
Equal quantity of honey and sesame oil is also incompatible.
Should not be taken by an individual suffering from excessive heat or burning sensation.