The NutraBee Story

		Not All Honey is Equal                My experience has taught me that honey is a miracle food, but not all honey products are equal.  Most consumers believe that honey is a natural product made by bees. Little do they know that to keep prices low, many commercial brands mix their honey with other less expensive cane, beet or corn sugars. These products are definitely sweet, but they are nothing more than health-destroying sugars in the same vein as white table sugar. No wonder people have health problems. Read More >
My Journey from Illness to Health My love affair with bees started in April, 1994.  On a bright sunny afternoon, a car crossed into our lane hitting our van head on: life changed.  For the next three years, migraines, fatigue and memory loss were my daily companions.  Looking back, the accident could have been fatal.  While I hit my head and knees hard on the dashboard and suffered whiplash, the hospital x-rays showed no broken bones. It could have been worse, our van stop two feet from an electrical pole: I could have died.  I was given painkillers and sent home. The strange thing about soft tissue damage is that by all appearances you look normal to friends and family, but inside, chronic pain and depression filled my day.   active, life-loving woman I was before the accident. Read My Story >
Honey Dictionary What is honey? Sugar-rich nectar produced by plants is harvested by honeybees who through an enzymatic process in their gut, convert this nectar into honey which they regurgitate into comb cells. Real honey contains bee pollen. Read More >		Bee Friendly NutraBee At NutraBee, we take pride in all our products, partnering with a 4t generation family of beekeepers who are dedicated to their craft. They produce a quality raw honey containing digestible carbohydrates, proteins, enzymes, 18 essential and nonessential amino acids, vitamins and minerals, and free radical fighting antioxidants. Read More >

My Journey from Illness to Health

My love affair with bees started in April, 1994.  On a bright sunny afternoon, a car crossed into our lane hitting our van head on: life changed.  For the next three years, migraines, fatigue and memory loss were my daily companions. 

Looking back, the accident could have been fatal.  While I hit my head and knees hard on the dashboard and suffered whiplash, the hospital x-rays showed no broken bones. It could have been worse, our van stop two feet from an electrical pole: I could have died.  I was given painkillers and sent home

The strange thing about soft tissue damage is that by all appearances you look normal to friends and family, but inside, chronic pain and depression filled my day.  To manage the pain, I tried a variety of painkillers and over time became a Prozac zombie.  I tried neck manipulation which didn’t work, and consulted with medical specialists who advised that the only solution was to learn to live with chronic pain, memory loss and depression.   I was a completely different person from the active, life-loving woman I was before the accident. 

The incident was a turning point in our lives. Prior to this, I was a successful entrepreneur and ran a Childrens’ Relief Charity. After the accident, I had no energy.  We sold the businesses, but I managed to continue my humanitarian work, receiving the Helen Price Award in 1999 for helping children in war torn areas of the world.

Helping children who lost their parents in that war changed my perspective: they had survived a war, I survived an accident.  I was determined to get better and returned to Europe to consult with herbalists, and started learning about natural remedies. 

My mother, who still lived in Europe, was into natural healing and recommended trying raw unprocessed honey.  Honey has antiseptic, antibacterial and immune system boosting properties. Used to clear up infection, reduce inflammation and improve energy, taking honey also promotes faster healing.  Unlike any other carbohydrate, the fructose and glucose sugars in honey are not bound together, so the body easily converts these sugars into energy.

Finally, something worked, and I was on the long road to recovery!  Elated, I researched traditional European herbal pharmacopeia and started adding herbs such as; sage, senna, cumin, fennel, Ceylon cinnamon, mustard seed, anise, coriander, ginger, cloves, fenugreek, etc. to the raw honey. Now, I was in the fast lane to recovering my health!

As my health improved, other people asked for my honey-herbal formula.  So in 2000, I decided to start a company to develop and market my honey-herb formula under the SAFA label which was later changed to Bee Active™. Today my company, NutraBee, has three honey-herb products: Bee Active™ with certified-organic herbs, Bee Strong with Ceylon Cinnamon, and Immuno Bee with Black Seed all made from 100% pure unprocessed Canadian honey.

Incorporating raw honey with other bee products such as royal jelly, propolis and bee pollen (see Honey Dictionary), I formulated  Bee Beautiful with royal jelly, Bee Guard with propolis and Buzz Off with raw bee pollen. I also developed Bee Heart Healthy, a monoculture buckwheat honey containing wild blueberry extract, and Mountain Gold Wildflower Honey, a wildflower honey. 

We also carry pure honeycomb.  All NutraBee products contain 100% pure unprocessed Canadian honey. 

Not All Honey is Equal               

My experience has taught me that honey is a miracle food, but not all honey products are equal.  Most consumers believe that honey is a natural product made by bees. Little do they know that to keep prices low, many commercial brands mix their honey with other less expensive cane, beet or corn sugars. These products are definitely sweet, but they are nothing more than health-destroying sugars in the same vein as white table sugar. No wonder people have health problems.

Also, few people know that honey should, as defined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission which sets international food standards and trade, contain at least 95 percent bee pollen. Their Honey Standard specifies that no pollen or constituent particular to honey be removed except where its unavoidable when removing foreign matter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration concurs, honey without bee pollen is not honey.

Why is bee pollen so important?  Besides the health benefits of bee pollen and other honey constituents, products devoid of bee pollen are impossible to trace. Not knowing the point-of-origin and floral source hinders the ability of agencies charged with securing food supply to judge the safety of these products.

The problem is huge.  According to a U.S. Food Safety News study of 60 jars of different honey products purchased across the United States, 76 percent of grocery store products were free of bee pollen. Honey products sampled from major drugstore chains were completely free of bee pollen, as were individual packaged servings.  Honey bought at farmers markets, co-ops, natural and health food stores did contain bee pollen with organic and raw honey products having the most bee pollen.

Consumers who buy honey for its nutritional benefits, distinguishing a health-promoting honey from a health-destroying sweet imitation is difficult. Harvested in countries where environmental pollution is rife, and crops are sprayed with pesticides and antibiotics on hives, these high fructose syrups are toxic in more ways than one.

When chloramphenicol-laced Chinese honey was found in the baked goods and jams of two well-known U.S. food brands by the U.S. FDA, ethical suppliers started testing their honey for antibiotics and other contaminants, and for purity.  What was revealed was frightening. Ultra-filtration, a process developed by the Chinese, removes bee pollen, creating a nutritionally dead product with a long shelf life.  Without bee pollen, this fake honey is impossible to trace as officials can’t ID the source.

Removing bee pollen benefits low cost, subsidized honey-producing countries such as China who dump their product in the North American and European markets. This undercuts local producers who have higher quality standards for honey and stricter regulatory controls. Consumers are starting to know the difference between real honey and fake honey.

Consumers are also becoming educated about the benefits of 100% pure unprocessed honey. They are supporting local beekeepers and local companies like NutraBee™ who offer 100% pure unprocessed Canadian honey. They want companies to guarantee their honey products to be free from chemical residue, heavy metals or other contaminants. Greater public awareness is also driving demand for raw honey as a healthy sweetener in all the foods they buy.

 

 

Honey Dictionary

What is honey? Sugar-rich nectar produced by plants is harvested by honeybees who through an enzymatic process in their gut, convert this nectar into honey which they regurgitate into comb cells. Real honey contains bee pollen.
What is propolis? A dark resinous mixture collected from tree sap and flower resin by bees who use propolis to prevent disease, bacterial growth and parasites, and to seal cracks in the hive.
What is royal jelly?  A creamy white nutrient-rich honeybee secretion, containing B-complex and C vitamins, and a broad spectrum of amino acids, trace minerals, proteins, sugars, essential fatty acids and enzymes. Food for the queen bee.
What is bee pollen?  Protein-rich granules created by bees from harvested flower pollen and nectar which is mixed with bee-secreted enzymes, this bee bread is eaten by worker bees.

Bee Friendly NutraBee

At NutraBee, we take pride in all our products, partnering with a 4th generation family of beekeepers who are dedicated to their craft. They produce a quality raw honey containing digestible carbohydrates, proteins, enzymes, 18 essential and nonessential amino acids, vitamins and minerals, and free radical fighting antioxidants.

Unlike many beekeepers, their honeybees are not used to pollinate sprayed orchards. As the ingredient in raw honey is flower nectar and pollen, the flora which bees feed on affects taste and colour.  Bees feeding on sprayed crops produce honey which contains pesticide residue you can taste. Our customers can taste the difference, which is why they buy NutraBee honey.

The apiary we source our honey is located in a clean pollution-free environment.  To get a quality raw honey, they let their bees forage over 850 acres of wildflowers, moving the hives to different locations which exposes the bees to a wide variety of flora.  They also produce a monoflora buckwheat honey which has a richer taste and is darker in colour than lighter coloured and lighter tasting wildflower honey.

The honey we use in all our products is unprocessed raw honey: no heat, no water, no ultra-filtration and no added high fructose corn syrups – just 100% pure unprocessed Canadian honey. You can see this in the texture of our honey which flows in a continuous stream down to the last drop in the bottle.  As our honey contains no additives, there is no hard gooey mass at the bottom of the jar.  And, as bees have not been exposed to pesticides, you will not taste pesticide residue in our honey.

My partnership with bees started with an accident. Today, my life is full and active.  And, while I have limited recollection of my children growing up, and my hearing is still compromised, I no longer suffer from chronic pain and depression.  I feel blessed to have the support of my family and with the assistance of bees, help others regain their health.

I am passionate about bees. So much so that I am known as Mrs. Bee among friends and customers.  My guarantee to you is that NutraBee Pure Gourmet Honey Products contains 100% pure unprocessed Canadian honey made by well-tended bees, as nature intended. I am certain that once you taste the difference, no other honey will be on your table.