How to Not Have a Garlic Smell After You Eat It

You can minimize the odor of garlic by roasting it before eating.

The bulb of the garlic plant is used to season many dishes. It can be used in tomato sauces, beans, pickled foods, soups and salads. Once garlic is digested, it releases volatile oils into the bloodstream and sweat glands. The sulfur compounds are circulated through the lungs and the sweat glands, released later through the mouth and skin. If garlic gets trapped between the teeth and gums, bacteria will break down the food particles and cause bad breath. Depending on how much garlic is ingested, the odor may be released over several hours or several days. But there are ways to avoid the odor that often follows the consuming of garlic.

Things You'll Need

• Fresh parsley
• Stainless steel soap bar
• Soap containing camphor, menthol and eucalyptus
• 8 oz. milk or 6 oz. yogurt
• Apples, oranges, lemons, or melons
• Lemon juice

Instructions

1. 

   Grow your own parsley for an everlasting supply.

   Chew two sprigs of fresh parsley after your meal to neutralize the odor of garlic. This works immediately, but it is a temporary method. Also, use fresh parsley in one of the dishes you serve with the meal. You can take chlorophyll tablets after a meal with garlic. The chlorophyll helps neutralize the volatile oils in garlic.

2. 

   Use any part of a stainless sink or faucet to neutralize the odor of garlic.

   Wash your hands with soap and water, then rub your hands over a stainless steel bar of soap. The steel neutralizes the odor of the garlic on your hands after preparing it for a meal. In place of the steel soap, you can rub your hands on a stainless steel faucet.

3. 

   A steam bath will allow you to release garlic odor through sweating.

   Take a sauna or steam bath to promote sweating for 15 or 20 minutes. After sweating, bathe with a soap containing camphor, menthol and eucalyptus.

4. 

   Milk and yogurt are good sources of vitamin D.

   Drink an 8 oz. glass of milk with your meal or eat 6 oz. of yogurt after the meal. The live cultures in yogurt will prevent the bacteria from remaining in your mouth. Milk inhibits the growth of bacteria.

5. 

   Lemon juice neutralizes the pungent odor of garlic.

   Wash your hands with fresh-squeezed lemon juice to neutralize the sulfur odor of garlic picked up while cooking.

6. 

   Apples should be fresh-picked when used to prevent odor from garlic.

   Eat an apple, orange, lemon or slice of melon after eating a meal with garlic. The citric acid will keep the mouth moist with saliva, preventing the growth of bacteria that causes bad breath.

Tips & Warnings

• Fresh-pressed garlic juice or garlic cloves will release sulfur compounds that take longer for the body to release completely, sometimes up to three days.

References

• Health911: Body Odor
• The Art of the Home: How do I Remove Garlic Odor from my Hands?
• Start Cooking: Garlic Breath and hands
• Food Network: Garlic