Garlic, a favorite member of the onion family, is widely employed to enhance the taste of dishes. Its addition brings a tantalizing savory note to meals, making them desirable at any hour. Garlic can be enjoyed uncooked or utilized in the preparation of soups, sauces, marinades, and salad dressings.
But what’s the best time to eat garlic? Should you eat it in the morning or in the evening? Apparently, the time you eat garlic affects how beneficial it is to you.
Of course, garlic has many health benefits, such as improving bone health, lowering blood pressure, and reducing cholesterol levels. It has high nutritious value, supplying your body with vitamin C and calcium.
Nutrition Value in Raw and Cooked Garlic
You can eat your garlic, either cooked or raw. After purchasing garlic from the store, you can peel, chop, crush, or mince it. You may cook or eat it raw, whichever form the garlic is. Here is the nutritional value of raw and cooked garlic.
Raw Garlic
Raw garlic contains high amounts of vitamin B, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, and vitamin C. Other beneficial compounds include thiamine and pantothenic acid. Raw garlic also has minerals like iron, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, and manganese.
Cooked Garlic
Cooking garlic may destroy vitamins B and C, which are highly soluble in water. However, vitamin K remains intact since it’s fat-soluble. Cooked garlic retains its mineral content, including potassium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, copper, and manganese.
What Are the Health Benefits of Garlic?
Garlic packs numerous health benefits beyond the great taste it gives to food. It has medicinal properties, which makes it a great treatment for diseases. Garlic contains allicin, which has therapeutic effects. The following are the main health benefits of eating garlic:
1. Treatment for Insomnia
Did you know that eating garlic can help you sleep well? You only need one garlic clove before bed to remediate insomnia and other sleep-related issues.
But how exactly does garlic promote good sleep? It contains allicin, one of the sulfur compounds formed by chopping, mincing, or crushing garlic. Allicin helps relax the mind, driving you to sleep sooner.
Garlic also contains high amounts of magnesium, a healing compound that reduces nervous system activity. By relaxing the mind, magnesium can help you fall asleep faster than usual.
Does a closed nose often drive you into irregular sleep patterns? A blocked nose can make it impossible for you to sleep. Despite its strong smell, regularly eating garlic can unblock your nasal package and help you sleep better.
2. Boosting Immunity
Garlic provides a boost to the immune system. Eating garlic on an empty stomach can boost immunity and considerably reduce the common cold’s incidence. It contains loads of vitamins that help prop up your body’s immune system.
Research studies carried out on garlic supplements have shown how effective it is in reducing the number of days people reported sickness. Besides, garlic supplements reduce the likelihood of you getting any form of the disease.
3. Regulating Blood Pressure
Did you know that the active compounds in garlic can reduce blood pressure? As a result of reducing blood pressure, garlic helps fight conditions such as high blood pressure (hypertension), stroke, and heart disease.
Scientific studies on the effectiveness of garlic in lowering blood pressure in people with hypertension. Eating garlic can be effective but taking fairly high doses of garlic supplements are more desirable.
Besides, garlic helps with increased blood flow. It contains compounds that thin the blood, making it circulate more efficiently in the vessels.
4. Improving Blood Cholesterol Levels
Garlic can reduce total and LDL cholesterol levels. You only need to eat garlic every day to reduce cholesterol by 10% to 15%. By regulating LDL cholesterol levels in the blood, garlic helps reduce the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases.
The good thing is that garlic compounds have no effect on triglyceride and HDL (good) cholesterol. Therefore, it helps you maintain optimal health.
5. Rich in Antioxidants
Oxidative stress due to free radicals is one of the most significant causes of aging. Garlic contains high amounts of antioxidants, which significantly reduce oxidative stress.
Taken in high doses, garlic supplements increase antioxidant enzymes in the human body. It also reduces antioxidant stress in those suffering from high blood pressure.
Due to its effectiveness in reducing blood pressure, decreasing cholesterol, and reducing oxidative stress, garlic may reduce brain conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
6. Improving Bone Health
Although it is unknown how garlic affects bone loss, preliminary studies indicate that it can minimize it. In rodents, garlic has been shown to increase estrogen levels, thus reducing the incidence of bone loss.
Menopausal women tend to hand estrogen deficiency, which may lead to bone loss. Eating raw garlic daily can improve estrogen levels, thus improving bone health.
Vegetables in the onion family, such as garlic, may also positively affect osteoarthritis, which mainly affects women.
7. Detoxification Against Heavy Methods
Raw garlic contains sulfur compounds that can protect your internal organs against damage due to ingesting heavy metals like lead.
It can reduce the levels of lead in the blood by at least 19%, preventing signs of toxicity such as high blood pressure and headaches. Only three daily doses of a garlic supplement are enough to help you reduce lead toxicity.
Why Should You Eat Garlic in the Morning?
Some people believe that eating garlic in the morning is the best decision you can make. If you like, eat raw garlic on an empty stomach to reap maximum benefits. That way, you can kick off your day on a high note.
You can prepare crushed garlic by picking two cloves and peeling them. Crushed garlic is best eaten with a spoon from a dish accompanied by some warm water.
You can make eating fresh garlic part of your morning routine to gain the most benefits from it. But you should be mindful of how eating raw garlic can cause a burning sensation in the mouth.
Besides, eating garlic can cause gas, nausea, heartburn, and bad breath. So, at least one garlic clove is desirable to supply all the health benefits while helping you maintain a good body odor.
The following are reasons why you should eat garlic in the morning on an empty stomach:
1. Improved Digestion
Eating garlic in the morning on an empty stomach can stimulate appetite and digestion. Due to its effects on the digestive system, garlic helps regulate weight loss. It is also effective in treating stomach issues such as diarrhea.
2. Antibiotic Effects
Raw garlic is an effective natural antibiotic, destroying some disease-causing bacteria. It works well when consumed raw in the morning on an empty stomach. Garlic helps destroy harmful bacteria in the stomach.
Apart from its antibiotic effects, garlic also had antifungal compounds such as allin, allicin, and ajoene. Therefore, it is an effective treatment of coughs and colds.
3. Stronger Lipid Profile
Eat garlic morning, and you’ll be able to create a stronger in your body. Garlic is a natural blood thinner that reduces cholesterol levels and stabilizes blood pressure.
It contains sulfur compounds, which also destroy tumor cells. Garlic also heals lung diseases due to its antibiotic effects and helps the gut to absorb nutrients better.
4. Hypertension
Eating garlic on an empty stomach can effectively reduce the likelihood of heart disease. It contains allicin and other sulfur compounds, which regulate blood pressure and improve blood circulation.
5. Detoxification
One of the reasons to eat raw garlic on an empty stomach first thing in the morning is how it effectively detoxifies your system. It works well for those who ate heavily at dinner. Garlic removes toxic substances, helping your body remain in a healthy state.
Why Eat Garlic in The Evening?
Garlic has many health benefits, which get activated when consumed raw in the evening. The following are the reasons why you should eat garlic in the evening, just before going to bed:
1. Treating Insomnia
Did you know that eating garlic can help you sleep like a baby? Garlic contains high amounts of allicin, a sulfur compound that naturally relaxes the mind.
Besides, the magnesium in the garlic reduces nervous system activity. Working together, allicin and magnesium induce relaxation, which helps you sleep. Garlic can also clear a blocked nasal passage and help you sleep better and free from snoring.
2. Beneficial to the Male Body
Garlic has several benefits to the male body. It has anti-inflammatory properties and protects men from prostatic inflammation. By preventing prostatitis, garlic helps reduce the likelihood of developing prostate cancer.
Besides, eating a garlic clove before bed improves the circulation of blood in the body. With the increased flow of blood, men are better prepared for intimacy. Therefore, garlic boosts a man’s libido when eaten just before bed.
How to Eat Raw Garlic
It is clear that raw garlic has the most significant health benefits since it contains all the necessary nutrients intact. Raw garlic is used in savory dishes, including salad dressing. Here is how to prepare and eat raw garlic:
1. Fresh Garlic
Pick fresh garlic gloves. Cooked or aged garlic extract might have the allicin compound contents reduced drastically. So always prepare garlic food with fresh cloves.
2. Peel Garlic Cloves
Peel the skin from the garlic clove, cut one half, and keep the other in the refrigerator. You can use the preserved half much later.
3. Eat Garlic
Eat the peeled garlic clove after mincing or crushing it. You should avoid eating excessive garlic on an empty stomach. Doing so can shock your system and make you feel sick.
4. Take Some Water
After swallowing the garlic, take a full glass of water. Garlic has a pungent flavor that makes it unpleasant to bite into. You can minimize bad breath by accompanying a small measure of garlic with water.
How to Eat Garlic at Night
Eating garlic one to two hours before sleep is the best way to consume it in the evening. You can swallow it with some lukewarm water, whether it is crushed or minced garlic.
Eat raw garlic before the evening meal. Alternatively, you can eat garlic soon after a meal, reducing the chances of stomach reflux.
If you want to reduce the likelihood of garlicky breath, be sure to cook or roast the garlic. Besides, you should brush your teeth soon after eating garlic and before going to bed.
The Bottom Line
What is the best time to eat garlic? The best time to eat garlic is either in the morning or the evening. Regardless of when you eat it, raw garlic has many medicinal properties. For example, it has weight loss benefits, which are evident from how it helps you burn fats.
Sources:
https://www.sehat.com/how-to-eat-garlic-daily
https://betterme.world/articles/eating-a-clove-of-garlic-before-bed/
https://garliccare.com/when-should-i-eat-garlic-morning-or-night/
https://www.legit.ng/1206767-eating-a-clove-garlic-bed-body.html
https://www.quora.com/How-useful-is-eating-a-clove-of-garlic-before-bed