Honey: The heavyweight champion for natural packed workout recovery.

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Nothing threw a right cross or a punchy quote like Muhammad Ali. The best in his boxing game, and built rhyming fame, his words had a sting, and he was unbeatable in the ring. Apparently he loved bees as much as boxing and poetry. Ali knew it, and so do we–honey is money. Raw honey happens to be one of the single best foods an athlete can take for a natural food-based workout recovery.

Why raw honey? Commercial honey is heavily processed and may even have been chemically refined. Excessive heat destroys the natural enzymes, vitamins, and minerals in honey. Filtering/processing eliminates many of the beneficial phytonutrients including pollen and enzyme-rich propolis. Avoid the golden syrup-like honey in favor of opaque organic raw honey.1 Raw honey is the most original sweet liquid that honeybees produce from the concentrated nectar of flowers. Collected straight from the extractor; it is totally unheated, unpasteurized, unprocessed honey.2

The health and nutrition benefits of raw, organic golden bee goo are pretty buzzworthy. Here’s five quick reasons for your honey pot.

1. Makes great workout fuel: Raw honey is an excellent source of energy because it comes with superior nutrients. The National Honey Board recommends adding honey to your bottle of water for a workout energy boost. Honey-snacks can be eaten before and after, even honey-sticks can be consumed during endurance events.3
2. Treats wounds: In numerous studies, honey has been found effective in treating wounds. It is uniquely low in moisture and extremely acidic, making it a forbidding environment for bacteria and microorganisms. On top of that, bees add an enzyme, glucose oxidase, to it that creates hydrogen peroxide as a byproduct. Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and has remarkable debriding action.3
3. Provides nutrients: Honey contains “small amounts of a wide array of vitamins and minerals, including niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.” Thus, using honey instead of sugar provides you with more nutrients for your calories.3
4. Helps you lose weight: Drinking, with warm water, lemon and honey is a top component every detox programs. Doing this on the daily also helps cleanse the liver, remove toxins, and flushing away fat.4
5. Reduces the risk of heart disease: Honey mixed with cinnamon has been shown to revitalize the arteries and veins of the heart and reduce cholesterol in the blood by up to 10%. When taken on a regular basis, this honey-cinnamon mixture may significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks.4

So, the next time you’re in need to feed your sweet tooth, choose honey before sugar. It’s an easy substitute. Honey can be twice as sweet and thrice as healthy. Honey has an entire hive of yummy uses. In your day-to-day cooking, it can be used in marinades–meats such as chicken or duck, and pork chops. It can be tossed into smoothies and even salad dresses. Plop it in your your tea or breakfast yoghurt. Drizzle it over thin slices of cheese as deliciously sweet and salty end to meals. Add tablespoons of honey with raw cinnamon to warm water, drink daily.5

The overall bee-nefitts: A Lot of honey is available on the market, but not all of them have the same healthy attributes. For optimal nutrition and performance–make raw honey your best, only option. Honey raw–unheated and organic–means it contains vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants and all of the precious insulin-type substances.

Heated and filtered honey is turned into pure sucrose, which loses a majority of its nutritional value and healing benefits. “All the honey in the world is nothing without the confirmation of the bees.” Honey is money. Healthy and healing. It’s super sugar–Glucose is Greek for “sweet wine”. We won’t argue with that. As often as you can, utilize the best workout recovery foods available and incorporate honey into your post workout ritual.