When I was a child, my mother seasoned every meal with garlic powder. She loves the flavor and passed the affinity on to me. In the past year, I have grown to know garlic not only as a delightful aromatic, but also as an infection-fighting immune booster. Today’s experiment: Infection-Fighting Garlic, Part 1.
Here are two personal stories to start us off.
This past spring, I was chatting with two friends that I hadn’t seen in two years. One friend’s voice was raspy as she was just recovering from laryngitis. The other one was whispering as she had lost her voice to the same illness. You knew it. A couple days later, I felt that telltale tickle in the back of my throat and my temperature started rising. Immediately, I started my garlic regimen. I never lost my voice, stayed on my feet the whole time, and all trace of illness was gone in five days. I didn’t take any antibiotics.
Also during the spring, my little ball of sugar caught a cold. She stayed ill for about two weeks before I suspected the cold had started affecting her ears. We had just moved and didn’t have health insurance or a doctor yet, so I wasn’t sure what to do. It got so bad that she couldn’t lay down without crying and her ears were bright red. I administered garlic drops in her ears and the redness went away within a half an hour. The next day, her cold was gone and ears weren’t bothering her. No antibiotics.
I am not a doctor. Okay, people? I am also not opposed to going to the doctor. I do like to save some money where I can, and I definitely like to take my family’s wellness into my own hands when I can.
Here’s our catch-all remedy that we start whenever anyone’s feeling under the weather.
Garlic Press
Take a fresh garlic clove, place it in a washcloth, and crush it. Run hot water over the washcloth, with the clove still inside, and wring it out. Hold it against the soles of the feet and the chest for 90 seconds with a new clove each time. Why the soles? Your feet have the largest pores, so the garlic juices are quickly absorbed into your system to do their magic. Direct contact against the skin could cause burning, so make sure to use a washcloth or paper towel.
I will share my other garlic home remedies in Part 2. For now, I am wondering…
Do you think I’m crazy? What are your garlic-based home remedies?
Where do you get garlic oil or do you make it yourself?
I love garlic as a home remedy. I can back you up on this one. I eat a whole garlic clove when I am feeling rough. Garlic is supposed to be a natural antibiotic. I know that I’ve had infections in the past and when I ate the garlic it got rid of what ever I had. I don’t like to go to the doctor so I can save money too. I will go if I really have to but I enjoy being able to help myself and family to get well with home remedies. I haven’t tried the sole thing so I plan to copy this recipe and try it in the future if need be. Thanks for sharing.
You say you started your “garlic regimen” upon first feeling a cold- what was your regimen? Im quite interested as my daughter gets frequent ear infections, thanks!
Garlic oil recipe plus more coming soon!!
I recently started eating more garlic because I was told it’s a great antibiotic. So I am very interested in your article. Would appreciate seeing more detail. When you put the wash clothe with garlic against your chest or feet, you said leave it there 90 seconds. And then what? Repeat how often? Do you do this only to clear up congestion in the lungs or can you do it on your feet on a daily basis just for general over all better health?
Thanks for taking time to share this info with us all.
My mom used onions and garlic,etc. as a child on us and we could breathe the congestion went away fast.
I luv all the info u are sharing, Ty
This is awesome!! I have been doing this for years. When cold and flu season comes around I NEVER get a flu shot, nor does the rest of my family. We all take a garlic and onion mixture that I swear by. Garlic has awesome powers!!
Jenny:
What is the receipe for the garlic & onion mixture?
Thanks
mary
While most people will turn their nose up to this, I’ve tried this on several occasions and it truly works.
If you have a severe sore throat gargling with vinegar and salt not only will ease the pain, it will draw any pus in the tonsils out. You just put about a table spoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of salt into some warm water, about a coffee cup full and gargle with it. Keep repeating every hour until the pain eases, then do three or four times a day until throat is cleared.
Warm Sweet Oil is good for earaches too. You can find that in the drug area of stores.
I enjoyed your article
Garlic = magic!