Healthy and Delicious Garlic

Author: Jiang Meiling / Zhang Wanru
Editor-in-Chief: Shi Bian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-09-01
Features:
New Discovery: Garlic Shows Amazing Efficacy in Treating Hepatitis Virus
This ordinary garlic brings a glimmer of hope to liver patients. This book provides readers with information about garlic, from its nutritional value, medicinal value to health benefits and disease prevention functions, from beauty spot removal, cancer prevention to athlete's foot treatment... You are sure to benefit from it!
Editor's Note:
Dear readers, thank you for choosing and reading this book. We hope you enjoy it and that it brings some help to your life. The book you are reading is one of the titles in our newly planned "Healthy Cuisine" series. The four previously published books in this series are: "Healthy Cuisine - Garlic," "Healthy Cuisine - Coffee," "Healthy Cuisine - Red Wine," and "Healthy Cuisine - Fresh Juice." Our publishing house will continue to release more books in this field in the future. Please stay tuned.
With the arrival of the new century, people's demand for quality of life is constantly increasing. In terms of diet, while people continue to pursue various delicacies, they also pay more attention to the nutritional value, health benefits, and disease-preventive effects of food. This series of books is organized to meet this need. The features of this series are: each book focuses on one or a category of food, starting from its nutritional value, medicinal value, and health benefits, teaching readers to cook delicious and therapeutic dishes based on scientific principles through reasonable ingredients and simple operations. The books also introduce various methods of using food as medicine for external treatment and share some dietary culture knowledge related to these foods, making them highly readable.
In summary, this series is different from general recipe books and ordinary dietary therapy methods. It is a popular science book with strong practical value, rich in illustrations and text, guiding readers in rational nutrition and therapeutic diets.
This book, starting from the nutritional value, medicinal value, and health benefits of garlic, teaches readers to cook delicious and therapeutic garlic dishes based on scientific principles through reasonable ingredients and simple operations. The book also introduces various methods of using garlic as medicine for external treatment and shares dietary culture knowledge related to garlic, making it highly readable.
Excerpt:
Preventing Aging
The medicinal effect of garlic inhibits brain atrophy and prevents aging, with significant results. Garlic experts have focused on the effect of garlic in preventing aging and brain weakness through animal experiments. Healthy mice have a lifespan of about 2 years. In the experiment, mice given aging-promoting drugs showed aging symptoms within 4-5 months and nearly half died within a year. These mice were divided into a control group fed normal feed and an experimental group fed feed containing 2% garlic extract. The results showed that mice consuming garlic extract exhibited the following phenomena: ① significantly increased survival rate; ② improved memory and learning ability; ③ delayed aging. After 10 months, 8 out of 17 mice fed normal feed died, while 16 out of 16 mice in the garlic extract group survived. In the experiment confirming ②, mice were trained to perform specific tasks to assess their learning and memory abilities. Compared to normal mice, those fed normal feed took longer to learn and had poorer memory, with more failures. All abilities were reduced. On the other hand, mice consuming garlic extract improved their learning and memory, with results similar to normal mice.
Additionally, in special experiments on mice with brain atrophy, it was found that garlic extract inhibits brain atrophy in mice. After feeding mice with garlic extract, their prefrontal cortex and total brain weight were close to those of normal mice. This is because garlic enhances the survival rate of brain cells and increases the number of branching of nerve endings. It was also discovered in the experiment that S-allyl cysteine (SAlleyCystein) and allicin, components of garlic, promote the activation of brain cells.
From the above animal experiment data, it cannot yet be determined whether it can be applied to humans. However, in the future, the use of garlic in preventing human aging and improving memory decline associated with aging is promising.
Eliminating Fatigue
The medicinal effect of garlic
10. Garlic can alleviate physical fatigue and stress, with a sustained effect of vitamin B1. When the body is fatigued due to labor or stress, vitamin B1 is consumed. A lack of vitamin B1 can lead to weakness, irritability, and mental instability, making it difficult to fall asleep even at night. In such cases, vitamin B1 needs to be supplemented, but it is water-soluble and does not stay in the body for long. Garlic can enhance the sustained effect of vitamin B1. The allyl sulfide that gives garlic its unique aroma is converted into allicin when garlic cells are damaged due to enzymatic action. When vitamin B1 combines with allicin to form garlic vitamin B1, its absorption efficiency increases by 5 times and can be maintained in the body for a longer period. The body can absorb more vitamin B1, which enhances the effect of eliminating fatigue due to prolonged functional action.
When you feel fatigued, you can consume more vitamin B1-rich foods while eating garlic. I highly recommend the following method: stir-frying tofu with pork and adding chili for spicy mapo tofu. Many people dislike the pungent smell of garlic, but its aroma is the key to enhancing energy, and that's just the way it is. However, this can be improved through cooking methods. Allyl sulfide, before transforming into allicin, has no pungent smell, and the enzymes causing the chemical reaction are quite heat-sensitive. Just cooking the entire garlic can destroy these enzymes, eliminating the smell. Also, eating large amounts of raw garlic is not good for the stomach, but cooked garlic is fine. Cooked garlic can also be used to create various creative dishes. Mixed with miso, it makes a great dish for boosting energy.
Additionally, garlic, with its strong antibacterial properties, can also play a significant role in preventing food poisoning.
Constipation
The medicinal effect of garlic increases the treasury of beneficial bacteria in the intestines with oligosaccharides
"Garlic" helps eliminate constipation
Garlic is rich in dietary fiber among all vegetables, with high protein, vitamin B1, and dietary fiber content. It also contains vitamin B2, vitamin C, and minerals such as phosphorus and potassium. Among garlic's many medicinal effects, the abundant dietary fiber is particularly effective for constipation. The oligosaccharides it contains also help relieve constipation by increasing bifidus bacteria in the intestines.
While stir-frying garlic for a more delicious meal may reduce oligosaccharides, garlic contains oligosaccharides similar to those in onions and burdock. Bacteria in the intestines include beneficial bacteria (like bifidus) and harmful bacteria (like E. coli and staphylococcus), both of which gather to maintain balance. Bifidus bacteria can inhibit the reproduction of harmful bacteria in the body, prevent the production of and harmful substances, and maintain a healthy intestinal environment. The more bifidus bacteria in the intestines, the healthier you can stay. One way to increase bifidus bacteria is to consume yogurt or lactic acid drinks containing bifidus bacteria. However, bacteria taken orally are easily destroyed by stomach acid and are difficult to establish in the large intestine. Here, I recommend another promising method: delivering oligosaccharides directly to the large intestine to increase the original bifidus bacteria in the large intestine, as oligosaccharides are not digested or absorbed, allowing them to reach the large intestine. If you consume garlic containing oligosaccharides, it can increase bifidus bacteria, helping to reduce harmful bacteria in the intestines.
Cataracts and Vision Decline
The medicinal effect of garlic
12. Garlic helps relieve eye problems and enhances vision with garlic pills
Preventing retinal cell aging
As people age, they often suffer from various eye problems, such as blurred vision, vision decline, floaters, and more serious conditions like cataracts, all of which are associated with aging. However, in modern times, eye problems are no longer exclusive to the elderly. Especially with the widespread use of computers, young people spend long hours in front of screens, leading to frequent eye fatigue and dryness.
Regardless of age, those troubled by eye problems should first pay attention to consuming essential nutrients. For example, vitamin A is indispensable for forming retinal cells. In the past, rural areas lacked vitamin A, leading to many people suffering from night blindness, with severe cases even resulting in blindness. Therefore, vitamin A is a very important nutrient, and its deficiency can cause abnormal visual nerves, leading to poor vision and a reduced field of vision. Other important nutrients for protecting eye health include vitamin B1 and vitamin B12. In theory, as long as essential nutrients are consumed, there should be no problem. However, in practice, even if you consume a lot of nutrients, if they cannot be properly absorbed by the body, it is meaningless.
Cells constantly absorb new nutrients and expel old waste. If this metabolism declines, the ability of cells to absorb nutrients decreases. The vitamins consumed to maintain eye health may also lose their effectiveness.
Young people have metabolism, so even if they stare at a computer screen for a long time, their vision will return to normal after some time. However, the cells of the elderly have aged, and their metabolism has declined, which hinders the absorption of nutrients. As a result, eyes easily become fatigued and cannot recover, leading to vision decline or night blindness.
The metabolism of retinal cells declines, and whether cells absorb nutrients or expel waste, their permeability decreases due to reduced cell permeability. This can lead to the production of lipid peroxides. Like other cells, the fat in retinal cells also oxidizes with aging, turning into harmful substances for the body. This oxidized fat, known as lipid peroxides, rapidly reduces the flexibility and permeability of cells.
To prevent various eye diseases, while consuming essential nutrients, the most important thing is to prevent aging and enhance the body's metabolism. Foods that effectively relieve eye pressure meet these requirements: garlic and egg yolks. There are two reasons: , both garlic and egg yolks are rich in vitamin A, vitamin B1, and vitamin E that protect the eyes. Second, both garlic and egg yolks can activate cell functions. Garlic mainly achieves this through the combination of allyl sulfide and essential oil components, converting oxidized fat in the body into beneficial unsaturated fatty acids. This activates retinal cells, enhances permeability, and helps them absorb the necessary nutrients smoothly. Egg yolks, on the other hand, activate retinal nerve cells and enhance the overall function of the visual nerves due to the action of lecithin. Therefore, if you continuously consume these two foods, you can maintain and improve eye function.
It can also improve symptoms such as night blindness, floaters, or high eye pressure that have persisted for up to 5 or even 10 years, and is highly effective in preventing cataracts. Additionally, the pungent smell of garlic can be significantly reduced when consumed with egg yolks, which is one of the advantages of garlic pills.
The method for making garlic pills can be found on page 12 of this book. One teaspoon is approximately equivalent to 2 cloves of garlic. To maintain health, it is recommended to consume 2 cloves of garlic daily. This is roughly equivalent to taking garlic pills twice a day, with half a teaspoon each time. Garlic pills can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator and can last at least 1 year. It is recommended to make more each year for consumption.