Beauty and Health Benefits of Honey

 I received an email from a Chanda Bwalya who wants to know what else she can use honey for apart from as a sweetener.

Chanda is like many women who only use honey as a sweetener making honey a potent but underutilised ingredient.

Do you know that Honey is an antiseptic, antibiotic, antifungal, and an antibacterial meaning that it can be a substitute for many medicines?

The one thing that most people do know is that honey is great for soothing sore throats and coughs. Just combine honey with the lemon and drink. It is amazing how fast it works.

It is a weekend and two things always happen over the weekend, alcohol, and hangovers. A few tablespoons of honey, which is packed with fructose, will help speed up your body’s metabolism of alcohol helping kill that hangover.

Honey is also helpful in cleansing and healing wounds and preventing scabs from sticking to bandages.

Applying honey to burns helps relieve pain and promotes healing. It also actually also reduces the appearance of scars.

Honey’s anti-microbial properties heal keep infection at bay, so next time you burn yourself while cooking nshima try it.

It is these antiseptic properties which make it an excellent ingredient to any beauty regimen regardless of your skin tone or skin type.

Most beauty products use honey as an ingredient but regular readers of this column will attest to the fact that I usually advice people to use natural products.

Buying products with honey is less effective because most of the potency will have been gone.

Plus some beauty products have some nasty ingredients such as sulphates, parabens and petrolatum.

Honey can help people with skin problems and give you that much needed glow.

 

Honey is humectant, which means it will attract and keep moisture inside your skin, this hydration makes your skin becomes supple, elastic, and silky soft.

 It also has anti-oxidant properties which play an important role in protecting your skin against damage from UV (ultra violet) sun light.

 Just so you know, the darker the honey the stronger the anti-oxidant effect and stick to unprocessed honey.

Just using honey to scrub your face or as a face mask can do wonders for your skin, I have included some honey recipes that you can use at home in the tips section.

Stubborn acne can really benefit from a small daily dab of honey on that stubborn pimple.

 Honey is a fantastic moisturizer especially in winter; if you suffer from dry patches on your elbows, hands, or even lips!

You can just rub onto your dry skin and let it sit for about 30 minutes before washing off, honey also makes a great lip balm so dab some on your lips just avoid licking it off.

Do you have trouble sleeping you could try taking a spoonful of honey before bed by itself or in a cup of warm herbal tea or milk.

It is a natural sleep remedy that can help you relax and fall asleep faster," writes Natural News' writer Elizabeth Walling.

Quit turning to coffee for your daily energy boost and try replacing coffee with tea infused with honey.

Honey is an excellent ingredient for hair; it strengthens and moisturises hair so mix honey into your conditioner, cover your head with a warm towel for half an hour then shampoo off.      

You will be amazed at how it feeds your hair and scalp and your hair will never look or feel better.

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For dental care and mouth sores use honey to clean your mouth, teeth, and dentures it also stops bleeding gums and mouth ulcers.

If you suffer from poor digestion you should mix honey with an equal quantity of apple cider vinegar and dilute to taste with water.

This is also wonderful for the joints and promotes weight loss actually.

If you want to lose weight, drink warm water infused with a tablespoon of honey every morning, and see the change in your health.

For teething, honey rubbed on a baby's gums is also a mild sedative and anaesthetic just doesn’t give raw honey to babies under 1 year old; it's just too rich.

Research has shown that a teaspoon of honey per day aids calcium utilization and prevents osteoporosis probably not a bad idea for anyone over 50.

Need more reasons? Honey has anti cancer properties and has been said to prolong life so there you are.

Take a spoonful, you need it.

Some tips for you

To exfoliate your skin at home, mix Brown Sugar with Honey and some drops of lemon.

Scrub your face gently and rinse off.

If you are in need of skin moisturizing (which you are in this weather) just slather some honey on your skin and rinse off with cold water or warm water.

For some facial masks, two tablespoons of honey with a tablespoon of natural plain yogurt (or avocado) and drop in some lemon.

Slather on your face and wait for thirty minutes, then wash off.

You can also make a mask with egg, honey, and mayonnaise, experiment.

Do you have any beauty tips, any fashion fabulous moments? Email me on divadiarys@gmail.com, and I will share them here or in my column in Sunday Times. Pictures are also welcome.