History
When testifying under oath, ancient Egyptians swore on garlic cloves in the same way Americans today swear on the Bible. Garlic was so valuable that 15 pounds of garlic could buy a healthy male slave.
In the mid-1300s, four famous thieves pillaged Plague victims' houses and later buried the dead (as part of their punishment after arrest), but never got sick. One of the thieves was an herbalist who concocted an herbal preventative remedy that the thieves claim kept them alive. Termed the "Vinegar of Four Thieves," it contained lavender, peppermint, rosemary, sage, wormwood, and of course garlic.
More recently, during World War I, doctors in Great Britain used garlic poultices to prevent wounds from becoming infected. The British government encouraged civilians to grow the herb and paid one shilling per pound. During World War II, garlic was dubbed "Russian penicillin."
Healing Properties
A member of the lily family, garlic has the following properties:
- Alterative - cleanses the blood (thus helping the liver, spleen, kidneys, and bowels)
- Antibacterial - destroys bacteria and prevents bacterial growth
- Anti-diabetic - regulates blood sugar
- Anti-fungal - destroys fungi and prevents fungal growth
- Anti-inflammatory - reduces inflammation
- Antioxidant - prevents and slows free radical damage
- Anti-parasitic - destroys and expels worms and parasites
- Antiseptic - slows tissue decay
- Anti-spasmotic - relieves nervous irritation, muscle spasms, convulsions, and cramps
- Antiviral - destroys viruses
- Discutient - dissolves tumors
- Expectorant - eliminates mucus from the throat and lungs
- Immune-stimulating - strengthens the immune system
- Lung tonic - strengthens the lungs
- Lymphatic - stimulates and cleanses the lymph system
- Vulnerary - promotes healing of burns, wounds, and cuts by protecting against infection and stimulating cellular renewal
Description
Garlic is a complex substance that contains at least 28 active constituents. In comparison, pharmaceutical antibiotics are simple substances that typically contain only one chemical constituent (which is often originally derived from an herb). Bacteria can easily learn how to counter an unnaturally isolated single constituent, rendering many antibiotics useless with time. The use of naturally occurring herbal antibiotics, on the other hand, does not create antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
When crushed, the amino acid alliin joins forces with the enzyme allinase to produce allicin, garlic's lead healing component (and also the subtance responsible for garlic's strong smell). One milligram of allicin matches the potency of 15 standard units of penicillin.
Steven H. Horne states in The ABC Herbal, "[A] nurse who worked in a hospital growing bacterial cultures told me how she had proven to herself the powerful effect of garlic. She took a petri dish with a very powerful strain of bacteria and set a peeled clove of garlic in the center of the dish. Within two hours, every bacteria in the dish was dead. She told me it took eight hours for the strongest antibiotic the hospital had to kill that same strain of bacteria when the antibiotic was sprayed over the whole plate. That shows you how penetrating the effects of garlic are."
Preparation
Everyone can use garlic, including babies and pregnant and nursing mamas. To get the most benefit from the allicin, it is best to use garlic in its natural unheated, unprocessed state. Whether battling a severe condition or the onset of a cold, garlic is an easy herb to use. My favorite preparations are raw garlic, garlic oil, and a garlic poultice.
To take garlic raw, simply crush with the side of a chef knife, mince, scoop onto a spoon, and swallow with water (as if it were a pill). Some people prefer to mix the minced garlic with raw honey before swallowing. I take two to eight cloves a day when fighting a cold or other infection. Some practicioners recommend taking up to 9 bulbs a day, depending on the severity of the illness.
To take garlic as a poultice, create a poultice with three to five cloves and hold it to your chest as long as you can stand it. (It will start to burn.) I usually start on one side of my chest, then move to the other side of my chest when it gets too uncomfortable, then to the middle of my chest, then back to the first side, etc. for 5-20 minutes, depending on how I feel. When applying a poultice to a baby or child, create a poultice with one or two cloves and try to hold it on their chest, their back, and the sole of each foot for 20-30 seconds at each location. I apply a poultice once or twice a day when fighting a cold or other infection. However it can certainly be applied more often if needed. To help soothe the skin, I usually rub an herbal salve onto the skin when I am done with the poultice.
A small bottle of garlic oil (especially oil infused with mullein) serves as great ear drops for children with ear infections. Put two to three drops in each ear every two hours.
plus, it tastes good. :)
ReplyDeleteWow! Lots of information! It does taste good! We just had garlic bread, it is actually bread with whole garlic cloves in it and is very very yummy!
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