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How to Change Your Life with Gratitude and Love

Are you feeling anxious, overwhelmed and worrying constantly? Try practicing this simple technique everyday and you will learn how to change your life and attract more of what you want into your life.

Everyday we walk around with our brains playing non-stop. We are constantly listening to the little voice inside our head that tells us what is wrong with the world. Is this abnormal? Absolutely not! This is totally normal because our brain wants to protect us from danger. It goes over what might have hurt us in the past, in order to protect us in the future, but unfortunately that keeps us from living in the present.

When you find yourself checking out from conversations or not remembering the travel into the office or what the world around you looked like when you went for a walk then you are trapped in this cycle.

How do you stop it?

The answer is surprisingly simple, gratitude. If you live in the west or in a country with abundance then you really do not have many urgent dangers in your life today.

We live in a world of luxury, where we have running water, roofs over our heads, a car to drive, clothes on our backs, food in our bellies. Our basic needs are met and this is great but it takes it further away from the basic concept of gratitude.

You can start by saying thank you for the roads you drive on, the water in your faucet, the electricity in your home, your office, your job, your family, your health.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t have problems, we know that everyone has problems.

If you start saying thank you for the basic necessities that you have then you can start to imagine what life would look like if you wanted it bad enough. Those things that you think are far away from you.

Step 2: Stop the negative thoughts

The negative loop that your ego is playing to keep you safe is also holding you back from reaching your dream life.

If you recognize and replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts full of love then you will train your brain to look for love.

Love is the greatest force in the universe and it empowers all of us to attract into our life everything that we desire.

Start practicing gratitude everyday.

Start quieting the negative thoughts that we play over and over again.

Replace the negative thoughts with thoughts of love.

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Morning Gratitude

Gratitude is the practice of thinking about all the people, opportunities and material wealth that you have been blessed with. It’s not always easy when there is much negativity surrounding you to keep a positive mental attitude. If you start a simple practice of morning gratitude it will transform your life from the inside out.

What To Do:

When you wake up each day, start by keeping your eyes closed and mentally go through all the people who help you every day, your parents, your kids, coworkers, staff members and thank each person individually and be specific about why they are important to you.

Next go through your material possessions like house, apartment, clothes, food, and be sure to be thankful all of the extras that you don’t need to survive but you have anyways.

Finally, go through all of the opportunities you’ve had recently. Maybe you were able to continue working or you took a trip. Sometimes it’s the small opportunities we can be most grateful for.

Gratitude is the quickest way to success fast. If you are at home googling how to make money fast from home or how to be more successful in 2021 then try adding this free and easy method to your morning practice. It will take you about 10 minutes at the most and you will feel so much better.

Not to mention, it helps to start hard wiring your brain body connection to look for these opportunities. You’ll start seeing more good people to connect with, more business opportunities, more ways to make more money.

It’s a skill that we develop when we want to move ahead and succeed, when we want to make money online or make more money for 2021 we need to begin within by creating the environment.

If this all sounds a little far fetched for you then you have nothing to lose but pride. We could all benefit from a little less pride. Work on first being open to making these changes and committing a few days a week for the rest of the month to morning gratitude.

Trust me it’s better than spending the morning reading the news or worrying about something that will probably never happen.

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Nutrition Uncategorized

WFPBLF

Whole Food Plant Based Low Fat

I know I just posted a blog post on bone broth.

Ok, so what happened?

I went down the rabbit hole after reading/listening to some great information from Pam Popper. Pam is a naturopath who works/lives in Columbus, Ohio. She is an advocate for a whole foods plant-based low oil diet.

A whole food plant-based low oil diet is strongly advised by most cardiologists and cardio-thoracic surgeons.

For many years I have lived a whole food plant based diet, it wasn’t until recently that I tried meat and animal products again.

I did that for a few years from 2017 to mid 2020 and then I had a crisis of ethics. I could not continue eating in a way that I was sure was contributing to the degradation of my health.

It is in September that I recommitted to the WFPBLF lifestyle and I have felt amazing ever since.

I started using Engine 2’s meal planner which allows you to copy all ingredients into a single spread sheet that you can send to your local grocer.

This helped me to jump start to my way back to health.

Living this lifestyle for the past three months has already had a profound effect on my health. My cycle has become more regular and the inflammation I experienced after having major surgery was much less than the normal patient.

It’s delicious and satisfying to eat this way.

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Nutrition Uncategorized

Bone Broth Fasting: What is it, and does it live up to the hype?

measuring abs with tape measure

Fasting of all varieties has quite quickly become all the rage among Instagram fitness influencers and nutrition-aware doctors alike. The simple practicing of going without food for a pre-determined amount of time sounds easy enough, but there are more and more varieties of fasts popping up every day. One particular fast that has gained some popularity is the bone broth fast. Let’s take a look at what this fast is and if it’s right for you.

Intermittent Fasting

Because the bone broth fast is a type of intermittent fast, it makes sense that we should get familiar with what exactly that is. Intermittent fasting refers to a type of fast in which you go without food for a portion of the day — but usually not an entire day. Some varieties of fasting include alternate fasting (eating every other day) the warrior diet (fruits and veggies during the day and a big, protein-rich meal at night) and, the most common form, 16/8 fasting. This method refers to fasting for 16 hours out of the day, with an 8-hour “feeding window.”

Intermittent fasting has gained followers for a variety of reasons. One of the most popular reasons is its ability to help with fat loss and positive metabolic changes in the body.

Intermittent fasting allows the body to burn excess stores of fat because of the unique conditions that fasting creates. In the simplest terms, your body uses fat for fuel when it doesn’t have access to food. In particular, when the body is deprived of glucose it tends to reach for its fat stores for extra energy. This is why ketogenic diets — which involve consuming low to no carbohydrates — allow for such a great deal of fat burning.

Intermittent fasting is also used for its ability to improve blood sugar. Insulin is what is responsible for transporting glucose in the body. Some evidence shows that fasting on a regular basis allows the body to regulate its insulin use and reduce total blood sugar levels — meaning sugar is used for fuel instead of being stored by the body as fat.

Fasting has likely become popular in the fitness industry for a few reasons. For one, most people are tired of being sold another diet fad or weight loss pill. Instead, they would rather spend time understanding their bodies and making the right choices and adjustments to their fitness and nutrition as necessary. In addition, fasting can be incredibly convenient. Most people grew up being incessantly told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day — a factoid most likely propagated by the cereal industry. Fasting has shone light on the health benefits of skipping breakfast — a choice that most of us are happy to make, as it means a few extra minutes of sleep and less cooking.

Bone Broth

Now let’s take a look at bone broth and how it plays into the fasting dynamic. If you’ve strolled through Whole Foods recently, you’ve likely seen an end-cap fridge filled with dark brown bottles of broth nestled next to the kombucha and coconut water. Many people are understandably turned off to the idea of slurping down a jug of cold broth — so why is there such a high demand for it?

As it turns out, bone broth has a variety of incredible health benefits. Their health benefits draw largely from the fact that they are derived from highly nutritious parts of animals that we don’t normally consume — in particular, bones. However, bone broth also contains skin, tendons and ligaments that would normally be tossed out of a butcher shop. As bone broth cooks, valuable nutrients like collagen, proline, glycine and glutamine all end up in the jar of broth you can find at your local grocery store.

Bone broth can be bought at the store, but it’s completely feasible to make yourself. You should purchase grass-fed bones from a local butcher. Once you’ve got your bones, boil them in water, seasonings, a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and simmer for around 24-48 hours.

Bone broth does incredible things for the joints due to its rich collagen content. Our joints experience a good bit of abuse as we age, and the more collagen we consume, the less damage they will generally take. In addition, the gelatin present in bone broth stock — the same stuff Jell-O is comprised of — is a necessary lubricant for joints.

In addition, gelatin is great for the gut. It can help restore the sensitive lining of the stomach that is so often degraded, and it can help with food sensitivities and with reducing inflammation. Because bone broth comes in liquid form, it is easy to digest and therefore is readily consumed and absorbed by the body.

Using bone broth while fasting

Bone broth can be an incredible addition to any fasting protocol, provided you take the right steps. When used as part of a fat loss protocol or as a “detox” tool, bone broth can be helpful in a fasting protocol. Bone broth is particularly useful for extended fasts of one day or more in which the person fasting needs a bit of calories and protein to make it through the fast without giving the body a lot of junk food to process.

Most people begin with a 2 or 3 day fast consuming nothing but bone broth and water. It’s completely acceptable to start with just one day as well or to replace one meal with bone broth. It’s also recommended to consume bone broth from a variety of sources (for example, consuming chicken and beef one broth.)

Bone broth with additives like ginger and turmeric will provide a great deal of anti-inflammatory benefits as well. You can also and pink Himalayan salt if you’d like. All of these will contribute to both the health benefits and flavor of your broth.

In addition, remember that you are fasting anything other than bone broth, so if you’re drinking coffee, make sure to leave the cream or milk out (and especially the sugar.)

Benefits of bone broth fasting

Fasting with the addition of bone broth has many benefits. Let’s take a look at a few of the most compelling.

1. Improves digestion

Because bone broth is a rich source of collagen, it can help restore the lining of the vital GI tract. Collagen helps soothe the GI tract and can be a major help in healing leaky gut syndrome. In addition, the gelatin present in bone broth is known to help with food sensitivities and allergies. The gelatin also promotes probiotic balance and allows for a favorable digestive environment in the gut.

Because fasting with bone broth allows your body to receive the nutrients from the broth without other additives, your body can more easily absorb these nutrients.

2. Helps preserve muscle

As stated previously, intermittent fasting can include a two or even three day fast. It’s possible that muscle mass could be accessed by the body as a source of fuel during this time, especially if you’re active during the fast. Supplying your body with protein and calories from bone broth can help reverse this unwanted effect.

3. Help with sleep and memory

The amino acids that form the building blocks of protein present in bone broth allow for the production of hormones that help us sleep deeply and be mentally sharp and aware. Glycine, in particular, has been found to help patients who struggle sleeping get deeper sleep.

Bone broth also contains important nutrients like potassium and magnesium, both of which are crucial in energy production and muscle and cognitive functions.

4. Can boost immunity

Doing a bone broth fast allows the good bacteria in your gut a favorable condition to live. High bacterial content is generally associated with a stronger immunity, as well as weight and hormone balance. Probiotics can help reduce inflammation in the body, which is a major cause of illnesses of all kinds.

5. Is more sustainable than other kinds of fasting

Many fasting protocols are designed to be short-term, which means that you usually don’t need extra vitamins or nutrients during them. After all, fasting is completely depriving your body of just about anything other than water to allow it to work through its normal processes more efficiently. However, doing a two or three-day intermittent fast with bone broth can be a great way to experience the benefits of long-term fasting without the brain fog or other negative effects associated with it. Bone broth is incredibly rich and complex in its nutrient content, and thus provides the perfect fuel source for fasting. It’s also fairly low-calorie, meaning your body does not have to process through a large portion of food.

As always, consult a doctor

While bone broth fasting is a great option for many people, you should always consult with your own doctor before making significant changes to your diet. Make sure you consult a professional before you decide if this method is the best for you and your lifestyle.

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Soft Cleanse by OHS

I first heard about OHS a few years ago from a colleague. Optimal Health Systems is supported by Dr. Brimhall and Dr. Harris. Dr Harris is considered the expert in methylation and he uses the methylation and genetics testing kit to get to the root cause of many chronic issues.

I have not attended these seminars but decided that I should take some time to detox my body before my upcoming jaw surgery in the fall.

For the past month I took:

Female +B

Opti-Para

Opti-Mito-Force

Soft Cleanse

This review is on the soft cleanse. It comes in a neat and clean box that allows you to punch out a hole in the bottom and the supplements are on a roll that you tear off each morning and evening. They are labeled morning/evening so you know whether you’ve taken one or two for the day.

Each packet contains 5 pills:

2 FloraPlus

1 Liver Kidney

2 Opti Cleanse and Repair

From OHS website: “The Optimal Soft Cleanse Pak combines two formulas and utilizes a proprietary chlorella herb and patented glutamine blend to aid in cleansing. In addition, it utilizes special pectin fibers, along with nitrogen from glutamine, to aid in the safe removal of debris.”

“Key Ingredients & Their Roles
Licorice Root – Support gut, liver and immune health
Psyllium – Bind to and remove heavy metals
Oat Bran – Promote a healthy colon
Celery – Inflammation reduction
Sweet Potato – Natural anti-inflammatory that promotes liver health
Pectin – Bind to and remove heavy metals
Chlorella – Bind to and remove heavy metals
Jerusalem Artichoke – Help detoxify liver
Barberry Root – Natural detoxifier
Dandelion Root – Encourages removal of toxins through sweat, bile and urine
Milk Thistle – Promote a healthy liver”

www.optimalhealthsystems.com

I’ve had a great experience with this soft cleanse and noticed that several key signs of detox were present.

  1. The smell of my sweat changed and became less pungent.
  2. My face has broken out several times and toxins leave through my skin.
  3. I checked my Zyto score and all of my body systems balanced out.

It’s important to detox every 6 months especially in 2020. We have toxins in water, in the air, in our food, basically every thing we do contributes to our toxic load.

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DIY: Homemade Bug Spray

It’s that time of the year again where the mosquitos are the uninvited guest to our BBQs and we’re the main course.

Most people are very conscientious about using harmful chemicals on their bodies and stay away from products that are linked to endotoxins such as DDT and DEET.  Essential oils have taken center stage as a great product to use for keeping our flying foe at bay.

Here’s a tip for those of you who like to garden, some plants are natural repellants to mosquitos and that includes lemongrass and citronella plant.  If you have a patio that has great sunlight, you can take advantage of this fact and plant some lemongrass and citronella plants around your area.

Homemade Bug Spray

½ cup Distilled water

Natural Witch Hazel

30-50 drops total Essential Oil: Eucalyptus, Lemongrass, Cinnamon, Clove, Rosemary, Lavender

  • For this mixture: I recommend using lemongrass as the base and then adding the other oils as you like. 

Spray all over!

Be careful to avoid sensitive areas like eyes, nose and mouth.

Some people are allergic to lavender and therefore you should advise your guests as to what essential oils you used in your mixture.

I also recommend using a glass bottle for storage when using any essential oils

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DIY: Homemade Muscle Rub

If you are a weekend warrior or feeling the aches and pains of growing older then you may be using a lot of muscle creams. These rubs work great to help decrease the muscle pain associated with aging, exercise, or both.

The environmental working group is always on watch for which products can be toxic to our health and if you are choosing which chemicals to put on your body then you should know what’s in these creams.

Most creams use some sort of chemical combination that is similar to aspirin with the idea being that they will decrease inflammation in the area.

What is Inflammation?

Inflammation is caused by an increase in temperature, red color, and swelling.  These changes to the muscle tissue will cause irritation of the nerve which leads to pain.  When the brain receives the signal from the tissues that they are irritated then the brain will stop whatever activity is causing the problem.

The blood and fluid rush to the area to help provide new materials to repair whatever is broken, whether it is tendons, ligaments, or muscle.

Inflammation that stays too long can become problematic.  Usually this is caused by other issues and I suggest you read up on dietary changes, and supplements to help relieve chronic inflammation.

If you have short term, normal inflammation then applying a gentle muscle cream will alleviate just enough inflammation to help you get on with your day.

DIY: Muscle Cream

1 cup carrier oil

4 drops Ylang ylang oil

4 drops peppermint oil

3 drops spearmint oil

2 drops frankincense oil

Mix together and store in a glass container

Apply to sore area, be sure to stay away from sensitive reproductive tissue, eyes, mouth, and nose.

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DIY: Essential Oil Mouthwash

The Story Behind Essential Oils

Essential oils are quite simply the oil that comes from a plant when you press it extremely hard.  You can extract this oil from herbs, flowers, and roots.  There may be others but these are the most common.  Using plant essential oils has been around as long as there have been plant and human interaction. 

Before the most recent craze of using essential oils for everything from toe fungus to hair serums, we were using essential oils and not even realizing it.  Chewing gum for instance was originally flavored with peppermint or spearmint essential oil. 

Many shamans, natural medicine healers, and early doctors used essential oils quite often to help heal their patients. You might think that we have come a long way since then and why should we go back?

Using Plants in Modern Medicine

Today many great discoveries in medicine are still found using natural plants. There are many botanists, pharmaceutical botanists, medical doctors, and researchers who are looking all over the world for natural cures to diseases and infections.  If nature made it, then surely nature can kill it?

Once a plant, flower or herb is discovered then they bring it back for testing and to learn about its chemical composition.  Let’s say for instance that a plant or herb is very good at curing disease Z, but this plant only grows for 1 month each year on a high up rock in one deserted part of a far away country.  Well then, it only seems natural that we would figure out what makes it so helpful and try to recreate it in a lab.  This would save the natural environment from unnecessary exposure to trucking, development and other unpleasantries.

Since the advent of “modern medicine” this has been the standard practice.  Find something useful and recreate it in a lab for mass production to help as many people as possible.

The Problem with This Solution

There’s always a problem, isn’t there? When we mimic plants and herbs that we find naturally occurring we end up making mirror images of their chemical composition and this doesn’t always mesh the same with our systems.

As the saying goes “nothing like the real thing”. So while, for some very expensive, hard to grow plants and herbs it makes sense to do our best with the chemical copy, when we have the opportunity to grow the ‘real thing’ then we should of course take advantage of this.

The reason this wasn’t always so popular was due to the fact, that making the artificial version has always been more ‘cost effective’ shall we say?

Due to this fact, the corporations making these products decided to go with the artificial version instead and they have been putting some other less desirable additives into these products that we’re consuming as well.

There are so many great website that track this information.  My personal favorite is www.ewg.org .  The environmental working group is committed to providing the general public with the information what is in the products that we are consuming. I think this a great resource for anyone who is concerned. 

Natural DIY Mouthwash with Essential Oils

½ cup distilled water

½ cup 3 % hydrogen peroxide

¼ cup aloe vera juice

10 drops peppermint oil

10 drops spearmint oil

Mix together, store in a glass jar

*do not swallow

Swish in mouth and spit into sink

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Can You Feel the Sunshine?

Cue age of Aquarius “let the sunshine in”, what a great song.  It’s one of those songs that I can play loud with the windows down, the sun shining and the wind blowing through my hair.  Hearing the melody creates feelings of joy and wonder, causing a cascade of happy hormones in my body. 

Hormones are how we feel our surroundings or interpret our external events internally.  It starts with a trigger, it can excite the pathways that create more hormones and this creates a positive feedback loop that will make you crave more. 

Now, this can also create a negative feedback loop that will tell you ‘this wasn’t such a good idea’ and the next time when you feel that same stimulus you will take different action.  Your brain is a computer that is also living and learning and smart.  It will take the input into it and create memories of the stimulus and then determine whether the experience was good or bad for us and tell us what to do the next time the situation arises.

Sunshine

Sun shine is comprised of UVA, UVB and other types of rays that come from the sun.  These can be good for us, as in, vitamin D synthesis and stimulating the positive hormone cascade and they can also be harmful, as in, skin cancer and sun burns.

Sunshine is recommended by most doctors for about 10-15 minutes a day and when it hits your skin, you get an immediate sense of well-being and health.  This is because your body is creating new, good hormones in the case of vitamin D.  We know that vitamin D is good for our health: cardiovascular, bone health, and other systems.

We also know that if we stay in the sun too long we can get sun burns.

Sun burns

Sun burns happen when we have prolonged exposure to the ultraviolet radiation from the sun.  These rays of ultraviolet light are called UVA and UVB rays.  In small doses these may be harmless but in large doses they can burn our skin. 

We have receptors in our skin that tell us what is going on around us so that we can perceive our environment and then make changes based on that perceived information.  So, let’s say for instance, that we are standing on the ground in Los Angeles and we start to feel the ground move, what you are actually feeling is the proprioception receptors in your skin and joints that sense vibration.  These sensors tell you that the ground is shaking, more than just a large truck is passing by.  Your brain then taps into these memories and says this feels like an earthquake and we better take cover.  Or maybe it can compare it to all past experiences and say this isn’t like anything we’ve experienced before and this must be an earthquake. 

Sun burns work that same way, at some point, your skin’s temperature receptors will say this is warm and nice.  Then it will get hot and then it will signal to the brain, “hey, I’m burning here”.  Because sun burns are actually burns of the skin. So when you get a sun burn you are burning your skin.  This is not healthy for the body and the body will tell you to protect yourself.  Either move indoors away from the sun or cover up your burning flesh.

How to tell the difference

Safety is number one! Unless you have suffered a sun burn before you will not have a memory of when the sun on your skin much for your body is too to handle.  In this case, it is better to use some sunscreen to protect your skin from a sun burn.

I know some people are against sun screen and in that case it is best to wear light linen or cotton clothing to protect your skin from excessive sun exposure.  Wear a hat and sunglasses to protect your face and eyes. 

Always have extra layers of clothing if you are going to be out in the sun for long periods of time.  It is very hard to tell the difference between good sun and too much sun.  Once you feel your skin burning, it is too late and you will have already started to burn the epidermis.

So do not wait until you feel the burn.

Types of sun block to wear

The best type of sun block is the one with the least amount of additives.  The environmental working group at ewg.org has been resources for finding the least toxic sunscreens.  They have brands that are EWG certified and will help you to find the one that’s right for you.

As far as the numbers go, SPF 15, 30, 45, 50, 75.  That only signifies how many minutes of sun protection you will have.  For instance, SPF 15 is 15 minutes of sun protection, whereas 75 is 75 minutes. Some people think that if they put on SPF 50 that they will have less of a chance of getting burned and this is simply NOT TRUE. 

Personally, I use SPF 15 and above on most days and most dermatologists recommend SPF 30 and above.

Clothing

If you are very sensitive to the sun and can feel the sun even on a cloudy day then I recommend wearing UPF clothes during summer.  UPF stands for ultraviolet protection factor and this is built into the cloth.

This is meant to prevent the ultraviolet rays from penetrating the linen or cotton fibers and reaching your skin. 

This is highly advisable if you have a sun allergy, sun sensitivity, or are prone to skin cancers.

Conclusion

Most people can feel the sunshine just like the song says.  Most of the time it is a good thing to feel the sun on our skin and know our body is hard at work making our vitamin D to protect us from very bad diseases.  If however, you are out for too long in the sun then remember to cover up and protect your skin from sun burns.

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Is Garlic Good for You?

What is garlic?

Garlic is known ubiquitously throughout the world as the powerful herb that will ward off vampires when used in large quantities. Simply string it around your neck, chow down on a handful of garlic cloves and protection guaranteed!

What about your health? Nowadays people want to know if garlic is good for skin, gut health, heart health, fighting parasites and so much more.

I think the renewed interest is in part due to the uncertain circumstances that we now find ourselves in throughout the United States and world. I myself have been gardening since I was a child and continue the tradition now that I’m in my thirties (shhhh….don’t tell).  Garlic grows well in the garden and can be cultivated from a single clove, or so I think and am currently trying this experiment in my own garden.

It is also a strong repellant of squirrels, who have tried to invade our home every fall and spring for the last few years.  The squirrels also try to burrow into our raised garden bed.  This year we have outsmarted our rodent friends and have placed garlic cloves strategically in the corners of the beds. We will see who has the last laugh!

I digress, garlic is a herb that is grown in varying climates. It’s related to the onion and leek family.  Some think it’s origin is Siberia but that is unconfirmed.

Besides vampire repellant it is used for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis and parasite cleansing.

Garlic’s effect in the body

Garlic is good for you if you are looking to make improvements in your cardiovascular health. It produces allicin. 

Funny enough, allicin is what gives garlic it’s distinctive odor so if you have a garlic product that is ‘odorless’ then that means it has been aged and the allicin is less effective.  Be careful as this may have unintended consequences.  You may have odorless garlic if you are taking it in pill form and in that case be sure to get the enteric coated kind.  ‘Enteric coated’ just means that the pill will withstand the harsh environment of your stomach so that the full benefit can be received in the gut.

Atherosclerosis

This is a biggie because no one wants to have a heart attack or anything of the sort.  If you are concerned about hardening of your arteries and want to know if garlic is good for you then you’re in luck.  There are very little side effects from garlic so you can try it and see how it works for you.  More than likely you will not know if it’s working but if you don’t have a major event (heart attack) then it did it’s job.

Garlic seems to work better for women than men. The suggested serving is to take a garlic supplement twice daily for 24 months.

Diabetes

Blood sugar handling seems to be a level playing field.  No matter whether you have blood sugar problems or not, everyone can benefit from having garlic during their meal. 

Research suggests that over the course of at least 3 months a regular addition of garlic to your meal will help to reduce pre-meal blood sugar levels.

High Cholesterol

The research is a bit confused when it comes to cholesterol and garlic.  Honestly, the research is a bit confused on cholesterol in general so this is not shocking.

If you have concerns about cholesterol and aren’t buying into the whole proven physiology that your liver controls cholesterol and it’s necessary for healthy brain function and you’re really worried about it then take some garlic, as it can’t hurt.

High Blood Pressure

This one is no brainer.  Garlic has been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure by 7-9 mmHg and diastolic by about 4-6 mmHg, those are your top and bottom numbers respectively. 

Unproven Areas

If you are concerned about cancers, colds, obesity, swelling and other areas of concern there does not seem to be enough proof, yet.  Obviously garlic has many positive outcomes and is not a cure all for all conditions.

It is listed as mostly safe when taken internally but consult your doctor before you begin a garlic supplementation regimen.

Conclusion

Garlic is good for you.  There is a very small downside to taking garlic and it seems to help the cardiovascular system quite a bit.