The good, the bad, and the smelly...garlic


I am a very picky eater. I don't do the "major" veggies, like tomatoes, onions, or peppers. It just complicates things. I think it's genetic. Jack, my younger brother, used to hurl every time he even heard the word "tomato." I wish I could go into more detail, but unfortunately they allow little brothers to have access to the Internet, and he's much larger than I am. Not that he would ever hurt me. I can still take him down (bring it, Jack).

The one thing I do love is garlic. And I don't just "sort kinda" love garlic. I L-O-V-E garlic. Like, people know when I'm eating lunch. Yesterday, I brought a pasta dish to work that had so much garlic in it, people from across the room came to see what the smell was. I don't mess around. So while I overdo it, you should know that garlic does have many health benefits. I try to get Tim to eat it as much as possible, but whenever he sees it anywhere near his dish, he bellows, "I hate garlic!" He has no idea that it goes into every meal he eats. And I mean every meal.

**Side note: a lady at work told me that if you eat too much garlic, it will start to seep out of your pores. Is this true? Is there a doctor in the blog world that can answer this for me?

Back to the topic: the health benefits of garlic. Now, I know WebMD is not a licensed medical practitioner, but I trust it. Thanks to its Symptom Checker, I constantly believe I am dying of some rare disease. But luckily, garlic can probably cure that!

Now, for those of you who don't regularly come in contact with garlic, it is like an onion in that it has an outer casing you need to peel away to get to the inside: the cloves.
Those tiny things are the individual cloves. For those of you who don't know how to prepare garlic, here's a short tutorial (please forgive my amateur pictures):

First, you take a clove and place it on a clean surface. You then take a knife....

...ask the clove's forgiveness...

...and take its life. After smashing it, you peel the small outer layer and it's ready to mince.

Then you buy this nice little garlic press to save yourself the time and effort of using a knife. Let's not waste time.
You can use garlic for pasta, mashed potatoes, with vegetables...just about anything!

Okay, now you know how to prepare it. Let's get back to the health benefits. Now, I'm not medically savvy, so I'm just going to take this from the WebMD page on garlic. For more information, visit their site.

"Garlic is an herb. It is best known as a flavoring for food. But over the years, garlic has been used as a medicine to prevent or treat a wide range of diseases and conditions. The fresh clove or supplements made from the clove are used for medicine.

Garlic is used for many conditions related to the heart and blood system. These conditions include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, heart attack, and “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis). Some of these uses are supported by science. Garlic actually may be effective in slowing the development of atherosclerosis and seems to be able to modestly reduce blood pressure.

Some people use garlic to prevent colon cancer, rectal cancer, stomach cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lung cancer. It is also used to treat prostate cancer and bladder cancer.

Garlic has been tried for treating an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia; BPH), diabetes, osteoarthritis, hayfever (allergic rhinitis), traveler's diarrhea, high blood pressure late in pregnancy (pre-eclampsia), cold and flu. It is also used for building the immune system, preventing tick bites, and preventing and treating bacterial and fungal infections.

Other uses include treatment of fever, coughs, headache, stomach ache, sinus congestion, gout, rheumatism, hemorrhoids, asthma, bronchitis, shortness of breath, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, high blood sugar, and snakebites. It is also used for fighting stress and fatigue, and maintaining healthy liver function.

Some people apply garlic oil to their skin to treat fungal infections, warts, and corns. There is some evidence supporting the topical use of garlic for fungal infections like ringworm, jock itch, and athlete’s foot; but the effectiveness of garlic against warts and corns is still uncertain."


Isn't that wild? God really knew what He was doing when He made this stuff! Just remember to keep a pack of gum on you at all times. And don't eat it on the first date...or the second...okay, don't eat it until you're married and there's a contract between you, God and the guy of your dreams. Then it's safe.


Keep an eye out for an amazing garlic recipe I just discovered. It's SO GOOD!


Have a garlicy day!
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