Lemon water is a famous duo, but adding honey to this beloved hot water beverage may offer even more health benefits. This natural sweetener has several wellness benefits that can support your immune function and more.
While honey is inherently delicious to most because of its sweetness, not all honey is created equal. Personally, we’re preferential to our dark, rich, creamy Manuka honey from New Zealand.
This super honey hosts many amazing benefits, making it a great candidate for your honey and lemon water concoction. Here’s what to know about Manuka honey, and how it can add a little extra to your lemon water.
What Is Manuka Honey?
Before we dive deep into the potential health benefits of honey lemon water, let's talk about why you should stock your shelves with this potent nectar instead of the average store-bought honey.
Manuka honey, compared to other types of honey, is darker in color and has a rich and creamy taste. It contains the highest amount of flavonoids and a unique compound called methylglyoxal (MGO), which is the compound that provides highly sought-after unique natural cleansing properties.
What Makes Manukora’s Manuka Stand Out?
To truly reap the benefits of authentic Manuka honey products, you want to ensure your honey is sourced right out of New Zealand, where Manuka trees are native and where Manukora is based. These trees only bloom for two to six weeks each year, making this honey a very rare and precious commodity.
Manukora’s honey bees collect the highly-active nectar from these trees and begin work on their thick, creamy, amber-colored honey.
Our approach to beekeeping may not be the speediest, but it's worth it to avoid disrupting nature’s processes, and we think our bees would agree. We are proud to practice ethical beekeeping — a lost art due to the extra time and care it requires, which other honey brands seldom practice.
No unnecessary hive transportation, no refined sugar, and leaving enough honey in the frame to get our friends through winter are just a few things we do to ensure we’re working with nature, not against her. Similarly, we allow the bees to finish the process.
It can seem more efficient to remove the honey before the bees have fully dehydrated it, but the result is honey that requires heavy processing to remove the excess moisture. At Manukora, we believe in allowing nature to run its course — and allowing the bees to do what they do best. After all, happy bees make for the best honey.
It's not uncommon for honey to be subject to counterfeit products, either. Suppliers falsely advertise many branded goods to get more bang for their buck; sadly, Manuka honey is one of them.
Fortunately, when you buy from Manukora, we've taken considerable time to create a state-of-the-art tracking system for every one of our products. We wanted a way to share the care that goes into every batch, so you can scan the QR code on our products to see the harvest location, meet your beekeeper, and verify the MGO grade through independent lab results.
Why Use Manuka Honey Over Other Types of Honey?
Say you've never put much thought into your household honey before; that's why we're here. We want to provide you with all the necessary information on Manuka honey and why you should consider this ethically sourced and 100 percent authentic Manuka honey over other types of honey.
Firstly, you can expect Manuka honey to be darker in color, more complex in taste, and with higher natural cleansing properties.
Even when advertised otherwise, many store-bought kinds of honey are actually "adulterated honey," which means they have unnatural additives that cut the production costs and, with that, the overall quality. Adulterated honey may have additives such as honeydew, glucose, dextrose, molasses, sugar, sugar syrup, and invert sugar; these additives can spike blood sugar since they tend to increase the sugar content of the product as a whole.
Knowing exactly where your honey comes from is an excellent start to avoiding these unethically produced and distributed types of honey. To do so, you must have adequate traceability provided by the distributor.
Tracing Your Manuka Honey
An infallible way to ensure your Manuka honey is genuine is to trace it back to its roots. With adulterated honey wreaking havoc on the honey industry, it's since become increasingly important that we provide adequate traceability to our customers.
Any Manukora Manuka Honey product will have various ways to ensure your honey is, in fact, authentic Manuka honey.
Here's what to look for: Simply examine the packaging of your product for a QR code, then scan it with your smartphone. You can access your product's harvest location, meet your beekeeper, and verify the MGO grade.
Why You Should Try Lemon and Manuka Honey Water
When combined, a teaspoon of honey, lemon juice, and hot water have many beneficial properties. It's so simple to make, and chances are, after a few mornings of trying this out, it'll become a daily must-have (right next to your morning coffee.)
1. It's a Healthy Alternative to Other Sweetened Drinks
It can be easy to fall prey to soda sipping throughout the day. Even a lot of the juice and bottled teas we drink are loaded with high fructose corn syrup.
Opt for this naturally sweetened water instead. Anything that cuts out unnecessary sugar consumption may be worth trying out. Plus, it hydrates all day long!
2. It Supports Digestive Wellness and Gut Health
If your digestion isn't quite where it should be, it can make your workday difficult. Your gut health can affect your entire body's well-being; prioritizing its well-being should be of top priority.
An imbalanced gut microbiome can result in mood swings and digestive system issues like diarrhea, constipation, and bloating. When these bad bacteria take over, lemon and honey water can help provide some backup for your gut.
Drinking a glass of honey and lemon water may help support digestive wellness by supporting your body's natural stomach acid production, which plays a key role in breaking down food and keeping things regular. Adding a sprinkle of turmeric can also provide additional soothing effects thanks to its natural anti-inflammatory properties.
Tip: It may be better to drink this with food in your stomach if you are prone to heartburn.
Additionally, honey and lemon have natural, immune-supporting properties that may support your body's gut function and microbiome without harming beneficial bacteria. Pair these with warm water, which may also play a role in supporting healthy gut bacteria, and you’ve got a win-win.
3. It Can Support Your Body's Natural Detox Process
A juice cleanse may seem like a good idea, but the growl of an empty stomach might start creeping up long before the cleanse is over. Instead of detoxifying with a fad diet, try to implement this simple drink into your daily routine.
Lemon is known to support immune health and function with naturally occurring vitamin C (like other citrus fruits); paired with Manuka honey's natural cleansing properties, it’s a pick-me-up your body will thank you for.
4. It’s Naturally Soothing
If you have a scratch in your throat you can't seem to soothe, a glass of warm honey and lemon water can help to soothe the discomfort. Hot lemon water helps thanks to its natural soothing properties that can help provide some relief.
Many of our Manuka honey customers also enjoy a serving of Manuka honey as a home remedy to help coat the throat and calm that scratchy feeling.
5. It Can Support Your Immune System
Cold and flu season can be a doozy, but our bees have been busy at work hoping you’ll be as comfy this winter as they are.
Drinking a glass of hot honey and lemon water may help keep you breathing clear by providing natural soothing properties that can calm feelings of irritation and discomfort (especially in comparison to cold water, which can constrict the throat and cause additional discomfort if you’re already not feeling well).
The small boost of vitamin C from the lemon and the natural wellness-supporting properties of Manuka honey can also help support immune health when you need it the most.
Other Ways To Use Manuka Honey
Sipping on your Manuka honey is just one way; this versatile product can be beneficial in more ways than one. Here are a few alternative ways to put your Manuka honey to work.
Eat It Straight
The wonderful thing about our Manuka honey is that you don’t have to add it to anything to enjoy it. With its unique rich flavor, creamy, rich texture, hints of floral taste, and superpower potency, you can enjoy Manukora Manuka honey right on its own every day as a part of your wellness routine.
Try a teaspoon of our 600+ MGO Manuka honey in the morning on an empty stomach to kickstart your wellness journey.
Add It to Your Favorite Foods and Drinks as a Healthy Indulgence
Drinking honey and lemon water is wonderful, but you can always add your Manuka honey to your favorite culinary delights — think of it as a healthy indulgence.
Drizzle some on your ice cream, or for a kick, mix Manukora honey into chili paste as a spicy honey alternative. Spicy Manuka honey is delicious on brick oven pizza, fried rice, and even desserts.
The Bottom Line
Lemon water with Manuka honey is rich in natural cleansing and soothing properties. Yes, you can get honey at any grocery store, but that's not to say it'll be the same quality or taste as Manuka honey — and it won’t carry the same beneficial compounds. It’s called Honey With Superpowers™ for a reason.
If you explore the potential benefits of Manuka honey, be sure to find a brand you trust — this way, counterfeit Manuka honey won't be your concern.
These buzzing bees play a key role in our ecosystem. And their sweet and highly active nectar should always be appreciated. Ethical beekeeping is a novel art — and we at Manukora believe in allowing bees to do what they do best. The extra patience is worth it for good health and a clean conscience.
For more articles on our Manuka and how to use this amazing Honey With Superpowers™ to support your wellness, explore the rest of the Manukora blog here.
Sources:
How to use Manuka honey for acne | Medicalnewstoday.
The Toxic Impact of Honey Adulteration: A Review - PMC
Manuka Honey: Medicinal Uses, Benefits, and Side Effects | Webmd
