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The Ayurvedic lifestyle is becoming more mainstream in this day and age with science backing it. What was once holistic and taboo, is now widely-accepted and popular. Over the past twenty years, our entire society has become very conscious about the foods we eat, the negative impact of not exercising regularly, and the importance of sleep. This picture is such a contrasting difference to how things were just 20 or 30 years ago.

What Exactly is the Ayurvedic lifestyle?

It’s not some new trend or passing fad, it has in fact been around for thousands of years, and its origins can be traced back to India. Its principal component has to do with the mind-body connection. If the mind is not well, the body will not be well. Modern medicine has proven that stress kills. Stress is debilitating and manifests itself in the body through many different mechanisms. One of the more notable manifestations is gastrointestinal issues. Stress and the correlating GI issues it brings is why meditation has become increasingly popular over the years.  Dr. Deepak Chopra, of the world-renowned Chopra Center in Carlsbad, California; offers some of the more critical aspects of the Ayurvedic approach and how to incorporate them into your lifestyle on his website, Chopra.com. According to his website, the essential elements of the Ayurvedic lifestyle include:

• Eating a colorful and flavorful diet
• Getting an abundant restful nights sleep
• Living in tune with nature
• Exercising
• Strengthening your digestive power
• Take it easy

Let’s expand on the Ayurvedic diet and concentrate on a well-known and influential “superfood” that we all know as honey. There are many places that suggest honey has many health benefits, along with medical studies that prove this fact. Honey plays a significant role in the way our heart functions. The recommendation is to add honey to your meals five times a day to combat atherosclerosis and weak hearts. That is just one of many suggestions of how honey is used in the ayurvedic diet.

Got Anemia? Ayurvedic specialists state that honey is remarkable in building hemoglobin in the blood. For respiratory issues, Ayurvedic specialists indicate that honey is highly beneficial in lung health and they claim a jug of 1-year old honey held under the breath of an asthmatic patient can decrease the respiratory effort and labored breathing while increasing pulmonary function. The caveat - only lasts an hour or so.

Who knew honey could help promote the healing of burns? According to everydayayuverda.com, it does just that. It is also an antiseptic for the skin and is excellent for general wounds and sores.  During flu season, honey can be highly beneficial in controlling and treating a cough.

Here’s one I have not heard of, honey and insomnia. Yes! According to Ayurvedic teachings, honey has been used for centuries in the treatment of insomnia. They say it has a hypnotic effect, Can’t see straight? Ayurveda specialists claim that honey is applied daily to the eyes, improves eyesight amongst other things. Now let's talk about your gastrointestinal system, better known as your GI tract. It starts at your mouth and ends at your rectum. A vital system of the body that is responsible for many immune functions in your body. Ayurvedic experts have long regarded honey as useful in maintaining the health of the stomach. It tones up the stomach, helps in proper digestion and prevents stomach diseases.

According to Ayurveda, honey has also been shown to aid in the prevention of old age. This happens because it clears up phlegm and mucus, which older people are more susceptible to acquiring. The more phlegm and mucus you have as you get older, the more chances of that phlegm and mucus contributing to the person developing pneumonia. Pneumonia is a killer in the geriatric population.

The most important thing we want you to learn when it comes to honey from an Ayurvedic perspective is how damaging heating honey can be. NEVER HEAT RAW HONEY. Raw honey is anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal. It has great quantities of B-vitamins, magnesium, potassium and so much more. It is truly a super-food. Remember the experts telling you to never first heat cold-pressed pure olive oil because it will destroy it is tremendous health benefits and make it dangerous for you to ingest? The exact same theory applies to raw honey. Honey has a toxic effect on the human body when heated past 95 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, honey degrades, and it is composition completely changes. Many of the beneficial organic compounds and enzymes in honey are destroyed or inhibited by heat. Making matters worse, it is toxic and can completely throw off the balance that the Ayurvedic lifestyle is well known for.