Weekly Spotlight: Garlic

Why not start off the Weekly Spotlight with my favorite food: Garlic.  I personally think that you cannot go wrong with garlic.  It smells good, tastes good, and is good for you! What else can you ask for? Okay, I suppose it can be used to repel dates that you are not interested in.


Here are my favorite things about it:

• It''s great for the heart and circulatory system
• It helps prevent many cancers
• It helps promote optimal weight control
• It is extremely anti-viral and anti-bacterial, even against pharmaceutical drug-resistant bacteria... beat that! 

There is one thing to keep in mind, however, all these benefits are promised to you as long as you do one thing! The main sulfur compound, allicin, that is responsible for all of these benefits, is only activated when the cell walls are ruptured.  So here is what you need to do to get the most out of your garlic:

1. Before pealing your garlic, crush it with the wide side of your knife.
2. Now peel your garlic (this should be easier to do after crushing it), and chop off the ends.
3. Mince your garlic.  
4. Wait 5-10 minutes before cooking to allow time for the allicin to activate

The more crushed and minced your garlic is, the more cell walls are ruptured, and the more allicin can be activated.

Recipe: Garlic Soup

Crush and mince 4 or 5 cloves of garlic (then let stand 5-10 min to activate the allicin)

Finely chop 1/2 an onion (also let sit for 5-10 minutes... this is important for letting the nutrients activate!)

Saute garlic and onion in small amount of sesame oil (canola oil is fine if you dont have anything else) until onion becomes soft. 

Then add 2 cups of chicken broth (I like to use the organic Better than Bouillon chicken broth mix) then heat it up just below boiling. 

Sometimes I will add spinach at the end also!

*It is important to not let anything boil or burn... if any of the food gets this hot, the nutrients will start dying off.

This is my favorite cold and flu recipe because it has helped us stay away from any major illnesses for about 2 years now! Thanks to the anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties found in all 3 ingredients, we always wake up feeling amazing the next day, and it tastes GREAT!