If you are a little squeamish, outright posh or a vampire, you’d rather read something else. If not, see here what garlic can do for you. As this powerful herb helped me so many times, I feel compelled to write a short article on the power of garlic.
Mostly because of my grandfather, a green grocer and natural healer, herbs like garlic regularly featured in my mum’s cuisine. I never liked it as a child and I used to ask her to add it to soups and stews whole, to be easy to detect and get rid of before eating. Crushed and crucially, raw garlic is more potent both in terms of flavour and health benefits as it releases an enzyme called alliinase. This enzyme chemically changes the inherent alliin into allicin, a sulfur containing molecule with many benefits.
My granddad used to go on what he called “garlic cures” during periods of seasonal change and more frequently in winter. He would eat raw garlic on an empty stomach, before each meal, for 3 days in a row and sometimes adding raw onion, something I also never liked and grew to appreciate in salads only recently.
As raw garlic’s pungent smell repels many people, it also works wonders on pathogens and microbes in the body. If you tried eating raw garlic for a day or two, you might have noticed your sweat picking up its strong odour and more obviously your breath, so not recommendable if you are planning a sociable event or going on a date.
Particularly if I am feeling a little low energy, I run for garlic and I often add raw turmeric and a small amount of spirulina. The combination of the 3, on an empty stomach, often triggers a bowel movement, so you might try this if you are constipated. If you have a sensitive stomach, you can have raw garlic with food and why not try to make a yummy pesto sauce with really healthy basil or coriander, high quality extra virgin olive oil and eat it a spoonful on its own. Remember, if you want to go to the toilet or work on your gut, in my personal experience, garlic works better when taken before meals.
Garlic is naturally high in inulin, a prebiotic functional fibre which feeds “good” bacteria in the gut. It is antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal, awesome against candida overgrowth and there is research linking it to cancer prevention.
Holistic benefits include anti-inflammatory properties and the subject of chronic inflammation is a rather important one, read more here. Great to lower blood pressure and protecting against blood clotting, heart health benefits include reducing cell damage and regulating cholesterol.
As everyone is concerned with respiratory viruses and immunity, garlic “appears to enhance the functioning of the immune system by stimulating certain cell types, such as macrophages, lymphocytes, natural killer (NK) cells, dendritic cells, and eosinophils, by mechanisms including modulation of cytokine secretion, immunoglobulin production, phagocytosis, and macrophage activation”, see here.
If you love fermented food, you gotta try black garlic, as the fermentation process causes it to contain substantially more antioxidants and it might even be more effective at regulating blood sugar levels and appetite.
Together with leek, scallion, shallot and chive, onions and garlic belong to the same family and all are beneficial food rich in micronutrients. Red garlic has a milder odour and taste, so you could start with this one first, build up tolerance, acquire the taste and then increase the amount or go white.
Balance and awareness need to be applied to herbs and my grandfather would never eat raw garlic in the evenings or on a very hot day, as this wonderful element is a stimulant, that’s why it is particularly awesome on a cold winter morning or early afternoon.
Natural healing is my passion and I love how medical science (sporadically and very slowly in all fairness) is giving (some) validation to natural remedies, herbs and spices that have been used for thousands of years, including chili pepper, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, turmeric, fenugreek, rosemary, and garlic indeed, see here.
Everything starts in the kitchen for me and garlic forms a key, daily ingredient in my cooking and I particularly love it roasted. Extensively used in French cuisine, Northern Italian food include garlic in many risotto preparations, pasta sauces, stews and soups. I stir fry with it, adding fresh ginger too, I use it in curries and to cook fish.
Beyond food, I use raw garlic like my grandfather did, chopped up, left in the open air for 10-15 minutes and swallowed with a bit of water, to prevent the onset of illness when I feel a little weak or sensitive. I have a lifestyle geared towards regularly and naturally boosting my body’s natural denfenses and ability to cope with life occasional stress.
I love the benefits of this natural medicine in food and alongside the bitter flavour of raw turmeric and juiced green leafy vegetables, I am proud to say I acquired the taste of raw garlic.
