This is the time of year when you’ll probably be drinking more coffee and hot tea than ever before because that is definitely one of the easiest (and most satisfying) ways to stay warm. Well, if you’d prefer to not use sugar and you’re looking for an alternative that not only tastes great but comes with all types of health benefits, too, what about some bee pollen?
Although it might not be something that you’ve ever considered adding to your diet before, I’m about to break down some of the reasons why it absolutely should be — because, when it comes to a food that will have you thinking, “Where have you been all of my life?” bee pollen is slowly yet surely beginning to top a lot of people’s list.
What Is Bee Pollen?
Although a lot of people think that bee pollen is not much different than say, honey, that actually isn’t the case. Bee pollen is a mixture of bee nectar, flower pollen, honey, bee enzymes, beeswax, and other bee secretions. These things work together to provide your system with all sorts of nutrients, amino acids, and protein (which means that it could be considered vegan, although it depends on what your take on bee harvesting is).
In fact, some scientists and researchers have so much respect for what bee pollen has the ability to do, health-wise, that they don’t just consider it to be food but a form of medicine as well.
Photo by How to Eat Bee Pollen
If you’ve never tried bee pollen before, you might wonder what it tastes like. What a lot of people say is it’s slightly sweet, semi-nutty, and a little floral. That’s actually why many will not just take it in supplement form, they may consume it as a tea or sprinkle it over their yogurt, put it in a smoothie, add it to their cereal, use it as a garnish for their toast, or acai bowls, grind it up to put into their dessert recipes or use it as an overall sweetener alternative. Yeah, that’s one of the best things about bee pollen — it’s super versatile when it comes to how you can easily get it into your system.
As far as storing it goes, make sure to keep your bee pollen in airtight containers and away from sunlight. It’s also a good idea to keep your pollen in the refrigerator; that way, your enzymes will remain potent for a longer period of time.
Keeping all of this in mind, let’s get into some of the reasons why you should get yourself some bee pollen (if you’re not allergic and your physician gives you the green light, that is) sooner than later.
Who Shouldn’t Use Bee Pollen
Now before I get into seven ways that bee pollen can certainly do your body good, a word of caution: If you’re allergic to pollen, you definitely should leave bee pollen alone. Also, if you happen to be pregnant or taking a prescribed medication, ask your doctor first before consuming bee pollen; as far as pregnancy goes, sometimes it can stimulate the uterus, which is something that you definitely don’t want if you’re not close to your due date.
It should also go on record that there is a slight chance that you could end up with a contaminated batch of bee pollen. One telling sign is if there is a lot of moisture in the bee pollen that you’ve purchased. If so, don’t use it. Same goes for if it smells bad or you notice any type of mold. If either is the case, toss the bee pollen out.
What Does Bee Pollen Do To Your Body?
What does bee pollen do for your health?
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1. Bee Pollen Reduces (Some) Menopause-Related Symptoms
GiphyAight, who had it on their bingo card that bee pollen could help with perimenopause and menopause? As crazy as it might (initially) sound, it’s absolutely true. Certain studies reveal that some of the extracts that are in bee pollen can help to reduce hot flashes, balance out erratic mood swings, and even help to decrease night sweats so that you’re able to get a better quality of sleep at night.
2. Bee Pollen Boosts Your Immune System
GiphySomething else that’s cool about bee pollen is it has the ability to strengthen your immunity by strengthening your immune system, increasing the number of red blood cells that are in your system, and accelerating the speed of your antibodies too. Some studies also say that bee pollen can help to strengthen your liver, fight diabetes, and lower your obesity risk.
Not to mention the fact that bee pollen contains powerful antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiviral properties that help to fight off many different types of bacteria and viruses as well.
3. Bee Pollen Can Help with Hair Growth
GiphyWhen it comes to this particular point, when you think about all of the nutrients and antioxidants that are in bee pollen (protein, Vitamin C, iron, and fatty acids), it would make sense that some reports say that bee propolis (which is basically a form of beeswax) is good for hair growth and overall hair health. As far as bee pollen, specifically, goes, science says that a sulfur-based amino acid called cysteine that’s in the pollen can help to reduce an itchy scalp as well as strengthen your hair shaft in the process.
4. Bee Pollen May Help to Prevent Anemia
GiphyIf something that’s a challenge for you is getting your body to absorb more iron, bee pollen also has your back in that department. Apparently, what makes this possible is the fact that bee pollen is a great source of vitamin C and bioflavonoids, and both of those things make it easier for iron to be absorbed into your bloodstream. So, if anemia or being borderline anemic is something that you deal with, this could be an all-natural remedy for you.
5. Bee Pollen Increases Blood Circulation
GiphyWanna know something else that bee pollen is able to do? It can increase blood circulation, especially to your brain and nervous system. This can result in you having less fatigue, more energy, and even better orgasms (since more blood circulation helps to intensify those). Something else that’s cool about bee pollen, on the blood circulation tip is, since it’s considered to be an unsaturated fatty acid, it can reduce your chances of blood clots, heart disease, and stroke.
6. Bee Pollen Decreases Stress
GiphyWe all could use hacks that help to decrease our stress levels, and on the heels of what I just shared, the reality is that when your blood circulation is good, your body doesn’t have to work as hard, more oxygen is going to your brain and your other organs, and you’re able to feel calmer and more relaxed. Hmph. To tell you the truth, when you think about the fact that sugar can make you more anxious and bee pollen is an awesome sweetener alternative that is also good for your blood — why not give it a shot ASAP? What really do you have to lose?
7. Bee Pollen Increases Longevity
GiphySeveral years back, The New York Times published the article, “One Spoonful of Bee Pollen, Each Day, and You, Too, Might Make It to 113.” And y’all, while that might be pushing things just a bit, some studies on animals have revealed that bee pollen has helped them to have increased muscle mass, a boost in their metabolism, and, yes, longer life. And anything that can add some time to the clock, that’s gotta be worth investing in. So, the next time you’re at a health food store, grab some bee pollen.
As you can see, it can do a helluva lot (although, if you’ve heard that it grows breasts,that’s unfounded). The all-natural way.
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Ding. Ding. DING.
A life coach by the name of Thomas Leonard once said that “Clarity affords focus” and, believe you me, when it comes to dealing with other human beings, if you don’t get clear on where you stand when it comes to your interactions with them, you can very easily find yourself “focusing too much” on those who don’t deserve it and too little on those who absolutely do. And y’all, this lil’ PSA couldn’t be more relevant than when it comes to what I call “casual friendships.”
Let’s dig — and for some of us, dig our way out of — what it means to have a casual friend, so that you can get clear on if you really need those in your life…and if so…why?
Article continues after the video.
It Can’t Be Said Enough: Always Remember What “Casual” Means
GiphyThere’s a reason why I decided to share two videos by mental health coach Isaiah Frizzle at the top and bottom of this article. It’s because a lot of what he shares in both of them complements a piece that I wrote for the platform last year entitled, “This Is Just What Purposeful Relationships Look Like.”
It’s the author M. Scott Peck who once said, “Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it” and please believe that the older (and hopefully more mature) you get, the more you tend to see just how valuable — and fleeting — time is; and that is what plays a huge role in motivating you want to only involve yourself with people, places, things and ideas that will honor your time — and when something is casual? In my opinion, it’s highly debatable that it’s worth much of your months, days, hours, or even too many of your minutes.
The main reason why is addressed in an article that I wrote back in the day entitled, “We Should Really Rethink The Term 'Casual Sex.'” The gist? When it comes to relationships, “casual” is certainly not a favorite word of mine because I know what it means. Have mercy — why would you want to invest your time, energy, and emotions into something that is, by definition, apathetic, indifferent, careless, lacking emotional intimacy, and/or is without purpose?
I don’t know about y’all but that sounds like a complete and total crap shoot to me — especially if you are going to go so far as to consider this type of dynamic a true friendship (check out “Ever Wonder If A Friend Is Just...Not That Into You?,” “6 Signs You're About To Make A Huge Mistake In Making Them A Close Friend,” “5 Signs Of A Toxic Friendship That Is Secretly Poisoning Your Life,” “12 Friend Facts That Might Cause You To Rethink (Some Of) Your Own,” and “Less & Less Of Us Have Close Friends These Days. Why Is That?” ).
To me, when you decide to call someone “friend,” it means that they are loyal, reliable, consistent, trustworthy and willing to be there to support you to the very best of their ability — even if it’s inconvenient to do so sometimes (check out “Life Taught Me That True Friendships Are 'Inconvenient'”). How in the world can you expect that from something that has the word “casual” in it?
And you know what? That actually segues into my next point about casual friendships pretty darn well.
Ponder the Purpose “Casual Friends” Serve in Your Life
GiphyA couple of years ago, Verywell Mind published an article entitled, “How the 4 Types of Friendship Fit Into Your Life.” The four that it listed were acquaintances (which I actually don’t consider to be friends; check out “6 Differences Between A Close Acquaintance And An Actual Friend”), casual friends, close friends, and lifelong friends. After reading the piece, I think they consider casual friends to be the “pleasure” friends that I mentioned in the article, “According To Aristotle, We Need ‘Utility’, ‘Pleasure’ & ‘Good’ Friends.”
And although I certainly get that, I think my “cause for pause” is calling those people “friends” when they probably should be called something like an associate or possibly even a buddy instead. Why do I feel this way? Well, I’ve shared in other articles that I think social media has jacked up vocabulary words and their true meaning on a billion different levels.
Take “friend,” for example. Facebook had us out here calling everyone we connected to on their platform “friends” when some of them, we’ve never even spoken to before — and I personally think that influenced, affected and perhaps even infected our psyche to the point where we will call folks, both online and off, “friend” even when they haven’t earned it and/or who possibly don’t deserve it.
That said, do I think that we all could use lighthearted interactions that don’t go very deep and are filled with not much more than fun? Sure. However, if we were to move this over into a sexual thing — those types of people would probably be called a sneaky link, and there is nothing significant or substantial about ‘em. In fact, if anything pretty much automatically comes with an expiration date, sneaky links would have to be it.
And that’s kind of the point that I’m trying to make about a casual friend — so long as you know that the word “casual” is being used to describe them, while you may enjoy the people who fit that bill, they aren’t really anything that you can or even should fully rely on. Instead, take them for what they are and don’t really expect much more than that. Otherwise, you could be in for some profound levels of disappointment. And who wants that?
Final point.
How a Casual Friend Can Become a Huge Red Flag
GiphyI’m telling you, y’all gonna quit clowning Tubi. LOL. To me, the best way to describe it is it’s the Cricket of current streaming apps. What I mean by that is, back when Cricket (the cell phone service) first came out, people, like me, who used it service got incessantly clowned because it was seen as a bootleg provider. Now it’s owned by AT&T, and as someone who has rocked with them since I was in my 20s, I don’t have one regret for doing so. Cricket has always been good to me, chile.
And Tubi? Well, when you get a chance, check out CNBC’s article, “CEO at 33, Tubi’s Anjali Sud on success hacks she learned at Amazon, IAC on way to top of Fox streaming” — take note of the moves the streaming app is making and the quality of programming that is transpiring in real time.
Anyway, I find myself bringing up Tubi more and more in my content because it helps to amplify some of the points that I like to make. This time, it’s a movie that’s (currently) on there calledRight Man, Wrong Woman. If you haven’t seen it before, I don’t want to give too much of the film away. What I will say is that the main female character, she had a casual friend and then she had a close friend.
That casual friend—the one who liked to kick it all of the time—was a lot of fun; however, dealing with her came with a ton of semi-unforeseen consequences. Meanwhile, the close friend? She’s what the Aristotle article (that I mentioned earlier) would call the “good friend” because she tried her best to hold her friend accountable.
And really, it shouldn’t be a shock that the casual friend turned out to be a plum trip because if someone is loads of entertainment and pleasure and yet they are indifferent towards you, they make careless decisions around you and/or they don’t really make known the purpose for you being in their life other than to pass some time — where really do you and that person have to go past drinks after work or dinner on a rooftop restaurant from time to time? And if that is all that the two of you are doing, again, why are they deserving of the word “friend”?
Hmph and don’t get me started on the lack of reciprocity that typically transpires when it comes to dealing with people like this because, while they won’t mind you spending your coins on them, taking their calls in the middle of the night or listening to all of their issues — when it comes time for them to show up for you, they very well may gaslight you into thinking that you are being dramatic, clingy or “doing the most.” Why? Well, it’s mostly because the two of you never really established what the hell the both of you are to one another.
And so, while you’re somewhere taking them seriously, they are out here seeing you casually, and as much as it might hurt to hear, that doesn’t automatically or necessarily make them a bad person. You shouldn’t expect much where no clarity is involved. After all, casual is just that: CASUAL.
____
I’m hoping that you can now see why I entitled this piece in the way that I did. It’s because a red flag is pretty much a warning, and to me, a casual friend is about as big of an oxymoron (again, to me) as casual sex is. Friends and sex are both too intimate to be seen or treated casually. Oh, but if you step out and take that risk, you could find yourself getting far more involved than the other individual ever wanted to go, because casual is how things have always been. “Friend” was simply to get you more mentally and emotionally invested. SMDH.
American columnist Walter Winchell once said, “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” A wise person once said, “One good friendship will outlive forty average loves." Former President Ulysses S. Grant once said, “The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.” Does any of this sound casual to you? Yeah, me neither.
Again, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have people in your life who aren’t on deep levels. I’m just saying that you might want to consider putting them into another category than friend, because what friends do for people? There ain’t nothin’ even remotely casual about it, sis. Not even a lil’ bit.
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