How to Cure the Common Cold with Garlic

Garlic is one of nature’s almost miraculous foods, but did you know that it can be used to treat the common cold? It’s true. For thousands of years, healers have been adding garlic to different versions of home remedies to help both kids and adults recover from the many uncomfortable symptoms without inducing any additional side effects. If we use garlic properly, there is no better way to fight the common cold. At ABC Compounding Pharmacy we’d like to share some of the most useful home remedies made from common, everyday ingredients.

• Garlic and Orange Juice: At the first sign of a cold, take about four or five cloves of garlic, slicing them into small, thin pieces. Let them sit on the counter for about ten or fifteen minutes before swallowing them with a glass of your favorite orange juice. Repeat the process for three nights in a row, just before bedtime. You’ll stop the cold in its tracks!

• Garlic and Lemon Water: Another option is to mix some crushed garlic cloves into a glass of warmed lemon water. Drop the rinds of a peeled lemon into the water, letting them steep for just a few minutes. This allows the antioxidants and Vitamin C to release from the rind and into the water. Not only will the garlic and lemon mixture keep the cold from getting progressively worse, but it also helps to remove the toxins in the body that can lead to other types of infections. This home remedy works best when consumed first thing in the morning.

• Raw Garlic: Garlic is filled with antiviral properties. If your cold is particularly severe, try chewing on a garlic clove once every four hours or so. If the taste of garlic is too much for you to handle, try mixing it with a bit of honey.

Of course, one of the most popular home remedies is homemade soups laced with garlic. It may seem cliché to eat chicken soup when we have a cold, but this old-fashioned remedy usually works, especially if we load the broth with a bit of extra garlic. While medical science is still trying to create a pill that cures the common cold, perhaps our grandmothers had it right all along. A bit of garlic works each and every time.

Visit ABC Compounding Pharmacy of Los Angeles for more ways to live a healthier life.