Good Food Good Health- Garlic

Hi everyone

For many years garlic has been known to have great health benefits and is often thought of as natures own antibiotic’ but people have been wary of eating fresh garlic because of the pungent odour it leaves on your breath, or excreted through the pores. Garlic has this effect because it is a substance that is not metabolised; instead it is absorbed through the stomach lining.

Now it has been realised that taking a good quality supplement of Allicin (the active ingredient of garlic) gives you equal effectiveness, and of course you can use the odourless variety, for this garlic is aged and detoxified leaving it deodorised.

I adore garlic and am happy with garlic on just about any type of savoury food, but being the minority in the family have resorted to taking odourless capsules to keep the peace. I think garlic is one of the few foods that everybody has an opinion about; you either love it or hate it!

In fact my father-in-law Joe used to eat raw cloves every day, probably one of the reasons he is in his eighties and has never suffered from bad health. Joe originates from Poland where garlic had been used for health benefits for years and years, primarily eaten against influenza, but they would also use it topically rubbed on the soles of their feet to ward of colds and many other ailments.

But yes, there was a problem with odour and it came to a head at the maternity centre when I had our eldest daughter, the nurses could not believe how after he visited us the odour lingered, and went on to tell him they were worried it would upset the babies on the ward. Obviously he was a little offended, but more embarrassed, even though we had approached the subject before, thank goodness this time it sank in. Now he still uses garlic, but not every day, and happily takes a daily odourless supplement.

To date garlic has under gone many studies and it seems the list of its benefits keeps on increasing. The main reason I have taken garlic for several years now is because of the effect it has on strengthening the body’s immune system.

With all the stress in today’s society our bodies could do with a little help. The antioxidant properties contained in garlic comes from selenium and germanium that are sulphur-containing antioxidants that boost the immune system.

It is this property that helps rid the body of free radicals that are believed to be associated with the ageing process, growth of tumours and atherosclrosis. Garlic in it’s raw state is thought to be one of the most potent boosters of you body’s natural killer cells. This alone should encourage non-garlic lovers to change their minds.

Research has shown that garlic-Allicin is an excellent natural antimicrobial that can disable a wide variety of infectious organisms. These antibiotic properties can provide extremely active against yeast, fungi and viral infections.

Garlic is great for your heart too, as it contains properties that fight bad’ cholesterol. Nowadays we are all aware that HDL- high-density lipoprotein which is not dangerous, but LDL – low-density lipoprotein definitely is because of the fact that it can be oxidised by dangerous free radicals. Garlic’s antioxidising qualities help diminish the free radical damage.

Garlic is a natural aspirin as it can help prevent red blood cells from clumping together. Garlic naturally keeps the blood thin which is necessary for the prevention of strokes and heart attacks, so people who regularly take garlic benefit from the same aspects as aspirin but without other risks associated with it, but it should not be taken in place of prescribed medication.

Garlic is also beneficial for the cardiovascular system – circulation, and has been proven to improve circulation in the body’s peripheries, which is extremely helpful especially in the aged, when getting enough exercise is often difficult.

Studies are also being undertaken to find the effect garlic has on cancer cells, and to date the findings carried out on mice are looking good. This is really encouraging.

I hope if you are not a lover of garlic this has given a good insight into the benefits of eating garlic or at least taking a supplement. Not only will your health benefit, but you will also have the added benefit of knowing you are safe from vampires!!

Garlic has been written about throughout history. 22 Egyptian remedies using garlic were found on papyrus dating back to the sixteenth century BC. Vikings would not take to long sea voyages without garlic, because of its anti-bacterial properties, this was also the reason it was used against the plague in the 1770′s. African missionaries found that garlic was successful at stopping dysentery.

In fact my granddad grew garlic, and he used to use old cloves steeped in water to cleanse his lean-to come greenhouse, he would fervently swear that it killed mildew and other infections, and apparently having been his grandfather that passed this down to his father, was obviously well thought of for its antibacterial properties.

In our modern hi-tech world we now live in, we have all but forgotten natures own natural problem beaters and these are often absolutely harmless, with no man made chemicals to endanger the environment. Perhaps we should look closer at what our ancestors knew and we seem to have forgotten.

Good food is good health

Sandra & Ted
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