The health medicinal benefits of garlic are known around the world.
Besides being a delicious flavoring for garlic lemon chicken and garlic mashed potatoes recipes, there are many garlic health benefits for the heart and veins.
Garlic, also known as Allium sativum, is a hardy liliaceous plant whose strong-scented, pungent bulb is used in cookery and folk medicine. Believe it or not, garlic is an herb related to the lily family of plants. Garlic has been used for over 5,000 years.
Health Medicinal Benefits of Garlic
A close kin to the onion, garlic has been grown for centuries for its pungent bulbs to be used not only in cooking but also as a natural antibiotic. Garlic has a number of sulfur-containing chemicals that increase the immune system. Pyramid builders and Roman soldiers on long marches were fed a daily ration of garlic because of their health-giving and healing powers. It was also used as a plague repellent and as an embalming agent.
A member of the Allium species, garlic contains iron and vitamins and has been eaten for generations to help cleanse the blood, clear up cough or congestion and protect against common colds. It has been found that eating a raw clove of garlic or taking the juice of a raw clove of garlic three times a day does protect against common colds, as the cloves contain essential oils which are very efficient at destroying harmful bacteria and viruses.
To fight bronchial infections, some people eat raw garlic cloves for their strong antibiotic content. Garlic is also sometimes used in steam inhalants.
More Health Medicinal Benefits of Garlic.
Garlic extract is finally becoming recognized by many medical professionals as a natural antibiotic, helpful in preventive medicine.
Many published reports indicate that garlic extract indeed is helpful in the reduction of tumors and other types of malignancies. Garlic is becoming recognized as a valuable supplement in terms of overall good health.
Garlic is a major flavoring used today in many dishes, hot and cold. Cut a garlic clove and rub around a salad bowl to subtly flavor salads. Mash with butter and brush on grilled meat or fish. Insert slices of cloves into meat before roasting. Garlic cloves can even be baked by itself as a vegetable. Add one or two cloves to marinades and dressings. Make garlic oils and vinegar. Mash and add to soft cheese or butter to make a flavorful spread.
Garlic bread is a favorite, using sourdough or French bread. Delicious garlic bread is easy to make. Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Add 1 or 2 cloves of minced garlic to half a container of whipped butter or 1 cube of butter (have butter at room temperature). Slice a loaf of sour dough or French bread length-wise. Spread with the garlic butter. For variety, sprinkle the butter with chopped parsley, parmesan cheese, or a little Schilling Salad Supreme seasoning. Lay the half loaves on the middle oven rack (don’t use a cookie sheet—put directly on rack). Heat for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and slice on the diagonal into serving pieces. Place in a bread basket and serve. Enjoy.
Precautions on Health Medicinal Benefits of Garlic
As far as we know, there is no know toxicity with this herb. A very healthy herbal remedy, garlic is the safest herb to use consistently.
Tips on How to Choose / Buy Garlic or Garlic Extract
You can find garlic cloves in almost any grocery store. You need to eat a lot of it to receive it health-giving benefits. Half a bulb of garlic eaten three times a day is the recommended dosage. If you don’t want to eat raw garlic, you may want to try garlic supplements. However, it is the allicin in raw garlic, produced by crushing the bulb, that gives it so many health benefits. Therefore we prefer to consume raw garlic.
Further Health Medicinal Benefits of Garlic.
If you would prefer to take garlic pills as supplements, use 1,800 mg of any aged, odorless garlic. If not purchasing odorless garlic, we suggest you look specifically for enteric coated products, which allow the supplement to pass through the stomach, thus preventing garlic breath and odor and ensuring the formation of beneficial allicin.
There are many garlic products available. Kyolic aged garlic extract is one of the better brands. Taking 2-4 capsules of Garlic Extract per day can be helpful in controlling high blood pressure.
Travelers in foreign countries who develop diarrhea may be helped by chewing some raw garlic or by taking garlic capsules daily to kill bacteria.
These Health Medicinal Benefits of Garlic tips are not medical advice. Always consult your doctor before taking any herb or supplement.
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