Garlic and onions are tamasic and rajasic foods, which means they are caustic in nature, leading to an increase in bile and fire in the body. Traditional Indian medicine advises avoiding the consumption of onions and garlic, which cause aggression, ignorance, anger, over-stimulation of the senses, along with lethargy, restlessness or increased sexual desire. In Ayurveda, these two vegetables are considered not as food, but as medicine. Thus, their addition to the daily diet is excluded. It is also worth noting that they are very undesirable for people of Pitta constitution and for those who have this dosha in imbalance. Buddhist and Taoist meditation practitioners also eschewed garlic and onions to a greater extent because of their ability to stimulate feelings of passion and lust. A private study by Stanford University found that garlic is a poison that crosses the blood-brain barrier. There is a desynchronization of brain waves, which leads to a significant reduction in reaction time. An interesting fact: according to the memoirs of an engineer, pilots were asked not to eat garlic at least 72 hours before departure. Devout Hindus often avoid onions and garlic as unsuitable food offerings to Lord Krishna. In the Garuda Purana, the sacred text of Hinduism, there are the following lines: (Garuda Purana 1.96.72) Which translates as:
Chandrayana is a special kind of penance among the Hindus, which consisted in a gradual decrease in the food taken by the penitent by one sip daily, in connection with the waning of the month. The amount of food taken gradually increases as the month lengthens. Aphrodisiac properties have been attributed to onions since prehistoric times. It is mentioned in many classical Hindu texts on the art of making love. Onions were widely used as an aphrodisiac in ancient Greece, as well as Arabic and Roman recipes. In the Bhagavad Gita (17.9) Krishna states: