Sweet like Honey

With the recent Holidays, it's easy to consume your fair share of tasty--and sweet--treats! I personally struggle with a sweet tooth that at times is difficult to tame, however, I have found some alternatives to the refined sugar that we find in our common desserts.
Although too many sweets and sweeteners can wreak havoc on ones health, it's empowering to know that there are some alternatives (when used in moderation) that contain nutrient boosting enzymes and minerals.

(I personally like to stick with foods that have been consumed traditionally for thousands of years. I have a difficult time trusting these new so called "healthy sweeteners" that have just been introduced and don't have the added benefit of the trial and error that time greatly affords us. Furthermore, I prefer foods or sweeteners that come from nature versus "man made", like the many artificial sweeteners or refined "concoctions" that sometimes come from a science lab.
I don't know about you, but these lab sweeteners appear counter-intuitive to what nature gives us?)

Let's take Honey, for instance!
People have been eating raw honey for thousand of years! However, the key here is RAW ORGANIC HONEY, not the low-cost honey, which is typically neither raw not certified organic (this is usually the honey you find in that cute little honey bear at the store.) To be considered raw, the honey must NEVER be heated over 117 degrees F. Overheating the honey destroys the nutritional enzymes and minerals naturally present in raw honey. You may have read about traditional cultures eating honey cakes, or putting honey in their tea. Honey has been used as a healing agent for many, many years. However, remember that your Paleolithic ancestors usually ate no more than four pounds of total sugars in a year, which would essentially come to one tablespoon of honey per day! Honey was held sacred and also used in many healing ceremonies....as it acts as a powerful anti-bacterial agent.
You might find that when you consume really RAW organic honey, you can only handle a small amount because it is so potent. THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE CONSUMED!!
The refined honey that you find in most local grocery stores are highly refined and most likely contains a high dosage of HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!
Yes, you read that right!

Dr. Mercola did some great research on consumer honey sold here in the states and found that: "Only about one-third of the annual total honey production in North America is natural, raw, organic honey. Bees produce this by converting botanical material like sap, nectars, or pollen into honey. The remainder of the honey is a type referred to as baker's honey, which is made by force feeding the bees HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), or other sugars, under twenty-four-hour hive lighting that fools the bees into overproducing outside the natural bee production times of spring and summer. The resulting "honey" is only partially regurgitated, meaning some of it converted to real honey while the remainder is HFCS. One way you can test to see if the honey is genuine is that baker's honey will burn at 140 degrees; real honey will not."

When used in small doses as it is intended, Raw Organic Honey can be extremely beneficial for your health...and adds that sweet taste that we love so much!
Note* Pregnant or nursing mothers are advised not to consume raw honey, as well as infants under the age of one. This is due to the botulism spores that are sometimes (but rarely) present in raw honey.

Here is a resource for honey testing: http://www.honey.com/honeyindustry/resources/labsearch.asp