The origical flu shot
Garlic is nature’s most powerful antibiotic. As we enter into colds and flu season, incorporating raw garlic into your diet will prevent you from falling ill, as well as speeding up recovery time should you get any sort of infection.
Science confirms ancient wisdom
Garlic has no smell until you slice or crush it, allowing it to form allicin. Allicin is a volatile compound that survives for just a few hours with powerful antibiotic properties. Except unlike conventional antibiotics, it doesn’t destroy the helpful bacteria in your gut and it can stop you falling ill in the first place.
Garlic is so potent that just the vapour from freshly-cut garlic can kill bacteria from a distance of 20 cm. A study from Washington State University showed that garlic is in fact 100 times more effective than two popular antibiotics on the market for gastrointestinal infections. This blog post gives a good overview of the research.
Most importantly though, in order to preserve its antibiotic effect, garlic must be consumed RAW.
Raw garlic? That’s intense.
When you’re French like me, eating raw garlic is just part of life. No big deal. In fact, we probably believe that it’s garlic’s fiery kiss that keeps us and our passions alive. But for a lot of my clients here in the States, it can be a bit intimidating to start eating raw garlic so I thought I'd make it easier.
3 easy recipes to start loving raw garlic
Maman’s Roasted Red Peppers
This is something my mum would make at least once a week. We would all fight over the plate afterwards to soak up the remaining sauce with our bread. It works well as a simple starter or as a side.
Pre-heat oven to 420
Bake 2 to 3 large red peppers as they are (literally no need to peel them, put oil or anything) for 30 mins. Don’t worry if skin blackens a bit.
Take them out of the oven and leave them to cool.
Peel off the skin, remove the seeds from the inside.
Tear the juicy peppers into strips.
Cover with vinaigrette and leave to sit for an hour or so before serving.
If you want to get fancy, add some feta.
To make the vinaigrette, combine:
3 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
2-3 cloves of raw garlic thinly sliced
Salt & Pepper
Sexy mint sauce
This is a very simplified version of Tzaiziki, the greek dip. I just put all these things in the blender and it makes a really sexy green sauce you can drizzle over roasted lamb, roasted vegetables or pasta and everyone thinks you’re really fancy.
Half a cucumber
2 raw garlic cloves
half a bunch of mint
2 large dollops of greek yoghurt (full fat is only 4% so treat yo self)
A glug of olive oil
A pinch of sea salt
Hummus
Store bought hummus is full of preservatives and frankly not that nice. And yet, hummus is so easy to make. Once you master this basic recipe you can start experimenting to add in other flavors you like (roasted red pepper, jalapeno etc). Put all of the following ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth:
1 can of garbanzo beans
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbs of tahini (this is like a peanut butter type thing made from sesame seeds)
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbs olive oil
Pinch of sea salt
Serve with roasted or fresh veg.
If you want more recipes and rituals to keep you healthy in a stressful world, please sign up to the monthly newsletter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer
This post is for information and inspiration purposes and not a substitute for consulting a physician. Some infections can be extremely serious and may require antibiotics.