Discover the Incredible Use of Honey in Hibernation Diet!

Discover the Incredible Use of Honey in Hibernation Diet!
The recent revolutionary Hibernation Diet created by a
British pharmacist and a nutrition expert caught my
attention by making a powerful connection between poor
sleep and obesity. It advocates incorporating mild
resistance exercise and a healthy, balanced, and wholesome
diet void of highly refined, processed foods such as white
bread, pizza, burgers, chocolates, beer and sugar, and
suggests taking a generous spoonful or two of honey at
night, either as a warm drink, a smoothie or straight from
the jar. This fascinating honey hibernation diet promises
to help us sleep and lose weight at the same time by using
our biology and working with our bodies, rather than
against them ' "recovery biology". A new approach to fat
metabolism, it requires no straining from aerobics
exercise, no wearing out on a treadmill and no pounding it
out in the gym. Sounds too easy, too miraculous or too
far-fetched to be believable?

Natural honey when taken prior to bed is believed to be
able to fuel the liver, speed up fat-burning metabolism,
ease stress hormones and help us get a better night's
sleep. This oldest natural sweetener also contains a wide
variety of vitamins, including vitamins B6, B1, B2 and B5,
and minerals such as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium,
manganese, phosphorous, potassium, sodium and zinc,
anti-oxidants and amino acids, the building blocks of
proteins.

What I learnt about the Hibernation Diet is that honey
provides a fuelling mechanism for the body at night,
keeping blood sugar levels balanced and letting your
recovery hormones get on with burning fat stores. This
proposition that honey reduces blood glucose level was
published in the Journal of Medicinal Food in April 2004.
However, to most people, it seems to defy common sense
since honey comprises two sugars, namely glucose and
fructose in a 1:1 ratio. Moreover, eating late at night is
often discouraged by many people who believe that during
bedtime, metablic rate is low and the body cannot burn
calories and would easily put on weight. Being a honey
enthusiast, I naturally wanted to know more about how the
hibernation diet works scientifically for the good of the
body.

I read that when sugars are absorbed from the gut into the
blood they are first absorbed by the liver, which is the
only organ in the human body with the fructose enzyme to
process this sugar. In the liver the fructose is converted
into glucose, stored as liver glycogen or human starch, and
released only if and when blood glucose falls.

Fructose also triggers the glucose enzyme in the liver
allowing the liver to take in as much glucose as it
requires. This has been referred to as the Fructose
Paradox. In other words, fructose lowers the Glycemic Index
of glucose; fructose enters the liver and opens the gate
for glucose entry preventing a rapid rise in blood glucose.
This natural blood glucose regulator found in fruits,
vegetables and honey, regulate blood glucose levels and
stabilize blood glucose to maintain a regular supply of
glucose to the brain.

Some simple questions that the hibernation diet expert asks
to check if the liver has fuelled up well for the night:

- Do you wake regularly during the night?

- Do you have night sweats?

- Do you experience acid reflux during the night?

- Do you get up to go to the bathroom during the night?

- Do you feel nauseous in the early morning?

- Do you wake up exhausted?

- Do you have a dry throat in the morning?

- Do you get night cramps?

- Do you feel weak in the early morning?

If "yes" is the answer for any of these questions, it could
mean that instead of burning fat and repairing muscles,
your body has produced a stream of stress hormones while
you've slept.

The hibernation diet also goes on to explain how fructose
in honey fuels the brain which is the most energy demanding
organ, burning up to 20 times the fuel of any other cell in
the body. We become exhausted after having to concentrate
for a lengthy period. That's why we often hear that mental
exhaustion is worse than physical exhaustion. The brain
needs glucose to survive, however glucose occupies a large
amount of storage space and there is no room in the brain.
And the liver is the only organ that can both store and
release glucose into the circulation. This is why looking
after your liver glycogen amount by ensuring that the liver
and the brain are well provided for both in the day and at
night is so critical. Any fall in blood glucose is
detrimental for the brain. The adrenal glands to be
activated and the adrenal hormones if overproduced can lead
to conditions such as heart disease, osteoporosis, obesity,
diabetes, poor immune function, depression and other
distressing health problems.

What I find inspiring to read is that we burn an amazing
70% fat during rest, 35% during low level exercise, 20%
during moderate exercise, and a low 10% during intense
exercise. During sleep we should burn fats. However, if the
liver is not fuelled prior to bed, we release stress
hormones from the adrenal glands which raise our heart rate
and blood pressure. These hormones instead of burning fat,
degrade muscle and bone. The liver must deliver 10 grams of
glucose every hour -- 6.5 to the brain, 3.5 to the kidneys
and red blood cells. As the liver capacity is only 75
grams, most people go to bed with a depleted liver,
activating the adrenal glands and do not recover. And if
you do not recover you do not burn fats. The hibernation
diet essentially aims to encourage people to reap the
benefit of your body's own natural recovery system and
optimize their recovery biology or fat burning biology, as
explicitly termed by the author who believed that this diet
is not only to a healthy weight but unlocking energy
resources you never know you had. So, if you interested to
have a more in-depth account of this honey diet, check out
the book "The Hibernation Diet" in which you will find
details of the suggested diet plans for breakfast, lunch
and dinner, and the different types of resistance exercises
described in clear steps.

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