Honey has long been a favorite food because of its sticky sweet goodness. However, honey is far more than just a tasty treat. Honey has a long history of a food that is used as a natural medicine.

It’s important to note that when you read about honey’s health benefits, most of these articles are referring to RAW honey and not the highly processed honey you’ll frequently find on your local grocery store shelves.

Tom Ogren in his article Local Honey and Allergies writes

Honey contains bits and pieces of pollen and honey, and as an immune system booster, it is quite powerful.

In honey the allergens are delivered in small, manageable doses and the effect over time is very much like that from undergoing a whole series of allergy immunology injections. The major difference though is that the honey is a lot easier to take and it is certainly a lot less expensive. I am always surprised that this powerful health benefit of local honey is not more widely understood, as it is simple, easy, and often surprisingly effective.

According to WHFoods.com the benefits of raw honey are preventative in nature. Raw honey can be useful for fighting off bacterial, fungal and even viral infections. Rod Moser, PA, PhD concurs in his post Honey, I Healed the Wound.

Lifescript website offers this on honey’s natural antioxidant properties.

According to the University of California, the consumption of honey tends to raise the body’s level of antioxidants in the blood. In one particular study, 25 people were asked to eat about four to 10 tablespoons of buckwheat honey a day for an entire month. They were not allowed to bake or dissolve the honey, but any other consumption method was allowed. At the end of the study, researchers found that antioxidant levels had risen in participants’ bloodstreams.

The standard warning about honey goes here - honey should NOT be given to infants or toddlers. In my house, I waited until my children were 5 or older before adding raw honey to their diets.

As with any advice offered here or anywhere else on the web, check with your doctor to make sure adding raw honey is safe for YOU!

According to recent studies at Texas A&M’s Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center, Watermelon may be nature’s own version of viagra.

It turns out that watermelon naturally contains citrulline, which researchers have discovered can trigger the production of a compound that relaxes the blood vessels in the body.

For those of you who didn’t know, that is how the popular ED drug Viagra works. Researchers warn that watermelon’s effect is much less pronounced than Viagra.

The highest concentration of citruline is found in watermelon rind, not the flesh.

My husband’s great aunt use to make pickles out of watermelon rind.  She lived to be 105 and was still mowing her own grass at 100 with a rotary blade lawn mower.  I’m going to have to find her recipe for watermelon rind pickles!

Watermelon also functions as a diuretic.  It’s been a homeopathic treatment for kidney patients for years.

Studies show that almost 3 out of 4 women are deficient in Vitamin D. The benefits of Vitamin D go far beyond energized muscles and strong bones. Vitamin D also helps reduce the risk of

• MS
• Heart Disease
• Stroke
• Colon Cancer
• Breast Cancer
• Type 2 Diabetes

So how can you get more Vitamin D into your life?

Get 10-15 minutes each day of sun between the hours of 10 am - 3pm… without sunscreen. Your body will create plenty of vitamin D as a result of the sun exposure.

On cloudy days, eat fish. Salmon, halibut, trout and tuna are all rich in Vitamin D. However, fish can lose up to 1/2 of its Vitamin D when its deep friend, so choose to broil or grill your fish instead. For an added Vitamin D boost, drizzle your fish with olive oil… which will help your body digest the fat soluble Vitamin D.

If you can’t do fish or sun, then you definitely need to find a high quality Vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D works best when ingested with Calcium AND Magnesium…. so a good Vitamin D supplement to try is
Natrol Coral Calcium w/Magnesium & Vitamin D - 90 caps

Natrol Coral Calcium w/Magnesium & Vitamin Dprovide Vitamin D while supporting healthy bone structure with Calcium. Natrol’s Coral Calcium provides pure, natural calcium plus a balanced ratio of magnesium and other essential trace minerals. Natrol’s Coral Calcium is environment-safe and above-sea-level sourced. No yeast, wheat, corn, milk, egg, soy, glutens, artificial colors or flavors, added sugar, starch or preservatives.