Natural Remedy Tips #3 - Garlic
Garlic has been used for thousands of years as a natural remedy for many ailments and is medically proven to have many natural health benefits.
Here are some of the fascinating ways garlic can help you:
- Cholesterol: Garlic has been proven to lower levels of LDL (Low Density Lipids: cholesterol carrier) and triglycerides by many medical studies conducted around the world. That means less chances you'll suffer related problems such as thrombosis, strokes and heart attacks to name but a few.
- Anti-bacterial: Garlic is a powerful, natural antibiotic that can be used internally and externally to treat bacterial infections.
- Anti-viral: Garlic is also a very good anti-viral agent and is known to help the body fight off colds, influenza and a myriad of other viral infections.
- Immune System: If helping you to combat colds and flu directly were not enough, garlic also strengthens the body's immune system, so it works as a prevention as well as a cure.
- Pregnancy: New research has found that taking garlic during pregnancy can cut the risk of pre-eclampsia (raised blood pressure and protein retained in the urine). Studies reveal that garlic may help to boost the birth-weight of babies destined to be too small. The research was carried out by Dr D Sooranna, Ms J Hirani and Dr I Das in the Academic Department of Obstertrics & Gynaecology at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in London UK.
Insecticide
Another use for garlic include it's insecticidal properties that form a natural way to combat a number of irritating pests in the garden as well as those that like to invade our homes.
To create an effective natural insecticide, several cloves should be chopped finely and added to warm water with a drop of mild dish washing liquid. Shake vigorously, strain and then place in a standard garden spray bottle.
Use it to kill aphids on plants and deter other flying pests from invading your space!
Vampires and Evil Spirits
If you're pestered by the odd blood hungry vampire, hanging strings of garlic bulbs is said to ward off the evil undead and deter evil spirits from entering your home.
If that is too far fetched for you, it actually has some basis in fact.
Not the evil undead, but real-life blood-sucking critters like mosquitoes are said to avoid the pungent small of garlic and prefer to bite garlic free victims. How true that is remains to be seen, as they seem to like taking a bite out of me whether I've eaten garlic or not!
The Right Way to Eat Garlic
When preparing garlic to add to food, it should always be chopped and not crushed. This is because with domestic garlic crushes you tend to discard the most nutritious whole parts of the clove.
Garlic is always best eaten raw, chopped and sprinkled over food rather than cooked. Cooking depletes the important health giving primary active compound, ″allicin (diallylthiosulfinate).″
Garlic cloves can be pickled in vinegar, but this also robs the cloves of allicin, so it really is best eaten raw! That way you get the full benefit of the great flavour too.
The only downside to eating a lot of garlic is the dreaded "garlic breath" that can stop a charging rhino at 50 paces! If it bothers you that you might be upsetting other people, just think to yourself that if they can smell garlic on your breath, they haven't eaten any themselves, so therefore they are less healthy than you!
So go ahead, put your own health before some stranger who might be ignorant in the ways of natural health!
Summary
Eating fresh, raw garlic as an addition to a meal or even on its own is a great way to boost your body's natural defences against infection and disease.
Since many cultures around the world do this regularly, it should not be ignored or avoided merely because your own culture shies away from the pungent odour it can create.
Until next time, here's to your very good health.
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Posted on Sat, 11 Aug 2007 in Remedies | 0 Comments