Healthy Benefits from Eating Onions and Garlic

Ancient Egyptians and Romans prized the extraordinary healing powers of garlic and onions. Recent research supports these claims. According to studies done by the nutrition department at Pennsylvania State University, consuming one medium onion a day may lower your cholesterol by 15 percent. The sulfur compounds in onions help lower dangerous levels of blood fats and help keep plague from adhering to artery walls. Onions come in many varieties: yellow, red and white. Sweet onions like Vidalia, Maui and Walla Walla have a lower sulfur content than other more pungent varieties. To minimize tears, chill onions for half an hour before peeling and chopping. It’s best to eat them raw for their full health benefit in salads, dips, spreads, soups, sandwichs and most foods. When cooking onions, lightly sauté them, for over-cooking can destroy important enzymes. As for garlic’s health role in protecting your heart, the cloves contain natural anticoagulants that help thin the blood, and they help protect against platelet stickiness – thus lowering the risk of clotting and even a stroke! Plus, garlic has potent immune-enhancing properties, it may eradicate many types of bacteria and fungi, including salmonella and candida; as well as inhibit gastrointestinal ulcers. Remove garlic’s outer papery skin. Let it sit for 10 minutes after chopping, to let the beneficial enzymes develop. Varieties of garlic and onions are: shallots, elephant garlic, garlic spears, leeks, chives and scallions – allbeneficial to health!