From an email I received:
Dear Suzy, I attended a lecture of yours, and you announced to the audience, “I want you all to eat an onion today to keep the doctor away.” You left the topic quickly and didn’t pick me during your question/answer period. I’m still wondering, why onions? Did you mean to say eat an apple a day?
~J.W. Denver, Colorado
I remember that lecture and saying that. I really meant to say onions.
It’s true that apples are worth eating every day, but onions may have an edge over apples!
During my lecutre, I got off on a tangent about stomach cancer, and onions happen to lower risk for this type of cancer according to some interesting studies. Onions (and garlic) are loaded with several sulfur-based compounds which offer protection against tumor growth, specifically in the stomach and intestines. That’s why I made that comment.
Most people run from onions, due to the onion breath that results. It’s from the sulfur compound. But onions do so many things, they are truly bulbous beauties, LOL!
Onions help with respiration and can improve breathing so if asthma is an issue, think of onions.
They have strong anti-fungal and antibacterial properties too due to the sufur compounds.
That’s natural sulfur, which is completely different than sulfa-based drugs, which can spark allergies for some. Moreover, the sulfur compounds in this little pharmacological powerhouse might keep your blood nice and thin and halt the growth of dangerous pathogens including salmonella and E. Coli. Peel it and purify yourself!
Speaking of purifying yourself with sulfur, that’s EXACTLY what some hot springs will do! Did you realize that some people go to hot springs to heal all kinds of medical conditions?! Hot springs are legendary in stories of healing. Hot springs contain certain sulfur-based supplements that act like a hot spring (ie they provide sulfur to you via oral supplementation). If that sounds intriguing, please READ my article, Detox Your Body with Hot Springs in a Pill
BeforeI leave the subject of sulfur, I need to offer you the opportunity to read an article that could change your life. It’s about a sulfur-based compound in your body, that when in EXCESS, it can lead to not only heart attack, stroke and arrhythmias, but also depression, suicide and pain. It’s called homocysteine.
Popular drugs (like over-the-counter analgesics) actually raise homocysteine levels by ‘drug mugging’ folate (natural B9). Onions DO NOT raise homocysteine at all. Onions have nothing to do with your body’s production of homocysteine, a compound that is cooked inside the human ‘oven’ (your body). You can’t eat your way to high homocysteine, unelss you eat a lot of meat. (I realize I’m on another tangent, but it’s a worthy one!) Anyway, CLICK HERE to read my article, NSAID Raise Homocysteine and Impair Methylation.
In Georgia, where Vidalia onions are cultivated, the mortality rates from stomach cancer are about half the average for the United States. Also, the Chinese rank among the largest population of onion lovers, and guess what? Their risk of getting stomach cancer (at the time of this writing) is about 40 percent lower than it is for people who shy away from the bulbous beauties.
Onions are extremely rich in fructo-oligosaccharides -compounds which feed your friendly flora. Think bifidobacteria, a friendly gut flora bacteria thought to relieve inflammatory bowel conditions and boost immune function. In addition to breaking down certain cancer-causing compounds and reducing the body’s absorption of cholesterol, these particular friendly bacteria are anti-fungal and offset all the sugar you’re consuming.
For all of you ‘social types,’ onions provide relief from gas and flatulence. Obviously, they could give you bad breath, so pick your stink 😂 There’s a folk remedy that says chewing a raw onion for 2 or 3 minutes can annihilate the bacteria in your gums and mouth so maybe it’s something you should do before popping a Certs🤔
Onions are great for people with asthma, cough and colds or other breathing problems.
And that’s not all the humble onion has to offer. Rich in flavonoids, it helps heart disease.
People wonder if there’s a specific type of onion that provides such profound medicinal benefits, but honestly there’s not. You can choose what you like, and alternate them like I do. I put chives in this, and shallots in that… green onions in this and Vidalia in that!
So I’m good with any type of onion you like including shallots, leeks, scallions, chives, pearl, red, yellow, white, or Vidalia. Juice it, sauté it or eat it raw in salads—whatever you want! See, I’m not fussy. I want you to get well without using too many drugs. Let food be thy medicine as the saying goes!
One note when choosing onions… the stronger onions that impart the most pungent flavors and aromas are better for you because they have higher amounts of healing sulfur compounds. They’re also the compounds that make you run from the kitchen with tears in your eyes. The trick to that is to try not to inhale the aroma while chopping the onions. It’s breathing in the fumes that triggers the tears. If you can hold your breath, the risk for tearing up goes down. I’ve tried it and it works. Hey… 🤔maybe that’s why I sometimes CUT MYSELF on onions, there’s less blood flow going to my head, lol!
Suzy Cohen, has been a licensed pharmacist for over 30 years and believes the best approach to chronic illness is a combination of natural medicine and conventional. She founded her own dietary supplement company specializing in custom-formulas, some of which have patents. With a special focus on functional medicine, thyroid health and drug nutrient depletion, Suzy is the author of several related books including Thyroid Healthy, Drug Muggers, Diabetes Without Drugs, and a nationally syndicated column.
