Stress-buster Garlic

Stress is a modern BUZZ word and I am sure all of us use this word more often than our earlier generations used to. We all experience increased stress in our lives today and try to manage it, combat it and cope with it all the time.


Stress is a natural element of life and has been there ever since man has existed on this earth. But for our ancestors, stress used to exist in the form of a life threatening situation with usually a "FIGHT or FLIGHT " response. Anthropologists say that our ancestors spent their time in sport, recreation, family life, ritual and community dance and music. Stress, for them was occasional, and existed while hunting or warfare only. Their body also got enough time to regain and rebuild itself in between 2 episodes of major stress.





Unfortunately, many of us are already into the trap of continual STRESS to meet the complexities of modern civilization and our modern lifestyle. Our body is exposed to stress all the time and many of us are able to relax only rarely, are not able to enjoy even our exercise, many of us have completely forgotten about our hobbies, and whatever relaxation we may have, is of a poor quality. I have come across many people who claim that watching TV is very relaxing.......... Its time to look back and see if TV watching is relaxing or Taxing?



All of us experience the symptoms of stress in every day life like reduced energy levels, chronic Fatigue, debility, exhaustion, indigestion, insomnia, depletion of immune system, recurring illnesses, headaches, shortness of breath, back pain, muscle stiffness..... the list is endless.


So, if stress has become an inevitable part of our modern lifestyle,
Let us find if Garlic can be useful in fighting Stress.

• Crushed Garlic with milk early in the morning acts like a TONIC and builds energy slowly and steadily over weeks or months.
  
• Using garlic in everyday cooking, improves digestion and absorption of several nutrients and helps in improving general resistance and immunity.
  
• Animal trials confirm that garlic is useful in fighting fatigue and resisting environmental stress.
  
• Garlic helps in reducing the blood levels of our stress hormone significantly and helps to keep the symptoms of stress away.
  
• Clinical Anti fatigue trials on humans in Japan, have shown that garlic extracts improved the symptoms of fatigue, depression, anxiety and stress.

I honestly feel that including atleast 1-2 cloves of garlic in our diet everyday will help us all to fight the day to day stress and emerge in a better shape at the end of the day.