Whats your view on Raw Honey

[Polyvore]

http://www.reallyrawhoney.com.au/about-us/
what about this?

[Haai]

WOW, talk about a blood sugar spike. I admit honey has some addicting qualities (Sugar)! I wonder if you have a yeast imbalance or something? I used to eat honey consistently, granted not like you though. I feel, and this is JMO here. If I'm going to eat honey, I'm only going to eat Raw Manuka Honey UMF (there are different potencies, the higher the number the more potent it is) from New Zealand. It has powerful anti-bacterial properties. Google it! Once you try it, you'll never go back! It's the only brand of Honey that I would use personally!

I have no idea if I have a yeast imbalance or something at this moment in time. I would say that I definitely used to have one though. Some people say that raw honey helps fight yeast problems, or at least does not worsen them.

I have tried Manuka honey before. It is indeed very nice, but also very expensive!  Other favourites of mine are heather honey and tyme honey. Another great honey in my opinion is: http://www.funkyraw.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=340 The only downside to that one is that smoke is used during the extraction of the honey from the hives, but I love the taste, especially when it has crystallized.

[jessica]

mesquite honey is my absolute favorite, i am super tempted to buy 3 lbs from my friends down in arizona.  i know where their hives are and i know the guy who harvest the honey, it is totally legit.  its the creamiest looking honey i have ever seen.  i definitely eat large amounts, up to a cup, of honey when i eat it  , maybe 4 times a year at most? but i usually end up with super energy from that.  it feels extremely healing internally for me

[Chris]

Try Heavenly Organics! 100% Sustainable, 100% Fairly-Traded, 100% Humane… Really good stuff. I have tried the"Wild Forest"Neem Honey, I'd highly recommend it. www.heavenlyorganics.com/index.aspx

[ivanrk]

I made the same test - with raw honeycomb aproximately 100 grams - i get very similar results

OK I finally put the claims re: raw honey to the test. I used raw comb honey--the kind that is made right in the cannister so there is no heating whatsoever--you can't get any rawer than that. They don't even have to hand-pack it, as the bees make the comb right in the containers. I found it via Internet search after Tyler mentioned how truly raw comb honey is not clear like the stuff sold in most stores. I had never heard of it before, so it was a pretty neat experience--and very tasty (and expensive).

First, here is some reference data for comparison:Here are my results:

5.21.10

5:51PM My random glucose after 4 hours of fasting = 87
5:55PM ate 2 tbsps Rabbit Mountain raw comb honey (experienced some burning feeling on the tongue; noticed cinnamon notes--excellent tasting honey)
6:55PM random glucose 1 hour after eating 2 tbsps Rabbit Mountain raw comb honey = 186 mg/dl
7:55PM random glucose 2 hours after eating 2 tbsps Rabbit Mountain raw comb honey = 146 mg/dl

So my blood sugar numbers after eating raw comb honey were apparently a bit high even for diabetics!    I'll bet that my numbers get spiked even more by heated honey. I hope to test that soon.

Has anyone else tested their blood sugar before and after eating raw honey?

[ivanrk]

but after i read many posts from this blog http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/   i am not so sure that insulin spikes cause insulin resistance.

[PaleoPhil]

I reported blood glucose spikes, not insulin spikes. I confused the two the same way when I first read Stephan's blog post on it in the past.

[Brad462]

Don't insulin spikes follow blood glucose spikes?

[PaleoPhil]

Yes, though, as Ivanrk pointed out, Stephan wrote about how insulin spikes are not a problem. It's the blood glucose spikes that are the problem, according to him and Chris Kresser. When I asked Chris about it some time ago, he set me straight on this (at least, I think he did ).

Insulin spikes OK:

"...insulin spikes after meals temporarily decrease fat release from fat cells, but if you look at total 24 hour energy balance, insulin spikes, in conjunction with all the other hormones that are released in response to food ingestion, do not cause fat accumulation.  This is exactly how you would expect the system to work if it were designed to constructively handle a wide variety of macronutrient ratios, which it is.  Just as cholesterol did not evolve to give us heart attacks, insulin did not evolve to make us fat." http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/08/carbohydrate-hypothesis-of-obesity.html
 
 “All this postprandial insulin spikes = fat gain stuff is nonsense as far as I can tell.”
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/05/liposuction-and-fat-regain.html

Glucose spikes above 140-160 mg/dl = bad:

“Sustained glucose above 160 mg/dL or so causes damage to multiple organ systems. Some people would put that number closer to 140 mg/dL. …. Insulin doesn’t clear all the glucose as it enters the bloodstream, however. Some of it does accumulate, leading to a spike in blood glucose. This usually doesn’t exceed 160 mg/dL in a healthy person, and even if it approaches that level it’s only briefly. http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/11/glucose-tolerance-in-non-industrial.html

Chris K. wrote: “postprandial or after meal stress is one of the most significant risk factors for heart attack”
http://chriskresser.com/the-healthy-skeptic-podcast-episode-9

Interestingly, when people eat VLC chronically, they tend to become peripherally insulin resistant, so that eating more than a tiny amount of carbs spikes the BG and is allegedly damaging and thus, eating carbs from time to time may help avoid major BG spikes and the damage that reportedly comes with it, assuming this is all correct.

If BG spikes above 160 mg/dl are bad, as even many LCers apparently accept, then if you're VLC and choose to continue eating some carbs, or if you choose to eat particularly sugary foods like raw honey and sugary fruits, then it may be a good idea to check your postprandial BG measurements, to see how much your BG gets spiked at various quantities, to find the safe intake levels for you.

[panacea]

Am I missing something, because it seems to me that if you got blood glucose spikes "from honey", that you would simply decrease the amount of honey you eat at a time.. until the blood glucose doesn't 'spike' anywhere near bad levels.. I mean you're never going to be able to compare 4 oz of raw honey to 4 oz of raw meat and say that the honey is bad for you because it spikes BG more than the raw meat, because the amount is just too high.

[Bio-shell Avatar]

My daughter is a Type 1 diabetic. She tests BG all day, every day. There are 2 kinds of carbs - fast-acting carbs and slow acting carbs. The only slow acting carb foods are non-starchy vegetables. You will get a spike with any other carb food, whether it be fruit (including berries), honey, whole grains, starchy vegetables, or any other kind of sugar or carb. Eating carbs with fat does not prevent the spike. The body is very efficient at turning carbs into glucose. Even non-starchy vegetables will raise the BG, but it won't spike. Actually, even protein is turned into glucose by the body and will raise BG levels, though much more slowly. That is why you don't really need to eat carbs at all. The body will make what it needs from the protein. It is the spike (and the resulting insulin response) that causes damage to the body.

that's my view also. what's noticable is that even fruit creates an insulin spike although it is said that fructose does not raise insulin.

imo compared to the massive negative effects from the sugar honey can't possibly offer me enough benefits so i stay away from it. doesn't work with my low carb diet anyway and i don't crave sweet foods so what would be the point? i'm always reminded of "sugar - the bitter truth" when it comes to anything that contains fructose so common sense tells me to avoid it at all costs.

[aLptHW4k4y]

that's my view also. what's noticable is that even fruit creates an insulin spike although it is said that fructose does not raise insulin.

Fruit contains sucrose and glucose too.

[PaleoPhil]

Am I missing something, because it seems to me that if you got blood glucose spikes "from honey", that you would simply decrease the amount of honey you eat at a time.. until the blood glucose doesn't 'spike' anywhere near bad levels..

Correct, and that's basically what I do, though I don't fret if the BG level goes briefly into low bad levels.

that's my view also. what's noticable is that even fruit creates an insulin spike although it is said that fructose does not raise insulin.

Do you maybe mean blood glucose spike, rather than insulin spike? BG can be measured at home with a drop of blood and a glucometer, whereas insulin levels are typically measured by analysis of a blood draw by a lab.

compared to the massive negative effects from the sugar honey can't possibly offer me enough benefits so i stay away from it.

Have you tried fermented raw honey?

---

On a related note, I tried buckwheat raw honey (from Northwoods Apiaries in Vermont), which Mark Sisson and others have raved about, and found it to be the first raw honey whose taste I don't care for at all. I'm not fond of the taste of Manuka honey, but I found buckwheat honey to be even less palatable. Buckwheat honey also stung my throat slightly.

[aLptHW4k4y]

Buckwheat honey is my favorite at the moment, I love the taste. Much less sweet than the other types of honey.

[PaleoPhil]

The buckwheat honey chapped my lower lip, as with other raw honeys, a minor annoyance. The really interesting thing is that following this with eating some fermented raw honey started to heal my lip within 20-30 minutes, and it was mostly healed by an hour and a half later. It's amazing how much of a difference fermentation makes when it comes to honey.

The buckwheat honey had a strong odor that I especially smelled while eating it, and it was unfortunately reminiscent of the odor from fields freshly fertilized with cow dung. Maybe because buckwheat is similar to the forage that many cows eat? So I don't think I'll be trying it again any time soon.