Garlic is one of my top three healthiest things that you should use daily, along with green tea and lemon juice.
Adding garlic to your diet can keep you alive for longer
If your parents were as health-conscious as mine, you’ve probably been told how garlic is a basically cure for everything. Is garlic really that good for you? Let’s find out.
Garlic Facts
Garlic is actually a part of the onion family, along with leeks and shallots. There are usually 10-20 cloves per head of garlic.
Hippocrates used to prescribe garlic for a variety of ailments
The father of medicine was a big fan of the medicinal properties of this bulb, and he wasn’t on his own. In fact, many ancient civilizations recorded the health benefits of garlic. These include Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome and China. Was it garlic that gave them the power to conquer the world? Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but garlic is still a super food that you should be using to spice your food every day.
The US National Library of Medicine discusses how over 3000 publications have confirmed the positive health effects of garlic. These benefits include reducing fatigue, increasing exercise endurance or physical performance, and shortening recovery times of simple illnesses like the common cold.
The health benefits of garlic
Allicin is a sulfur compound that is released when garlic is crushed or chopped. Allicin is, however, an unstable compound and is only present briefly after the crushing or chopping process. Very Well Health explains that Allicin has very powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and that allicin supplements have been shown to reduce heart disease and cancer risk. They also mention that allicin supplementation is used in alternative medicine to treat high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis. Alternative medicine practitioners also prescribe it for increased exercise performance.
Why antioxidants are so important
Antioxidants are important because they protect us against harmful free radicals. Free radicals are formed during the oxidation process. Oxidation is what makes peroxide bleach your hair – oxidation destroys the color pigment of hair follicles and is the reason why our hair turns grey or white as we age. The same thing happens within our bodies when food is broken down, when we are exposed to pollutants like cigarette smoke and when we are exposed to radiation.
This is what makes the antioxidants that we get from fresh fruit and vegetables so effective at preventing cancers and slowing down the aging process. Exercise also protects the body against free radical damage. To protect ourselves from free radical damage, we need to get as much of this micro-nutrient as we can.
Not all anti-oxidants are created equal – some are more potent than others. Super foods tend to contain the most powerful kinds of antioxidants, and allicin from garlic is one of them. What’s more, garlic has more than one form of antioxidant (although allicin is the most well-known one among them). The other antioxidants found in garlic are alliin, allyl cysteine, and allyl disulphide. You don’t have to memorize those names – just know that when you eat garlic, these little compounds work very hard to keep you young and strong.
In short: Antioxidants reduce the short term stress that day-to-day life places on your body and counteract long-term wear and tear.
The role of natural anti-inflammatories
Inflammation happens when white blood cells release certain chemicals to protect the body from harmful or foreign substances.
CBS News explains how eating natural, anti-inflammatory foods benefit overall health by reducing heart disease risk, decreasing blood triglyceride levels, combating high blood pressure and aiding the healing of stiff, damaged or arthritic joints. High levels of bodily inflammation are conducive to disease and illness formation. CBS quotes Russell Greenfield, MD, clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, as saying that any disease ending with ‘itis’ (like appendicitis and arthritis) involve high levels of inflammation. He goes on to say that inflammation plays a role in the formation of other diseases too – such as certain cancers, Alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular disease. The typical American diet contains too many foods that are high in Omega-6 fatty acids (found in fast food). Additionally, there are too little Omega-3 fatty acids. This imbalance is what causes high levels of inflammation and phytochemicals (compounds found in plants – like allicin from garlic) reduce the inflammation that is caused by this imbalance.
In short: inflammation is your body’s negative response to unhealthy foods. This inflammation causes a variety of diseases, but can be reduced (and should be reduced BEFORE disease gets a chance to develop) by eating nutritious foods that cause a positive bodily response instead.
By now, you should be getting an idea about how adding garlic to your daily diet will increase overall vitality and empower your body to be the strongest version of itself.
Garlic has other beneficial micro-nutrients
Garlic is more than just an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory powerhouse. It contains other micro nutrients as well.
According to Nutrition Data, garlic is a great source of calcium, phosphorus, manganese and selenium (minerals that we need to survive, but often don’t get enough of); and a good source of Vitamin C and Vitamin B6.
Wow, it looks like my parents were right after all! Adding a touch of garlic to your cooking is a great way to flavor healthy food that might be otherwise bland. Adding great flavors like garlic can also reduce the need for not-so-good flavors like artificial flavorings and salt. I don’t know about vampires, but it will definitely keep other killers out of your life. Thanks for reading!
The interesting thing is things like garlic, turmeric, garcinia cambogia are staple bases in Indian cooking yet Indian food is considered unhealthy. The supplements available from shops in the form of tablets are just not that effective.
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You are absolutely right! Many of these spices do a tremendous good to our health. Supplements isolate one compound, which often need the others found in foods to work properly.
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I had no idea that Indian food is considered unhealthy (by whom?). I’d say it’s much healthier than the food in the “Western world”.
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I didn’t know garlic is that important. Thank you sharing this info.
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Gracias for sharing this info*
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My pleasure 🙂
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I take garlic daily to help control cholesterol.
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Thank you for the additional use of garlic 🙂
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Super informative post!👌🏼 Thanks for sharing the health benefits and ways to add garlic. xoxo
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I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
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Garlic the remedy of life
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Absolutely!
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Well if you dont mind i agree with you garlic the supreme of all natural remedies indeed !
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Oh yes you are so right. And it’s so easy to incorporate into daily cooking for preventative health.
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Bit biast being italian myself garlic is in my viens
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It still counts 😉 and Italians are awesome people.
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Garlic is very good! What do you think of my Healthy Soup recipe outlined in my Cooking With Hal post?
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Link?
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I deleted my first blog! So all is lost!
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Go to my site and the Cooking With Hal post.
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When I click on your name I get to”What’s Really Up” and I scroll till I see “Things Not To Conjure Up” on 2 Dec as the earliest post I can see. Using WordPress via the mobile app. Can’t find that post.
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Go to Reader … search for the halbarbera.blog!
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I’ll put garlic in and on pretty much anything so always nice to know it’s beneficial to my health! Thanks 🙂
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I love it with a lot of foods too.
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We grow our own, and enjoy the freshness and joy of gardening.
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That is so cool! I’ve always wanted to grow my own food.
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We use a combination of traditional gardens and raised beds.
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Love and use garlic daily and so does French cuisine!
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That’s amazing
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I love garlic and eat it as often as possible. Cooked though. If I do feel a cold coming up, I eat as many raw cloves as I can bear and this often helps me. If you can’t eat raw garlic (very heavy on the stomach!) Garlic soup is a good alternative. Also combining it with yoghurt is smart, to keep the stomach happy.
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Wow thanks for the great tips!
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Reblogged this on Fitness/Wellbeing!.
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Thanks!
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Cant live without garlic. I love it. 👍
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Me too
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I loved this article too. I have several posts on this subject. Garlic has some great benefits. I include garlic in just about all my meals.
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I also include garlic in almost all my end-of-day meals.
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Great post. I had kind of forgotten about garlic, thanks for the reminder
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My pleasure, and thanks for the comment 🙂
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Health benefits and it tastes great!
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I love the taste too!
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My thoughts exactly!! haha Love me some garlic! 🙂
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Me too 😀
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Thanks for this great and informative post. I love my garlic and incorporate it into any meal I can. I have even managed to get my family to love it too. It’s great for health and it brings out some great flavors in dishes.
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My pleasure 🙂 it sure does bring out great flavors.
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Reblogged this on Arto's Health Info.
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Thank you
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You are welcome, Saguren. Have a great February.
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Thank you for sharing! I love garlic and use it often so it’s amazing to know that not only is it delicious but also very nutritious! 🙂
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I’m so glad that you got some value out of the post. Isn’t it nice knowing that something you already love doing is so good for you!?
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Yes! That’s my favorite!
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Garlic is both used for cooking nice dishes and also as Chinese Medicine.
My video course on “Food Therapy for the Unique you as per your own Body Constituents” explain the “Theory of Foods and Drink” as per 3000 years ancient wisdom.
Foods and Drink need correspond to individual Body System, as there is no universal food formula for everyone.
For more information, welcome to visit
https://www.360q.com
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Although dining on garlic-flavored foods may give you “garlic breath,” doing so can improve your health by lowering high blood pressure and bad cholesterol. In fact, one fresh clove of garlic a day may lower your risk of breast, esophageal, stomach, bowel, and prostate cancer. Well these where the things which i knew but your blog helped me to know more about the benifits of garlic so yes keep it up hope to see ur much more blogs in future ..Thankyou!
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Wow thank you so much for the extra information! I learnt something new thanks to your comment and I am grateful for that. Have a great day.
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Great post
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Thank you
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Great post! I would like to highlight the following information: Garlic helps in lowering the glucose-levels in the blood and is therefore very beneficial to diabetic people and helps in its prevention. This is because Garlic helps in increasing insulin secretion that helps in the regulation of normal blood sugar levels.
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Wow thank you so much for this extra info!
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Reblogged this on All About Writing and more.
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Thank you so much
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U are welcome
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Well if you’re saying I should eat more garlic then I guess I could.. if you’re going to twist my arm ;P
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Hehehe looks like your arm needed a lot of twisting 😉
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Gotta have it!
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Oh yeah!
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Great piece!
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Thank you!
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Stinky, but so awesome 😀
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Hahaha yeah that’s why it’s easy to stay within moderation. 😉
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Garlic’s good for clearing coughs too
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Oh wow really!? Will give it a try when I have a cough 😀
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I live in a small town that is proud to be a major garlic community. Love putting this in so many dishes. It may cause some odors to others, but I’ve found that it really helps the body. Someone told me they made a tea with garlic, ginger, and something else, I have not found the recipe, but I’d like to.
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That tea sounds like it would do wonders for the immune system.
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Love garlic 💕
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Thanks, me too! 😀
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Hi good day…is there anyway I can communicate with you privately??
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Sure. Email me on safricanspotters@gmail.com
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Reblogged this on and commented:
I’m definitely rebloging this🙂🙂😁
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I basically put garlic in everything I eat! Garlic sure is a miracle worker.
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Totally agreed
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Thank you for sharing. We loving using garlic to cook but never understood the benefits besides great taste!
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My pleasure. Just shows that healthy food doesn’t have to be bland food.
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This is a gem!
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Thank you so much!
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Most times I see my Grandma using garlic when cooking and I’m like “Grandma why so much garlic? ” then she’s like “to make me look younger “
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Oh wow, looks like she was right!
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Yeah, sure she was👌
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So much valuable information!
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Thank you so much!
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Really useful information, garlic is really good for you and I use it everyday. Thanks
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Thanks a lot
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Reblogged this on I call her Mnimi and commented:
April 19th is National Garlic Day. This is a perfect re-blog!
This is great info… Garlic, I like. 😀
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Thanks!
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Great information
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Thank you
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Reblogged this on Episteme.
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Thank you so much
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Thanks
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Nice. I basically eat garlic a lot but didn’t know about the health benefits of it. Thanks for the info…
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