Sick As A Dog

Well, I'm not quite there yet, but this is one is going to be a doozy.....maybe. 

When Drew and I talk about weird peanut butter combinations, like peanut butter and tomato (one of my dad's creations) or lettuce, peanut butter, and mayo sandwiches (I actually saw someone eat this at work...) he likes to tell me about how, when he was little, his dad would make him eat peanut butter on a cracker with a raw garlic clove to fight the early stages of a cold. (We actually talk about weird peanut butter combos fairly often, I'm realizing...)

He says that, more often than not, the cracker/pb/garlic combo worked. Obviously, the garlic was the heavy hitter. Fortunately for me, my Italian roots have granted me an affinity to garlic, and I really enjoy raw garlic. So, this morning I ate a few cloves of garlic (no pb, no cracker).

So, do I think it worked? Maybe. For the first hour or so after I tore through the raw cloves, my sore throat vanished and the garlic seemed to serve as an expectorant. I still smell like garlic (and I probably will tonight -- sorry Drew -- and tomorrow -- sorry coworkers) but the sore throat has returned. I'm tempted to chew on one more clove before bed tonight, but we'll see how it goes.

Here's the thing: garlic is incredibly strong and permeates everything. It stays in your body for days, sometimes, and comes out through all of your pores, saliva, etc. It's easy to imagine that it attacks germs, too. I'm on day one of a week-long illness (if it's the same illness that has been plaguing friends and boyfriend, which, probably), so I have my fingers crossed that the garlic coursing through my veins will slash a few days off my healing time.

I'm sucking on a few of the gross-but-reliable Cold-EEZE lozenges too, just in case.