The Health Benefits Of Buckwheat Honey

A number of years ago we ran an apple farm in Northfield, Massachusetts. To prepare and enrich the soil for future plantings we would grow a cover crop of buckwheat, a tall plant with a beautiful white flower. As apple growers we had several hives of bees for effective fruit pollination and the bees loved the buckwheat flower transforming it’s nectar into a beautifully dark and rich honey. Our children loved the buckwheat flower season because they came to love delicious taste of the buckwheat honey. What we as parents discovered was that a teaspoon of buckwheat honey seemed to greatly help whenever the children had sore throats or coughs. This proved to be especially true if they took the honey at bedtime for they always seemed to sleep a little better. Throughout their childhood we always made sure to put away enough buckwheat honey from the hives to get through a winter of respiratory ailments.

This was a long time ago and I had forgotten about this aspect of buckwheat honey until I recently read about a study that had been done in 2007 and published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. This study found that children who received a small dose of buckwheat honey before bedtime slept better and coughed less than those who received either a common over-the-counter suppressant or nothing at all. Dr. Ian Paul, a researcher at Penn State College of Medicine indicated “This is the first time honey has been actually proven as a treatment.”

The research study involved 105 children between ages 2 and 18 in their randomized, partially double-blind study. Parents would answer questions about their child’s sleep and symptoms after the first night during which there was no treatment. On the second night the children were given honey flavored cough syrup, honey, or nothing at all. It was clear that the children who received the honey slept better with fewer symptoms. Dr. Paul also noted that honey is generally less expensive than over-the-counter medications with none of the side effects like dizziness or sleepiness. Dr. Paul indicated that the type of honey plays a role in the treatment. “Darker honeys have more antioxidants that lighter honeys and we wanted the best chance to see improvements.”

Intrigued by this information I searched further and found that “The Journal of Pediatrics” in May of 2008 gave their assessment of this study. “In this well-designed and valid study, Paul et al were able to show that honey was significantly superior to no treatment for improvement in cough severity (47.3% reduction vs 24.7%) and an overall symptom score (53.7% reduction vs 33.4%). The findings of this study suggest that honey is better than no treatment for reducing cough frequency and improving combined symptom scores.” Paul Doering, co-director of the Drug Information and Pharmacy Resource Center at the University of Florida has weighed in on the subject. “I believe recommending honey as a cough medicine has merits. It provides a safe option to using chemical based options,” he said, adding that honey is part of a trend of recommending more commonplace traditional remedies for ailments.

It should be noted that the Dr. Paul study gave no honey to children under 2 yrs. of age and the newest research seems to support that practice.

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The Relationship Between Health And Fitness

Being active makes a person healthy and strong. It is not just for people who have a weight problem but for everyone who likes to stay fit.

There is a lot a person can do such jog or walk every morning, play basketball or any other sport with friends but if a person wants to have muscles and look lean, then one can sign up and workout in a gym.

People workout for 3 reasons;

The first is that the person is overweight and the only way to lose those extra pounds will be to reduce ones calorie intake and at the same time workout in the gym.

The second is that the person is underweight and the only way to add extra pounds is to have more calories in ones diet and workout.

The third is just for fun and to keep that person in shape.

The best exercise plan should have cardiovascular and weight training exercises. This helps burn calories and increase the muscle to fat ratio that will increase ones metabolism and gain or lose weight.

Just like taking any medicine, one should first consult the doctor before undergoing any form of exercise.

Here are some benefits of exercising;

1. It is the easiest way to maintain and improve ones health from a variety of diseases and premature death.

2. Studies have shown that it makes a person feels happier and increases ones self esteem preventing one from falling into depression or anxiety.

3. An active lifestyle makes a person live longer than a person who doesn’t.

Working out for someone who has not done it before should be done gradually. Endurance will not be built in a day and doing it repeatedly will surely be beneficial to the person.

It is advisable to workout regularly with a reasonable diet.

A person can consult with a dietitian or a health professional to really help plan a good diet program. It starts by evaluating the lifestyle and the health of the patient before any program can be made.

Afterwards, this is thoroughly discussed and recommended to the person which usually consists of an eating plan and an exercise program that does not require the use of supplements or one to purchase any expensive fitness equipment.

A good diet should have food from all the food groups.

This is made up by 2 things. The first is carbohydrates. The food that a person consumes should have vitamins, minerals and fiber. A lot of this can come from oats, rice, potatoes and cereals. The best still come from vegetables and fruits since these have phytochemicals, enzymes and micronutrients that are essential for a healthy diet.

The second is fat which can come from mono and poly saturated food sources rather than animal fats. Since fat contains more than double the number of calories in food, this should be taken in small quantities to gain or lose weight.

Another way to stay healthy is to give up some vices. Most people smoke and drink. Smoking has been proven to cause lung cancer and other diseases as well complications for women giving birth. Excessive drinking has also shown to do the same.

For people who don’t smoke, it is best to stay away from people who do since studies have shown that nonsmokers are also at risk of developing cancer due to secondary smoke inhalation.

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Enjoying The Best Health Insurance Options Available Through Employment

In the past when you wanted the best possible health insurance benefits you were likely to find that these were the ones offered by your employer. Employer based health care plans are very simply something that is unlike any other benefit simply because it provides the employee and their family with good medical coverage at a reasonable price, in most cases.

There are a few good reasons for this type of healthcare coverage to be available at such good rates, mostly because large companies with several employees can get a group rate discount from insurance companies, based mostly on the fact that the coverage will cover a group of individuals, also meaning that the cost of health insurance premiums significantly drop. This is a major key factor why employers can offer this type of benefits to their employees and is much cheaper for each individual who might he considering purchasing a independent plan.

Employer-based health insurance also how the additional perks available to employees. One huge perk allows the employer to pay either part or all of the employees premium and in some cases, at least half of the insured family members premium. Recently, employers as well as health insurance companies realize the value in a partnership to offer HRA’s, also known as health risk assessments. Employees, and other family members that are insured but take advantage of these evaluations are offered an even greater reduced premium rate for taking part in these small scale health evaluations annually.

This type of benefit is a godsend, especially for a working-class family. The trade-off for such a good benefits package generally includes making less per hour than someone who doesn’t get to enjoy a full benefits package and most employees will agree the slight reduction in salary is more than okay. Employer-based health insurance plans are always considered the best and most valuable.

There have been a rare cases that allow some working class families to be eligible for government medical insurance help for any minors in the family. This generally applies to anyone with a relatively low income and are still unable to afford the low health insurance premiums offered by their employer. If this situation describes your scenario or someone that you know you should contact the local Medicaid office for more information concerning the Children’s Health Care Program and if it is available in your area.

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Interesting Dental Health Facts

It is a widely accepted concept that the more you know about a specific subject the better prepared you are when it comes to providing your knowledge to others in the form of a conversation or discussion, when this knowledge is health-related benefits are far greater. Having a solid general knowledge about dental health will allow you to take good care of your teeth which will help to prevent several complications that are the direct result of the lack of knowledge in this area, the purpose of this article is to provide some quick, interesting and useful facts when it comes to dentistry.

Interesting facts:

– Chewing gum may not be as bad after all, yes you read that right, if you don’t keep on chewing a piece of gum for hours at a time it has been said that chewing gum after a meal can help eliminate food particles which are trapped within the teeth and can also increase the production of saliva which prevents the plaque build up.

– According to recent surveys both men and women feel guilty when they forget to brush their teeth, apparently most people feel that brushing her teeth is some sort of obligation which was imposed at them ever since they were little in fact, over 79% of those interviewed said that they brush their teeth because it is something that they were told to do throughout their lives.

– Well over 75% (three out of four people) don’t change your toothbrush as often as they should, it is recommended that for hygiene reasons it to the project should be replaced every two to three months but apparently this isn’t the case with most individuals.

– Oral cancer occurs twice as often in men than in women, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day or using smokeless tobacco is said to increase the risk of developing oral cancer by four times.

– There are well over 140,000 dental hygienists registered in the US and over 98% of them are females.

– A trip to the dentist may reveal more information than you expected to receive, in most cases this is a good thing because several diseases can be treated successfully at their early stages. A dental hygienist screens for health problems such as eating disorders, diabetes, substance abuse and even HIV infections.

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