Why You Should Eat More Garlic

The garlic breath might be worth it…

This post comes from our blog intern, Emily.

Garlic has a story in many families. Maybe your grandma had a remedy for treating your ear infection or your mom made you eat it raw when you had a cold. Well, turns out there’s good reasoning behind those treatments.

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Garlic is one of the most popular cooking ingredients all over the world, adding flavor to almost any dish. But, throughout ancient history garlic, which is in the same family as onions, has also been known for its potent medicinal qualities, thanks to its high levels of antioxidants, enzymes and anti-bacterial properties.

Eating garlic daily can improve your health and help prevent many health problems. Here’s a few goodies:

  • Increases longevity
  • Detoxifies heavy metals from the body
  • Improves cardiovascular health, cholesterol, and blood pressure
  • Anti-bacterial/boosts immunity. Helps combat sickness, infections, and the common cold
  • Prevents oxidative damage
  • Repels mosquitoes
  • Helps bug bites, pimples, and skin irritations
  • Anti fungal properties, helps heal athlete’s foot
  • Helps prevent food poisoning with its anti bacterial properties
  • Improves stomach health

The list does go on, really. In order to receive all the benefits garlic has to offer, though, the way we cook and consume it is the most important factor.

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Eating raw — or close to raw — garlic is really the best way to eat it. But after chopping a garlic clove, let it sit for 10-15 minutes before eating or adding it to heat. This gives the enzymes a chance to form and ensures maximum benefits. Cooking garlic decreases the benefits if not prepared properly. It’s recommended to cook on very low heat or adding garlic to your meals at the very end (after letting the freshly chopped garlic sit for at least 10 minutes, and just before serving the meal). A temperature above 140 degrees destroys the Allicin in garlic.

If you want to reap the benefits from garlic, but you aren’t a fan:

Make garlic “pills”: Chop garlic into little pieces and swallow them like a small pill. Be sure to drink or eat something with fat in it to help digest and absorb the nutrients.

Honey: Mix a few tablespoons into raw, pure honey and let sit for a few hours or up to a few days. The taste is actually pretty yummy, eat a spoonful daily!

If you want to reap the benefits from garlic and you enjoy garlic:

Dipping oil: Grab some extra virgin, cold-pressed organic olive oil, raw garlic, sea salt and pepper to enjoy with a fresh baguette, crackers, or toast.

Toss it in soup: at the very end of your soup recipe, after removing from heat, add some garlic. This is perfect if you’re sick, enjoy some garlic with some homemade healing soup and feel your illness fade away.

Add to salads!

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+How do you incorporate garlic into your diet?

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Mandie Fae
7 years ago

I make a raw garlic salad dressing that I eat almost daily.
Up to 6 cloves of garlic, smashed/chopped/grated (however you prefer)
The juice of one lemon
and just over a cup of olive oil (cup & 1/4ish) I never measure it…
A fair amount of salt to taste :)
Shake Shake Shake!
Best dressing ever!!

7 years ago

I confess that formerly did not like garlic. But then I started to use it in my meals.

shoebridgecholes
7 years ago

Garlic is my first preference when I need to cure whiteheads overnight. I know you are not going to believe me but this is true. I have used this many times and this is very effective way to cure face related lot of problems. Health benefits of garlic are numerous and raw garlic is very good for digestion. If you want to know more about health benefits of raw garlic , you can visit this site.

6 years ago

I am looking for some new ways to help improve my health. It looks like garlic is a great way to add some extra nutrients into your day. Like you suggested, adding some garlic at the very end of a soup recipe is easy to do and can help take away illness. Thanks for sharing!

5 years ago

Yes, I use raw garlic frequently and take Shaklee’s garlic daily. I also crush garlic and mix with a little cream cheese on a tortilla chip for my kids…when they’ve had colds, etc…awesome natural antibiotic!

5 years ago

Garlic is very good for health. Anti-inflammatory and more … Loved the article!

5 years ago

Sempre uso essa sopa quando estou doente! Minha mãe me ensinou essa receita!

Admin
5 years ago

¡Gracias por compartir!

5 years ago

Good job!

3 years ago

Garlic has potent medicinal properties, can reduce blood pressure,improves cholesterol levels, which may lower the risk of heart disease. Thankyou for sharing useful information.

3 years ago

I loved that you mentioned eating garlic can help you to increase longevity. My husband and I are thinking about how to improve our overall health, and we are looking for advice. I will let him know about your recommendations to understand the benefits of eating more garlic.