Honey to not get a stomach virus or flu

[bwallace23350]

I am currently living through a stomach virus epidemic at my son's daycare and the flu shot does not appear to be more than 10% effective this year. Will a regular does of raw honey with my green tea help to keep such illnesses away?

[Michael Bush]

I grew up with the idea of the "stomach flu" but I don't think there is such a thing.  It's the norovirus or gastroenteritis  that gets mislabeled as "stomach flu" or "24 hour flu".  The only way I know of to avoid it is careful hygiene or enough immunity from getting it.  As far as actual influenza, that is a respiratory infection.  Sometimes the fever etc. can cause some nausea, but that's not the primary symptom or cause and it seldom causes it in adults.  Raw honey has been shown to boost your immune system, so it is probably somewhat helpful but it's only really helpful to your general health.  It's not a 100% preventative for anything or even a high percentage preventative.  As far as preventing flu the most effective thing in my experience is a hot sweat/steam bath/sauna on a regular basis.  It is also helpful in getting over flu or colds much quicker.  Garlic and vitamin C seem to help as far as preventative or getting over it.  But they don't seem to help that much.  It's not that big of a difference in my experience.

[bwallace23350]

Thanks. I will keep up the honey anyway. I eat large quantities of fruit and veggies so I am probably getting enough of the vitamin c

[Dallasbeek]

MB, maybe the reason garlic is a good preventative is it makes people with the fmlu keep their distance so they're not infecting you.  Just a thought   

[Michael Bush]

>MB, maybe the reason garlic is a good preventative is it makes people with the fmlu keep their distance so they're not infecting you.  Just a thought 

You are not the first to suggest that.  But garlic has been shown to boost the immune system and have anti viral as well as anti bacterial effects.

[Acebird]

Stop with the freaking sterilizing everything and let your kids eat dirt.  If you want an immune booster I recommend RM-10 (Garden of Eden).  Honey has antibacterial qualities not virus.  So I recommend eating dirt.  Now I am not suggesting you go in your back yard and dig up a spoon full of dirt and give it to your child.  I am suggesting you stop sterilizing the dirt they come in contact on a regular basis.  A little at a time.

I love garlic.  can't get enough.  Garlic is like the pill you put in your septic tank.

[Dallasbeek]

Stop with the freaking sterilizing everything and let your kids eat dirt.  If you want an immune booster I recommend RM-10 (Garden of Eden).  Honey has antibacterial qualities not virus.  So I recommend eating dirt.  Now I am not suggesting you go in your back yard and dig up a spoon full of dirt and give it to your child.  I am suggesting you stop sterilizing the dirt they come in contact on a regular basis.  A little at a time.

I love garlic.  can't get enough.  Garlic is like the pill you put in your septic tank.

Yeah, I grew up eating lots of "dirt" and have never had much problem with my stomach.  Same goes for food allergies.  Nobody had life-threatening reactions to peanuts or peanut butter until moms started limiting their kids' diets to pop-tarts and organic whatsits.  Now some airlines can't hand out peanuts without somebody claiming that peanuts in row 3 will cause them horrible anxiety in row 29.

As for garlic, I was pulling Michael's chain.  We go through at least a bulb of garlic a week in our kitchen because we like it so much.  Add ginger to your list, too. Great stuff.

Studies support your position that moms' (and dads') protecting their kids from the world around them ends up leaving them without the antibodies to protect them from the things they are guarding against.  That's poorly worded, I guess, but I hope you get the idea without my having to write a book to say it.

[cao]

Will a regular does of raw honey with my green tea help to keep such illnesses away?

Probably not, but it ain't gonna hurt. 

[BeeMaster2]

I take a spoonful of raw honey, right away, anytime I get a sore throat or sniffles. Keep it in your mouth as long as you can. It seems to stop it in its tracks within 30 minutes. I will have to do it about every 12 hours until the symptoms stop showing back up, usually 3 days. The only time it did not work was when I ran out of honey and bought 2 gallons of honey from another Beek. It had no effect on the sore throats and I ended up with a full blown cold. I asked the seller what temp he took his honey to and he said 130 degrees. I used the rest of the honey for preserves.
Jim

[Acebird]

2 gallons... that is a lot of preserves.

[BeeMaster2]

2 gallons... that is a lot of preserves.

We had already used about a third of it. My wife, Judy, made a lot of blueberry preserves.
Jim

[bwallace23350]

Stop with the freaking sterilizing everything and let your kids eat dirt.  If you want an immune booster I recommend RM-10 (Garden of Eden).  Honey has antibacterial qualities not virus.  So I recommend eating dirt.  Now I am not suggesting you go in your back yard and dig up a spoon full of dirt and give it to your child.  I am suggesting you stop sterilizing the dirt they come in contact on a regular basis.  A little at a time.

I love garlic.  can't get enough.  Garlic is like the pill you put in your septic tank.

I really don't sterilize anything and I am just happy when I can get him inside even during a snow. All he wants to do is be outside and for me to walk through the woods with him. He also has lots of contact with pets. I bathe him every night and will wash his hands down if they are just gross but that is about it. My goal was to boost the immune system with honey and foods and such. On the bright side neither I nor him caught anything.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

{All he wants to do is be outside and for me to walk through the woods with him.}

Now that is probably the most inspiring sentence I have ever read on Beemaster.  A classic beautiful statement about a kid and his dad: relative to health and honey.  What more can you ask for, thanks for sharing Wallace.
Blessings

[BeeMaster2]

Last night I had a sudden flue like attack at about 10:00. I went to the kitchen and took a swig of honey from a bear jar. I only got a little bit before I started getting dizzy. I rushed to bed hoping I got enough. Around 1:00 AM I woke up feeling better and went and got a bigger swig. I'm now feeling like I'm back to normal.
"Honey, nectar from god." (Sorry I only believe in one god.)
Jim

[Kathyp]

Honey won't protect you from a virus.  Pretty sure nothing protects from Norovirus!!  It's Gods punishment for something 

There are things that boost the immune system.  Ginger, garlic, Tumeric, black seed oil, to name a few. 

Where Honey might make a difference is if you ingest something bacterial like salmonella.  The problem is that by the time you know you have ingested it, it's in your system, you are sick and too late for the honey.

It's one of those things that won't hurt, might help, might as well try it.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Virus is not a punishment: phage (bacterium virion) are needed to assure life by transmission of DNA that can code for resistant or disease ( natural immunity to HIV) to everything from radiation (Chernobyl fireman immune to radiation) to pesticides.  BTW virus is not a living organism.

This is getting beyond the scope of Beemaster, so I will have to reframe from further detail.
Blessings

[Kathyp]

Virus is not a punishment:

You know I was joking, right?   

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Oh, thank you Kathyp.  Now I know.  All good things to you.
Blessings

[little john]

BTW virus is not a living organism.

Debatable - very, very debatable.  Depends entirely upon your definitions of 'life' and what exactly constitutes an 'organism'.  Which is relevant - I would have thought - to beekeeping, where many thousands of (what we would normally view as being) individual organisms, in practice function as one.  Indeed, are required to function as one in order to survive.  On their own, each bee would perish - i.e. cease to be living - and yet we (biologists) would have no difficulty in describing each honey bee as being a discrete 'living organism'.

I'd say it all depends on who is wielding the Knife of Phaedrus.
LJ

[Michael Bush]

This book:
https://smile.amazon.com/Honey-Revolution-Restoring-Health-Generations/dp/0979216214/ref=pd_sim_14_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0979216214&pd_rd_r=EJ1HC97JA84W6HQ7ZCYX&pd_rd_w=vV7ML&pd_rd_wg=Rue5g&psc=1&refRID=EJ1HC97JA84W6HQ7ZCYX

Has references to many scientific studies on the health benefits of honey.  Improving your immune system, of course, helps with any virus or bacterial attacks.