Honey
1. How much honey can I eat per day?
Generally, three to five tablespoons of honey a day is sufficient. A good regimen to follow is to consume a tablespoon or two of honey in the morning with fruit or yogurt or cereal. Another tablespoon should be consumed at bedtime. In between, another one or two tablespoons can be ingested with fruit snacks, in baked goods, or as used in cooking. Honey contains about 60 calories per tablespoon. Generally, the percentage of ones' total caloric requirements provided from simple sugars should not exceed 10%. Thus, the 180 to 300 calories a day provided from honey is sufficient, unless excessive energy demands allow for additional consumption.
The key is not how much honey you can eat daily, but how much refined and processed sugar in your current diet you can replace with a more superior sweetener every day. So honey as a natural sweetener which is more than a sum of its fructose and glucose, the honeybees have added something special that neither can be found in any other natural sweeteners nor imitated by any artificial sugars, is the best choice for your healthy body.
2. Honey Expiration Date & Storage
Honey is a miracle food; it never goes bad. It was reported that archaeologists found 2000 year old jars of honey in Egyptian tombs and they still tasted delicious! Many people find it rather surprising that bacteria cannot grow in honey because all things being equal, bacteria love sugar. The unique chemical composition of low water content and relatively high acidic level in honey creates a low pH (3.2-4.5) environment that makes it very unfavorable for bacteria or other micro-organism to grow. Thus, "Best Before Dates" on honey buckets indicating honey shelf life do not seem to be very important after all.
3. Why consuming honey before bedtime is good for sleep?
During sleep, when there is not enough liver glycogen to fuel the brain, our adrenal glands release adrenalin and cortisol, and muscle protein is broken down for the liver to make sugar, adding stress to the kidney.
Honey consumed before bedtime ensures an adequate store of liver glycogen for the brain and prevents the release of stress hormones. It also contributes to the release of the ‘wellness hormone’, melatonin which inhabits the release of insulin, stabilizes blood sugar levels, and helps enhance immunity and rebuild tissues during sleep.
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