Calorie content and properties of honey
Man has known about the benefits of honey since time immemorial. Our ancestors were not familiar with pharmaceuticals. Honey replaced them with a lot of drugs. With its help, they eliminated ailments, strengthened health, and improved mood.
The product has not lost its significance for humans even today. Many experts advise completely eliminating sugar from the diet, replacing it with honey. "Sweet Medicine" is held in high esteem by doctors and cosmetologists, folk healers and ordinary citizens all over the planet.
Compound
Distinctive features of honey: good taste, pleasant smell and high calorie content. A rare product can compete with it in terms of the number of trace elements. It has been established that there are more than three hundred of them in the sweet delicacy. About a hundred trace elements are present in all types of honey, the rest are able to appear and disappear depending on various objective and subjective factors.
The composition of the product is affected by:
- conditions for keeping insects;
- honey plants;
- soil condition;
- the location of the apiary on the ground;
- weather;
- time of honey collection;
- breeds of bees;
- product age.
The main components of honey are several components.
- Water. The percentage of H2O is 15-25%. The lower the moisture content, the more valuable the honey. With excess water, fermentation begins, the shelf life decreases.
- Carbohydrates. The highest content in honey falls on carbohydrates (75% or more). The content of carbohydrates increases with the ripening of honey after harvest. Organic substances, in turn, consist of several tens of sugars.Fructose occupies a special place. The energy value of the composition depends on it. The more fructose, the longer the product remains in liquid form. Second is glucose. In addition, the product contains sucrose, maltose, dextrins and other types of sugars.
- Minerals and trace elements. The mineral composition of honey is very similar to the composition of human blood. It includes dozens of trace elements (more than 40) that normalize the work of the human body. So, potassium has a beneficial effect on the heart, phosphorus on the nervous system, calcium on the condition of the bones. Chlorine, manganese, sulfur, iron, copper, lithium, silicon, iodine, as well as other elements of the periodic table are present in the product of bee production. Despite the small percentage of trace elements (only 0.5 - 3.5%), their benefits to humans are very high.
- Vitamins. All varieties of honey contain vitamins of group B. There is a lot of ascorbic acid in the product. As for vitamins E and A, they could not be found in a number of varieties.
- Amino acids and proteins. The most useful amino acids for humans are phenylalanine, lysine, methionine, alanine, tyrosine, and glutamic acid. In scanty shares there are: succinic, gluconic, oleic and other acids. There are very few proteins of animal and vegetable origin in honey.
Beneficial features
Thanks to the substances included in its composition, bee product:
- has a preventive effect on the work of the heart, preventing pathological changes;
- enhances the outflow of bile, which contributes to the normal functioning of the gallbladder and liver;
- protects the body from colds, and when they appear, it helps to quickly overcome the disease;
- endowed with the ability to stop inflammation and prevent the development of pathogenic bacteria in the human body;
- used to treat various diseases caused by pathogenic pathogens;
- cleanses the body of toxins;
- has a stimulating effect on the neurons of the brain;
- improves memory, suppresses the development of sclerosis;
- protects the gastrointestinal tract from all kinds of diseases.
For women, honey is useful because it helps to cope with the troubles caused by menstruation. This is an increase in hemoglobin in the blood, and the restoration of iron content, and a decrease in pain, and the elimination of dizziness. Honey is credited with the ability to keep women young due to its high content of antioxidants. It has been noticed that regular dosed use of sweets literally affects the face: fine wrinkles are smoothed out, the skin acquires elasticity and freshness.
To obtain the greatest effect from taking an amber product, its varieties should be distinguished. For example, linden honey will help to cope with stress, mint - with chronic fatigue, and heather - with low acidity.
The only obstacle to the inclusion of honey in the diet of baby food is individual intolerance. In other cases, the delicacy is indicated for regular use in small volumes. Honey contributes to the mental development of children, prevents the occurrence of colds, stabilizes the nervous system, and strengthens the growing body.
Honey also has a positive effect on the body of representatives of the strong half of humanity. A teaspoon of sweets in the morning will not only energize you for the whole day, but also protect you from diseases of the cardiovascular system.Honey suppresses the development of diseases such as hypertension and hypotension, as it helps to maintain blood pressure within nominal limits. In addition, the bee product helps to overcome purely male diseases (prostatitis and impotence).
Harm
Surprisingly, even such a useful product can be harmful. Everything is good in moderation, including the “golden” sweetness. And for some, this product is contraindicated categorically.
People who are prone to allergic reactions, honey can cause a lot of trouble. Red spots on the skin - this is the smallest. For some, they pass quickly, while for others they do not go away for a long time and constantly itch.
More serious consequences occur after taking honey in diabetics. Therefore, for this category of citizens, amber sweetness should be abandoned forever.
Start taking the "bee gift" should be very small doses. In this case, it is necessary to "listen" to the reaction of the body.
If honey is absorbed without negative consequences, the dose can be increased, but without need, you should not eat more than a few tablespoons per day.
Honey contains a lot of sugars, therefore, like sugar itself, in excess it can lead to a number of diseases of the internal organs. Like any sweets, honey destroys teeth, causing tooth decay and other oral diseases.
But the main thing is that the body spends the substances it has on the assimilation of a high-calorie product. Vitamin B1, magnesium, chromium, zinc, manganese, and potassium are consumed for the assimilation of an excess amount of honey. The lack of vitamins and microelements affects the state of the nervous system, causes a breakdown in the balanced functioning of the body.
Migraines begin, joints respond with pain to weather changes, apathy and fatigue appear.Common signs of malaise are followed by problems with internal organs: the gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, and heart. That is why even absolutely healthy people should not exceed the recommended dosage.
How many calories does it contain?
In order for a beekeeping product to bring exceptional benefits, you need to understand such a concept as calorie content. A healthy person for a normal lifestyle needs to consume a certain amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates (abbreviated as BJU). If we talk about the optimal set, then the food should contain only 15% fat and a little more (25%) protein. The main share falls on carbohydrates. Their content reaches 60%. Deviations in one direction or another within small limits (up to 10%) will not harm a healthy person.
Information about the energy value will help to avoid unexpected effects from the use of honey. The bee product is rich not only in useful substances, but also in excess calories. If you clarify the energy value of the product and compare it with the needs of the body, then after a treat with sweetness there will be no problems. Calorie content is influenced by various factors, including: the type of plants treated by bees, the time of pollen collection, and so on.
There are two types of honey: flower and honeydew. Flower is divided into 2 types: monofloral, collected from one type of plant and polyfloral, respectively, consisting of products of various plants. Since these varieties are significantly different from each other, their calorie content is also different. For example, in 1 teaspoon there can be either 25 kcal or 40 kcal.
flower honey
It is generally accepted that there are about 300 kcal per 100 grams of flower honey. Different varieties of bee product have the same glycemic index.
To prepare any recipe (culinary or cosmetic), you need to know the number of calories of honey in a teaspoon and a tablespoon. The product is usually applied in small doses, so spoons are used as a measuring device very often. One teaspoon contains 12 g of the product, and in a tablespoon - 21 g.
When comparing different types of honey, it turns out that acacia honey is more nutritious than buckwheat. One teaspoon of liquid transparent acacia sweet contains 40 kcal, and a tablespoon contains 120 kcal.
A teaspoon of thick, viscous buckwheat honey will enrich the body with 36 kilocalories, and a tablespoon with only one hundred and eight kilocalories. Linden honey was highly appreciated: there are no fats in its 100 g, and proteins are contained in a meager amount (only 0.6 g). It is noteworthy that if we compare the product of the production of bees and sugar, then in one spoonful of sugar there are 18 calories less.
Since ancient times, a revitalizing remedy made from a mixture of natural honey with nuts has been known. Regular consumption of treats strengthens the immune system and nervous system. However, it should be borne in mind that nuts themselves are very high in calories.
honeydew
Pad is a sticky substance on the foliage of plants, formed as a result of the vital activity of insects. Hence the name. In Russia, honeydew honey is considered to be second-rate. It contains no antibiotic substances, no phytoncides, less inverted sugars than natural honey, more disaccharides.
Honeydew honey is recognizable by its dark color, high viscosity and sweetness, and the absence of a specific "honey" taste. This product turns sour rather quickly.
Usage Tips
As already mentioned, despite the fact that the benefits of honey are generally recognized, you should not use this food product uncontrollably.A huge set of various elements and compounds contained in honey requires caution. First of all, do not forget about its high calorie content. Moderation in the use of goodies contributes to the preservation of the figure.
In addition, the body may respond to the product with an allergic reaction. Therefore, it is impossible to consume sweetness in large volumes at a time. The maximum dose in one day should not exceed three tablespoons.
It is not recommended to eat honey for babies under three years old.
You should not take risks and use it for diabetics, as well as for women preparing to become mothers. During breastfeeding, you should also abandon the sweet product.
To maintain immunity and normal functioning of internal organs, a healthy person needs a daily dose equal to one teaspoon of honey. You can use the beekeeping product in dissolved or unchanged form. It is useful to replace sugar with honey, for example, in compote or tea. The main thing is not to immerse it in a hot solution. At temperatures above 50-60 degrees, most of the useful properties disappear.
During colds, honey is dissolved in milk or tea. In the latter case, it will not be superfluous to additionally flavor the drink with lemon and ginger.
Those wishing to restore harmony, honey should be consumed before meals for about half an hour. A small teaspoon of sweetness is enough for a glass of warm boiling water. Honey wraps and massages also contribute to weight loss.
You will learn more about the properties of honey from the video below.