Garlic

For as long as I can remember I've known garlic was special.  What kid doesn't grow up knowing it keeps vampires from biting your neck?

 

 

Besides protection from vampires, werewolves and demons, garlic has been an age-old remedy for any number of naturally occurring evils including colds, viruses, and infections. It's also known to regulate blood sugar levels, prevent scurvy, reduce blood pressure and lower cholesterol. It's a well-known natural antibiotic. That's just a tiny sample of its healing properties. Finding out its anti-inflammatory rating is 4863 was enough to make me a believer!

I've eaten garlic all my life. When people have asked me if I'm worried if I'll stink, I laugh. My definition of stink is probably different from most. Strangely enough, if I eat garlic, I've never had anyone tell me they could smell it. I've asked people, "I just ate garlic - can you smell it?" Maybe they are just being polite, but I'm always given the OK. I would joke only bad people [vampires] would be repulsed by my garlic-saturated body so my friends must be the good guys. We are so afraid to smell badly.

Pre-MCS days when I'd get sick like a normal person, anytime I felt a cold or sore throat coming on I'd go to bed with a clove of garlic in my mouth. Raw garlic burns slightly, but after a while it numbs your mouth and throat. I'd suck on it in my sleep. If I woke up and couldn't taste it, I'd bite it a little to release the juices. The next morning I'd not have even a hint of illness or a tickle in my throat. The first time a friend told me about this remedy I said, "Eeww! What does your husband say when you do that?" She said they both have to do it together or the smell is quite intolerable coming from one person. I've often been asked if I'm afraid I'll choke on the clove in my sleep. Never have.

                            

Some believe most diseases are caused by parasites. Heart worms create heart attacks. Roundworms burrowing into a child's brain can make them blind. About a year ago I saw a television news story about a woman with a parasitic worm in her brain that affected her ability to function. I'm sure she regretted eating that pork chop. How many of us have eaten undercooked meat and were not aware? Sushi, anyone? But acknowledging civilized people in a civilized society might have worms is un-American to say the least. It's a taboo subject stereotypically indicating an unsanitary, uncultured lifestyle.  Unfortunately, with the cat and dog epidemic and animal owners no longer keeping pets outside, parasites are fairly common. Recently I read there was an outbreak of the bubonic plague down in New Mexico due to fleas from dogs. Bubonic Plague!? I thought that went out in the Middle Ages!?  Don't underestimate the power of a parasite.


I grew up on a farm, running barefoot through fields, handling pets and livestock then eating apples off the trees or veggies from the garden before washing my hands. Heck, we used to swim in the animal watering troughs and use cow patties as weapons when we played war. I don't ever remember being given any kind of deworming treatments, although deworming kids at the end of summer used to be common practice in the old days...before it became taboo to even think about parasites.

Since conventional, civilized, [ineffective] health care has failed me so often, I wondered if whatever ails me is caused by some creepy crawly in my system. When I caught the neighbor's worm-infested cat sleeping in Peter's bed, I figured I'd better do something to protect him so I started reading about natural remedies for parasites. Pumpkin seeds and garlic were the most commonly used and on hand for both animals and people. Peter wouldn't go near the garlic, but he ate the pumpkin seeds. I cook with and eat garlic daily so I assumed I probably didn't need deworming, but it couldn't hurt? The instructions said to mince three garlic cloves and swallow them down with a large glass of water. Hmmmm. OK. I figured if other people have done this it's not going to kill me.

The first ten minutes I seriously thought I was going to die. Or at the very least pass out. My head started spinning, my stomach burned and felt like it was ripping apart, and I could hardly breathe let alone stand. Oh God, what have I done? I ran to the toilet and tried to vomit it all up, but I've never been able to thrown up anything so it didn't work. After ten minutes...I was fine. Amazing. I'm pretty sure by the time those minced garlic cloves got to my intestines if there were parasites they ran screaming for their lives. Everything I read also highly suggests eating high fiber diets with lots of veggies and fruits and drinking lots of water for optimal digestion and elimination. Constipation keeps the parasites inside your digestive tract too long allowing them time to root themselves in the walls of your colon and forage their way into your bloodstream which allows them to travel anywhere. Icky...

I grow garlic all over my yard. Planting it at the base of rose bushes is supposed to keep roses free from disease and aphids.  I also have elephant garlic in my garden. I love the tall stalks and beautiful round blooms. Some people prefer it as it has a much milder taste, but it's actually not a garlic at all, but a type of leek.

Check your area this summer for garlic festivals and celebrate this wonder gift from the gods!  At such events you may find garlic bread, garlic mashed potatoes, garlic cheesecake, deep-fried garlic, garlic-flavored fudge (?!), Caesar garlic salads, chicken marinated in garlic, garlic salsa, garlic-flavored kettle korn, garlic cashews, pasta with garlic Alfredo sauce, corn on the cob with garlic butter, and roasted garlic cloves. Garlic lovers are so creative!

With vampires like Ian Somerhalder, who needs garlic?