Doesn’t it always seem that no matter where you turn, something you truly love is said to be hazardous to your health in one way or another? Happily, this is not the case with garlic, except of course if you forget to bring along a sprig of parsley or a roll of breath mints. Even the evil spirits will stay away if you hang a bunch of garlic over your exterior doors, as legend would have it. So, how can it not be good for you? All joking aside, garlic really does have some amazing properties that make it one of nature’s most beneficial plants.
Medicinal Properties of Garlic
Many health afficionados always have garlic growing in their gardens primarily for the medicinal properties which it is said to have. While they may cook with it daily, they can also grow organic large garlic bulbs to be minced, chewed and swallowed for its antibacterial properties. Garlic is even found to be a strong natural antiviral vegetable and so during the height of Covid, many natural health food stores were sold out as quickly as their shipments came in.
Other amazing, and proven, medicinal properties include:
- Natural blood thinner.
- Effective in reducing blood pressure.
- Effective against skin infections.
- Helps to lower cholesterol in the bloodstream.
Anyone who suffers from heart disease should eat garlic in some form daily. In fact, there are very few foods that don’t taste better with it, except of course those sweet treats we are advised to steer clear of anyway!
Additionally, according to this dentist who does periodontics in Greeneville, garlic also has antibacterial properties that help in decreasing the activity of bacteria that cause bad breath and tooth decay, making it highly beneficial to your dental and oral health.
Garlic as a Natural Insect Repellant
Over the years, many veterinarians prescribed garlic for dogs who were easily infested with fleas. The same can be true of humans who spend a great deal of time outdoors in the warm spring and summer months where mosquitos would love nothing more than to eat them alive – probably quite literally!
Garlic is safer for the human (and canine) body than all those chemical pest repellants, and when you can use oil infused with garlic to be spread on exposed skin, those bugs will stay miles away. If you eat enough of it daily, you might not even need a concoction like that, but it doesn’t hurt. Who wants to come inside ridden with mosquito bites that itch like crazy?
Anticarcinogenic Properties of Garlic
A growing number of peer reviewed studies have proven that garlic has anticarcinogenic properties. As one of the oldest plants to be used for medicinal purposes, it is now being touted as a natural cancer preventative. You can read an abstract on the most recent studies online at the Science Direct website. Could it be one of the reasons why some cultures seem to have lower cancer rates, all kinds of cancers, than many of us in the Western world? With the bulb being a leading staple, especially in many Eastern countries, it could be this amazing vegetable we often call a spice.
Worry Not!
Perhaps garlic really is the spice of life even though it is really a vegetable. Instead of worrying over its natural pungent odor, we should be thinking about our health. Wouldn’t you gladly smell if you could avoid cancer, heart attacks, diabetic shock and a plethora of other critical conditions garlic can ward off? If it concerns you that much, try chewing on a sprig of parsley or adding a drop of mint essential oil to your skin creams. Health is always more important than scent, so keep that in mind, along with the garlic you keep in your garden.