By Rosie Moore

No, I am not plagiarizing the entertaining and informative book by Sue Monk Kidd. I do want to know about the secret life of the bees. I have started to add honey to my food regimen in place of sugar and found out seven surprising facts about it. All of these facts surprised me.

  1. It may help beat hangovers.
  2. It contains antioxidants.
  3. It may help fight cancer.
  4. It may help heal your cuts and burns.
  5. It may ease coughs.
  6. It’s sweeter than sugar.
  7. It may help in weight control.

Honey per teaspoon contains 20 calories, 5 grams of sugar and no fat. Granulated sugar has 15 calories, 4 grams of sugar, and no fat. Honey is slightly sweeter so you can use a bit less—so the calories are about equivalent to granulated sugar when you account for using less honey.

Bees collect nectar from flowers, regurgitate it, then store the liquid within wax cells in their hive. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to, as it is the type of honey collected by most beekeepers and consumed by people.

The book by Sue Monk Kidd, set in 1964, is a coming-of-age story that acknowledges the predicament of loss and betrayal. It was later adapted into a film. I haven’t seen the movie but I loved the book.

Now I’m in a dilemma. Should I stick with honey or revert back to sugar? Also I am stymied by the subject of fat-free and sugar-free foods. Perhaps our prolific author Jim Ferguson will write a column about that? I try to eat sensibly but it’s hard when there are so many contradicting factors about the subject.

Thought for the day: My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Proverbs 24:13

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