How Can I Get Rid of Garlic Breath?
Garlic is nutritious, delicious; an amazing culinary delight that can be used to enhance many different kinds of dishes. Roasted garlic spread on a wedge of toasted baguette with a dash of sea salt is an incredibly simple and delicious treat. Pastas, meats, and fish are often paired very well with a garlic sauce. Because of its aroma and flavor, some cuisines rely quite heavily on garlic. It is quite difficult, for example, to have a meal at an Italian restaurant without tasting a good amount of garlic (and leaving with at least a hint of garlic breath).
The biggest problem with enjoying garlic, however, is what it does to your breath. If you enjoy garlic but do not appreciate what it does to your breath you may be in a bit of a pickle. Garlic breath is very difficult to prevent, but there are some steps that you can take in order to rid yourself of it.
Garlic is made up of a number of biological elements that actually promote the growth of bacteria that already exists within your mouth. This, along with the natural pungency of garlic, leads to garlic breath. Furthermore, once you have consumed garlic, it can be difficult to smell on yourself. At times, you may have garlic breath without even knowing it.
Once you have eaten garlic, there are a number of things that you can do to mask your garlic breath. Chew on a few sprigs of fresh parsley, for example. Another option is to chew on fresh mint or to drink a large glass of hot mint tea. Also, be sure to give your teeth a good brushing and floss as well. Many people also find that tongue scraping is a good way to reduce garlic breath. You can "scrape" your tongue by simply adding a bit of toothpaste to your brush and working on your tongue from back to front. This will help to remove some of the bacteria and odor build up.
The only surefire cure to prevent garlic breath is to avoid garlic altogether. In order to beat garlic breath but obtain the health benefits of garlic, you may want to consider purchasing odorless garlic tablets at your neighborhood pharmacy. If you eat a great deal of garlic, the scent may begin to seep through your skin. No amount of mint or parsley will be able to cure you of your new eau de cologne.
Written by Diane Goettel
