Feel a cold coming on? Eat garlic!

[mandelyn]

My dad starting growing garlic, a little more each year. We ended up with a pile of it this year. He said to do garlic "shots" chased with peanut butter if we started getting a cold.

Husband got sick last Friday. I started doing my garlic that day. Husband didn't believe me, stuck with his vit C pills. I took those too, and some vit D. I felt the cold coming on Sunday. Made it to work Monday and Tuesday.

My nose never did stop up like it normally would. Never got to my lungs, no cough. Just a light "I don't feel that good" but I never did get actually for-real sick like my husband did. He started doing the garlic shots with me. LOL

So, I chopped up the garlic really fine. Took a spoon, grabbed a spoonful of peanut butter. Used a knife to level it off. Pushed 2 cloves worth of garlic onto it, then capped it with peanut butter. Swallow it. If you chew it, you'll notice that garlic is hotter than you think raw! Did that 4 times a day, combined with 2000 mg of vit C and 1000 mg of vit D-3.

Mild sinus headache. Could feel something was going on, but it was weird how my nose never actually clogged up. The way it hit me I thought I'd be down for the count, but it never got worse than the first day. Everyone else who had it was feeling crummy for like a week.

Dad hasn't been sick at all this season, but I think he does those garlic shots for fun on a regular basis.

The best part? I took Ibprofen. Nothing else. No nyquil, nothing. IBprofen reduces sinus swelling, and that's all I needed. Husband was so bad off he had to break out the mucinex.

 

[cassie]

When I was growing up, I lived for a while with my aunt and uncle. Including me there were five kids. Whenever any of us kids started to get a cold, or Uncle Charley thought we were, he made us eat one whole onion. The hotter the better. We kids didn't get many colds. I don't know whether it was the onions or if we were just afraid to get one. Onions and garlic are in the same family, so maybe there is something to it.

 

[Criskin]

When I start to feel a cold or sinus infection coming on, I take garlic oil pills if I don't have fresh garlic to eat. You're right, it works! I smell awful but it beats having a cold.

 

[thaiturkey]

Garlic is a part of the normal diet here and the locals claim many health benefits for it. They either cook it or eat it raw in their food, according to the dish. Wiki has a good piece on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic

If a cold starts with a sore throat, there's another tip that can stop it from developing. Gargle with dispersible (not soluble() aspirin and then swallow as soon as you feel the soreness start. A doctor gave me that tip years ago and it always works provided that I do it soon enough.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Garlic is delicious, especially in home made hummus! And the health benefits are great too!

 

[Baymule]

My garlic toast is a bit overboard, but good! I butter two slices of bread and then peel all the cloves in a pod of garlic. I slice the cloves onto the two pieces of bread and toast them. Yummy!

 

[Glenmar]

I love garlic. I have also heard hot peppers are good too. Burn it out of you. If you would have asked my Grandfather, he though that Blackberry Brandy cured anything. He would always be quick to pour you a shot if you had a sore throat. I have to say, I think it worked.

 

[thaiturkey]

The garlic toast sounds great. I must try it.

Chillies will clear your sinuses in no time - if you can handle the sting!

Another way to take garlic is patatas alioli. Boil some bite sized pieces of potato and add alioli sauce. There's a link below to a traditional Spanish tapas recipe for the sauce but a quick way it to take some mayonnaise and add as much crushed garlic as you can manage.

http://spanishfood.about.com/od/tapas/r/Alioli.htm

 

[mandelyn]

We put garlic into everything we can. Love the stuff! To avoid getting the cold, I think I ate a total of 8 cloves a day for 3 days, plus whatever was cooked with.

 

[Baymule]

Hey I just tried the chopped garlic and peanut butter! I added a bit of honey and ate it with a spoon. My 5 year old grand daughter had the flu at Christmas, then her parents came down with it and were too sick to care for her, so I went and got her. My DH got sick, my mom got sick and I am still on my feet, running at full speed! All these sick people around me and I am not catching it, or at least not yet! Maybe if I do get the crud, it won't be as bad! I also mix local honey and apple cider vinegar 1/2 and 1/2 and drink that several times a day. ACV is my go-to for everything, it will even take out food posioning! I love the peanut butter and garlic, Thanks!!