Last year I was in my US office and met a colleague for the first time. We had worked together for a while now but had never met. On the last day of my visit, I had 6 hours to kill before my late night flight. She offered to take me shopping to Macy’s. I was reluctant coz I knew she had two little daughters – aged 4 and 6.

“What about your daughters?”, I asked her.

“Oh my eldest one is home from her college break. She can take them to soccer class. I will call and tell her”, saying so she pulled out her cell phone and began speaking in rapid Vietnamese. I had my mouth hanging open the whole time.

“You also have a college going daughter?”, I asked looking at her and trying to figure out her age. She looked like a 25 year old. I had guessed that she was a young mother!

“Yes. She is 19”, she said with a smile. She knew where this conversation was going.

“How old are you then?”

“42 Ankita. I am 42 years old”, her smile widened. This was obviously not the first time she had been asked this.

“Wow. What is your secret?”

“Warm water and honey”, she said. “I have a tall glass of warm water and honey every morning for the last 20 years”

Till that time I had no idea that warm water and honey could do this. In fact, I only knew of honey as a throat remedy ingredient. I came back home and began reading up on the benefits of honey and came across the term Honey Diet! Now I had heard of various diets like GM, Paleo, Wheat Belly, Atkinsons, No Carb, Low Carb etc etc. But a honey diet? How can something sweet and tasty like honey have a diet of its own? And more importantly can it help? Turn out, it can. Two simple things that need to be done are –

How to do The Honey Diet?

1. Have a glass of warm water and honey in the morning. As soon as you get up. This kickstarts your metabolism and puts it into high gear! It also acts as a detox drink. Perhaps that is the reason my colleague had such good skin!
2. Replace sugar with honey in all your meals. Besides being a healthier sweetener, it is also more flavourful adding a unique taste to beverages like milkshakes, smoothies and even lemonade!

I was certainly intrigued and ended up buying a 1 kilo bottle of Dabur honey right away! These are few ways I incorporate honey into my family’s diet –

How to use Honey in Food everyday?

• Oatmeal – I don’t add sugar to oatmeal at all now. I add a few spoonfuls of honey, a small chopped apple and a pinch of cinnamon once the oatmeal is cooked. Smells like apple pie for sure and tastes so much better than boring old oatmeal! My daughter gobbles this up
• Milkshakes – Fruit milkshakes and chocolate milkshakes are our favourites. If I am making a banana shake or a cocoa shake, I use just honey to sweeten
• Smoothies – My favourite is apple, carrot, ginger and honey smoothie. Yumzaa
• Instant Cake – Cocoa powder, milk, honey and flour microwaved for two minutes is happiness in a cup
• Salad Dressing – Yogurt, mint and honey forms a yummy dressing for salads. It is a no oil dressing

In today’s day when there are tonnes of junk food options available everywhere, it is difficult to avoid junk altogether. Making small changes like these go a long way in inculcating healthy habits. I have embraced the Honey Diet. Have you?