“All Things Garlic” (Remedies, Benefits and Tips)

Hi Everyone! Happy Sunday and welcome to the start of the last week of February! I hope you have had a safe week especially for anyone reading this that may have gone through the devastating winter storms. Here’s to a warmer week ahead we hope! Thanks for being back. Tonight’s post will be totally packed and dedicated to garlic!

Garlic has been nicknamed “Nature’s Miracle Healer” and is considered a humble, yet powerful ally in the fight against a variety of health problems. In reading and preparing for this post, I came across some interesting facts. Garlic has been part of humanity’s medicine chest for thousands of years. Touted since ancient times as a miraculous “cure-all”, it was useful for treating athlete’s foot, heart disease and its uses date back to at least 1550 B.C. The Persians, the Medes, the Phoenicians and the Babylonians all had extensive knowledge about garlic. The Talmud also contains references to the benefits of garlic. Another interesting fact: it is nicknamed “the stinking rose” and belongs to the lily family and is related to onions, chives, shallots, and leeks. It is a perennial plant that is cultivated worldwide. Garlic is considered to be one of the most popular natural remedies of all time.

The benefits of garlic are divided into three categories: Treating infection, Protecting Circulation, Detoxifying.

Fresh garlic is effective against bacteria, yeasts and fungi. Garlic is recommended for mild, recurring or chronic infections that are not dangerous, such as infections of the mouth, ears, throat, stomach or skin. It is effective against bronchitis, cystitis, thrush, and colds.

The ancient Greeks used garlic “to keep the arteries open.” We now know that garlic reduces blood cholesterol levels, can help reduce blood pressure, and lower blood sugar levels.

The sulphur and hydrogen compounds of garlic are potent, binding and removing metals through excretions. The powerful compounds of garlic stimulate the immune system by increasing the potency of immune-system cells.

Key nutrients in garlic include calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin E, folate and fiber.

The health-promoting actions of garlic include functioning as the following:

Antibacterial agent, Antifungal agent, antioxidant, antistress agent, antiviral agent, heavy-metal chelation agent, immune-system enhancer, liver-protective agent.

Specific health problems that may be helped by garlic include the following:

Allergies, arthritis, asthma, bronchitis, canker sores, cardiovascular disease, carpel tunnel syndrome, circulation, colds and flu, persistent fever, diabetes, excessive sweating, fatigue, hemorrhoids, high cholesterol, high toxin levels, sore throat.

The recommended intake of fresh garlic is one to two cloves a day. A clove is one of the individual segments that make up a head of garlic. Most studies have focused on the healing powers of fresh, raw, or cooked garlic and aged garlic extract (AGE). Kyolic Aged Garlic Extract from Wakunaga of America (Home | Wakunaga of America (kyolic.com) is a garlic extract that is standardized to contain a certain level of both SAC and SMAC. Kyolic contains the compound fructosyl arginine which in laboratory tests has been proven to be just as effective as Vitamin C in antioxidant activity. (Tip: aged garlic extract is also odorless and tasteless for those concerned about any smell!) I personally use the Kyolic for immune support! **Note: avoid consuming very large quantities of garlic if you take aspirin or anticoagulant drugs on a regular basis because all three restrict clotting.

GARLIC REMEDIES FOR SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS:

Finger or Toe Fungus. Place a cotton ball saturated with liquid garlic on the affected areas. Use an adhesive bandage or cotton sock to hold it in place. Change the saturated cotton daily.

High Cholesterol. Eat two to four crushed fresh garlic cloves each day. Add garlic to salads, dressings, or anything else you like , but don’t eat it alone as it may irritate the stomach lining. Or take four to six capsules of garlic extract daily for two months, then four daily thereafter.

Mosquito Repellant. Take four capsules of garlic extract with vitamins B1 and B12 one hour before going outside.

Mouth Sores. Place 1 teaspoon of liquid garlic in your mouth, swish it around, then hold it for a few minutes before swallowing. For added healing, mix one capsule or four drops of goldenseal herbal extract to the liquid garlic.

For Pets. (This one is one of my favorite remedies. We have used in for our chocolate lab and it works wonders!) Place two drops of liquid garlic extract in the ears for ear mites.

COOKING WITH GARLIC. The beauty of garlic is its versatility as a medicine, spice, and food. Buy garlic loose, rather than packaged, to choose healthy bulbs. Look for plump, dry, solid bulbs that are free of soft spots. They should feel solid and heavy and have tight, unbroken outer skin. Garlic will keep for several weeks when stored in a covered container placed in a cool, dry spot – but do not refrigerate it. Garlic will sprout. The sprouts have a milder taste and can be used like scallions and chives. Here are some tips for using garlic in the kitchen:

Do not pulverize raw garlic in a blender. This makes it bitter beyond repair.

To peel a garlic clove, place it on a cutting board and lay the flat side of a bread knife on top. Tap the knife sharply to split the peel, and the clove will pop out. If you need a lot of cloves, drop them in boiling water for a minute or two, then plunge into cold water, and the skins should slip off easily.

Don’t let garlic burn when sauteing or roasting. It turns sharp and bitter. Gently saute cloves on low heat until they become transparent.

Roast the cloves or the whole head to produce garlic that is quite sweet.

Make a great sauce by pureeing together roasted garlic cloves with stock, and spiking it with tamari sauce and fresh rosemary, thyme or basil.

To add garlic to your diet, try one or more of the following: mix raw garlic with roasted red peppers and serve as an appetizer. Add raw garlic to Caesar salad. Add garlic to tomato sauce, saute it with olive oil and parsley and serve over pasta. Or mash it with black beans for burritos!

I hope you have enjoyed this post and will glean a lot of useful information! Next week will be part one of a two part series “Much Ado about Mushrooms.” Before I close, our fellow blogger bernlag shared two great items that I wanted to pass onto you all: “My favorite herb is rosemary and I make baked white potatoes all the time. But next time I will use your suggestion – sweet potatoes. Also, where I come from rosemary is for remembrance. When my son died, I gave everyone a small rosemary plant to take home and plant in remembrance of him.” and “Tarragon is amazing along with mayo and walnuts to create a delicious chicken salad.” Keep the great tips coming as I will pass them on to everyone else to enjoy!

Have a wonderful week!

“Do kind things for people, not because of who they are or what they will do in return, but because of who you are.”