Tips For a Healthy Lifestyle With Help From Herbs Like Garlic - Part One

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Ian_M_Bell]Ian M Bell

The more we learn of modern living and lifestyles, the more we become aware of the need for a healthy immune system. Air and water pollution are just two examples of man-made contributions to the general malaise that is insidiously invading our bodies. As a result many people globally are turning back to Nature and the more natural aids to health.

A decade ago, approximately 30 to 40% of the world's population had adopted natural methods of treating the body's ailments, or just having a fresher, more natural attitude toward simple good health. The percentage of people who now follow this regimen is closer to 70%, much to the chagrin of international pharmaceutical companies who have discovered that profits are beginning to show definite signs of dwindling.

Fortunately for the health-conscious consumer products created from naturally found substances cannot easily be patented and so the internationals have been steadily buying up health product manufacturers and then setting them up as their own outlets.

One of the problems facing these companies is that of the simple herb.

In existence for many thousands of years herbs, because they are found naturally everywhere in the world, present a stumbling block to any form of registration by a legal entity (company). This means that herbs are anyone's for the asking!

And this is good for nature followers because they can grow them at home with no restrictions - at the moment anyway; many suspect that it won't be too long before the 'Herb Police' will be patrolling. Any naturally occurring plant falls into the 'non-registerable' category and so, in a strange way, is protected from monopolisation for profit.

Although not strictly an herb per se, garlic (Old English garleac meaning 'spear leek') is best known throughout the modern world for its very distinctive and highly pungent aroma and flavour. Garlic is best described as a hardy perennial bulb - it is a member of the lily family, together with leeks, chives, shallots and onions. It has even been used as currency, so highly prized was it thousands of years ago in countries such as Asia, Africa, Egypt and Europe and around the Mediterranean and Aegean.

ANTI-MICROBIAL QUALITIES

Although garlic has a reputation for warding off vampires, protecting pregnant ladies from unmentionable harm and even credited with having aphrodisiacal properties, it is better known in modern times as being a 'germ fighter'.

Garlic has been called by many names including the 'Stinking Rose' and 'Russian Penicillin. The latter name was given to the miracle plant by World War I physicians who successfully foiled the onset of gangrene using poultices soaked in the juice of garlic. Other, more mundane but effective uses for garlic over the centuries, particularly by the Chinese, are:

· Garlic soup to treat pneumonia
· Juice to treat typhoid and meningitis
· Vapours for whooping cough

During the early 'fifties scientists in China successfully used two different types of garlic treatments to combat influenza. Western nations around the same period discovered that garlic was highly effective in the treatment of the common cold. Garlic has been found to be a powerful anti-microbial remedy effective against parasites in the human intestinal tract, bacteria, fungi and even viruses.

I'm Ian and I've been writing articles on how to acquire a proper golf swing for my site in the past, golf being a passion of mine. Now come and visit my latest website over at http://www.outdoorwirelesssecuritycamera.org which helps people with lots of information to find the best outdoor wireless security camera available on the market.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-For-a-Healthy-Lifestyle-With-Help-From-Herbs-Like-Garlic---Part-One&id=3441312] Tips For a Healthy Lifestyle With Help From Herbs Like Garlic - Part One