Honey and weight loss. Does it seem unlikely that the two would go together?
Well, here are a couple of popular diets that use honey.
Do they work?
You’ll be the judge of that!
The Hibernation Diet
This diet combines a healthy, low-fat diet with a spoonful or two of honey just before bedtime each night.
What does the honey do? Here’s the theory:
According to the creators of the diet, the honey helps to reduce the production of stress hormones and increase the rate at which fat is burned.
The sugars from the honey are absorbed into the liver from the bloodstream. The liver converts the fructose of the honey into glucose, and releases the glucose into the bloodstream only when the blood glucose level begins to fall.
Keeping your blood sugar level stabilized as you sleep enables your body to more efficiently and effectively perform the regenerative functions of sleep.
And your body will burn more fat stores through the night as it works at the process of repairing and regenerating itself.
Is the Hibernation Diet effective?
Well, as with most diets, it has both proponents and critics. But honey has been known for ages to be an aid in treating insomnia, so at the worst, it might help you get a better night’s rest.
The Vinegar and Honey Diet
This diet involves drinking a mixture of apple cider vinegar and honey. Doesn’t sound terribly appealing, does it?
Apple cider vinegar has been valued for its purported medicinal properties for centuries. There seems to be little scientific evidence that corroborates the claimed health benefits of vinegar, but many people continue to swear by it.
The idea behind the vinegar and honey diet is that the body’s pH needs to be within a certain range.
When the pH of the body becomes too alkaline, many problems result, including a lowered metabolism rate which causes weight gain. Consuming apple cider vinegar with honey helps to restore the body to the optimum balance of alkalinity vs. acidity.
This balance rejuvenates the body’s metabolic efficiency, causing more stored fat and calories to be burned.
Does it work? That depends on who you ask!
But again, there are many claimed vinegar health benefits, and there are certainly many honey health benefits, so it’s not likely to do you any harm (beyond puckering your puss, that is!).
However, the vinegar could potentially interact with certain drugs to cause an excessive loss of potassium, so if you take any medications you should check with your doctor before trying this.
If you want to try it, mix 1 or 2 teaspoons of raw honey and 1 or 2 teaspoons of raw apple cider vinegar in a cup of water. Drink this mixture 3 times per day.
