Hippocrates said
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” This is the secret of wellness.
Garlic is one of
the healthiest foods that have been used to treat a lot of illnesses (Hippocrates
used it). If you don’t like garlic, you will likely load up your kitchen with
it after reading this
post.
Garlic contains several nutrients. They include:
- · Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5).
From preventing
cancer to detoxifying the body, to treating ailments like a toothache or cough,
here are some of the health benefits of garlic:
- · Garlic contains an enzyme called Allicin which is
responsible for most benefits of garlic.
- · Garlic is effective in lowering body cholesterol in
adults with high cholesterol if taken for longer than two months.
- · It lowers the risk for hypertension and heart disease.
- · Garlic consumption is associated with a lower risk of stomach
and prostate cancer.
Some undesirable things above garlic are:
- · Garlic is known to cause bad breath (halitosis) and body
odor. This is due to a volatile liquid which is absorbed into the blood during
the metabolism of garlic-derived sulfur compounds; from the blood it travels to
the lungs, then to the mouth, where it causes bad breath. These effects can be
minimized by sipping milk while eating garlic (not after).
- · If your doctor has prescribed an anticoagulant medication
(a drug that prevent the blood from clotting), be cautious about consuming
garlic.
How do you prepare garlic?
Always select garlic that is strong and
plump.
The first step to using garlic is to
separate the individual cloves. An easy way to do this is to place the bulb on
a cutting board or hard surface and gently, but firmly, apply pressure with the
palm of your hand at an angle. This will cause the layers of skin that hold the
bulb together to separate.
Peel garlic with a knife or alternatively,
separate the skin from the individual cloves by placing a clove with the smooth
side down on a cutting board and gently tapping it with the flat side of a wide
knife. You can then remove the skin either with your fingers or with a small
knife. If there is a green sprout in the clove's center, gently remove it since
it is difficult to digest.
Chopping or crushing stimulates the
enzymatic process that converts the phytonutrient alliin into allicin, a
compound to which many of garlic's health benefits are attributed. In order to
allow for maximal allicin production, wait at least 5 minutes before eating or
cooking the garlic. Also observe this 5-minute "time out" period
before adding any high acidic ingredient to the garlic (for example, lemon
juice). Ingredients with a pH below 3.5 can also deactivate the enzymatic
process.
Since crushing and chopping are the food
preparation steps that activate garlic's enzymes, these steps can help you
obtain many of garlic's special benefits. For example, research has shown that
microwaving or boiling garlic in uncrushed, whole clove form will deactivate
its enzymes, preventing these enzymes from working. For this reason, we
recommend that you chop or crush the garlic cloves prior to heating. According
to research on garlic preparation methods, it only takes 60 seconds of
microwaving whole cloves to lessen some of garlic's health benefits. By
contrast, many of garlic's health benefits (including its anti-cancer
properties) are preserved if the whole cloves are crushed and allowed to sit
for 10 minutes prior to cooking.
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