by Lawrence Wilson, MD

GARLIC - ITS USE IN NUTRITIONAL BALANCING PROGRAMS

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

Ó February 2015, L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Garlic is an herb and a food. It has some irritating oils in it that make it somewhat difficult to eat a lot at any one time. However, this can be overcome easily by cooking it, drying it or otherwise weakening some of the irritating oils it contains.

Garlic is one of the most powerful and safest of the herbs. For this reason, it has a special place in nutritional balancing science. It is used on a regular basis, unlike most of the other herbs in the plant kingdom. Even among foods, garlic is quite safe as long as it is cooked or dried so that the irritating oils are limited in potency.

WHAT GARLIC CONTAINS

Garlic contains many excellent nutrients such as selenium, germanium, and many others. It is high in a very well-absorbed form of selenium, and very high in the sulfur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine. It is also high in taurine, and in a rare type of protein called alliin that is helpful for healing wounds, cuts and bruises of all types. This is one reason garlic is used as a healing remedy, in particular, in nutritional balancing science. Just as it heals cuts and bruises on the outside of the body, it can heal them on the inside as well.

When the garlic is crushed or ground, even in one’s teeth, the alliin reactions with allinase and is converted to allisin. This is a short-lived molecule, but a very powerful antibiotic and anti-fungal medicinal. It is even employed in some drugs in a synthetic form that is not as good, but is more stable and so it lasts much longer. One such drug is ThiabendizoleÒ.

Garlic also contains small amounts of many other nutrients, along with an aromatic oil that gives it its characteristic odor and a slight irritating quality.

USES OR HELPFUL PROPERTIES OF GARLIC

All of the above gives garlic certain excellent healing qualities that are used in nutritional balancing science, as well as in many herbal formulas on the market. Among its most important uses are:

1. To improve energy and stamina.

2. To lower the blood pressure.

3. As an anti-candida and anti-yeast remedy it excels.

4. As a general anti-infection remedy.

5. As an anti-parasitic remedy. Not only is the allicin effective, but also the irritating oils in it are particularly irritating to parasites and they will leave the intestines and other tissues, including the brain in some cases, when enough garlic is ingested. Also, the special protein alliin, which is made of sulfur-bearing amino acids exclusively, also tends to kill off parasites better than most other natural and drug remedies.

6. Its high selenium content helps garlic to be somewhat anti-cancer and helpful for detoxification of heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Selenium is needed to produce glutathione, one of the major compounds used in the liver and elsewhere to detoxify many types of harmful chemicals and metals in the body.

7. Garlic is also excellent to clear the mind and improve the breath. It is an old remedy used around the world for this purpose. While it has a distinctive odor, the breath becomes fresher because the garlic kills off many germs in the mouth and bronchial tubes that cause bad breath.

8. Garlic is also excellent to relax people to some degree. This is due to its selenium and even zinc content.

9. To reduce copper toxicity. Garlic is specific to counteract the effects of copper, and almost everyone has a problem with copper. Copper, in excess, damages particularly the connective tissues, although, in fact, by counteracting a form of zinc, copper can damage all of the body tissues, leading to scarring, adhesions (which are the same concept) and actually liquefying protein structures of the body.

10. Other. Garlic has other uses that are detailed in some herbal books, but this is enough for our purposes in this article at this time.

HOW TO EAT GARLIC

Many ways exist to use garlic:

1. Fresh, added to many dishes. Here is usually best lightly cooked to reduce the irritating oils in the garlic.

2. Dried garlic powder or garlic salt may be added as a spice to food. This is the most powerful method, but it quite irritating, at times, due to the allicin and other products in the raw, powdered or chopped garlic.

3. Whole cooked garlic cloves can be boiled in a few cups of water and served as a garlic soup. This is a powerful vermifuge, or anti-parasite remedy. One must use about 14 large, peeled garlic cloves in about two cups of water or more, and one must cook it for 30 to 40 minutes.

4. Dried and aged in capsules, tablets or liquid. This is the Kyolic product, and perhaps a few others that are sold at health food retail stores. This is the way to obtain the most garlic at one time. One must be somewhat careful, as it will lower the blood pressure a little. If one’s blood pressure is already low, one could become light-headed or dizzy from ingesting too much garlic at one time.

5. Other. Garlic can be consumed in other ways, as a tincture, in combination with other herbs and spices, as a dish all by itself, and others.

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