Honey is one of the most nutritious and delicious foods on earth. It has a lot of health benefits and is a very popular sweetener. But that is not all there is to it. Honey can also be useful in weight management. So, the next time you feel like satisfying your sweet tooth with high-calorie drinks, go for a healthy drink recipe with honey instead. It will help you lose weight over time.
Before we get to the “how’s” of losing weight with honey, let’s address some of the concerns that people often have about honey.
How is it possible that honey, which is a type of sugar, helps one to lose weight?
Honey consists of 20% water, 30% glucose, and 40% fructose; so yes, honey does contain a lot of sugar. However, it contains healthy forms of mineral and vitamins too, unlike refined sugar. As a matter of fact, refined sugar is considered a source of “empty calories”. What this means is that refined sugar does not have minerals and vitamins to help in the breakdown process of the calories they provide for the body. So, the body cannot break down these calories easily. They stay back in the body, accumulating and adding to your weight.
When you eat much of refined sugar, you tend to gain more weight than you will if you eat too much honey.
In addition to promoting lower weight gain, honey also helps to
- Reduce the risk of cardiovascular disorders
- Reduce cholesterol levels
- Control the increase in plasma glucose level when compared to other sugars
- Nourish the hair and skin
- Treat conditions like cough, wounds, gum disease, etc.
These are just a few of the benefits of honey.
How to use honey for weight loss
Here are a few healthy tips on how you can effectively use honey to shed some pounds.
1. Take some honey before going to bed
Before getting into what you can combine with honey to lose weight, you need to know that taking just honey on a regular basis can help you to lose weight over time. Consuming a spoonful of honey every day before going to sleep will help to stimulate the liver as you sleep. And when the liver is stimulated it tends to perform maximally to the benefit of your health; including improving blood sugar control.
Also, taking at least a spoonful of honey before going to bed helps to reduce your stress level and improve your sleep.
2. Honey and fresh lemon juice
Drinking warm water with a dash of honey and lemon juice first thing in the morning speeds up weight loss process. It can be taken in the morning as well as any other time of the day. This is a good option for those who can’t deal with the sour taste of lemon. It is also a very common ancient medication for weight loss and other health conditions as well.
Drinking warm water with honey and lemon regulates your body’s metabolism, enhances the digestion and assimilation of food, and converts fats to usable energy. The lemon content of this effective weight loss honey drink is particularly effective in cleansing and increasing the liver function to increase metabolism. Lemon is also known to increase the function of a key antioxidant known as glutathione. This antioxidant fights free radicals in the body and increases immunity.
3. Use honey as a substitute for sugar
A lot of foods and drinks we take are sweetened with sugar. If honey is better than sugar, don’t you think it would be a good idea to use it in place of sugar, especially if you want to lose weight? It can be used in beverages, desserts, cooking, or in any other way you can use sugar.
Honey, they say is sweeter than sugar and contains more nutritional value than sugar. It has a lower GI value when compared to sugar; which simply means it does not raise blood sugar levels as quickly as sugar. This has been shown to be a cause of weight gain in a lot of people. According to medical experts, blood sugar causes you to gain more weight and makes it really difficult to shed weight despite your efforts.
4. Honey and Cinnamon
This is yet another way you can lose weight with honey, by mixing it with cinnamon and lukewarm water. Studies prove that cinnamon is very effective for weight loss, so using it together with honey and some warm water will further facilitate the weight loss process.
Some of the benefits of cinnamon are
- Regulates blood sugar levels
- Boost metabolism
- Protects the body from oxidative damages caused by free radicals
- Contains anti-inflammatory properties that help the body fight infections and repair damaged tissues
- Reduces the risk of cancer
These are just a few of the benefits of cinnamon to the body.
5. Take honey after each meal to improve digestion
If you find yourself gaining weight unnecessarily or struggling to drop some pounds, you may need to review your digestive system. Digestive disorders like bloating, gas, heartburns, constipation, and diarrhea runs down the digestive system in a lot of ways.
- It increases stress and discomfort
- It causes hormonal imbalance
- Fatigue
- Poor nutrient absorption
- Weight gain
How exactly does poor digestion lead to weight gain?
When your digestive system cannot break down food properly, it leads to inadequate food absorption and reduces waste and toxin elimination to a very great extent. This, in effect, reduces the rate at which metabolism takes place in the body. When the rate of metabolism in the body is lowered, it means a reduction in the rate at which calorie burned in the body. If calories are not burned as expected, excess body fats start to accumulate, causing one to gain weight.
One of the ways of improving digestion is by taking honey on a regular basis. You can choose to consume it alone without anything, or you can use it in any of the methods explained above to help solve the problems of indigestion, help you burn calories, and lose weight effectively.
Aside from weight gain, there are other ways indigestion could be messing with your body. So if you get your digestive system in order with honey, you’ll be doing the whole of your body good.
