Garlic: A Superfood for Health and the Immune System

My house mate told me a trick that works wonders. I mince up four garlic cloves. You can also mash them. I put the minced garlic in a glass of grapefruit juice. Wait about twenty minutes. Then drink it. The grapefruit juice takes away the strong garlic taste. I've used this when getting flu or cold and it works every time. I had a bad cold coming on and had to do it three days in a row. I did this before going to bed. Each day I woke feeling great and the night started feeling sick again. So I would repeat. So simple and so good. I only wish I had known about this years ago.

Am sure garlic is wonderful and have been taking it for a while for sinus but I found that after a bit I ached, was lacking in energy, was totally worn out some days, had headaches, brain fog etc and in some ways felt worse. I then investigated and found that garlic can cause under active thyroid of which these are the symptoms So now taking it again but with an iodine supplement of natural kelp to counter act that. Also trying ACV with mother every day and tinctures of goldenseal, eyebright, mullein and licorice. Yes others might try one thing for a bit and then try something else but I have had this blessed problem for ages and am sick of it, and unable to work while like this.

Just to comment on the garlic taste. I love raw garlic, however due to hubby's job, he can't eat garlic at all as he can be called at work any time. So I avoided as much as possible eating garlic as I know how bad it can be for someone who doesn't eat garlic to be near someone who does.

Today I had an idea to add a clove of garlic to my regular juice, which usually contains carrots, celery, ginger and parsley leaves among others. Much to my surprise, there was no garlic taste, no garlic breath or smell at all. Hubby didn't feel it (and I even kissed him 'for test' purposes). Finally now I can consume garlic every day. It's wonderful for so many things, I never want to be away from at least one clove..or two or three of garlic a day.

The way i'm having garlic juice is: take 2-3 cubes of garlic, cut each cube into two/three pieces, put them in a glass of water (room temp), cover the glass and soak the garlic for the whole night. next morning drink the water in empty stomach. you can use the same group of garlic for 2-3 days. i've been having it for little over a year. i used to have cold at least once every winter, but not anymore.

WARNING! I had an upper respiratory bacterial infection (green and yellow mucus secondary to a virus) and read a number of posts here about raw garlic and, not wanting to chew it, I put raw garlic packs under my feet (chopped several large cloves and put them on plastic wrap and wrapped each foot, put socks over) and left the first pack all afternoon. I didn't notice a problem. I decided to do it again and leave them overnight. The next morning I awoke to find that the mucus was clear again, BUT I had very itchy, swollen, bright red feet. The itching nearly drove me crazy and I scratched... Big mistake. By the next day the arches of my feet were covered in large blisters, the itching is even worse, and my feet look and feel almost identical to when I had an emergency room level drug reaction to Keflex last year (before it was over I looked like I had third degree burns in all the intriginous skin areas and it took five months to heal -- the dermatologists at Duke had never seen anything like it... they thought it was a fungal infection and only a skin biopsy confirmed the drug reaction).

I came back here immediately and read more about garlic and saw somewhere a post from a mother who said her daughter's skin blisters when it's exposed to garlic. Since I've eaten raw garlic in green smoothies every day for the last year I didn't think it could be the garlic; perhaps a reaction to the plastic wrap (I'm multiple chemical sensitive and react to all sorts of things). So the night before last I put one slice of garlic on my forearm and covered it in paper tape for sensitive skin. In the morning it seemed fine... At first. By evening a red patch had appeared and I felt a slight itch. By the next day the spot was swollen and red and definitely itching. I've been treating my feet with ACV, magnesium oil, and triamcinolone acetonide (prescription topical steroid I was given for the Keflex reaction), so I put that on the arm spot that day each time I did my feet (every three hours). This morning the arm spot is still red, swollen, and itches and has a small blister.

Never again will I put raw garlic on my skin. When asked if I have allergies I will list a topical allergy to raw garlic.

My QUESTION is: Should I continue to eat raw garlic? I'm not certain yet, but it seems to me that I have a fit of intense itching shortly after drinking even a small glass of green smoothie with raw garlic.

Kathryn;

I think raw garlic placed on external skin for long enuf would ulcerate anyones' skin. I would not assume I was allergic to it, for that reason. It also done my skin that way.

However, the word on the street, is that USA stores are now selling chinese grown garlic. This garlic is said to test for prescence of arsenic..... Per this message board

My recent experience with side effects from taking no-brand garlic internally, seems to support this. [ I seemed to get side effects indicating possible poisoning. ] Before the chinese garlic was imported to the USA, I had no problems with taking garlic internally, and got some benefits.

Maybe we are all being poisoned via our food supply now.

I am going to start buying the USA GROWN brand garlic, grown in California. Christophers Ranch brand, to see is side effects go away.

You are not allergic to topical garlic. Garlic burns sensitive skin. You have a burn! You are supposed to use gauze between the garlic and your skin. You will have to experiment to see how much gauze you need but the garlic fumes and garlic will seep through the gauze but not enough to burn you unless you do not use enough gauze. I use tea bags to make a poultice of garlic. I put one on each side of my back for a lung infection. It is working but at first I burned my skin. Live and learn.

I also believe china is poisioning us, with all of their cheap products. Not the general population, the government. Thats more or less been proven, baby bottles, kids toys.... lots of toxic items! Beware.

is the garlic remedy good for kids too my seven year old is sick with the cold.

Perhaps anyone reacting to garlic may have sensitivities to sulphur, particularly if sensitive or allergic to sulphur based antibiotics and products.

What you should have done is mash the garlic gloves up on some plastic wrap. Rub your feet in Olive oil. Then wrap the plastic wrap around your feet. Put enough plastic wrap around your feet to keep the olive oil from leaking out. Next put your sock on. Do this before you go to bed and take it off when you wake up. Wash your feet and do it again the next night. This will cure toe nail fungus. The olive oil will protect your skin from a rash.

Be very careful about e-mails such as those who direct you to not take supplements. They are probably from big pharmaceutical companies. Many pharmaeutical drugs say they can cause tuberculosis and many other dibilitating problems and many of them say they end in death. Do not be influenced, use your own common sense if you think you need a drug check it out on drugs.com We are guinea pigs for pharmaceutical companies who need to test their drugs on the masses. CAUTION

There is a supplement that will help your arteries. It was discovered by Dr. Louis Ignarro who won a nobel prize for his discovery - Prevent Heart Attack and Stroke with Nitric Oxide. I take 1000 mg L-Arginine and 750 L-Citralline daily - taken together in the a.m. before eating. It relaxes the arteries from a hard, tight state. I have taken these two supplements for three years for plaque in my left subclavian artery. I get an ultra sound every year. My blood pressures were different in my arms the first two years. The third year, last year, my blood pressures were the same and my ultra sound results were very good. My doctor, a vascular surgeon, is following me closely. You can read about Dr. Ignarro in The World's Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets, Bottom Line Publications. He was also interviewed by Hugh Downs for his discovery.

Another cardiologist found that Co-Q10, magnesium, D-ribose and L-Carnitine work wonders on heart patients of all levels, he even said that some of t hem were on the waiting list for heart transplant and got off of it after taking those supplements together... He calls them the "Awesome Foursome". The cardiologist's name is Stephen Sinatra. You might want to read about it, I found it to be amazing!

Garlic. Since my last post I have been crushing the garlic instead of chopping it. I allow it to sit for 10 minutes for the Allicin to work and take it in one teaspoon with water. I do this 2x daily. Heating the garlic removes its potency. Taking crushed or chopped garlic too soon after crushing or chopping prevents the allicin from doing its job. There are many places on EarthClinic to read how to take garlic. There are many websites to read how to take garlic.

http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com - learn more about garlic - garlic does reduce artery plaque, can cure MRSA, many, many things - it is a natural antibiotic. It will burn your skin if you are sensitive to garlic. That doesn't mean you are allergic, it simply means put something between your skin and the garlic. Use a mask with a garlic poultice in it to breathe garlic into the lungs. Make a paste of olive oil and garlic, place in poultice (tea bag), place on bottom of feet in the ball behind the toes for garlic to get to the lungs over night. I wrapped a piece of garlic in gauze and put in my ear over night. Earache gone the next morning. Breathing it into the lungs is also good for unclogging sinus. Go to the website I provided above.

What do you mean it doesn't wear off for a while... ? Weeks, months?

I have tried too! Was so tired of it & trying over the counter products. Garlic is the remedy..:)

EC, please tell me how to make garlic juice? thanks

How long does it take for garlic to start lowering your blood pressure? Does anyone know of an instant bp reducer(natural, of course).

I have find drinking at least 5 pints of Water a day clears up my bottom but still trying to find a cure for the scars!

I am currently giving Garlic a go to help with boils and some other things. Some good ways to help scars heal is DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide or wood pulp oil) pure real Vitamin E liquid on the scar area after applying DMSO. Another method if you can obtain the equipment is IPL (intense pulsed light). It is infra-red light. I have seen this transform people from completely disfigured with terrible skin problems back to looking young and re-newed. In fact, my wife did this for a living for some time. Good luck!

Just using the juice from a garlic clove, (use a serrated knife and rub it back and forth over the garlic clove to get the juice out) 2-3 times a day will dry out boils and pimples. Just watch - not too many times - it can burn your skin! This is an old recipe that the people from Macedonia used to use effectively.

Oops, yes, I did mean MSM. Thank you very much for catching that. :)

go to A___ an online book store and check out page 41 in the Miracles of MSM book. That should help. Check online for discount vitamins or your local health food store for msm.

Several years ago I was suffering from sarcoidosis, which is an auto immune disease that attacks soft tissue organs, usually lungs or skin. After a year of suffering from a dry cough that left me with bloodshot eyes and sore ribs on a consistant basis, I was finally diagnosed at Mayo. A year and half on prednisone rendered it inactive, but I was given a couple of inhalers that I was suppose to be on indefinitely. A friend had just heard about MSM and gave me a cassette tape explaining the research and treatment that had been done with racehorses. I tried it in pill form, but only noticed a slight change. It was when I found the powdered pharmaceutical grade that changed my lung health forever. It came in a 4 oz. bottle for $24.00, yikes! I took 1/2 a tsp. mixed in OJ morning and night. It needs vitamin C to absorb into the cells so make sure to take it with carrot or citris juice. It is very bitter and if you don't stir it well you will get a MSM sludge at the end. Within 2 weeks my lung capacity improved and I quit the inhalers. I continued consistant use for about a year. I have used food grade and animal grade (for horses from the feed store) and as long as it is 100% pure MSM it works for me. Now I just throw it in smoothies or take it when I start to wease. It's great for arthritis, bursitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia too. Hope this helps:)

Yes I have heard of this sort of thing. My doctor gave me a nebulizer and told me to use ______ (garlic drops) in the nebulizer and she said it works miracles. Iv used garlic for many other things its amazing. Natures antibiotic. :-)

This treatment is very common in Europe especially in the countries of Eastern Europe. We have all sorts of remedies with garlic, herbal tea, honey, red wine, etc. If there is a problem with breathing due to bronchitis or a horrible cold or flu, beside the garlic treatment, you can always brew a big pot of herbal tea, cover yourself with a towel and inhale the steam. You'd feel much better in no time.

Please note that garlic can cause brain fog, loss of memory and under active thyroid in some too.

I add parsley (fresh or dried) to all my garlic concoctions and it helps to keep the odor down immensely. It also makes garlic tea taste lovely. If you need a change from the tea, just add some spices or seasoned salts (Natures Seasoning, Spike, bullions, etc. and/ or vegimite/marmite) and turn it into a savory bullion drink.

I also like to buy the garlic stuffed olives (in salt brine); and as the jar lowers, I drop in more fresh cloves and several stalks of parsley. This makes it very handy to eat fresh-garlic on the go, and/or when you are aren't feeling well enough to fetch/peel/prep fresh garlic, or if you bought a large jar of peeled garlic and need to used or preserve it. It's also a good use for excess parsley/stems.