Garlic: A Superfood for Health and the Immune System

Trigger Finger

Posted by Chin (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) on 06/05/2010
★★★★★

Hi everyone. About 2 years ago, I was diagnose with trigger finger (on my left middle finger). My doctor told me there was no treatment for it except if it gets worst, a rather painful injection of steriod would be needed. I decided to do some research into home remedies and came across a website (sorry i can't remember the url now) but it did mention about how garlic can help. So I started taking about a few pips of sliced raw garlic together with my dinner every night. What happen about a week after taking raw garlic with my dinner was that I noticed the pain on my middle finger had gone away and the triggering effect had also gone away.

Broad Benefits

Posted by Silent27 (Vaimangga, Rarotonga, Cooks Islands) on 03/11/2010
★★★★★

GARLIC - THE BEST ANTI-BACTERIAL & ANTI FUNGAL TREATMENT

For approximately 1 year I have had recurring bouts of strep throat and viral throat infections. These occurred every few months or so. 6 months ago I have was sick continuously for 2 months. I had NO energy and difficulty swallowing. My throat was always felt like it was on fire. Often it was bright red and/or covered in white spots. I was prescribed rounds of antibiotics and even had to take 3 penicillin shots. Nothing worked. UNTIL.

For about 3-4 weeks I drank fresh garlic (2 cloves crushed), ginger, honey, and lemon tea. I did this 3-4 times a day. Approximately 1 week after starting this course, I began to feel better. 2 weeks later I was 100% again. I still drink the tea and/or chew a piece of raw garlic whenever I feel a scratch in my throat or a little under the weather.

The best side effect for me was that the garlic tea course has also almost completely cleared up the acute toenail fungus I had on the majority of my nails. It was so bad that my two big toenails were almost completely yellow and hardened with areas of black; they even had begun to separate from the nail beds. For the first time in 3 years I can go nail polish free.

I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE HEALING PROPERTIES OF GARLIC.

Broad Benefits

Posted by Kirsten (Portland, Or) on 10/28/2009
★★★★★

Adding Garlic to my health regimen has improved my life so much. It started with chronic tonsillitis that nothing would help and it would be two years before I could get them out, I am now 31. I was having infections twice a month and in desperation I came to Earth Clinic and found the garlic remedy for infection. I took one clove 3x per day when an infection was starting and one clove before bed as prevention. I have not had a full blown cold since! What I do is slice up the clove and swallow in slivers like pills before bed.

Garlic also cures my recurring cold sores on my lips. As soon as I feel one coming on, I slice a clove of garlic and hold it firmly to the sore until it goes numb. I have to be honest that it hurts like nothing I have ever felt, but because it has worked so well, I endure it for 10 minutes or so. I swear I can feel it burning the infection away! Immediately the bump goes down and often does not even scab, just goes away.

Bronchitis

Posted by Lex (San Francisco, Ca) on 08/15/2009
★★★★★

I discovered that garlic cures acute bronchitis by accident...

I've been diagnosed with acute bronchitis and been sick for a month and two weeks and nothing seems to be working. It appeared as if I kept on getting relapses...

Growing up, I've always been told by mom that garlic is good for the health and what not. I've also been hearing it from others, tv, etc. But I've always thought it was just for minor things like a sniffle or so...

One day I decided to go "gung-ho" and chop fresh garlic into my salad. Maybe it was my primitival instict kicking in, but I thought that maybe strong dose of fresh garlic may do something. On the same day, I decided to include fresh garlic into everything - including my dinner pizza. The next day I started to feel better. I still wasn't sure if that was just a calming state before another relapse so I didn't jump into conclusion. Second day passed, Third day passed, and now I'm on my fifth day of feeling back to normal.

I then "googled" garlic and cures to read about garlic and its healing properties. That's when I found this site and discussion!

Thank you.

Colds

Posted by Janet (Near Idaho Falls, Idaho) on 05/21/2009
★★★★★

Here is something soothing that really helps colds,
bronchitis, etc:

Bring 2 c. chicken broth + 2 c. water to boiling
Add 1 small onion, chopped

When done, remove from heat, add 3 cloves crushed
garlic, cover; let
sit for about 10 minutes.
Add sea salt to taste.

Dogs and People

Posted by Jp (Monroe, Ny, Usa) on 12/06/2010

Hey neighbor ;0) I was looking for someone that feeds there dogs long term with no negative side effects. Thanks for posting. I have been giving my dog garlic for the past 6 years. I do not use any heartworm medication. I have used it to deworm my sisters dog. I have the tests to prove it;0) I also give him raw ACV. Between the ACV and raw garlic, there is no neew for harmful heartworm meds and flea and tick topicals. I have been taking garlic pills for years but they seem useless.

After reading your post, A light bulb clicked on. I need to be taking chopped raw garlic like my dog takes. I actually was able to take it down mixed in a tablespoon of olive oil. I tried before and couldn't stand it. It's pretty easy with the olive oil. I got that from another poster on this board. I love this site and thanks for posting.

Dogs and People

Posted by Thenewguyintown (Westwood, New Jersey, Usa) on 12/07/2010

Another good way to take "RAW" garlic is to use natural honey which also has some health benefits to it as well.

How to Prevent Garlic Breath

Posted by Gab (Toronto, Canada) on 02/04/2008
★★★★★

I have one tip for persons using garlic:

Drink lemon juice or eat few slices of lemon.

It kills garlic breath, cures stomach ulcers (for sure prevents them), keeps you safe from colds and flus!

Moles

Posted by Trisha (Singapore) on 01/26/2007
★★★★★

My mom had a 1 inch diameter mushroom like mole that would fester. she had it for over 30 years..at the side of her breast. when she was in her 70s she heard about garlic and started taking it to lower her high blood pressure, she would take 2-3 cloves every night ( chopped finely and tucked into her mouth like a pill, & swallowed it down with a glass of sweet drink.. ) after 6 months she realized that the mole started to dry up -no more festering- and after a year it started shrinking and simply flaked off bit by bit..after 2 years it completely disappeared, to date it is only a dot left. completely cured what could have been cancerous ? she continues to take 3 cloves of garlic daily, to keep her blood pressure down, she is 84 years old, lives alone in a flat in Malaysia. she is very lucid and keeps abreast of CNN's daily news cast. due to garlic ? all reasons point in that direction...

Bloating, Stomach Cramps and Constipation

Posted by Rick (Victoria, Australia) on 11/24/2006
★★★★★

Cut garlic clove into small pieces. Swallow them in one go with just a little water. This cures Bloating, stomach cramps and constipation.

Low Energy

Posted by Ray (New York City)
★★★★★

Wake up the dead juice: When I was younger I used to get a lot of fatigue, loss of appetite, and body aches as a result from a cold. It would be those types of colds that just basically gave you those symptoms. It would have none or very little fever, coughs, stuffiness and sneezing. So I used to say to myself I would go to school if I had the energy. That's when I started drinking "Wake Up the Dead" juice.

There are a few ways to make this.

You can either boil some water and add sliced onions to it.

Or boil water and add chopped garlic to it.

I usually mix both onion and garlic to the hot water. I leave the chunks inside. You can remove them if you wish.

Drink that water as hot as you can take it.

Another way people do it is by mixing about 2 cups of cold water and 1 chopped onion and/or some garlic chunks all in a blender. They can either drink it hot or cold. But drinking it hot is better.

It is extremely important that you drink this as soon as you get up on an empty stomach. One cup is fine and 2 is better. The more onions and garlic you put in it, the better it is. It tastes very disgusting but it will give you one hell of a boost. It will last anywhere from 3 to 6 hours. Then you have to drink it again. You should only drink it twice a day.

Summary

Posted by Susan (USA)

* Garlic is a gastric stimulant & helps with digestion.
* It acts as an anti flatulent, carminative and diaphoretic.
* It stimulates the kidneys and is diuretic in nature.
* It is a tonic, giving strength & vitality
* It is an expectorant having a special effect on the bronchial and pulmonary secretions.
* It is beneficial for eyes & brain.
* It helps to heal fractured bones (also see comfrey poultices)
* It is a great antiseptic.
* It has allicin, which has the property to destroy germs which are not killed by penicillin. As such, it is a very powerful germicidal.
* It rehabilitates sexual malfunctions.
* It improves functional activity of heavy smokers.
* Half a raw garlic clove a day can increase body activity to dissolve blood clots, thereby preventing heart attacks and strokes.
* A couple of raw garlic cloves daily can bring blood cholesterol levels down in heart patients.

Click here to see all books on the healing properties of garlic.

Summary

Posted by atul (Washington, DC) on 07/16/2009

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.

Dementia

Posted by Natural Cures (Los Angeles, California) on 06/22/2018
★★★★★

Natural remedies for Alzheimer and dementia: I think garlic is curative and so garlic pills can help improve our mental and physical health. Thank you for all the information it is very helpful.

General Feedback

Posted by Mama To Many (Tennessee, Usa) on 12/18/2013

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~

Candida and Thrush

Posted by Beehive (London, Uk) on 05/01/2013
★★★★★

Garlic for candida in the gut and thrush:

I began getting ill with the flu very very regularly. If my son had a slight sniffle I would catch it and end up bedridden for 10 days. As soon as I recovered from one flu-like illness I would come down with another. This went on for about a year. I also ended up with a recurrent thrush infection. I searched the internet and found that my illnesses were probably due to an overgrowth of candida in my gut and my immune system was compromised. I also read that taking raw crushed garlic would kill the candida but that I would get die off symptoms and it would make me feel really unwell. Well, I followed the instructions, crushed a clove of garlic, left it to sit for 10 minutes and then swallowed it with fruit juice and then ate a light meal. An hour or so later I felt so unwell. I regretted having had the garlic. These symptoms lasted 2 days. After that I felt fine. A few days later my son came home from school with a bit of a sniffle and I feared that I might end up bedridden again. Amazingly I did not catch the sniffle. A week after I had had the first dose of garlic I decided to have another one. I did not feel unwell at all. No die off symptoms therefore no candida in the gut. Now I take a crushed clove of garlic every couple of weeks or so. I also make sure my son has it too. The thrush cleared up too. I also eat live yogurt regularly too. There is no need to go to the doctors for an antifungal when you can get a clove of garlic and it does the job a million times better.

Broad Benefits

Posted by Minuck (Scotchtown Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Canada) on 08/06/2011
★★★★★

i had a wart and applied garlic with a bandage for 7 days and it is now gone, also got rid of a mole using garlic. I also find garlic improves my eyesight and can drive at night without any difficulty. Sure does cure an earache. I shall try garlic in socks at night. I read they must be white cotton socks. Your site is very informative. Thank you

Peeled Garlic Vs Fresh Garlic

Posted by Kate (Uk) on 12/18/2016

I'm not sure how helpful a comment published six years later but a. firstly I'm amazed that peeled garlic is a thing, we haven't become quite that lazy over here yet! and b. I would think you're better off with something with its skin on, and ideally local and organic if you can get it. In at least some parts of the world garlic is irradiated for supermarkets so it won't sprout - I *think* that doesn't happen unless labelled in the UK, but seems to in Canada (eg http://ediblegardenproject.com/2012/10/27/food-irradiation-know-your-garlic/) so might well be in the US. Something raw with the skin off must've gone through some process to stop it rotting (like enzymes or chlorine baths that don't need to go on the label). In the UK, garlic I get from the organic shop has got loads more of a kick than the stuff from the supermarket - sometimes you can't track exactly what is doing what (freshness? farming practices?) but just follow your nose.

Can I also recommend Joanna Blythman's book Swallow This, which is very enlightening about 'clean labelling' - ie putting foods, including apparently raw, fresh simple vegetables through all sorts of food processing that is invisible on the label. For instance, those fresh fruit salads in supermarkets don't go off for several weeks because of an enzyme dip, and harmless and 'natural' sounding words like 'beetroot extract' on a label are actually the same stuff that would have had a long chemical name in the 90s. Only at some point it would've been waved in the general direction of a beetroot. So even if you're a committed label reader, you won't necessarily be getting a very clear picture of what's happened to your shopping, because there's a whole culture committed to hiding it. If you want to get round this, garlic unpeeled and ideally from a local foodchain, not a major supermarket is probably your best bet.

Colds

Posted by Jennahwithanh (Newcomb, New York) on 03/06/2012
★★★★★

I chop it fine and mix it in salsa, add a little honey and cayenne pepper and eat it with some corn chips. Opens those passages up real nice and tastes yummy too! :)

Colds

Posted by Denise (Soperton, GA) on 04/03/2009
★★★★★

Yes! Garlic is a wonder cure to have on hand. I read about it's properties a few years ago and have been using it every sense.

It works like a natural antibiotic, it kills off the bad stuff and leaves the good stuff along.

When I have a Cold or Sinus infection I will use it. I cut up a clove of fresh Garlic as small as I can. Then I will swallow as much as I can in one swallow with water to chase it down, swallow just like it was a pill. You do not have to eat it or chew it . Do this 3 to 4 times a day. I usually do it for 5 to 7 days. I store the cut up garlic in a small glass bowl in the refrigerator.

Colds

Posted by Sonja (Swanley, England) on 09/08/2008
★★★★★

I have used garlic for years. Every time I get a cold I eat one clove of garlic 3x a day. I enjoy the taste, so have it on bread with pate, or meat always raw. It is not very social... but within 3 days feel great. It is very effective. I also love horseradish for congested sinuses/ blocked nose. just a bit of it with some meat and you can breath freely..
it is easy, cheap and works without fail.