What is the Difference Between Raw Honey and Honey?
This is an excellent question, but let’s get something straight first.
Honey is barely Paleo to begin with.
Sure, your ancestors would have eaten whatever honey they could have gotten their hands on, but they didn’t find it very often.
More importantly, honey is still predominantly sugar.
Sugar is not toxic in small amounts, but honey – like any other form of sugar – is very easy to overeat.
Honey, Raw or Otherwise, Should Be Used Sparingly
The difference between raw honey and honey that raw honey is not pasteurized or processed (and is usually not filtered).
When bees make honey, it comes with a lot of great vitamins (mostly B and C), lots of anti-oxidants, a few minerals, pollen, and a bunch of other things, including bacteria that likely help us digest the honey.
However, most of the honey you buy in a store is highly processed, beginning by heating the honey to a very high temperature, filtering out many of the healthiest parts of honey, and often adding fillers and even anti-biotics.
In fact, one study found that the great majority of honey sold in stores actually contained pretty much no pollen at all, which makes it impossible to determine if it came from a safe or natural source. In the end, processed honey is nothing more than sugar (and high-fructose sugar at that).
Raw honey, on the other hand, has been shown to cause less blood-sugar spikes, less inflammation, and less body fat.
If you’re going to eat honey, make sure it’s raw. Processed honey is no different than table sugar, and perhaps worse.
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