Why on earth would you ever eat fucking garlic?!?!, you ask incredulously.
Good question!
Garlic = 🤮
But here’s the thing…
Since antiquity, garlic has been used for a broad range of health purposes. Modern science now lends credence to many of those purported benefits and has discovered more. Among the things that garlic can do is reduce the risk of heart attack by lowering blood pressure and improving the ratio of “bad” LDL cholesterol and “good” HDL cholesterol; lower blood glucose levels and enhance insulin sensitivity for the treatment and management of diabetes; reduce the risk of certain kinds of cancer by inhibiting cancerous cells and blocking the formation of tumors; and boost the immune system to fight against bacteria and viruses to reduce how often you get infected and lessen the severity of symptoms.
Garlic has a slew of health benefits besides the ones named and research suggests that in some way or another, they’re all owed to allicin, the sulfur-containing compound that gives garlic its pungent odor and distinctive taste. More studies are needed but garlic may also have other effects that extend to fitness. One is that garlic has antioxidant properties that may help combat soreness caused by exercise as a result of the oxidative stress and inflammation from muscle damage. Another potential effect is that compounds in garlic may help increase the amount of oxygen that can be carried by the blood to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the tissues and facilitate the removal of waste, all of which can reduce fatigue and improve work capacity during exercise and contribute to recovery after. Lastly, there’s reason to believe that garlic acts as an anabolic agent by stimulating the production of the muscle-building hormone testosterone while inhibiting cortisol, a hormone that breaks down muscle protein. As stated, more studies are necessary to confirm the benefits of garlic with exercise but there’s no doubt — NO DOUBT!!! — that eating some before the gym and having the smell on your breath can increase performance by keeping people from interrupting your workout to engage in small talk.
Yeah, I know, garlic sounds mighty, mighty tasty right about now!
NOTE: The bioactive compound, allicin, isn’t stable under high temperature, so many of the benefits of garlic may lessen with cooking. As such, it’s better to consume garlic raw. It may also be of benefit to chop or crush garlic before use to activate the formation of allicin from the alliinase enzyme.
Garlic Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 clove (3g)
• Calories: 4.5
• Total Fat: 0g
• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 0.5mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 1g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.1g
• Sugar: 0g
• Protein: 0.2g
Glossary: anabolic, exercise, fitness, gym, hormones, muscle, muscle soreness, workout
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