Category Archives: Mrs. Cog’s Corner

Mrs. Cog's Corner

Bee Products

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From Mrs. Cog's Corner
The content on this page is for discussion purposes relating to health and well being only and is not intended to be medical advice. Links and sources provided are for informational purposes and do not represent an endorsement of a person, product or treatment.

*PLEASE NOTE* Anyone suffering from an allergy to bee stings or other bee product such as honey should NOT attempt to use any of the following bee products.

An antimicrobial is defined as a drug that will treat bacterial, fungal or viral infections.  Just as the essence of so many plants are antimicrobial in nature, working with our bodies to help us heal naturally, so it is with the collection and processing of these plant pollens and resins by bees.

From the work of the bees, not only do we benefit by the obvious cross pollination of our plants, we derive many natural products for use in human health. Aside from it's indefinite shelf life, the obvious medicinal benefits of honey have been proved throughout the ages and is rarely even disputed by mainstream medicine in it's efficacy.  But our bee friends make a number of other substances which I was not aware of until recently.

Propolis is the sticky goop that bees make to seal the insides of hives from moisture and bacteria. Honey bees make it in quantities because they need to survive the winter season to continue working (as opposed to bumble bees who only need for the queen to survive the winter season.) The antimicrobial levels in propolis are off the charts as you can read for yourself in the below articles and clinical studies.

This propolis is collected by bee keepers and sold in various forms of supplements, lotions and salves. As with any natural remedy, it is of the utmost importance to vet the source to make sure you are getting organic and unadulterated products.

Royal jelly is another substance that bees produce. It is made in the hive to feed the larvae in the first several days of their development. After then, it is only used to feed the next queen bee throughout her development. It accounts for her enormous growth size beyond the other bees, the incredible energy and vitality to continue producing more eggs over time, and the greatly extended lifespan beyond that of her hive-mates.

Used widely in modern times for women to obtain more radiant and younger skin, royal jelly is purported to be a powerful antioxidant, have healing properties in the area of hormones and fertility, potential anti-cancer properties and perhaps even an elixir to extend one's lifespan. There are more than 450 clinical studies on royal jelly listed in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) database to trove through. If the high priests of medicinal research are beating a similar drum then this is indeed something that might warrant more attention.

Next up, bee pollen is touted as being a "superfood." Containing a high amount of vitamins, minerals and protein, it is well worth looking into ways to incorporate bee pollen into a regiment when one is seeking to detach from modern day pharmacology and mainstream health systems.

Finally, I am minding my own beeswax. I now buy organic beeswax by the pound in pellets. This wax which contains all the medicinal qualities of the pollen in it. It is easy to melt in small 4 oz canning jars in a saucepan of heated water on the stove. Once melted , other oils such as coconut or jojoba can be added, along with the preferred essential or infused oils to let set and create any type of wonderful homemade salve. There are many further uses for beeswax which can be found in the links below.

Bee creative! Share your healing bee balms with us. :-)

The Benefits of Propolis - Bee Lab - University of Minnesota http://www.beelab.umn.edu/prod/groups/cfans/@pub/@cfans/@bees/documents/article/cfans_article_435997.pdf

Due to the great number of active ingredients present, tincture (alcoholic extract) of propolis is well known and used for its therapeutic properties, principally for its stimulant action on the organism's defense system. Notable amongst its properties are its antioxidant and anti-microbial action, its activity as a stimulant and its healing, analgesic, anesthetic and anti-inflammatory activity. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/17/This-Bee-Product-Has-Enormous-Benefits-for-Your-Health.aspx

The composition of propolis in the various compounds depends on the geographic area and therefore the different types of plants from which it is collected from. One of the well-studied compounds of propolis is caffeic acid phenethyl ester, abbreviated as CAPE. CAPE has great medicinal properties, but its anti-cancer capacity is of particular interest. A study from the Journal of Radiation Research shows that just within 2 days after treatment with CAPE, 46% of lung cancer cells had been destroyed and the cancer growth was reduced by 60%. Three days after the treatment 67% of cancer cells were dead. A similar study published in the journal Anticancer Drugs in 2006 found that CAPE prevents colon cancer cells from multiplying and induces programmed cell death of the malignant cells without affecting healthy cells. http://www.naturalblaze.com/2014/02/extreme-anticancer-potential-of-propolis.html

Many people are aware of the health benefits of honey, but few are aware of the benefits that Royal Jelly has to offer. This is the substance that is produced by worker bees to feed the young bee larvae and the Queen bee in the hive. This substance offers many benefits to people, such as lowering cholesterol levels, wound healing properties and even anti-cancer properties. http://www.naturalnews.com/032227_royal_jelly_health_benefits.html

Clinical Study: Functional Properties of Honey, Propolis and Royal Jelly http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19021816 

Bee pollen is a complete food and contains many elements that products of animal origin do not possess. Bee pollen is more rich in proteins than any animal source. It contains more amino acids than beef, eggs, or cheese of equal weight. About half of its protein is in the form of free amino acids that are ready to be used directly by the body. http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/10-amazing-health-benefits-of-bee-pollen

Bee pollen is the male seed of a flower blossom which has been gathered by the bees and mixed with the honeybees own digestive enzymes. It is literally the food of the young bee. It takes one bee, working 8 hours a day for 1 month to gather. Each pellet contains 2,000,000 flower pollen grains and 1 teaspoon contains 2.5 billion grains of flower pollen! One pollen granule contains from 100,000 to 500,000 pollen spores each capable of reproducing its entire species! http://www.joyoushealth.ca/blog/2013/05/16/bee-pollen-a-healing-superfood/

Bee keepers sometimes use special screens around the inside of the hive boxes to trap propolis, since bees will spread this substance around the honeycomb and seal cracks with the anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal resins. The resins found in propolis only represent a small part of the phytonutrients found in propolis and honey, however. Other phytonutrients found both in honey and propolis have been shown to posssess cancer-preventing and anti-tumor properties. These substances include caffeic acid methyl caffeate, phenylethyl caffeate, and phenylethyl dimethylcaffeate. http://www.naturalblaze.com/2014/03/shocking-differences-between-raw-honey.html

Bee keepers sometimes use special screens around the inside of the hive boxes to trap propolis, since bees will spread this substance around the honeycomb and seal cracks with the anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal resins. The resins found in propolis only represent a small part of the phytonutrients found in propolis and honey, however. Other phytonutrients found both in honey and propolis have been shown to posssess cancer-preventing and anti-tumor properties. These substances include caffeic acid methyl caffeate, phenylethyl caffeate, and phenylethyl dimethylcaffeate. - See more at: http://www.naturalblaze.com/2014/03/shocking-differences-between-raw-honey.html#sthash.0JNyixWy.dpuf

Experimenting with homemade salve recipes at various stages of hardening:

Feb 3 2014 012

Mrs. Cog's Corner

Going Gluten Free

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From Mrs. Cog's Corner

If I had been the first person in the family who needed to start eating gluten free (GF), I would have been upset and pouting. No more pizza deliveries, ice cream cones or pastries. No grilled reuben sandwiches on rye or pumpernickel bread, no slice of birthday cake when one is passed to you, or sitting down to pancake breakfasts at the local fund raiser. Oh the things we take for granted.

But it was a child unit, and a teen at that, who was first to run into gluten issues, so we immediately shifted into making lemonade out of lemons mode. Instead of focusing on what she couldn't have, we sat down and made extended lists of what she could eat and the lists were surprisingly long. In the beginning, we tackled this meal by meal.

For breakfast, there were still eggs and bacon and thank goodness for Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereals. Most Chex cereals including Honey Nut, Chocolate and Apple Cinnamon are GF as well. Later we were able to add in GF pancakes, bagels and toast as we discovered different recipes and various grocery stores with these items.

Lunches were easier and larger because packing for a teen with after school sports and other activities often meant packing a bag with ten hours of mostly healthy grazing foods. We included cheese and GF crackers, many baggies of fresh fruits like grapes, strawberries and blueberries, plenty of potato chips are gluten free, tupperware containers with small portions of dinner leftovers such as rice and meats or quinoa and chicken. We have found GF cheesy crackers and graham crackers to add, but also new healthy snacks like raw nuts and sunflower seeds that never would have been included otherwise.

Occasionally we bake GF bread for sandwiches, but our teen thinks (and many on the web agree) that it is better toasted, so we save that for sandwiches, like grilled cheese, at home.

Dinners in our home are pretty straight forward. There are many types of GF pasta available. We found the Barilla brand (pictured above) to be most similar to our regular pasta. Many items, such as this GF pasta, are not available at our local grocery store so we order it in bulk online. It stores well for over a year in the proper conditions like regular pastas. Otherwise, dinners are mostly meat and veggies. On hamburger nights we baked a big GF roll. Most types of Ore Ida french fries are GF too. Our burger nights blow away the typical restaurant food and we have the satisfaction of knowing what went into making them. For quick dinners we have canned many types of gluten free soups and often boil up some pasta or rice to add into them before serving.

It took a while but we have finally solved the pizza dilemma. While most pre-packaged GF pizza just don't get it done for the teen taste test, glutino pizza was found to be the most acceptable. THEN... Pillsbury came out with tubs of GF pizza dough and it simplified homemade pizza crust and empowered the teen to start creatively making her own pizza creations. Classico pizza sauce, shredded cheese and all the shredded bacon she wants... sometimes with pineapple. Oh to be young again (sigh).

Most recently we have started making our own homemade gluten free granola blobs (in small cupcake tins) with all wholesome ingredients including local honey, organic (and non GMO) oats and sometimes dark chocolate chips for good measure. The very act of searching for new gluten free healthy things to eat has changed the way we look at food in our household. It really is a journey I recommend everyone to explore.

Mrs. Cog's Corner

Food

From Mrs. Cog's Corner

The word good is a funny term. I took a philosophy seminar in college where my professor took the liberty of devoting the entire semester solely to aspects of the concept "good". As Cog likes to point out, we humans tend to categorize our judgements as black or white, good or bad. In reality, most things are both and neither and our polarizing view of things around us in these terms does not help us to benefit or grow. Food and water are a perfect example of these thoughts.

If we are starving, any basic food substance is good. At that moment, it matters little if the food set before us was grown organically or came from GMO sources. Moving up the financial ladder a bit, if we are poor and have limited resources to acquire food, it may seem quite good to procure enough to eat for the family, even if it isn't the highest quality. Hunger can be scary, especially when looking into the eyes of your children. Hunger taps the survival instinct squarely in the head (as well as the belly). No wonder control of the food system is so coveted by those seeking power.

Continuing up the so-called food chain, we encounter the level of subsisting formerly known as the middle class. Here we encounter choices which we are programmed to see as good (like voting). Perhaps paying a bit more for organic produce or better cuts of meat can boost our levels of health. That depends upon variables such as whether we have good information to base our choices upon and the good judgement to make the right selection for the right reasons.

When I look at people who appear to be financially secure, at least enough to eat whatever and wherever they choose, it appears that a funny thing happens. Good takes on a whole different meaning. Food must taste good, preferably look good and appetizing and often should be served under good circumstances (a nice restaurant or pleasing family dinner table.) Many who have reached this apparent level of security do not cook from scratch because they never had to learn, thus taking certain short-cuts in food prep. I call this fake cooking, which is all I knew until recently. It involves correctly cooking a steak, or broiling chicken or pork chops, while popping potatoes to be baked into the microwave. Doctor up some frozen corn or a salad from a pre-mixed bag and viola! You have a GOOD dinner.

Through other eyes, that same meal probably contained meat from a "factory farm" where conditions for beef, poultry and swine are not only inhumane, but disgusting when connecting the dots to your delicious and easy dinner. Practically all produce is grown and treated with  chemicals of every type, and even "certified organic" food is often grown from GMO sources, which our bodies supposedly recognize as not natural. Let's face it, we'd like to eat the hamburger without thinking about the cow. That's pretty easy to do in our society where almost all production is highly specialized and thus our meals are compartmentalized away from the details of production and processing. It is why restaurants do so well.

I discuss this here to preface that conversations about "good" food are relative depending upon your financial situation, availability of food to eat and your weight upon which aspects of food is most important.

I began the process of questioning my food several years ago by asking where does it come from and what will this do to me if I eat this over the long term? Often I have found that involved answers I didn't like, images I didn't want in my head. The truth is we are indeed as sick as our deepest and darkest secrets, especially including where our food came from.

Through trying to question everything, my queries with respect to food have changed over time. Where does it come from? Can I produce it myself? Is there a local source where I can verify conditions it was produced in and then acquire it? If so, is it available in bulk? When I grow or find a source of good food, can I preserve and store it? For the food I cannot source, what are the red flags to watch for? What dangers am I accepting if I choose to not mind the sources of what I consume? How can I impress upon my family, perhaps an oblivious/invincible youngster, the importance of being concerned with the long term health ramifications of food choices?

As with approaches to your health, everyone has individual perceptions and needs to consider. I am only seeking to start a better conversation so we can help each other share information and experiences. I read repeatedly that in tough times, people who are more aware not only survive, but can often thrive because they looked deeper for good answers.