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Garlic-For our first herb article, i've decided to begin with garlic, because it is one of the most effective and safe herbs, one of the most whole foods, and one of the best tonics for all around good health in existence. It is also known to battle colds and flu, and we are now entering the cold and flu season.First, a few words about my philosophy on herbs:
There are herbs that can be used potently in the same ways as conventional medicine, and i'm sure in times like severe emergencies they can be helpful, but mostly i strongly believe that the best (and safest) way to treat and prevent diseases is to use mostly herbs that are tonics and promote the all- around health of the part of the body they are used for, with little or no side effects. It is also important that the herb is used closest to it's pure form- fresh, or dried, or tea, or extract, or oil- rather than being isolated or altered in any way- like in a standardized extract (-that's where the doses can get out of hand, and the herbs can start to have side effects). And it is also important that everything we eat promotes our all- around health- in addition to the herbs or supplements we take. This is contrary to to the popular use of medicine as a quick fix symptom curer (though there are many good tonic herbs which do help symptoms and ailments and stop pain). Instead, it is using herbs and foods to cure the cause of the problem, as well as nurturing the entire body back to health (Hence what i call the naturopath's hippocratic oath: "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food"). Garlic is a wonderful herb and food which lives up to- or even sets- these standards.As we know, garlic is used to prevent and fight against flus and colds- it is anti- viral and antibiotic. It is antiseptic and kills bad bacteria without attacking good bacteria. It is an expectorant, which means it can help cough up crap out of your lungs. This is because it is easily absorbed into the lungs, and in general it is really good for your lungs, which also makes it good for bronchitis and bronchial asthma. I remember a few years back, back when i was first learning about and falling in love with garlic, most of my friends and i somehow all had bronchitis. We were all sick and coughing. It was crazy. One friend of ours who wasn't sick had us all over to her house and she made us garlic soup. We all sat around eating that soup and coughing all that stuff out of our lungs. It was hot(spicy) soup- it made us cough. I think she put cayenne in it.Garlic is good for digestion, and it's a good tonic for the stomach. It also kills parasites. It is great for the heart, and promotes circulation. It also cleanses the blood. When used regularily over time, it can lower blood pressure and cholesterol. A poultice of chopped garlic can suck the poison out of an insect bite. A drop or 2 of garlic oil in the ear will cure an earache. Garlic has cancer preventative properties too.Back when the plague was an epidemic, there was a group of thieves who drank a special vinegar that allowed them to plunder plague infested houses for goods without getting infected. Garlic was an ingredient in that vinegar (i'm guessing it was garlic, cayenne, and honey, and maybe ginger in apple cider vinegar) Garlic can even help relieve pain from rheumatism, and, because it attacks the toxins in the digestive system which cause arthritis, garlic is good to take for arthritis. It has also been said to prevent anthrax in cattle.Garlic contains vitamins A and B7, and is rich in phosphorus and bromine. It also contains the minerals copper, germanium, magnesium, potassium, and sulfur.Garlic can be taken as an oil, extract*, in capsule form, or fresh. If you choose to take garlic in capsule form, the best is to make sure it is garlic oil capsules. The benefiting ingredients in garlic are mostly in it's fresh volatile oil- so powdered or overcooked garlic just doesn't have the stuff. Also, it is important to make sure the extract or capsules you buy are in their pure form and not standardized. But the best way to take garlic is fresh- just chop up a clove or to and add it fresh to your lunch or dinner. And it's delicious! Besides, if you take garlic capsules because you don't like the taste, you're gonna burp it up anyway.Another good way to use garlic is to make your own extract in the form of a salad dressing. Simply chop some garlic and steep in apple cider vinegar in a covered jar in the fridge for a week or two, then funnel into a salad dressing sized bottle and add olive oil or toasted sesame oil and dried or chopped herbs of your choice. Store in the fridge and shake before use.Garlic has been used as an herb along side with echinacea for microbial infections. It has been used with honey as a cough syrup. It has also been used along side with cayenne, which makes sense because they both promote circulation.I have to tell ya- with all that thinking about garlic, i had to get up and make myself some garlic toast before i even finished the first paragraph, and it was delicious! Anyway, garlic has many more uses than i could even write down, so check it out for yourself!*an extract is made by steeping a fresh herb in strong alcohol for anywhere from a few weeks to a month, and straining out the herbs. the alcohol absorbs most of the medicinal qualities of the herb, and preserves it for a long amount of time. vinegar may also be used in place of alcohol (but not distilled vinegar), and glycerin is often used in extracts for children and pregnant women, but the glycerin doesn't absorb the medicinal properties as effectively.The books i used for references in this article are The Herbal Handbook by David Hoffman, A Modern Herbal by M. Grieve, and Prescription for Nutritional Healing by James and Phyllis Balch, but most of my research has been from many different random herbal medicine books and articles and discussions over the past 6 years; many of the books coming from the public library. Some books i highly recommend are: Herbs and Old Time Remedies, by Joseph Van Seters, and Herbal Medicine for Health and Well- Being by Laura Washington are Featured Here.