Add Raw Honey to Your Diet

Throughout my series on eliminating eczema, some steps have been easy. Some have been a little more complicated (like last week's!). But this week's tip is easy. It involves honey, raw honey.

What is Raw Honey?

So, what exactly is raw honey and what's the difference between it and the regular stuff you can get on your local grocery store shelf?

According to this website, raw honey

is the concentrated nectar of flowers that comes straight from the extractor; it is the only unheated, pure, unpasteurized, unprocessed honey.

How Does This Help Eczema?

In many cases, eczema is related to allergies. Raw honey, in fact, contains many small amounts of pollens. While we can protect our children from small traces of nuts, protecting them from the pollen in the air is impossible.

Here is where the beauty of raw honey comes in! By consuming these small bits of pollens one is allergic to, they slowly develop a tolerance to it (think "allergy shots" here). The fact that the honey is raw means that there has been no heating and/or filtering to take this valuable portion of the honey.

Local is the Key

Finding a local honey is the most important part of honey. Why? It contains the pollens that are in your local air and possibly causing eczema flare ups.

Not sure where to find local raw honey? Visit localharvest.org. On the right side, type "raw honey" and your zip code. It will pull up your closet sources of raw honey. "Local" for the case of raw honey should be within 100 miles.

I found my raw honey at my local farmer's market. I asked a man who was selling honey if he had any raw and he pointed me in the right direction.
How Do You Use It?

In our home, the most common way we consume raw honey is as a sweetener for our homemade yogurt. Tyler also likes it spread on whole wheat crackers.

Some people take a tablespoon or two of raw honey by itself. It serves a a great immune system booster (even if you do not have eczema) so it can benefit everyone in the home.

As with every post I have shared about clearing up eczema, do your own research. There is ample information online about this very topic. (In fact, click on the link below for the picture I used. I was only looking for a picture of honey. The one I selected had information about the benefits of raw honey and allergies!)

Using raw honey to clear up eczema is such a simple and relatively inexpensive step to clearing up eczema once and for all!

Photo courtesy of flickr