Why do some people say garlic is not good for you?

Garlic has toxic properties that allow it to have a "medicinal" effect on the body. People mistake this effect as being "good" for you.

Can you cite your sources? My friend poo-poohs anything negative I bring to him about garlic. He not only believes garlic is non-toxic but that it's needed to keep us healthy.

It's antibiotic (anti-life), right? [www.garlic-central.com]

Also anti-bacteria, and we need all those little fellas alive, not dead.

Most scientific evidence would point to garlic being a healthy food. In any event, food is like a 'matrix'. If the person thinks it is healthy...then the placebo effect can be strong. Each individual needs to test their own desires and what is right for them.

In any event, I agree with the above. My experience is that garlic is a strong medicinal food...but not a strong staple. They say that if you want to know whether something is a vital, staple food....try eating only that item for 3 days. Heh...heh. Not a problem with watermelon.....but perhaps more of a problem with garlic...

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

When I first became a raw foodist, I did not want garlic at all, for about a year. For about the past six months, I've been fine with it here and there, but I don't want a lot. I figure your body will tell you if it doesn't want it.

I think onions are a lot worse than garlic, for my body, at least.

Agree with DZM; garlic has been used as a broad spectrum antibiotic in cases of infection for millenia. It does not harm beneficial flora, Healthybun. The Roman legion stuck cloves of it between their toes to prevent fungal infections on long hiking campaigns.

If you don't like it, don't eat it. But its medicinal properties are undisputed. Lots of info on Google, or Bing(if that's up and running).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2009 02:16PM by Tamukha.

Just to name a few:

[www.relfe.com]


The Harmful Effects of Garlic

Garlic is toxic to humans because its sulphone hydroxyl ions penetrate the blood-brain barrier and are poisonous to brain cells.(1)

As far back as the 1950s it was known that garlic reduced reaction time by two to three times when consumed by pilots taking flight tests. This is because the toxic effects of garlic desynchronize brain waves.

The Taoists realized thousands of years ago that plants of the alliaceous family were detrimental to humans.(2) They labeled this group of plants – onions, garlic, leeks, chives and spring onions – the ‘five spicy-scented plants.’ They noticed that onions are harmful to the lungs, garlic to the heart, leeks to the spleen, chives to the liver and spring onions to the kidneys. Hindus also avoid this group, which they have called the ‘five pungent plants.’(3) As well as producing offensive breath and body odour, these plants induce aggravation, agitation, anxiety and aggression. Thus they are harmful physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Even when garlic is used as food in Chinese culture it is considered harmful to the stomach, liver and eyes, and a cause of dizziness and scattered energy when consumed in immoderate amounts.(4) Nor is garlic always seen as having entirely beneficial properties in Western cooking and medicine. It is widely accepted among health care professionals that, as well as killing harmful bacteria, garlic also destroys beneficial bacteria,(5) which are essential to the proper functioning of the digestive system. Furthermore, Ken Bergeron, in Professional Vegetarian Cooking, p. 16, writes: “garlic in the raw state can carry harmful (potentially fatal) botulism bacteria.” Perhaps it is with an awareness of this that the Roman poet Horace wrote of garlic that it is “more harmful than hemlock.”(6)

In the practice of Reiki we have noticed that garlic and onions are among the first substances to be expelled from a person’s system – along with tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical medications. This makes it apparent that alliaceous plants have a negative effect on the human body and should be avoided for health reasons. Homeopathic medicine comes to the same conclusion when it recognizes that red onion produces a dry cough, watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose and other familiar cold-related symptoms when consumed.(7)

1.See www.karinya.com/garlic.htm.
2.S.H. Lorna Wong, The Unfolding Truth of Man and the Universe, p. 43.
3.See www.hinduism.co.za/food.htm.
4.See Francine Halvorsen, The Food and Cooking of China, p. 147, and Daniel Reid, A Handbook of Chinese Healing Herbs, p. 106.
5.See, for example, Erica White, Beat Candida Cookbook, p. 28.
6.Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food, p. 331.
7.Richard Gerber, Vibrational Medicine, p. 86.


[www.rense.com]

Maybe garlic is designed by God and nature to be eaten as directed by body signal if and when needed ? For example if a person got intestinal parasites and this was followed by a desire to eat garlic. After eating garlic for awhile the body stopped signaling its desire for garlic and at about the same time the garlic eater noticed that the parasites were gone or abated. Would this be a "bad" thing ?

C Dove

Would you please explain what you mean by your reference to reiki. I am a reiki practioner and I really don't know what you mean.
Thanks

Dove

Quote

Homeopathic medicine comes to the same conclusion when it recognizes that red onion produces a dry cough, watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose and other familiar cold-related symptoms when consumed.

Some people think that a cold is initiated by the body for the purpose of detoxing.
Possibly the body is taking the opportunity to detox and the onion is a part of that process ?

Add to my post above.

For example maybe the onion provides supplies that help zap some bacteria in the nose and the body sneezes the dead critters out ?

I don't know if garlic and onions are good or bad. But if you start listening to all the people who claim something is bad, there is not going to be much (raw foods) left to choose from. Moderation is the key, until there is real proof a food is bad.

i agree with kollies

u would have nada to eat

oh well

then again

maybe

all foods are bad because
they impede optimal brain/spirit potential

Flipperjan, I don't have any knowledge in reference to Reiki or any other "spiritual" path. I only recognize the scientific perspective on this issue. You would have to do a more in depth research to find out more on that particular practice and their view on garlic,onions,etc.

*taking a big breath of air and starts to talk really fast like Jim Carrey*

I'm actually on chemical antibiotic right now for the last 3 weeks. I got the vision (no science here) that when you eat soil-food (cooked food that's actually ready to be rotten in the soil, but eaten by the human) and chemicals that will make bacteria mutate into chemical-mutats that's trying to break down the harder and harder-to-break-down-chemicals, you get "bad bacteria" in you gut.

*taking another big breath*

So, when you take chemical or natural antibiotics, you will feel better, because you don't feel good with bad bacteria in you gut. And When They Die, along with the "good bacteria", you will feel better.

In my world, there is no such thing as "good and bad bacteria". They are just... bacteria that wants to help us, goddamit! =)

How could the good bacteria survive garlic? No clue here. But my vision tells me that if you eat food that's will promote and create bacteria that's beneficial to us (raw veggies and fruit), you will get "good" bacteria. And if you eat something that's "more" natural than chemicals, the garlic might contain "more" good-bacteria-promoting-substances, than my hell-ish chemical antibiotic.

Chemical antibiotic = people feels better (from getting rid of bad bacteria)
Natural antibiotics = people feels better (from getting rid of bad bacteria)

It's a total blur, but are you with me? =)

I'm not saying garlic is bad for you, it's just that... well, how should I put this... ?

It's just a "thing" that might benefit you, called "garlic", a thing nature created for some reason

. But there might be something that's more benficial for you, like fasting, green juices and smoothies and lots of ripe organic fruits.

I heard that this is no such thing as shortcuts to health.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2009 09:40PM by Healthybun.