The NutraBee Story
My Journey from Illness to Health
My love for bees started in April, 1994. On a bright sunny afternoon, a car crossed into our lane hitting our van head on: life changed. For the next three years, migraines, fatigue and memory loss were my daily companions.
Looking back, the accident could have been fatal. While I hit my head and knees hard on the dashboard and suffered whiplash, the hospital x-rays showed no broken bones. It could have been worse, our van stop two feet from an electrical pole. I was given painkillers and sent home
The strange thing about soft tissue damage is that by all appearances you look normal to friends and family, but inside, chronic pain and depression filled my day. To manage the pain, I tried a variety of painkillers and over time nothing seemed to work. I tried neck manipulation which didn’t work, and consulted with medical specialists who advised that the only solution was to learn to live with chronic pain, memory loss and depression. I was a completely different person from the active, life-loving woman I was before the accident.
The incident was a turning point in our lives. Prior to this, I was a successful entrepreneur and ran a Childrens’ Relief Charity. After the accident, I had no energy. We sold the businesses, but I managed to continue my humanitarian work, receiving the Helen Price Award in 1999 for helping children in war torn areas of the world.
Helping children who lost their parents in through war changed my perspective: they had survived a war, I survived an accident. I was determined to get better and started to consult with herbalists to learning about natural remedies.
Several herbalists recommended trying pure, unprocessed honey. Honey has antiseptic, antibacterial and immune system boosting properties. Used to clear up infection, reduce inflammation and improve energy, taking honey also promoted my faster healing. Unlike any other carbohydrate, the fructose and glucose sugars in honey are not bound together, so the body easily converts these sugars into energy.
Finally, something worked, and I was on the long road to recovery! Elated, I researched traditional herbal pharmacopeia and started adding herbs such as; sage, senna, cumin, fennel, Ceylon cinnamon, mustard seed, anise, coriander, ginger, cloves, fenugreek to the raw honey. Now, I was in the fast lane to recovering my health!
As my health improved, other people asked for my honey-herbal formula. So in 2000, I decided to develop and market my honey-herb formula under the SAFA label which was later changed to Bee Active™. Today my company, NutraBee, has several honey-herb products that include: Bee Active™ with certified-organic herbs, Bee Strong with Ceylon Cinnamon, His & Hers Honey with Canadian ginseng and organic ginger and Immuno Bee with Black Seed all made with unprocessed Canadian honey.
Incorporating unprocessed honey with other bee products such as royal jelly, propolis and bee pollen (see Honey Dictionary), I formulated Bee Beautiful with royal jelly, Bee Guard with propolis and Buzz Off with raw bee pollen. I also developed Bee Heart Healthy, a monoculture buckwheat honey, and Mountain Gold Wildflower Honey, a wildflower honey.
We also carry pure honeycomb. All NutraBee products contain only unprocessed Canadian honey.
Bee Friendly NutraBee
At NutraBee, we take pride in all our products, partnering with a 4th generation family of beekeepers who are dedicated to their craft. They produce a quality raw honey containing digestible carbohydrates, proteins, enzymes, 18 essential and nonessential amino acids, vitamins and minerals, and free radical fighting antioxidants.
Unlike many beekeepers, their honeybees are not used to pollinate sprayed orchards. As the ingredient in raw honey is flower nectar and pollen, the flora which bees feed on affects taste and colour. Bees feeding on sprayed crops produce honey which contains pesticide residue you can taste. Our customers can taste the difference, which is why they buy NutraBee honey.
The apiary we source our honey is located in a clean pollution-free environment. To get a quality raw honey, they let their bees forage over 850 acres of wildflowers, moving the hives to different locations which exposes the bees to a wide variety of flora. They also produce a monoflora buckwheat honey which has a richer taste and is darker in colour than lighter coloured and lighter tasting wildflower honey.
The honey we use in all our products is unprocessed raw honey: no heat, no water, no ultra-filtration and no added high fructose corn syrups – just 100% pure unprocessed Canadian honey. You can see this in the texture of our honey which flows in a continuous stream down to the last drop in the bottle. As our honey contains no additives, there is no hard gooey mass at the bottom of the jar. And, as bees have not been exposed to pesticides, you will not taste pesticide residue in our honey.
My partnership with bees started with an accident. Today, my life is full and active. And, while I have limited recollection of my children growing up, and my hearing is still compromised, I no longer suffer from chronic pain and depression. I feel blessed to have the support of my family and with the assistance of bees, help others regain their health.
I am passionate about bees. So much so that I am known as Mrs. Bee among friends and customers. My guarantee to you is that NutraBee Pure Gourmet Honey Products contains unprocessed Canadian honey made by well-tended bees, as nature intended. I am certain that once you taste the difference, no other honey will be on your table.