Raw Local Honey

Raw Honey. Unpasteurized and unfiltered raw honey, taken directly from the hive, is a treasure chest of nutritional and medicinal values. The differences between raw and pasteurized honey are substantial. Like bread that has its healthful germ and bran removed, honey that has been alerted from its raw beneficial form is as bad for you as is white bread. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that a product that’s been ultra-filtered so it no longer contains the bee’s pollen cannot be classified as honey. More than three-fourths of all honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn’t exactly what the bees produce, and it’s probably Chinese honey containing illegal antibiotics. What you get with most grocery store honey is an ultra filtered product stripped of pollen and other natural nutrients destroyed during the heating and pasteurization process, and then watered down to something that isn’t honey at all, just plain bad food, as bad as white table sugar, both causing blood sugar spikes, providing instant energy and eventual insulin surges that then deplete the body of energy and contribute to weight gain, fatigue, mental fogginess, hormonal imbalance and more.

Raw honey is an alkaline-forming food that contains an abundance of vitamins and minerals. The darker the honey, the more minerals it contains. Raw honey is a completely different food from pasteurized honey. Raw honey increases hemoglobin count and antioxidants; prevents anemia; helps arthritic joints; prevents osteoporosis (weak bones); protects against stomach ailments, anemia and allergies;  supplies instant energy without the insulin surge caused by white sugar; and reduces stress calming highs and raising lows.

For joints and weight loss, mix raw honey with an equal quantity of apple cider vinegar and dilute to taste with water.  Replacing the sugar in cake and cookie recipes with raw honey will keep them fresher longer due to honey's natural antibacterial properties. (note: reduce liquids in the mixture by about one-fifth to allow for the moisture present in the in honey).

The most long-lived people in the world are all regular users of honey and beekeepers suffer less from cancer and arthritis than any other occupational group worldwide. Ancient Greek athletes took honey for stamina before competing and as a reviver after competition.

Local Honey. The best way to insure you’re getting a natural product is to buy it straight from the bee keeper, i.e., local honey. Besides helping your local economy you can be assured you are getting raw unprocessed honey. There’s also proof for allergy sufferers exposed to the same variety of flowers bees use to produce their honey, that using this honey will lessen and even cure the allergy.

*Buy local honey from these local bee keeps and retail outlets:
“Whole Foods Market,” 1800 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach  Virginia  23454 (8 am to 9 pm Seven days a week) 757-422-0444 http://www.sjcollinsent.com/virginia-beach-whole-foods
“Tidewater Beekeepers Association” http://www.tidewaterbeekeepers.net/honey.html  
“Hampton Roads – Buy Fresh, Buy Local”  
http://www.buylocalhamptonroads.org/find-local-food
"East Beach Farmers Market" - 4730 Hammock Ln, Norfolk, VA 23518 (off Shore Drive in the East Beach neighborhood) is selling Horseshoe Point Honey from bee keeper Sean Kenny (757) 255-0989 on Saturdays. 
https://www.facebook.com/HorseshoePointHoney
http://www.buylocalvirginia.org/search/anx-search-detail.cfm?id=1595
"Stoney's Produce," 1065 First Colonial Rd. Virginia Beach, VA 23452 - (757)496-8795 http://www.stoneysproduce.com
Caroline Gerace, 2545 West Landing Road, Virginia Beach 757-721-7283

References:

“Why Raw Local Honey?” http://www.culinate.com/articles/culinate8/the_case_for_local_raw_honey  
“The Healing Power of Honey - From Burns To Weak Bones” http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/the-healing-power-of-honey-from-burns-to-weak-bones-raw-honey-can-help
“Heavenly Organics™ Rare Wild Forest Honey” http://www.heavenlyorganics.com/productsHO/honey_forest.aspx
 “Trader Joe's Organic Wild Collected Raw Neem FlowerHoney” (note: Food Safety News found that Trader Joe's Organic Wild Collected Raw Honey had the full amount of pollen) http://www.amazon.com/Trader-Joes-Organic-Collected-Honey/product-reviews/B008BZ7QUS
http://gorgebee.com/gift-shop/exotic-honey/organic-wild-forest-neem-honey
“Raw Manuka Honey and Granulation” http://www.beesandtrees.com
 “Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey” http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/#.Ue5siZ7D85s