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Save The Bees With Vegan Bee-Free Honey
Our Bees are dying at an alarming rate. Commercial honey products, terrible farming practices, and the destruction of naturally wild ecosystems have all been leading to a massive decline in the population of bees. It is a tragedy on a global scale and one that lies squarely at the feet of humanity. If you are green-minded and care about the planet, then there is a very good chance that you want to save the bees. The environmental impact of their loss will be devastating for both our world and our futures. But what can we do? How can we save the bees? There are lots of changes that we can make, including supporting the vegan honey industry and making changes to our agricultural practices. Read on to find out what is happening to the bees in our world, how to help save the bees, and why changing our diet to vegan options could be the answer to our future survival. Why Are The Bees Important? Greenpeace estimates that you should thank the bees with every third bite of food you eat as it was likely produced thanks to them. Bees are pollinators, so they spend their time moving pollen from one plant species to another, and this allows the plants to breed and produce more plants. If we lose the bees, the planet loses its ability to keep plants pollinated, and the impact on agricultural ecosystems will be devastating. Over 90% of wild plants need animal pollinators to continue their lifecycle. Without bees, this cycle is broken and irreparable, and all of these plants will die off. The threat to our way of life and even our continued existence on this planet is severe and closely linked to the survival of the bee population. What Is Happening To Bee Populations? Beekeepers are reporting between 29% and 40% of their bee colonies are dying off each year. The average falls around 30%, which is an unprecedented increase in natural levels of die-off since 2004. Bees will naturally die in the winter, and this is part of the hive lifecycle. However, this die-off is usually at a level of 10% of the colony. The hive will replace these bees in the spring if the hive is healthy and able to reproduce. With the unnatural die-off rate added to the natural decline of the bee colony, hives are unable to recover the workers they need to remain active. The hive colony falls into collapse, and often all the bees are lost. Populations of wild bees are also in decline, and both are beyond a limit that is sustainable for the future. We need to act now if we want to help save the honey bees for our children's futures. What Is Killing The Bees? There are three leading causes: agrochemicals, loss of habits, and unethical beekeeping. Monocropping is where large swathes of land are cultivated to plant and produce just one kind of crop. Wild meadowland, the native habitat of many wild bees, has been destroyed to allow for monocropping cultivation. This continued destruction of wild bee habitats is a significant contributor to the continued decline of the bee population. One wild bee, the rusty patched bumblebee, has lost over 80% of its natural habitat and is now endangered. Another finger of blame is firmly pointed at the chemical industry and the production of pesticides. These companies have pumped millions of dollars into PR campaigns to push the responsibility away from themselves and muddle the truth about what is happening. However, the science is abundantly clear. Pesticides are used in agriculture and even in our own backyards. While they help keep plants bug-free, they also cripple and kill the local honey bee population. Scientists have shown that hives can contain a chemical cocktail of pesticides that bees have brought back home with their pollen. Reducing the most dangerous pesticides from our farming production and gardening industries would undoubtedly be a significant step towards helping the honey bees. However, pesticides alone are not to blame for the decline, and we also need to consider the honey industry. The Unethical Honey Industry There can often be some debate in the vegan community about whether beekeeping and eating honey is an ethical and vegan practice. The general consensus when you look at the evidence is that it is not. There is a lot of unethical beekeeping that exploits honey bees and contributes to their declining populations. Many people mistakenly believe that honey bees make their honey for our consumption, which is a wholly false belief. The honey that they create is a fuel source for the hive, and it is essential for their existence. Honey is, in fact, one of the primary energy sources that the bees need to survive through harsh winters. So, by removing this from their hives, we are directly contributing to their annual die-off by starving the bees when they most need it. We can change this by moving to vegan honey that can replace the products produced by commercial beekeepers. How Is Honey Made? Forager bees gather pollen from flowers and turn it into nectar within the hive. When they visit a flower, they store the pollen in one of their two stomachs: one for pollen storage and one for eating. They can also keep additional pollen on their fur. When a bee is full, the amount of pollen it carries can weigh almost as much as the bee does! Imagine flying a considerable distance while carrying your own body weight in pollen. It is an incredible feat. This is why bees need to eat when they are out gathering pollen and why they are killed by the pesticides when they are visiting different flowers. Once back at the hive, the forager bees regurgitate the pollen from their stomachs directly into the house bees' mouths. This process is a little gross sounding for us but natural for the bees. The house bees then break down the nectar's sugars and store them in the beeswax. They then cool the substance by fanning it with their wings until it is transformed into what we know as honey. It can then be used as a food source for the bees in the colony. However, at this point, we harvest it and take it as our own. How Commercial Honey Farming Impacts the Bees We take the honey the bees have made from their hive and use it in our own foods, cosmetics, and health supplements. Commercial beekeepers want to harvest high yields of honey for their own financial benefits. So the more the bees can produce, the better the hive is rated. Commercial beekeepers do not take all of the honey. They do leave some for the bees to use; however, it is often nowhere near enough. Additionally, to replace the honey that they take, they substitute it with a sugar solution to feed the bees. However, this sugar solution is far from sufficient for maintaining the bees' well-being. It doesn't contain most of the micro-nutrients that the bees require that are found in honey. As such, the bees become malnourished, and some eventually die of starvation. Without the proper nutrients, bees often become ill or infected with parasites. The continual gassing of the hive to make them sleepy enough for the beekeeper to remove the honey also has negative impacts on their health. As a hive's health declines, so does its value, and often commercial hives are simply incinerated rather than maintained once their value dips below a certain value or to prevent diseases from spreading. How Can I Help Save The Bees? We need to take action now if we are going to save our bee populations and save wild agriculture. There are lots of things you can do to help save the honey bee. The main thing you can do is get involved. Check out your local or national save the bees foundations and make contact with them for further steps. In the meantime, follow our advice and learn how we can save the bees together. Stop Buying Commercial Bee Honey Products Commercial honey production needs to come to an end. The best way you can help with this is to stop purchasing bee-made honey products. There are alternatives that you can consider instead, and your refusal to contribute to the industry will help force it into decline. Eat Vegan Honey Vegan Honey Vegan honey is a delicious alternative to eating honey made by bees. It is made from 100% organic ingredients and will allow you to still enjoy your favorite sweet treats without any of the guilt that goes with them. Plant WildFlowers One way you can learn how to help save the bees is to look into planting a natural habitat for them. If you have a backyard or allotment, you can plant flowers that attract wild bees naturally. Encourage your local community to grow wildflower spaces and meadows and to let their gardens have a more natural look in places. Give the wild bees somewhere that they can call home again. Stop Using Pesticides If you garden at home or grow vegetables locally, you need to stop using pesticides that are harmful to bees. Contact save the bee organizations to find out which pesticides are safe to use to keep your garden in a natural state and safe for bees. Lobby Your Government Speak to your local government representative and get them to lobby for changes to agricultural processes and better pesticide controls. Only by making changes at the highest level can we hope to save the bees through governmental restrictions. Join A Bee Support Organization Find a save the bees organization and offer your time, money, or support in any way that you can. You can help raise money, spread awareness about the cause and help develop areas to become more bee-friendly environments. Keep Bees If you have the resources, then you can start a hive of your own, not to exploit bees for the honey but simply to let them live in safety and comfort. There are lots of resources online, including The Bee Conservancy that teach you how to start your own hive and become an ethical beekeeper. The Bee Conservancy is an especially good resource. Spread The Word Tell everyone what you know about the decline of bee populations and the effects of commercial honey production. Go onto social media and let people know what they can also do to help save the planet. Promote bee-free products and encourage others to make the swap to vegan for a better bee-friendly world. How Vegan Honey Can Help Save The Bees All the evidence above shows us that our current trajectory is unsustainable. If we continue commercially farming bees to the extent that we have been for decades, we will see their extinction in the very near future. The impact that will have on the looming environmental crisis is a very frightening prospect. But changing our commercial honey-making practices does not need to be hard at all. There are many ways we can reproduce the sweet taste and experiences of honey without exploiting the bees. We have a range of incredibly delicious and nutritious shakes and blends that can include vegan honey and have zero impact on the bee population. Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Saving the Bees Save The Bees With Our Vegan Honey Products We produce entirely organic bee-free honey that has all of the sweetness of bee-made honey, but without any of the guilt. It is made from apples, grown organically and ethically. You can use it as a smoothie base or simply as a sweetener as you would with bee-made honey. Check out our products page and see if anything takes your fancy. Go green, save the bees, and feel great about helping the environment.
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The Top 9 Smoothie And Soup Boosters To Get The Most Nutrition
If smoothies are already a part of your daily routine, you know how quickly you can have a healthy breakfast or snack that you and your family enjoy. At BlenditUp, our goal is to help you make a delicious, creamy smoothie every time. With this article, not only make something that tastes so good your kids drink every last drop, we want to pack it full of superfood nutrition, so everyone gets the most nutrients and energy in your smoothies ... and soups. Get ready to mix up new flavors and create new combinations that help fuel energy and also supply the brain with essential fatty acids. We'll cover both macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients. Macro-Nutrient Boosters Protein Carbohydrates Fat Macro-Nutrient Boosters - Protein Protein provides essential amino acids your body needs to stay at full strength. It is an important nutrient that provides energy, helps repair tissue and build tissue, assists in the formation of enzymes that help your body produce cellular energy, and allows your body to store extra amino acids for later use. The recommended daily intake of protein is 0.8 grams per pound of body weight for adult men and 0.4 grams per pound for adult women. If you need a higher amount of protein, then it is recommended you eat a variety of proteins in a variety of food sources. Protein is also important in maintaining the correct balance between calcium and phosphorus in your body. Macro-Nutrient Boosters - Carbohydrates Carbohydrates provide your body with the nutrition it needs to function properly. They are broken down by the body into glucose which may be used as fuel or energy or stored in muscle cells for later use. Adding fruits and vegetables, which are complex carbohydrates, break down slowly in the body and provide a steady, healthy form of energy. Refined sugar may make your smoothies taste good, but it's a simple carbohydrate that quickly converts to glucose and pumps insulin levels through the roof. That means you get a burst of energy, followed by a crash. Yikes. Refined carbs make for an unhealthy diet and even yet another reason for your energy level to crash throughout the day. Avoid them like the plague and if you use sweeteners like stevia, monk fruit extract, coconut nectar, your blood sugar won't spike so dramatically. Refined sugars also create inflammation that causes water retention, aches, and pain, as well as unneeded stress on the body. Whole grains, such as brown rice, oats, and quinoa are also good sources of carbohydrates. These also provide a good-for-you boost to your smoothie or soup bowl. Quinoa is a high protein grain that has been shown to help control blood sugar levels in diabetics and non-diabetics alike. Macro-Nutrient Boosters - Fat Fat is an essential nutrient that supplies the body with energy. It also helps the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, & K. Fats are broken down by the body into fatty acids for use as fuel or they are stored in muscle cells to help keep you strong. Micro-Nutrient Boosters Micronutrients include vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that play a huge role in your day-to-day life. Your body is an amazing machine that works hard every single day to supply you with the food, water, and oxygen it needs to live and function properly. We all have different needs but most people have a few things in common when it comes to nutrition. Vitamins Vitamins from superfoods are not only essential for the body's health, but they also provide benefits that support overall health and weight management. Your body needs these nutrients to absorb, metabolize, transport, maintain and regulate fat cells. Vitamins are essential for the optimal functioning of your metabolism. Minerals Minerals are important elements of life that are vital to many functions of the body. They also provide benefits by helping to keep the body healthy by supporting bone health, water balance, blood pressure regulation, cell integrity, and more. The list continues with regulating metabolism and supplying energy to muscles. Antioxidants It is a well-known fact that antioxidants are important for the body's health and wellness, but did you know that they also play a role in the formation of specific nutrients that help us perform at our best? And not only do they play a key role in certain biochemical functions, but they also assist with maintaining energy levels throughout the day. Essential Fatty Acids Essential fatty acids help the body produce eicosanoids, which are enzymes that produce hormones, which help regulate cell growth and maturation. Without them, the body is unable to perform these key biochemical functions. Eating foods high in omega-3 fatty acids can help prevent cancer, heart disease, arthritis, depression, ADHD, mental illness, skin disorders, and many other health concerns. Fiber Fiber is the indigestible portion of plant-based foods that the body cannot digest. It also helps keep you regular! Good fiber sources include spinach, honeydew melon, asparagus, tomatoes, strawberries, spinach, broccoli, beans, and legumes. The Best 9 Smoothie And Soup Boosters Spinach Dark Chocolate Protein Powder Berries Avocado Chia Seeds Hemp Hearts Pineapple Herbs and Spices Spinach Spinach is rich in minerals like magnesium and iron and is also an excellent source of vitamin A and Folic acid. It also contains fiber and is a great addition to your smoothie and soup bowls. You can add a handful of spinach and your kids won’t even taste this leafy vegetable, yet they’ll reap the benefits of the minerals, vitamins, and fiber. Add bright, vibrant colorful fruits and they won’t even see the green color. Because of its dense vitamin and mineral content, studies show that spinach is beneficial for maintaining healthy hair, skin, and nails. It also helps build strong bones, aids in digestion, maintain healthy blood sugar levels, and lowers the risk of heart disease. Spinach provides 10 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin B6, which is needed for metabolism and fat burning. Dark Chocolate Dark chocolate is high in flavanols which help improve blood flow, protect the brain from disease, and provide anti-inflammatory benefits. Flavonoids are polyphenols that are associated with numerous health benefits. Flavonoids also provide a boost to energy levels and high-quality focus, especially among women. The dark chocolate we recommend contains 70% cocoa and is rich in flavanols and antioxidants that can help improve blood flow and protect the brain from disease and inflammation. Protein Powder We make it easy to boost your smoothie with protein by adding a scoop of one of our protein powders. Our top proteins don't add any extra weird taste to your smoothies, just a creamy, smooth texture. BlenditUp Protein Powders for Smoothies and soups: Not only can you add our protein to smoothies, but you can also add this macro-nutrient to oatmeal, and your favorite soups to supply your body with the essential building blocks to build muscle and maintain muscle. As a bonus, according to studies, protein also helps with healthy weight loss. BlenditUp Smooth, Creamy Plant-Based Protein Powders Clean Lean Whey Protein Powder Blueberries Blueberries are wonderful for your heart health because they are loaded with powerful antioxidants that fight disease and can help prevent heart disease. Blueberries also are rich in Vitamin C. Blueberries are one of our top choices because they can be used to help stave off colds, boost energy levels, reduce stress, improve heart health and improve the immune system. Blueberries are loaded with powerful antioxidants that fight disease and can fight cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s Disease. Add strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries for additional flavor, color, and antioxidants. Avocado Avocados add a smooth, creamy texture to smoothies, soups, dressings, and sauces. They are rich in monounsaturated fat and a good source of vitamin C. Avocados are also a good source of dietary fiber and provide 10 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin B6, which is needed for metabolism and energy production. Avocados are rich in healthy fats that help maintain your weight and keep your heart healthy. They also help to keep you full longer, which is beneficial for weight loss. Chia Seeds Chia seeds are an excellent source of fatty acids, minerals, and fiber. They provide a boost to energy levels and performance. Chia seeds are a great source of omega-3, minerals, and fiber. They provide a boost to energy levels and performance. Chia seeds have been used for centuries by the Aztecs in Mexico as a food staple. Because chia seeds are loaded with fiber, they support digestive health and can help keep you full longer. Boost your smoothies with chia seeds for minerals and vitamins like iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, manganese, and B-vitamins. Hemp Hearts Hemp hearts are a great source of protein and essential fatty acids. As mentioned above, protein is the building block of our body and is essential for cell structure and maintenance; it also helps us perform everyday tasks like breathing, movement, and digestion. Hemp seeds are a complete protein containing all 9 essential amino acids. They are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids with a good ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids. Hemp seeds contain more magnesium than any other plant food and have been used for centuries in Chinese traditional medicine to support overall health. Pineapple Pineapple is a good source of manganese and beta-carotene. It’s also high in vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Pineapple also contains an enzyme known as bromelain which has anti-inflammatory properties and can reduce pain and swelling after an injury, preventing debilitating arthritis and related problems. You may have heard that pineapple can be used to soothe a cough and help with the symptoms of asthma and sinus inflammation. It can also help reduce symptoms of hay fever, such as runny nose and sneezing. Herbs and Spices Not only do spices and herbs add flavor, but they're also packed with nutrition. Spices and herbs can be used to help reduce inflammation, improve digestion, fight cancer, support the cardiovascular system and promote a healthy immune system. You can use cinnamon as a spice for your smoothies by adding 1/2 teaspoon to any smoothie recipe. Cinnamon is a good source of manganese and fiber. It’s also been used to help improve blood glucose levels in those with diabetes by regulating blood sugar levels. For added flavor, add fresh ginger to boost your soups and smoothies. Garlic, onions, leeks, shallots, chives, and scallions are all part of the allium family. The health benefits of these are nearly endless. They have been used to help treat chronic diseases since ancient times, and it's no wonder why. They have been used for centuries to support overall health and act as an anti-inflammatory. Onions are a good source of vitamin C and manganese. Garlic is a good source of vitamin B6. It's also rich in manganese, selenium, and vitamin C. Whether you're blending up a soup or cooking on your stop top, be sure to stock up on our delicious spice blends. Southwest Everything Spice Blend Italian Spice Blend Summary The real purpose of food is to provide our bodies with fuel to help increase our energy and be our best selves. And, with all the amazing flavors from whole foods, we’re also meant to enjoy the foods we eat. We hope this article has been helpful to you so that you can make perfect smoothies and soups every time. Please share with us your favorite recipes on our social media. Resources Protein for weight loss Blueberries are rich in ascorbic acid and antioxidants Blueberries improve memory and could help fight against Alzheimer’s disease
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Organic Non-GMO Soy vs. GMO Soy: What's The Difference?
How Does Non-GMO Soy Impact Your Health? When it comes to plant-based nutrition, soy is arguably one of the most controversial topics in the health and wellness space. With so much information (and misinformation) about soy products available at our fingertips online, you may be wondering whether or not soy products...
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