Review of Beekeepers Naturals Products

Watching your kids take on some of your better qualities is one of the best parts of parenting.

I get a little high every time I watch my kids fall deeply into learning, or even just share a factoid they remember with excitement.

Recently, John, my eight-year-old, proudly told his friend, “Honey is the only food that will never go bad. You could even bury it for thousands of years with mummies and still eat it and not get sick.”

This was his general rendition of something I had shared with my kids that the readers around here also really appreciated. Back in the spring, I shared an interview with Carly of Beekeepers Naturals about all sorts of bee products and as fascinated as I was about the qualities of propolis, my audience was equally fascinated that honey really is the only food that will never spoil.

Here’s the interview with Carly of Beekeepers Naturals on Facebook.

It really has been found in tombs with mummies, and it could still be safe to eat (but I wouldn’t want to try it).

My favorite bee product, something I never thought I would have to choose, is definitely propolis. Propolis is a sticky, antioxidant-rich collection of plant and tree resins that bees use to line the walls of the hive to protect against microscopic foreign invaders.

From Beekeeper’s Naturals:

Propolis is basically the immune system of the hive. It has incredible germ-fighting properties and even contains over 300 beneficial vitamins, minerals, and compounds—making it nature’s ultimate defender.

Bee propolis is also a mighty ally in combating free radical damage during periods of stress—like when you’re rushing through a long line at airport security, struggling under a time-crunched deadline, or running your first half marathon.

My science geek brain loved learning that propolis is a natural product that has been used medicinally for hundreds of years and within the beehive, it’s such a powerful antiviral and antibacterial that if a mouse were to crawl in the hive and die, the bees would cover it with propolis to protect themselves from its decay.

The propolis would basically mummify it.

They even keep a propolis “doormat” by the entrance to ensure that no bustling bees track in any unwanted germs!

Now, I have no inclination to be mummified myself. But I do like the idea of killing viruses and bacteria before they make me sick.

Beekeepers Naturals makes a throat spray out of propolis and it’s become one of my favorite new products over the past year.

Much like when I started Kitchen Stewardship^® in 2009, I felt like I was a drug pusher of sorts, constantly trying to get people to make homemade chicken broth, or homemade yogurt. I’m becoming a bit that way about this propolis throat spray.

I’m losing count of all the places in my house that we have a bottle – from the middle of our kitchen table, to my nightstand, to each bathroom cabinet…I even ended up with two in my car after our travels this summer where we relied on it to keep us protected from the many germs we encountered in the nine different states we were in.

When I visited a friend for a walk in the fall she was beaten down by a sore throat, turned cough, turned awful cold, and I offered her some. This was not the first time I’d told a friend or associate, “Open wide, I’m gonna squirt your throat.”

I just shared a few tidbits with her about what it is and what it does, and after I squirted her throat (actually, she took it from me and decided to do the deed herself) she closed her lips and in surprise, raised her eyebrows and said, “Mmm, it tastes good!”

She immediately asked where she could buy some, already plotting to be squirting the throats of her four children all winter.

It’s been the same way with my team, the hard workers behind the scenes here at Kitchen Stewardship^® and at Kids Cook Real Food. Some of them have gotten their hands on bottles, and in one of our online chats, the conversation went something like this.

L: “That propolis spray is amazing!!”

S: “I agree! My son was coughing a lot on Friday and I was a bit, too. I gave us both a couple of squirts a few different times yesterday and he just pointed out to me that neither of us are coughing today! Come to think of it, I didn’t hear him coughing at night either.”

A: “Wow – that’s great! I have one that I ordered last year but I haven’t used it yet – guess I’ll go ahead and get some more with this deal so I’m prepared!”

Me: “That’s great! It can be preventive too, like if you are flying on an airplane or know you are visiting someone who is sick, or if anyone in the family gets that ominous tickle.”

A: “Ok y’all have convinced me, I’ll get it. ;p”

S: “It’s well worth it the price. I’m ordering the entire Beegan Pharmacy this time.”

See what I mean? It’s a little bit like a viral meme, or great word of mouth…or, in fact, back to me being a drug pusher again.

Now propolis is not a drug, of course. Please don’t misconstrue my goofy analogy. It’s actually a natural product and Beekeepers Naturals is careful to raise bees sustainably and purely so that they are both helping the earth and providing great products from the hive that help keep my family safe.

Honey of Many Colors

I’ve also been fortunate taste test Beekeepers Naturals’ many kinds of honey, ranging from the very light, creamy looking wildflower honey to the dark-colored buckwheat honey, almost like a stout craft beer.

All of them are delicious and my same eight-year-old, John has taken to practicing the culinary arts with them, opening all the jars and dotting each of his pancake sandwiches with a different flavor.

It’s fun to watch him experiment. He’s even gotten into a special honey blend called B-Powered, which blends honey, royal bee jelly, propolis, and bee pollen.

Bee Pollen is Nature’s Multivitamin

Bee pollen is another fascinating product that I never knew existed but now it goes into every smoothie I make for my dairy-free daughter. Poor Leah is also hampered lately by mouth pain from her expander, so smoothies made with coconut milk are one of the best ways to get nourishment into her, and boy do I pack a lot of add-ins into each one.

It turns out bee pollen is packed with B vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, basically like nature’s multivitamin, and royal bee jelly is great for a boost of energy. When I sit down to work after my kids go to bed I’ll often grab the jar of B-Powered, put a little on the end of a spoon and savor it to give me a little boost and mental clarity.

B.LXR for Super-Powered Brains

Speaking of mental clarity the last Beekeepers Naturals product that I use often is called B.LXR. It’s a natural formulation of royal jelly, ginkgo biloba, and bacopa monnieri – a caffeine-free free product to help fight brain fog and support your memory, and improve your focus, energy, and productivity.

B.LXR is not an inexpensive product, but if you’re used to spending $5 at Starbucks on a fancy latte to wake yourself up, I would recommend swapping out the habit for these little vials. They’ll definitely give you a boost of energy as well as mental clarity, and I always appreciate having them before I give a big presentation, do a few interviews in a row, or sit down to write a particularly complicated post. I would also recommend them for students taking important standardized tests or exams.

One word of caution: the ginkgo biloba in B.LXR can cause headaches for people who aren’t used to it, so start off slowly with half a vial and you may find that half a vial works well enough for you. You can save the other half for the following day.

It seems like there are new products being created every day, and there are hundreds of thousands of them cluttering up our stores, our commercials, and flying past our faces through online advertising.

It’s amazing how many things marketers think we need to buy that are created by scientists and labs. I’d much rather rely on natural products that have been used for centuries, and that are carefully grown and harvested by companies I trust like Beekeepers Naturals.

It’s super fun to find new products like this, especially knowing that we are not relying on the pharmaceutical companies.