DECONGESTING, DE-GASSING, GASTRIC-LOVING GARLIC
I’ve had an absolute rotter of a cold for the past week, as has my daughter and husband. One picked up from my daughter’s pre-school once again, no doubt, and definitely better than the Covid that her teachers have currently got. But still, a full-body cold just the same. We really thought we had Corona this time as it’s such a bad one, but as we are still testing negatively, it’s business as usual.
We’ve been diving under towels doing menthol steams with the car-washing bucket, applying chest rub, drinking lemon honey and ginger- the whole shebang really. I finally decided it was time to pull out the garlic big guns a couple of days ago, and I’m so glad I did as we aren’t the sorry bunch we were a few days ago now.
Garlic has been used in herbal medicine traditions all over the world for centuries and rightly so, as it is basically a herbal panacea! In Ayurveda, garlic’s positive digestive effect is focused on, as is the potent therapeutic effect it has on the lungs. It’s an expectorant and therefore helps to clear wet and sticky mucous. Other Kapha-like symptoms it clears are sluggishness, feelings of heaviness, lethargy, achey limbs and catarrh. On top of this, it enhances the body’s immunity.
In terms of digestion, garlic is known as a herbal antibiotic as it helps to remove harmful gut bacteria without depleting the body’s natural flora. If you get a little bloated and extra windy for a day or two after eating garlic, see it as a good thing, as this is a sign that your intestinal flora is getting a good deep clean! Around 48 hours after eating garlic, any gaseous distension should disappear, as should distension caused by the build up of mucous in the intestines. Once again, this is garlic being great at removing excess Kapha from the body (mucous) as well as excess Vata (air).
Garlic is a circulatory stimulant, and therefore warms the whole body, regulating the circulation system. It can also regulate the blood pressure, lower blood cholesterol, reduce blood clotting and have a positive effect on varicose veins.
Because of its pungency, garlic kindles the digestive fire (agni), and should therefore be treated with caution by those with high Pitta in their prakriti, or if you are experiencing high levels of emotional stress. It should also be avoided in large quantities if it’s a sunny day or you can’t turn your heating down from boiling!
Garlic nourishes our tissues (dhatus) at a deep level, and is therefore great for reproductive and sexual health as well as bringing mental clarity. The reason you may have smelly breath the next day is because garlic oil actually appears on the breath after it has cleaned the bronchioles and alveoli. I tried to explain this to my daughter this morning who woke me up by telling me that I stink! So, swings and roundabouts really, and at the moment I’ll take the garlic breath in return for being congestion and ache- free!
I likepreparing two or three garlic bulbs and blending them with a little ginger root and some lemon peel. This mixture can be kept under oil for a good week or so without going off, thus saving the trouble of crushing a garlic segment daily. Once it’s made, you can put a teaspoon in a cup of warm water with honey and make a kind of tea, or you can use it as a pre-digestive. This means having a teaspoon about half an hour or so before eating. The idea of this is to kick-start your agni (digestive fire) in preparation for the upcoming meal. A pinch of cayenne pepper added to the mix is a great idea in this instance (but again, not recommended for Pitta-types. This idea is definitely one for the Kapha-types in the house). Personally, I like to just add a couple of spoonfuls to whatever I’m cooking. Last night I fried it up with some swede and made a little root vegetable curry. It sounds too good to be true, but I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in a week. So, if you’ve tried it all and you’re still a snot-bag, then I’d go for garlic if I were you!