Have you heard about the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of Garlic? I have heard some people talk about how they would eat raw garlic when they had a cold or sinus infection to help it clear up more quickly. I will admit I was a bit skeptical about it.
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| I ate about 4 tsp of this to cure my ear infection. |
But last week the whole family got sick. I had three children with ear infections and Jacob ended up getting Pneumonia and cracked ribs from coughing. After hauling everyone to the doctor and getting antibiotics, shots, and a chest x-ray (for Jacob), and prescriptions for everyone, I was starting to get a bit worried about the doctor bill that will be coming to our house next month. I am sure it won't be pretty. As everyone was starting to get better I could feel myself getting sick. I had finally succumbed to what everyone else had been suffering with. After several days I knew I had an ear infection (they are not uncommon for me) because I had an excruciating ear ache and I could taste the infection running down my throat. I know gross huh! The thought of another trip to the doctor was just not an option, we just can't afford it. So that night I decided I would give the garlic a try.
I had read online about a guy that claimed if you put a sliver of garlic wrapped in tissue into your ear overnight or a few drops of garlic juice it would take away your ear pain and combat the infection. The only garlic I had in the house was a bottle of pre-minced garlic packed in water. I didn't want to stick that in my ear but I also learned through my research that onions have similar healing properties to the garlic and I have loads of garden onions right now so I thought I would try that. So I gobbled down two big heaping teaspoons of the minced garlic. Then I cut a sliver of onion wrapped it in tissue and stuck it in my ear through the night. Don't stick it clear down in there, make the garlic sliver about the size of an ear plug, so it will just sit right inside the ear canal.
Somehow through the night a miracle occurred and I woke up with no ear pain. I could still taste a bit of the infection and my throat was still a bit sore, but my symptoms were greatly improved. So the following day I put down 2 more teaspoonfuls of garlic and ate a bunch of raw onion on my Navajo Taco that night and by the next morning all of my symptoms were gone. Ear ache gone, sore throat gone, the congestion that I had was gone, and no more nasty infection running down my throat. I was completely amazed. All it took was 4 teaspoons of garlic and a little sliver of onion. That beats a trip to the doctor any day.
Since that time I have researched some more about the amazing properties of garlic and I think I am going to start eating at least a teaspoonful a day. Garlic is actually the most powerful antioxidant in the world. The key is you have to eat it raw, and it needs to be minced or cold pressed to expose as much of its powerful compound, allicin, as possible. Cooking the garlic destroys this compound. Garlic has been know to be beneficial to reduce the risk of heart attack and cardiovascular disease, it boosts the immune system, fights off infections, and may have anti-cancer properties. I also read an article that says fresh garlic contains more allicin than bottled garlic, so although I haven't had any luck growing garlic in my garden yet, I am definitely going to work harder at it and hopefully my fall garden will be full of it.
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Since overcoming my pneumonia, I still am coughing. So I have been taking cough medicine at night to combat it. It hasn't been working to well the last few nights; I've been waking up with coughing fits. So last night we had Chicken Parmigiana and so I added about 3 cloves of fresh garlic on top of my sauce (I often will add 1 fresh clove or so to these types of meals). So three was not too strong, though I had some awesome breath. I did not cough all night and was good till about 9am this morning. Was it the garlic or just placebo? It think it was the garlic.
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