Garlic: A Superfood for Health and the Immune System

What did you mean by garlic "cube"? Is it a clove of garlic or is it a whole head of garlic. Please post a reply. Thanks."

EC: A whole head of garlic!

09/12/2009: Tim from Portland, Or replies: "Actually its a bulb of garlic."

09/12/2010: Rh from Los Angeles, Ca replies: "Yes, a whole garlic head. I tried it and it works! Boil water with a whole garlic head. Take it at night you will immediately feel the difference the next morning."

02/01/2011: Tony from Antofagasta, Chile replies: "This is a bit confusing as Marcos uses the word cube that has been translated by Tim from Portland as a bulb and Rh from Los Angeles as a whole garlic head. Marcos says that the cube has to be cut into quarters, Does this mean that the whole garlic head has to be cut into four? I have never cut a garlic head into two or four as we usually divide it into cloves. Would Marcos be so kind in clarifying this to us, please?"

02/02/2011: Keri from California, Usa replies: "A bulb of garlic = a whole head of garlic. The individual pieces are the cloves."

02/25/2011: Soulflower from Verbena, Al replies: "2 quarts of water? That's more than a whole days' worth of water for me. In what time frame should it be drunk?

I've been following these instructions:

How to make garlic tea:
1) Peel and roughly chop 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. The wait is to allow allicin to form. Allicin is the powerful anti-bacterial and anti-viral compund in garlic which only forms when garlic has been broken in some way (eg by chewing, chopping).

2) Add the chopped garlic to a mug and fill it with some hot water [I use boiling hot water, as I would with other teas. ]. Sip the garlic tea once it becomes cool enough.

If you have a mild case of the flu or a cold, garlic tea should start working for you fairly quickly. However, if you're down with a particularly bad bout of the flu, you might have to take garlic tea over a period of a few days."

04/22/2011: Grannykeeper from Vancouver, Wa, Usa replies: "An easy way to prepare garlic is to smash the clove with the blade of a vegetable knife a couple of times. Then it is easy to peel. Whack it again and smash it good, then it is very easy to mince, and there is no waiting. If you can capture the juice, that is good, too.

I used this recipe and added a little vege-stock to make it more of a broth than a tea, and also a sprig of fresh rosemary for a little added flavour. Very yummy and suprisingly sweet :)

It is better to grate the garlic. If you have a zesting tool, grate the garlic and allow it to sit for 15 minutes so the beneficial allicin can fully form. Then proceed. The finer the chop or grate on garlic, the more beneficial compounds will be released. This is how I make my garlic tea and it works very well.

Thank you so much for this post I never knew about the horseradish. I have used the garlic and honey with great results.

I am following the regiment for the last one month. Dec/Jan are the coldest months and is more suseptable to catch colds / flu etc. What I did was take two teaspoons of each (approx) and mix it in a jar.

I take half a teaspoon first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening before sleep. I'll probably taking it for along time as its become a habit now. One of the secrets of living longer is that folks takes raw garlic daily. This is the next best thing and I can tolerate the taste - It tastes better than licorice candy (a bit sweet from the honey).

Hi; I also saw that on utube by Andrias Moritz that onions and garlic are poison.. don't know

Personally, I think garlic (and onions! ) are awesome. I use them in cooking and as medicine and find them to be very effective and safe. (Others might not find the garlic breath to be safe! )

Both have a long history of being used as food and medicine.

Some things I wonder about these studies...regarding airline pilots...was the garlic used in tests processed? If it was processed or not grown organically, there may have been other factors (like chemicals) that were what affected the reaction time of the pilots. Again, I haven't seen the studies, but I wonder what is behind them. We have seen effective and safe, natural things become banned from use. Comfrey is a plant that is currently being criticized. If we lose the rights to use plants for medicine by way of law or fear, the medical field and the drug companies do benefit from this.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents on garlic and onions! I will look forward to hearing other thoughts on this.

~Mama to Many~

Regarding garlic, I was reading the pet section and indeed some had died from ingesting garlic. Different bodies have different tolerance to herbs even in general. In my case, if I ingest more than a sliver of garlic, I feel so nauseous that I hope to regurgitate it which does not happen and after a few minutes all is well again.

Eastern medicine, such as Ayurveda, state that as for garlic, too much for some can damage kidney and liver.

Great caution with regard to the place garlic was grown. What comes from China has a good dose of arsenic and a study claims people who ate garlic regularly also had high count of arsenic in their body.

Garlic is a powerful medicine and ought to be respected as such instead of a dish consisting of lots of roasted garlic for normal consumption. Bodies have different chemical composition and here we come to understand that medicating is a very individual procedure that demands much discrimination and insight. Om

Right on Mama: I would engourage you to keep promoting the best of God's Goodies, garlic. I take both aged garlic and garlic oil 4 caps of each daily. Sulfur is the mother of all minerals. The first life on earth got energy from sulfur before there was oxygen. Longevity experts promote garlic.

Morris Paul: Here's the skinny on garlic. A buffalo steps on a garlic plant and crushes the cellulose. Two chemicals that were seperated come together and make allicin. This prevents the wound from becoming infected. The buffalo does not eat the garlic because allicin also damages blood cells. Garlic contains 3 beneficial substances that when prepared properly are good. Crush a clove of garlic and and let set for 15 minutes. This lets the allicin fully form. Heat at low temp for 3 minutes changes the allicin into poly sulfides that expand the capillaries and produce h2s. Hydrogen sulfide destroys pathogens but does not harm the cells. Garlic oil has set for more than 72 hours so all the allicin has changed into poly sulfides. Aged garlic is high in a water soluable poly sulfide that is extremely beneficial. All of the above properly prepared garlics have 39 antibiotics that are not harmfull to the cells.

What do you mean having milk with garlic boiled controls assimilation of cholesterol? I have a 94 year old neighbor who is as erect, incredibly active, looks younger and when I asked her what regiments she thought were helping her she answered that since she was about 25 she began to drink milk boiled with fresh garlic. Can you please explain more specifically how this combo aids in health? I remember Ted had warned that having milk with other foods would block the vitamins and minerals from being processed into the body and that, in fact, milk should be taken alone to get all the benefits of its vitamins and minerals.

Vitamin E oil will stop and heal an outbreak, apply at first tingle or itchy feeling. Start adding lemon in your water to balance your ph ASAP do not consume food or beverages that cause acidosis or an acidic environment. Herpes will only break out if your ph is to acidic. I know lemon acid, but once consumed it becomes alkaline. Do some research on alkaline foods and acidic, both are needed but alkaline at a much higher ratio.

Hi Chong, leaving garlic to sit after chopping maximizes the beneficial compounds in it. Garlic does not contain allicin per se; it is formed in garlic after chopping or crushing. Letting it sit 10 minutes before cooking with it or consuming it raw is a good timeframe to maximize the formation of allicin. I don't think the chewing you'd do to ingest it is going to take away the benefits. If you're concerned, then just swallow small pieces whole like you would a vitamin capsule (that is what I do).

Hi I was wondering I have had recurring boils for over a year and seems like nothing helps. The antibiotics the doctor gives helps get rid of it but I don't want to go every time I have one I would be going to the doctor every month. But I heard that garlic was a strong antibiotic and I've been taking the pills that says on the front of the bottle 1000mg and been taking 4 soft gels a day for 3 months but I'm still getting the boils so what am I doing wrong ? Do I need to be buying the fresh garlic instead.... Please I need help with problem it's so tiring getting these boils all the time.

Hi Debby - It is turmeric you want to look into taking. Put a 1/2 teaspoon in your coffee, along with a tablespoon of Organic Virgin Coconut oil every day, and you will be boil free in less than ten days. I was amazed. Some people say that adding some hot pepper to it makes it work even better, but I never did. It is an aquired taste, so you may want to work your way up to it at half dose to begin. Best to you, Carly :)

Debby, I have suffered from the same thing. It is probably MRSA. Once your system has it, you might always have flare ups and is always in your system. But here is what I have done to prevent them or keep them away and Attack the boils head on By myself.

First, on the day you notice a boil forming (They are Solid as a Rock) then go and get some Acai Berry juice from the health food store ASAP and drink a cup in morning and cup at night. Your boil will be minimized the next day. Keep doing this until its gone in 2 to 3 days.

But if you catch The when it has gotten way too big already, then go ahead with the Acai Berry juice, however, You will also need to get some Milk of Magnesia and Hydrogen Peroxide from the Drugstore. Mix The Milk of Magnesia and H202 With a half and half solution in A small cap. Apply this solution to the boil every hour for like the next 4, 5 or 6 hours depending on how desperate you are. Do this everyday until it goes down, in about a day or two.

To make a stronger solution, you can go get some Betadyne or Povodone Iodine from a local drugstore and add a couple drops to the capful Solution. The iodine will further kill the infection under the boil, or the STAPH.

Also, another thing that helps, as a Daily routine and preventative measure, Is putting Neosporin in your nose with a Q tip everyday or every other day, to ensure that any Staph that is wandering in your body will die... I read that a Magnesium Deficiency could be a big part of this Staph Problem, so load up on Magnesium Citrate 600 mg daily or more to be safe. I got this information here on Earthclinic and from Ted. Go to MRSA Cures. Good Luck!