Garlic: Facts, Benefits and Uses

Most people are pretty familiar with garlic when used in cooking. Garlic is a tasty addition to many recipes and is best known for helping the body fight colds and infections regarding health. But garlic does a whole lot more than just fight off the common cold. Garlic has potent healing effects that should definitely be taken seriously!

Before we dive deep into some of the amazing benefits of garlic, let's learn about it a bit more. Garlic is a member of the onion family. It is also related to leek, shallots and even lilies! Garlic is very versatile and may be eaten fried, sauteed, boiled, pickled, roasted or raw! Eating garlic raw provides you with the most benefit and highest amounts of beneficial qualities. National garlic Day is celebrated on April 1-st. The origin of national Garlic Day is unknown, but die hard garlic fans around the world celebrate it! And speaking of our nation, it is reported that 90% of the garlic here in the USA is grown in California! Who would have known that?

Garlic is said to fight off everything from the common cold to cancer...oh and the occasional vampire. Garlic is also known for being a very good ingredient for the heart, keeping cholesterol levels in tip top shape and keeping arteries clear. Many people use garlic to rid their body of parasites, such as pin worms. It is an amazing body cleaner and is good for your skin. Garlic can clear up acne, so much so that many people swear by applying a homemade garlic paste to an on coming breakout! However, just eating raw garlic has also been proven beneficial for the skin. Garlic also can be used as a natural blood thinner, so please be careful not to use raw garlic while taking blood thinners or just before the birth of a baby or open surgery.

Garlic's most active property is the sulfur compound called allicin. Allicin is a chemical produced when garlic is exposed to air. Allicin is very powerful, so it's always good to chop or mince your garlic and let it set for 5-10 minutes for the most allicin production. it's said that 1 milligram of allicin has a potency of 15 standard units of penicillin according to an article on Disabled Health.

Did You Know?

Most people do not know that garlic is actually quite dangerous for cats and dogs! It is actually considered toxic for them!

Garlic is also a good source of vitamin C, with an astounding 71% of our daily value (DV) in one cup of garlic...not that anybody eats one cup of garlic a day!

Rubbing olive oil on the soles of the feet and then applying garlic to the feet penetrates the healing effects straight through your body! So much so that you will begin to have garlic breath! Caution: be careful because garlic may actually cause burns, sores and blisters on the feet if the feet are not first protected with a barrier such as oil.

If you are using garlic as a supplement than take one garlic clove (segment) and chop it up very finely. Allow it to be exposed to the air for a few minutes. Then push the chopped garlic onto a spoon. Grab a large glass of water and put the spoon in your moth, getting all the garlic in your mouth and quickly wash it down as if you were swallowing a pill. It helps if you tell yourself it tastes just like garlic bread!

You may also enjoy learning about some really cool, uncommon uses for baby oil! Click here to read more!

Want to learn about the amazing benefits of apple cider vinegar? Click here to read all about it!

Sources:

http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/garlic-benefit.shtml

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-garlic-i11215

http://www.smokingarlic.com/funfacts.htm