Garlic is not only an excellent seasoning but also a natural remedy, a fact recorded in ancient Chinese medical texts. Li Shizhen, in his "Compendium of Materia Medica," stated: "Garlic expels pathogenic wind, kills toxins, treats sores and ringworm, invigorates kidney qi, stops cholera, and resolves epidemics." Abroad, the benefits of garlic were also discovered early on.
Our ancestors were very wise. An ancient text recounts the following story: In the late autumn of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the mountainous area of southern Lu was shrouded in fog and rain. Amidst the rumbling sound of cartwheels, came the pained groans of a patient. On a large cart lay a middle-aged farmer, ill, clutching his abdomen and rolling in agony. He was being rushed to a doctor. Just then, the renowned physician Hua Tuo approached. After inquiring about the situation and performing an examination, he decisively said: "Ahead, there is a shop. Go buy three bowls of rice vinegar with minced garlic and have the patient drink it. The illness will be cured." The patient's family did as instructed. Sure enough, after a short while, the patient felt a wave of nausea, vomited a pool of yellowish, bitter fluid, and expelled several roundworms. The abdominal pain immediately ceased. From then on, Hua Tuo's garlic and vinegar remedy for expelling roundworms became popular among the common people.
Garlic has a pungent odor, and some people are afraid to eat it. However, drinking strong tea or chewing a little tea can counteract this. Nevertheless, there are contraindicatives for consuming garlic:
1. Avoid garlic during diarrhea.
This is because when a person has diarrhea, caused by exposure to cold or by eating contaminated food containing pathogenic bacteria, it leads to inflammatory infiltration of the local intestinal mucosal tissue, changes in the permeability of the intestinal wall vessels, hypersecretion of intestinal glands, and disruption of protein, water, and salt metabolism. This results in a large amount of body fluid seeping into the intestinal cavity. At the same time, bacteria and toxins stimulate the intestinal wall, accelerating intestinal motility and causing diarrhea. At this point, the entire intestinal cavity is in a state of "oversaturation" and stress. Consuming garlic, a pungent substance, will further irritate the intestinal wall, causing further vascular congestion and edema, leading to more tissue fluid entering the intestine and worsening the diarrhea.
2. Avoid eating garlic on an empty stomach to prevent acute gastritis.
3. Avoid excessive consumption of garlic.
For adults, two or three raw cloves or four or five cooked cloves per day are sufficient. For children, the amount should be halved. Eating more is of no benefit.
4. Avoid long-term consumption of garlic.
Garlic has a hardening effect on the intestines, which is often a cause of constipation. It can also kill a large number of normal intestinal bacteria, which in turn can lead to certain skin diseases.
5. Avoid external application to prevent skin chapping.
6. Some people have a specific reaction to garlic. Therefore, if discomfort is experienced after consumption, it should be avoided.