What are the benefits of honey vs. sugar?!
Question: I've been making fresh ginger tea and sweeting it with organic sugar. I recently decided to buy some locally made honey to sweeten it instead. I know that honey is high in calories, but I had a feeling that it would be healthier than the sugar. Am I right? I know that honey is an antiseptic, but what are the actual health benefits? Did I make the right choice by switching? The local honey is much more expensive than the sugar.
Answers: I've been making fresh ginger tea and sweeting it with organic sugar. I recently decided to buy some locally made honey to sweeten it instead. I know that honey is high in calories, but I had a feeling that it would be healthier than the sugar. Am I right? I know that honey is an antiseptic, but what are the actual health benefits? Did I make the right choice by switching? The local honey is much more expensive than the sugar.
Honey has natural qualities that will keep your blood sugar regulated. If you're watching weight it's best.
The caloric value of honey nearly equals that of cane-sugar (1800 cal.) but in every other respect it is far superior. If honey contained no water its caloric value would be practically the same as that of cane-sugar. A tablespoonful of honey weighs about an ounce and provides the body with 100 calories. Honey does not contain any harmful chemicals and is entirely utilized by the digestive tract. Not more than one two-hundredth part is wasted. Commercial or white sugar, made from sugar-cane, beets, corn, etc., is submitted to several complicated boiling procedures during the process of manufacture. The organic acids, protein, nitrogen elements, fats, enzymes and vitamins are extracted or destroyed; on the other hand, hydrochloric, phosphoric and sulphuric acids, lime and other foreign substances are added. While honey is Nature's own sweet, untouched by human art, sugar is a concentrated, denatured and polluted substitute, a produce, as a rule, of sugar-cane, robbed by superheating of most of its natural and valuable constituents. Honey and other simple or natural sugars, like that in dates, figs, raisins, etc., are live physiological sugars which contain the germs of life, while industrial sugars are anti-physiological, dead or, as a matter of fact, murdered sweets. Brown sugar contains some minerals, but white sugar is entirely demineralized because it will not crystallize if any minerals remain. The first step in the manufacture of sugar is to neutralize the free acids of the cane-juice. Cane-juice is quite dark in color because of its mineral constituents. To remove the sugar from the cane-juice it is treated with the fumes of burning sulphur or heated with bisulphide of lime. The process in industrial language is called "defecation". The lime neutralizes all acids and prevents the cane-sugar from changing into an uncrystallizable invert sugar.
Here's the big 3 reasons honey is better than sugar:
One:
One tablespoon of table sugar or sucrose contains 46 calories, while one tablespoon of natural sweetener honey has 64 calories. Though honey may have more calories, we actually need to use less of it since it is sweeter than table sugar. As a result, you may in fact consume even less amount of calories that you would with sugar. And in the long run even though honey is more expensive, it may be more economical than table sugar.
Two:
Compared to table sugar, honey has a healthier Glycemic Index (GI) which measures the negative impact of a given food on the blood-glucose level. The lower the GI rating, the slower the absorption and infusion of sugars into the bloodstream and hence a more gradual and healthier digestion process.
Three:
Unlike honey, table sugar lacks minerals and vitamins (hence it's been often called empty calories), they draw upon the body's nutrients to be metabolized into the system. When these nutrients are all used up, metabolizing of undesirable cholesterol and fatty acid is impeded, contributing to higher cholesterol and promoting obesity due to higher fatty acid on the organs and tissues. So the message is, if you are watching your weight, honey will be a smarter choice than sugar.
Hope this helps answer your question. Looks like you are doing the right thing.
It is frequently said that honey is no better for you that sugar is, because people are looking at calories, or the ridiculous glycemic index that made half the U.S. afraid of fruit. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
Raw honey contains enzymes that aid digestion, has both antibiotic and antibacterial properties, and is minimally processed. Raw local honey is also excellent for alleviating seasonal allergy symptoms.
Table sugar has no benefits whatsoever, so yes, you made an excellent choice.
honey is an antisceptic. you can use instead of sugar, you dont need as much. healthwise have you tried propolis pills they are extracted from the hive, it is what the bees use to disinfect there hive. it is a natural antibiotic. propolis cream can also be used on open wounds, burns cuts etc. it has marvellous healing qualities.