5 Reasons You Should Eat More Garlic

Let’s look at five reasons why you should eat garlic and then some ways to get it into your diet.

Garlic, a vegetable in the onion family, has a long, long history. Its healing properties have been recognized for thousands of years, going all the way back to the Egyptian pyramid builders, who used garlic to increase their strength and endurance. In more recent times, some doctors used garlic to treat battle wounds in the two World Wars of the twentieth century.

Today, research is being conducted on garlic’s ability to reduce heart disease and cancer. This makes sense considering garlic is packed with antioxidants and helps to reduce inflammation. 

Okay, here are the five reasons you should eat more garlic.

Garlic makes blood platelets less likely to stick to your artery walls, which reduces the development of plaque in your arteries. A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition confirmed that garlic extract reduces arterial plaque and can reverse early heart disease.

On top of that, garlic can act as a vasodilator, which means it causes blood vessels to widen, which in turn lowers blood pressure. Analysis of several studies has shown that taking standardized garlic extract could be just as effective as taking blood pressure medication.

Garlic can boost your body’s immunity against infection. When garlic is crushed or chopped, it releases a sulphur compound called allicin, which is effective at killing viruses, bacteria, and some fungi.

Garlic is rich in antioxidants and can help protect against some cancers, specifically cancers of the digestive system. The clove of the garlic is the part that is renowned for its healing properties because it contains allicin, flavonoids, and selenium. These nutrients help prevent cell damage and provide support in repairing damaged DNA. To a large extent, the health of your cells and your DNA dictates how you feel and function daily, so eat garlic to be healthier and to feel healthier.

In studies, garlic has been shown to reduce triglycerides and total cholesterol levels.

Garlic can lower your fasting blood glucose, which is the amount of sugar in your blood when you haven’t eaten for many hours. It also can help prevent diabetic complications like infection and poor circulation. So, if you have diabetes or you’re at risk for developing diabetes, make sure to eat your garlic.

You will get the most benefit from garlic by eating it raw. If you cook fresh garlic, be sure to cook it only very lightly. If you don’t have fresh garlic, garlic powder is okay to use in cooking, but it won’t give you the same health benefits because it’s not as potent.

If you haven’t eaten raw garlic before, you’re probably thinking it might be a bit strong and wondering how to do it. Here are some simple ways:

• The fastest way is to chop garlic and throw it back with some water or tea.
• Include chopped or crushed garlic in guacamole or salsa.
• Ferment it in a salt brine to mellow the cloves. The enzymes and bacteria from the fermentation process will provide added benefits.
• You can even coat raw garlic in a little organic raw honey to make it easier to consume raw. Just go light on the honey. While organic raw honey has a lot of great nutrients, it’s also a high carbohydrate food and contains a significant amount of fructose – which you want to limit.