cure for the common cold

Sunday I had a terrible sore throat. When I get them, the cold hits and it lingers for weeks. With a newborn in the house and no insurance, we really need to stay healthy, so I decided to try a “cure” a close friend of mine recommended….garlic. She said to swallow a clove of garlic when you first feel the cold coming on, and then one more the next day. I’m thinking HOLY COW that’s a horse pill and a half and I really don’t want to smell like garlic, but I decided to give it a try. I warned Matt of the possible ordor, and swallowed the garlic with a glass of chocolate milk. It went down easily (I chose a small clove) and I hardly tasted it. The trick is fill your mouth with the liquid, pop the garlic and swallow.

Sunday I had a terrible sore throat. When I get them, the cold hits and it lingers for weeks. With a newborn in the house and no insurance, we really need to stay healthy, so I decided to try a “cure” a close friend of mine recommended….garlic. She said to swallow a clove of garlic when you first feel the cold coming on, and then one more the next day. I’m thinking HOLY COW that’s a horse pill and a half and I really don’t want to smell like garlic, but I decided to give it a try. I warned Matt of the possible ordor, and swallowed the garlic with a glass of chocolate milk. It went down easily (I chose a small clove) and I hardly tasted it. The trick is fill your mouth with the liquid, pop the garlic and swallow.

The next morning my sore throat was gone, but I still felt like a cold was threatening. At lunchtime I took the second clove with the last bit of chocolate milk I hid from my kids specifically for this purpose and swallowed. The cold never hit!

Are you brave enough to try it? You’ll have to ask Matt if I’ve smelled like garlic this week.

9 thoughts on “cure for the common cold”

  1. Wait Until You Sweat

    Christy, after eating garlic, you should get on the treadmill and work up a sweat. Funky garlic beads of sweat form on your skin and you emit a nasty odor.

    This is how I spend my weekends.

    — Sammy G

    1. Treadmill

      What’s hilarious to me about your comment, Sam, is that the treadmill is where Christy has been spending her exercise time lately! As far as funky odor, I haven’t smelled anything weird lately.

      Of course, Christy is still recovering from delivering our fourth child, so… <ahem!> … other than snuggle time, we haven’t really been in any situations recently where the garlic odor would have been most promounced. For the uninitiated, it’s unwise to have sex for up to six weeks after delivery.

      Now, from what I understand about garlic, the reason it stinks is this: the allinase enzyme and the alliin enzyme inside the clove mix when you crush or chew it. They react with each other, creating a substance called allicin. One of the by-products of creating allicin is sulfur.

      Sulfur smells like rotten eggs. Combined with other odors natural to the garlic clove, this is why people smell bad after eating a garlic-laden meal.

      Now, what I think is happening when you’re swallowing a whole clove of garlic is that you’ve just nearly completely bypassed that chemical reaction. Rather than crushing and mingling the enzymes, the intestines strip away the carbohydrates and fats layer-by-layer from the garlic clove, perhaps largely preventing the reaction from taking place, and just leaving you with the healthy side effects.

      But I looked at one of those cloves of garlic. It reminds me a lot of what it would feel like to try to swallow a small peach pit whole. You go girl!

      —
      Matthew P. Barnson

      1. Other side effects of garlic

        While garlic is known to help fight cancer, apparently ward off the common cold, and also help in reducing bad cholesterol, be warned: it’s not all fun and stinky breath. Garlic also causes dermatitis, gas, diarrhea, and low sperm count.

        Depending on your perspective, that can be a good or a bad thing…

        —
        Matthew P. Barnson

          2. Just FYI…

            Just FYI, “I Like Pie” is a code-phrase here on barnson.org for “I am uncomfortable with this conversation” or “I really want to comment, but also… not so much.”

            —
            Matthew P. Barnson

  2. If the sore throat has phlegm

    If the sore throat has phlegm attached to it.. Gargle lukewarm water and hydrogen peroxide at a ratio of 2 parts water to 1 part Peroxide. Don’t swallow it.

    If the sore throat is dry Same idea, but this time warm water with salt one teaspoon per cup.

    THESE ARE HOME REMEDIES: This is not nursing advice because I am not yet a Nurse, and if I were, I would not prescribe.

  3. cure for common colds

    I was surprised to see your garlic cure (which is the exact one I use) with practicaly 100% success. I never hear anyone talking about it and most people just suggest garlic pills. But this is right on! I avert about 20 colds a year following the exact same proceedure you [describe].

    EDIT by matthew: Fixed word choice.

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