By now, most people must have heard of the so-called Mediterranean diet. A diet, by the way, is not some fad way of eating with the end goal of temporarily losing weight. The word is simply defined as what you eat on a regular basis. That being cleared up, the Mediterranean diet will consist of foods that are popular in the Mediterranean region of Europe of course. Think lots of nuts, seeds, olive oil, fresh fruits and vegetables, along with simply prepared fish, and meats. Refined carbohydrates, not so much.
One region in the Mediterranean which I know a bit more about is Greece. Specifically, how they seem semi obsessed with honey compared to the rest of modern society. And to get even more specific, their own cultivated raw local honey.
Growing up as a kid in the states, I used to hear about the bees some family used to keep back in the day when my parents were young. One of the last times I visited Greece, a cousin of mine could not stop talking about some of the local honey he had recently discovered. To put it into a bit of proper context, his zeal displayed during this conversation matched that of Vincent from the film Pulp Fiction discovering the contents of THE BREIFCASE.
Present day, this same cousin of mine is learning to cultivate his own honey, from his own honeybees.
Yes yes, food is a passion in the Mediterranean regions. Both for its flavor, and its wholesomeness. Just in case you don't catch my drift, they eat for both their pallet satisfaction, and for their health. Honey, specifically the local raw honey they produce and consume, falls right into this category.
This post is the first part of a multipart series giving alternatives to using refined cane sugars as a sweetener. Cane sugar, refined or not, carries little to no micro-nutritional benefit. As in, it really has no vitamins or minerals to offer. As a carbohydrate source, it is of the simple variety. Which means, it metabolizes most quickly (being really high on the Glycemic Index).
Raw honey, on the other end, has many health benefits despite being a simple carbohydrate just the same. There does exist a plethora of vitamins and minerals in trace amounts per serving. And antioxidants. Those are the bits in food that help restore your cells to proper form. Phytonutrients contained in raw honey can help boost your immune system. Oh, and it's simply delicious.
I suggest raw honey because like most food sources, processing and preserving it often destroys most of what makes it nutritious in the first place. And I suggest local honey for one reason. It is believed that if you consume locally sourced (raw) honey, your body will help assimilate to the pollen in the air during certain times of the year. This can only but help alleviate or perhaps even eliminate seasonal allergies.
If you have been reading my blog, one of my first posts was a most delicious and nutritious dessert recipe. In it, I substituted granulated refined sugar for raw local honey.
Once or twice a week, I will coat a teaspoon with the stuff to gain some of the health benefits.
If you want to dive deeper into the world of raw honey, look up Manuka or Ikaria Honey. Both are expensive, but worth their weight in gold as they possess all the good stuff I mentioned by the bucket load. Much more nutritionally dense they are (says Yoda). And if you ever try any of these two you'll see why and taste the difference.
So if you regularly sweeten things with sugar, try local raw honey on for size. Preferably unfiltered as well. Let me know how it goes.
Oh, and remember. Honey is still a simple carbohydrate high up on the glycemic index. So a little goes a long wayโฆ!
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