23 Sep Sweet as Honey
Honey is probably the third most important component of the Primal Diet.
First and second being raw animal fats and raw animal proteins for building healthy new cells.
If I was stranded on a deserted island, the next food I would search for after wild caught animals and fish to augment my survival and thrival diet would be honey.
What is honey?
Obviously, you could live off of just animal fats and proteins, and honey is a special food. Honey bees sequester and refine sugary secretions of plants (primarily floral nectar) or the secretions of other insects, like the honeydew aphids. This refinement takes place both within individual bees, through regurgitation and enzyme activity, and during storage in the hive, through water evaporation that concentrates the honey’s sugars until it is thick and viscous. This is the primary CARBOHYDRATE for the honeybees energy in the Winter.
What is the value to humans?
We need 5% of our macro-nutrient in carbohydrates to live and honey is the best source because it is largely predigested enzymes and thus doesn’t overload our pancreas causing over-sugary blood which is one of the largest contributors to ALL disease, not just diabetes.
We can eat honey, as long as it is absolutely never heated over 93 degrees. If this happens, the honey is converted into 100% sugar which is no better for you than commercial table sugar or candy.
Eating unheated honey adds enzymes to your meal to help predigest meats so the amino acids are more easily assimilated. This means that we do not need to spend as much energy and use our own precious enzymes up as quickly.
According to Dr. Edward Howell, in Enzyme Nutrition, we are given a certain number of enzymes in our lifetime. Once we use these up, we die. We can extend our longevity by consuming enzymes from uncooked and unheated live foods (meat and fats under 104 degrees). therefore preserving our own body’s enzymes.
So, adding honey to our diet can aid in the digestion of the meats and fats we eat.