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We all know garlic is good for us, right?
It is probably one of the most commonly used herbs in our daily lives, yet did you know this small little plant packs a powerful medicinal punch?
I personally use garlic in just about everything I make. A sprinkle of dried garlic here, a dash of fresh chopped garlic there, a clove or two of lactofermented garlic over there.
Lactofermented garlic?
Yes!
It is probably my all-time favorite ferment and my secret ingredient in a number of recipes, including my tasty Spicy Garlic Cabbage and Carrot Slaw with Probiotic Dressing.
Learn how to make lactofermented garlic here.
But, I digress. This post is not about recipes, it’s about the health benefits of garlic. So, let’s get started!
19 Health Benefits of Garlic
Garlic has been used as a food and a medicine for thousands of years, all over the world. According to Richard S. Rivlin in an article he wrote in the Journal of Nutrition, Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician (circa. 460-370 BC), would prescribe garlic for a wide range of health conditions. Even today, in modern times, garlic is still widely used for its therapeutic properties. PubMed has over 4,000 mentions of garlic in their library. There is lots of both scientific and anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of garlic.
Raw garlic is typically the best way to take advantage of the many health benefits of this herb. A lot of people can’t tolerate raw garlic very well, which is why I highly recommend the lactofermented garlic. You get to keep all of the benefits of raw garlic, but the lactofermentation process helps reduce some of the strong flavor and fire of fresh garlic, making it much more palatable. Plus, you get a probiotic benefit too!
19 Health Benefits of Garlic
- Can help reduce cancer risk (for a variety of cancers)
- Can effectively destroy brain tumor cells
- Can help prevent osteoarthritis
- Helps protect the heart
- Improves cholesterol profiles
- Improves high blood pressure
- Help improve circulation and thin blood
- Provides powerful antibiotic properties for internal and external infections and skin conditions, including infections that can cause pre-term delivery and drug-resistant bacteria.
- Helps protect the liver
- Immune booster
- Powerful anti-inflammatory properties
- Can help prevent hair loss
- Topical acne treatment (can cause irritation to the skin)
- Can help alleviate toothache pain (may cause irritation to the gums)
- Can help control your weight
- Natural mosquito repellent
- Helps detoxify lead from the body
- May improve iron metabolism
- Reliable source of selenium, due to it being a “seleniferous” plant, meaning it can uptake selenium from the soil even when soil concentrations do not favor this uptake.
Do you use garlic medicinally? Do you eat it raw? Have you noticed any improvement in your health by doing so? Leave a comment below and let’s discuss!
Supporting a The Adrenals, Thyroid, and Whole Body Through Herbs
When it comes to supporting overall wellness, herbs are a great tool to have in your toolkit, especially those who may be dealing with chronic illness of some type. Since 2009, when I started this site, I have met thousands upon thousands of people through my work and by far, the #1 health complaints are:
- adrenal fatigue (or adrenal dysfunction of some sort) (click here to read all of my adrenal health articles)
- thyroid disorders (hypo-, hyper-, or autoimmune) (click here to read all of my thyroid health articles)
Because of this, I wanted to add in a section into this post about the benefit of using herbs with chronic illness.
If you are dealing with any type of chronic illness, I’m sorry to break it to you, but caffeine may not be your best friend. 🙁 While you can find lots of info online in both the pro- and the anti-coffee camps, the fact of the matter comes down to the fact that are a lot of people dealing with chronic illness, especially thyroid and adrenal problems, that simply cannot tolerate coffee and caffeine.
While those with sluggish adrenal glands tend to feel run down and in need of a regular pick-me-up (like coffee and other caffeinated beverages), in the long run, caffeine can do more harm than good while you are healing. I go into the “whys” around caffeine and your adrenals in this detailed post here. In addition to the caffeine, there are other constituents, molds, and mycotoxins that can show up in coffee that some people find they react to and can further exacerbate the toxic load on the body.
When I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease and adrenal fatigue, one of the first things that had to go was coffee. In addition to dealing with these issues, we suspected that I was having some detox pathway sluggishness so we wanted to also focus on supporting the liver and lymph systems. Most people who are dealing with chronic illness are also going to have issues with detoxification of the body, which is why herbs can play such an important role.
To be honest, I never drank coffee because of the caffeine. I drank coffee for the taste and aroma, as well as the emotional experience I felt to my morning cup of joe. For me, it was a ritual that I looked forward to every day (and sometimes multiple times a day). Whether I was brewing it at home or going to my local coffee shops, the experience was one that I clung to tightly.
But, when I was faced with new health struggles, I knew I had to do whatever I could to support my body and give it the tools it needed to heal. Giving up coffee and caffeine was one step in this direction.
And it sucked.
I turned to the coffee substitutes on the market in a desperate attempt to recreate the ritual I had grown so fond of, but nothing ever tasted the way I wanted it to. Nothing ever gave me that same experience that my cup of “real” coffee did. I knew there had to be something better, but I simply could not find it on my health food store’s shelves.
Necessity is the mother of invention so that is why I created my own coffee substitutes. They were made with organic, sustainably harvested herbs with zero grains, zero gluten, and zero caffeine. Just herbs.
Herbs that not only tasted delicious but supported my body’s function, like liver detox, bile production, digestion, etc. All of the herbs used in my “coffee” blends have been used for thousands of years to support the body’s normal functions and help everything work a little better — something we all need in today’s toxic world! (psst, dandelion is one of the herbs!)
When it came to creating these blends, if I could get something to not only tasted amazing (and helped me recreate my dearly loved ritual), but also did amazingly supportive things for my body, then it’s a no brainer!
I sold these pre-made blends on Etsy for awhile and the demand was more than I could keep up with. People literally LOVED these blends and were stunned at how much like coffee they actually tasted. Customers who had been dealing with a variety of chronic illnesses had given up coffee to heal their bodies, but like me were deeply missing their morning cup of joe ritual.
After careful consideration and work with some highly experienced advisors, I decided to stop selling the pre-made blends and instead share my proprietary recipes in the form of an eBook. That way I could arm people with the knowledge and recipes they needed to make their own caffeine-free, gluten-free, grain-free blends in the comfort of their own home.
That is why I created the best-selling DIY Herbal Coffees eBook: A Complete Guide To Making Delicious Herbal Coffees to Support Healing & Stress Relief.
Now in its second edition, this ebook features:
- All of my proprietary herbal blend recipes to you can craft a homemade herbal cup of “coffee” at home.
- A ton of researched information about coffee’s impact on the health of those dealing with issues like adrenal fatigue, blood sugar dysregulation, autoimmune disease, thyroid disease, and any other chronic illness.
- Information about all of the herbs used, why I selected them, how to source them, how to prepare and store you “coffees”, and much more.
- Access to your own personal coffee shop where I show you how to recreate your favorite coffee shop drinks and pastries with wholesome, nourishing real food ingredients. No junk here. Only real food.
This book truly is a comprehensive guide to supporting your health, reducing your stress, and bringing a little something special back into your healing journey. You can learn more and download your own copy of this revolutionary wellness guide here, or simply click on the image below.
References
- What Are the Benefits of Garlic? | Medical News Today
- 13 Surprising Benefits of Garlic | Readers Digest
- 15 Health Benefits of Garlic | Health India
- Beat Back Colds and Flus with… Garlic! | Mercola.com
- How Garlic Can Save Your Life | GreenMedInfo.com
- Historical Perspective on the Use of Garlic | The Journal of Nutrition
- Garlic | The World’s Healthiest Foods
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LOVE garlic! Thanks for sharing some of the many benefits with us and your lactoferm garlic recipe. I had never even considered doing that – you’re brilliant! I’ll be sharing this via social media this week! Blessings, sweet friend!
Thanks Kelly! I appreciate you stopping by and also sharing! 🙂
We love garlic in this family and use it often for sickness prevention and healing! I’ve even used it for yeast 🙂
Garlic is good for EVERYTHING! 🙂
Brandi,
How have you used it to treat yeast? I use it raw with honey for sickness prevention and healing, but never for yeast. I think I may have a systemic yeast infection and am looking for natural, (inexpensive), cures.
I have fermented garlic before and I can’t stand the taste. It tastes like the gross, preservative laden, jarred garlic you get from the grocery store. Perhaps there’s better ways to flavor it while fermenting? I just left it plain. But, I have also heard that fermented foods are not good to eat if you’re fighting yeast because the yeast love the sugars. Any thoughts or help, folks?
Thanks,
Ann
Ann – I wonder if your garlic did not properly ferment? Fermented garlic should not taste gross or preserved. It is amazingly delicious and the fermentation method does matter. I have had the best luck with true anaerobic methods. Much better taste and quality. Regarding not eating them while dealing with yeasts, that really depends on the person. There should be very little (if any) sugar left in properly fermented veggies. Fruit ferments would have more, so it would be wise to avoid those. I know people who have done well with ferments while fighting yeast and others who have not. It really just depends on the person. Best of luck on your healing journey! 🙂
I had spine fusion surgery a week ago, this included a bone graft over a cage round my spine. These early stages it important not to get inflammation or infection and to give the bone a good chance to graft. Interesting to note that I am totally craving garlic – big time. Especially in a butter sauce so I can smother everything I eat in it. I feel it’s vital to listen to the bodies food needs as it definitely tries to heal itself so I’m going with it. Interesting therefore to note the anti inflammatory, anti infection and bone density healing properties you list for garlic!
Hi Annie – It certainly sounds like your body was trying to tell you something! Good for you for listening! I hope your recovery goes smoothly and keep enjoying that tasty garlic. 🙂