Soups, pastas, chicken, lamb, rice, noodles, bread, tarts, pies, vegetables, potatoes, casserole, sausage, steak, what can't you use Garlic in? In all honesty, there is not one dish in the world that can't use a bit of garlic. No matter what I am cooking, as long as it's for me and only me I always add an insane about of Garlic to my food. I love it in everything, I add an array of herbs, spices and flavourings in my food because I absolutely despise bland foods. I most certainly won't ever service a pasta dish without garlic unless it is a cheese pasta. Pasta doesn't taste right without Garlic and herbs, so I won't ever serve it without it. I always heard the famous phrase "Garlic keeps the vampires away". My initial thought was, 'well, thank goodness for that!' However, the benefits of Garlic were better than I thought.

Garlic is used in very many herbal medicines due to the health benefits. Garlic is a very power natural anti-biotic. Which is better than taking anti-biotics from the chemist as if you ever have a life-threatening condition, anti-biotics may not work as well if your system is immune to it.

Garlic can help to prevent colds and flu's. Which I'm pretty sure is a lot better than the excruciatingly sore Flu jabs! There have even been rumours that it can solve acne problems! Well, after I heard that, I straight into my garlic.

All these benefits are very useful, yes. But how does it help in fighting off the vampires? Well, as you could probably guess, it is helpful for your blood. But in what way?

It stinks
However, it also affects your blood in several ways.

Garlic lowers blood pressure. What is blood pressure? Basically, blood being pumped too fast throughout your body. This can cause heart attacks and strokes. It is believed to prevent this.

Garlic actively lowers cholesterol. What's all this hype about cholesterol, what is it/ You may ask. Well, ways to prevent cholesterol are always being advertised on television (ever seen a Flora advert?) and there is good reason for this. Cholesterol, like fat, is essential for you but too much of it can cause death! It is substance that is found in the blood plasma. However, unlike fat it is unable to see how much is in your body. There is also another similarity to 'fat'. There are some good versions, and some bad versions. One that we absolutely must have, and one we could serious do without! The United Kingdom has an extremely high level of heart disease patients and cancer patients. Therefore, the government is very keen to help us lower the levels and do this through public advertisement. However, I don't see a lot of mention about Garlic, and there should be. Why? We find out...

Garlic is an anti-oxidant.. No doubt about it. This may stop the 'bad cholesterol' from being oxidised, stopping it from clogging the arteries.

When using Garlic, you can use less salt and this flavours the flood as a substitute for salt. I believe that everyone should be encouraged to chop a little Garlic into any meal in order to enjoy the wide benefits.