All Natural, Sustainably Sourced Ingredients
Our bodies break the things we eat down to their constituent components and then use those molecules as the building blocks to assemble who we are. The old adage is true: you really are what you eat. Therefore, we only use the highest quality, all natural, organic ingredients to ensure that your body has what it needs to help you when you need it the most.
Our ingredients are also enriched by how they’re made. It’s become increasingly apparent that commercial agricultural techniques can deplete their surrounding environments of natural resources, damaging carefully balanced ecosystems that took millennia to develop. We therefore only partner with companies that prioritize sustainable practices. We also take care that the materials we use in our packaging have a limited impact on the environment.
Raw Honey
Forager bees harvest nectar within a 3 mile radius around their hive. The nectar and pollen they harvest are the essential sources of carbohydrates and proteins needed to rear their young and sustain themselves.
When a forager bee harvests nectar, it is stored in its honey stomach (called a crop), which is separate from their normal stomach. In the crop, the nectar is mixed with a variety of enzymes that break down the sugars.
Natural honey contains about 200 substances, including bee pollen, propolis, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and enzymes, but its primary constituents are sugar (39% fructose, 31% glucose) and water (18%). The exact composition of honey will depend on which flowers the bees foraged for their nectar but most all honey will contain the following vitamins and minerals: potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, sulpher, phosphorus, iron, copper, zinc and manganese; folate, vitamin C, vitamin B6, niacin, riboflavin, pantotheic acid. [1] [2]
Most honey you buy in the grocery store has been processed. Processed honeys are heated to 150-170 F for 30 min and passed through membrane filters. The honey is heated to reduce the viscosity (how thick it is) so that it flows through the filters more easily. This process also melts any crystals in the honey that make it cream, removes pollen, yeast, and makes it appear darker.
Conversely, raw honey is taken straight from the comb and put into a jar, with only a light filtration step to remove any debris.
All of the honey we use in our products is pure and raw.
A modern beekeeper does not just look after and tend to bees. Varoa mites are present in any well established hive and need to be addressed/treated if that hive is to survive.
We utilize natural pest control methods such as drone brood removal and sourcing of local queens to increase the likelihood that our hives are mite resistant. However, our main priority always rests with the prosperity and success of each individual hive. Therefore, when mite counts are found to be too high, we may use oxalic and/or formic acid treatments. These treatments have been approved by the FDA and do not affect honey in any discernable way. However, as an extra precaution, we only treat our hives after they honey supers have been removed, so the treatments are never in proximity to the honey we harvest.
The average honey bee only makes about 1/12 tsp of honey in her entire lifetime.
- It takes 48 bees to make an ounce of honey and 768 to make a pound.
- Bees cumulatively fly more than the distance around the world to make each pound of honey.
- A honeybee visits 50 to 100 flowers on each collection trip.
- Bees must visit over a million flowers to make a single pound of honey.
- One ounce of honey would provide enough energy for a bee to fly around the world.
Full Spectrum Hemp Extract
Full-Spectrum hemp oils contain all of the molecules naturally found in hemp (phytocannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids). We take nothing out of the extract so that you get a product that’s as pure and natural as possible.
Broad-Spectrum hemp oils either start as a CBD isolate and add back additional hemp molecules or strip away the THC from a full spectrum extract.
CBD Isolates use an extraction process that strips away all of the molecules that aren’t CBD, leaving you with pure a CBD powder.
Currently, all of our products use full-spectrum hemp extracts diluted with fractionated coconut oil.
Solvent Extraction Uses ethanol, butane, propane, isopropyl or alcohol to extract CBD. Cheap and easy production method but necessitates the use of harsh chemicals.
Super-Critical Extraction Most common method. Uses high pressures to create supercritical CO2 that dissolves the cannabinoids, terpenes and waxes. The CO2 is then evaporated, leaving behind the desired products.
Sub-Critical Extraction is similar to super-critical but uses lower pressures and temperatures. The extraction processes therefore takes longer, is less efficient and produces smaller yields. However, it protects the fragile essential oils, terpenes and other sensitive compounds found in hemp.
All of our hemp oils have been extracted using sub-critical methods.
With the passing of the Agriculture Improvement Act on a federal level in 2018, hemp products were removed from the Schedule 1 list of drugs so long as they contain less than .3% THC. At this concentration hemp does not possess any psychoactive properties. To stay in compliance with the 2018 Farm Act, we only use extracts that contain less than .3% THC. However, certain military branches still do not allow the use of any hemp extracts, and it is possible to test positive on a drug screen using full-spectrum hemp extracts. [1] Although this is true of all full-spectrum hemp extracts, particularly with frequent and sustained use, it is unlikely that someone would test positive for THC at the concentrations found in our products. Please contact us if you need a THC free formulation. Although we’ve found it not to work as well, we’d be willing to make small batches if there is great enough demand.
Mounting evidence suggests that some botanical drugs are more effective in their whole natural state than as isolated chemicals. The entourage effect purports that there is a natural synergy between molecules in hemp which enhance each other when taken together. Studies have shown that when even a single molecule is missing from the extract, the effects were not as substantial as when taken as a whole.
Should this come as a surprise? It took nature millions of years to develop the specific molecular profiles found in each plant. Hemp for example has more than 100 different phytocannabinoids, 200 types of terpenes and 20 varieties of flavonids. These molecules work together to make the plant more than just the sum of its parts, so it should seem obvious that we should use all of the plant and not just pick and choose individual components for our products.
However, pharmaceutical companies isolate single compounds and highlight their benefits as drugs. Conversely, broad-spectrum extracts isolate a single compound (THC) and remove it from the equation. Both of these concepts veer away from the natural wellness that can be found in hemp.
At Feel Good Honey we don’t want to filter anything out that could be beneficial. Therefore, we currently only use full-spectrum extracts in all of our products, ensuring you receive the best, most natural and purest wellness experience imaginable.
Fractionated Coconut Oil (MCT)
Coconut oil is made by pressing the white ‘meat’ of a coconut nut and contains multiple fatty acids. Fractionated coconut oil refines the oil further so that it only contains medium chain triglycerides (MCT). Medium chain triglycerides are short fat molecules that are readily absorbed by the body.
When CBD is extracted from hemp it takes on an oil-based form that is naturally repelled by water (hydrophobic). This is problematic as the human digestive system is water based. If pure CBD were taken on its own, most of it would pass straight through the body without ever being absorbed; providing you with limited to no benefit.
To counteract CBD’s hydrophobic properties, we attach the CBD to fatty acids called medium-chain triglycerides (fractionated coconut oil or MCT). The digestive system naturally absorbs MCTs like any other fat, enabling it to act as a transport molecule for CBD, aiding the body with absorption.
Be wary of any hemp extracts that do not contain carrier molecules like MCT, as your body is not well equipped to absorb them.
Sunflower Lecithin
Lecithin is a fat that is essential to every cell in the body. It is composed of a variety of phospholipids, the primary components of cellular membranes. There are no known interactions between lecithin and any medications, drugs or medical conditions; although people with allergies to egg or soy should check the source of their lecithin.
Soy lecithin, the most common variety, is often made from genetically modified crops that are contaminated with pesticides, uses chemical solvents in the extraction process, and may cause allergic reactions in people with nut allergies.
Conversely, sunflower lecithin is extracted using a cold-press process and avoids using any additional chemicals or solvents.
Traditionally, oil and water don’t mix. CBDs are most effective in their oil form but, since honey is 18% water, this poses a significant challenge to anyone making CBD honey.
Our water compatible CBD uses all natural ingredients, uniformly mixes with honey and is quickly absorbed by the body.