Garlic 101

Garlic.  Everyone knows about garlic.  You add it to your food, your tomato sauces, your pasta, pretty much anything Italian, it calls for garlic.  It’s also been known to ward off the proverbial vampire as well. 

            But did you know that it’s great for blood disorders?  It’s known for lowering your blood pressure; it even absorbs the fatty deposits in your arteries, therefore preventing atherosclerosis.  It also helps tone up your cardiovascular system, in other words, tones up the heart. 

            It is helpful when you have a cold too.  If you chop up four to six cloves as soon as you feel a cold coming on and, gulp, swallow it with a glass of water, it should fight off the cold.  Or, if that’s just a little too much garlic to take all by itself, you could soak the cloves in some honey for two hours and then take that, at least it’s a little tastier.  Garlic can also be taken for respiratory troubles, such as coughs and congestion.  If you’re embarrassed by the lingering order, eat a sprig of Parsley, it takes care of the smell and freshens the breath.  If that’s still a little too much garlic, or for those whose stomachs can’t handle that much garlic at once, check out your local drugstore or pharmacy for an odorless garlic supplement.  Pay close attention to the ingredients though, less is better.  Another thing to look for in a garlic supplement is an expiration date.  Higher quality manufacturers are putting an expiration date on their supplements; otherwise you never know how long those pills have been sitting on the shelves.  Time does matter, the longer they sit, the less potent they will be.  Also look for organic; you don’t want to be putting any extra chemicals into your body, just the garlic and the capsule.

            Earaches are another problem that garlic can help with.  If you heat up some olive oil and soak some cut up garlic in it for a half an hour, strain it, then when it’s still a little warm put four to six drops of it into the ear, repeat up to four times a day.  You can also use garlic oil for Athlete’s Foot.  Make sure you wash your feet thoroughly, rinse, dry and then apply garlic oil three to four times a day.

            Have a pimple pop up over night?  Grab a piece of garlic cut it and rub it onto the pimple, it helps dry up the blemish.

            The last thing I’ll share with you about garlic is not very pleasant, but in the summer time when we walk around barefoot it can come in handy…worms.  Not the most pleasant thing to think about, but it does happen.  Just cut up a few cloves of garlic, swallow with water on an empty stomach in the morning and fast until lunch, if you repeat this for two to three days it should take care of it.  Of course you should also make sure that you’ve washed all your linens in hot water and wash your hands throughout the day.

            So there’s your little lesson on garlic.  So next time you’re walking through the store and you walk past the garlic, pick some up, you never know when you might come down with that cold, or your child wakes up with an earache.  Or if that recipe calls for two cloves throw in another two, it's helping the heart and remember, it’s not just a seasoning, it’s a little mini first aid kit.

Richelle Trivedi, Health Correspondent

Richelle's Column, Natural Living, will cover different uses for herbs found in everyday life, nutritional insights, and simple ways to help make improvements to your life, all without being preachy.

To check out all of Richelle's articles just go to www.gather.com/Natural Living.