Health

Ready for flu season? boost your Ready for flu season? boost your immune system with the help of immune system with the help of honey and molasses honey and molasses

By Sara Chana Silverstein By Sara Chana Silverstein

medicinal honey

Honey’s healing properties have been touted for generations. Modern science shows that honey contains antioxidants, acids, proteins and minerals that help heal and strengthen our bodies, and honey can also fight bacterial infections thanks to its antimicrobial properties. And notwithstanding the fact that most colds and flus are caused by viruses, people world-wide would claim that honey helps with colds, sore throats, and coughs. In partial support of this assertion “Studies have shown that honey is a potent treatment for nighttime cough. In one study of 130 children aged 2-17 with runny nose and cough were randomized to receive nightly doses of buckwheat honey, artificial honey-flavored cough medicine (dextromethorphan), or no treatment. On a parent-rated symptom scale, honey was found to be the most helpful in reducing nighttime cough and improving sleep in children with upper respiratory infections, and other studies have shown that honey helps diminish the intensity and duration of winter coughs”. Now, by adding herbs to ordinary honey, we can further boost the palliative properties that are already found in honey turning it into “medicinal honey” for the winter months. Honey naturally comes in a variety of flavors and each flavor has

different medicinal properties due to the flowers the bees suckle from. Buckwheat honey seems to work best for coughs, sage honey for sore throats, and wild flower honey helps with a stuffy nose and allergies. Now to these natural healing properties of honey you can add herbs like onions or garlic, medicinal spices like sage or thyme, healing berries like elder berry, or healing plants like echincea, yerba santa, or usnea. Any medicinal honey is easy to make and you can customize it to your personal physical challenges and taste. For coughs try onion honey. Onion honey is suggested if you tend to be challenged with winter coughs. Place into a glass bowl a layer of sliced onions and pour honey onto them until they are covered with a layer of honey. Then cover the bowl with either a plate or plastic wrap and let it sit on the kitchen counter overnight. By morning the honey will begin to turn into syrup. You can leave this mixture right on the counter and take one tablespoon two times a day as a preventative or up to four times a day if you are already ill. If you will not use up your onion honey mixture within the week, it is best to strain out the onions and put the honey in a glass container to keep in the refrigerator. For sinus infections try garlic honey. Garlic honey is recommended if you tend to get sinus infections. You can follow the same procedures as above, just using garlic instead of onions. If you suffer from both sinus and coughs you can mix both onions and garlic in the same bowl with honey. For sore throats try sage honey. Adding the herb sage to your honey will help with sore throats. You can either sage in its dried form, fresh form or in a grain alcohol tincture (once the herb has been steeped, the alcohol loses its potency). The best way to use the dried or fresh herb is to lightly heat up the honey in a good quality sauce pan, made either of glass or stainless steel, and then pour in the sage. Since your goal is to dissolve the herb into the honey, and not to cook the honey, keep the cooking flame small. Continue to lightly heat the honey until either the dried or fresh herb has wilted, or in the case of the tincture, until it has dissolved into the honey. Let the honey mixture cool, and in the case of the herbs, strain them and put them into a glass jar to be stored in the refrigerator.

For kids colds try tasty honey medicinal mixes. Recommended only for children who are more than one year old, honey mixtures are a great way for children to take herbs. Making a medicinal honey is a fun activity for kids

because they love assisting in its preparation and watching as the herbs melt into the honey. And more often than not, they will be happy taking their “herbal honey” because they helped make it. For children’s honey, follow the same procedure that is written above but instead of the onions and garlic, choose gentle kid-friendly herbs like elderberry, lemon balm or linden flowers. I also like to add cinnamon sticks or vanilla beans for an extra pleasant flavor with medicinal benefits. Elderberry is a great source of vitamin C and is an antiviral, lemon balm is calming and antiviral, and linden flowers help with fevers and flu. Cinnamon tastes great and also helps with stomach flus and vanilla, well vanilla is just yummy.

winter molasses power drink

Another natural remedy that can be found in the kitchen, and is referred to as the ‘poor man’s tonic’, is blackstrap molasses. One tablespoon of blackstrap molasses a day can actually provide the body with up to 20% of the recommended daily value of many vitamins and minerals including: iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B6, and cooper and manganese. Iron provides energy and boosts metabolism. Copper helps the human body utilizes iron, eliminate free radicals and produce melanin. Calcium is needed to promote: healthy teeth and bones, blood-clotting

abilities, enzyme activity and toxin removal. Manganese helps to synthesize fatty acids used by the nervous system. So, if blackstrap molasses was not found in your kitchen before, it should be now.

Molasses is a byproduct of the sugar distillation process in which sugar cane is refined into sugar. During the processing, cane juice is heated, sugar crystals are extracted, and black strap molasses is the result of the third distillation in the course of extracting sugar. Among the many health benefits of blackstrap molasses is its ability to help with the following conditions: anxiety, anemia, pain from arthritis, constipation, heart palpitations, and it’s also been claimed to help restore gray hair back to its original color. Along with helping to alleviate these conditions, blackstrap molasses can also be used for improving ulcers, psoriasis, varicose veins, dermatitis, rheumatism, and even benign tumors. Black strap molasses can be added to cookie batters, beans and soups; however, the easiest way to include molasses into your daily routine is to make it into drink.

And here is how it is done:

In a coffee mug add one tablespoon of organic black strap molasses, one tablespoon of organic honey, next add boiled water and mix well. If you chose to, you can lighten the drink with either: rice, soy, almond, or hemp milk. Make this blackstrap molasses quaff your morning drink and enjoy the burst of energy you will feel as you begin your day. You will be happy to know that you are giving your body a burst of its needed vitamins and minerals.

So, this winter, be both prepared and be proactive. Spread medicinal honey on your toast, and start each day with your powerful molasses drink and be equipped to conquer the world this winter.

Sara Chana Silverstein, IBCLC, RH (AHG) is the only frum Master Herbalist in the United States. She has been featured in international media teaching people how to safely integrate alternative medicine with conventional medicine. She is also a Lactation Consultant and has helped over 28,000 babies nurse. Her book, "MOODTOPIA: Tame your moods, de-stress and find balance using herbal remedies, aromatherapy and more" has been a bestseller on Amazon.com. She can be reached moodtopiabook@gmail.com