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Chinese people have known of the health benefits of raw garlic for thousands of years. In China, apart from being used to flavor food, garlic is also traditionally used in teas and folk remedies. Why? Garlic is one of nature's strongest immune system boosters, and a powerful antibiotic, digestive aid and libido enhancer. As you'll see below, these are just some of the health benefits of raw garlic.

However, while the health and medicinal benefits of garlic are numerous, it can also overheat your system if you eat too much. According to Tradititional Chinese Dietary Therapy, garlic is warm in nature and a strong stimulant. Therefore, people who have excess heat in their body should first balance their system. Excessive internal heat comes from eating too many heating foods and drinks, e.g. meat, fried foods, coffee and alcohol. This causes symptoms like red eyes, bad breath, constipation, yellow urine, a yellow tongue moss and acne. If you have these kinds of symptoms, eliminate or greatly reduce the above items from your diet for a few weeks before you start eating garlic regularly, or it will just make your body hotter and your symptoms worse.

Below are some main health and medicinal benefits of garlic. Note: To get the full health benefits of raw garlic, you have to do just that - take it raw! Commercial garlic pills, tablets, oils and capsules, especially the odorless ones, are often devoid of the active enzymes that provide the benefits. Crushed, raw garlic may be mixed into virtually any meal, or put in gelatin capsules for easy swallowing, or drunk as a tea by simply crushing 1 or 2 cloves and adding hot water. These methods may not be very appealing, but do you want the benefits or not?

Health & Medicinal Benefits of Garlic

• Powerful immune system enhancer
• Antibacterial, antiviral
• Antifungal - effective remedy for yeast infections & candida
• Clears boils & infected sores
• Improves appetite
• Digestive aid - especially good if eaten with meat
• Increases libido - take several raw cloves a day
• Expells intestinal parasites & worms
• Reduces high cholesterol

Health Remedies Using Garlic Cloves

Below are some Chinese health remedies using garlic cloves as the main ingredient. These are common, traditional ways that Chinese people make use of the health benefits of raw garlic.

Garlic Tea:

Put 1 or 2 cloves of crushed garlic and 1 or 2 grams of loose-leaf green tea in a teapot. Add a teaspoon or two of unrefined brown sugar if you wish. Pour in boiling water that has been left to cool slightly. Stir the mixture and let it steep for several minutes before drinking. Afterwards, leave the ingredients in the pot, as you can top it up with more water once or twice throughout the day. This is a common folk remedy for killing germs and resolving toxins in the body.

Garlic Nose Drops:

This is a preventative for the common cold and sinus problems. Crush several cloves of garlic to obtain the juice. Mix with warm water at a ratio of two parts water to one part garlic juice. Lie down and use an eye-dropper to place a couple of drops into each nostril as soon as you feel any symptoms coming on. Continue for as long as necessary. If the drops overly irritate your nostrils, stop, or reduce the number of drops.

Garlic Paste:

Crush 2 garlic cloves and mix with several drops of pure sesame oil to make a paste for external application to boils,carbuncles and infected sores. Cover then reapply when the paste becomes dry and falls off. If the skin becomes overly irritated discontinue use or wait for a day or two and try again.

Maximizing the Health Benefits of Raw Garlic

To get the full health benefits of raw garlic, whether in salads, as tea, or in capsules, it's important you eat less refined, processed and canned foods, and more foods in as close to their natural state as possible. Afterall, what's the point in taking fresh, raw garlic to improve your health while, for instance, continuing to eat nutritionally-dead, toxin-producing junk foods?