4 Healthy Foods That Do Weird Things to Your Body
Many methods to improve your health are pretty straightforward: to lose weight, eat less and exercise more; to boost your energy, get more sleep; to prevent dehydration, drink more water. But have you ever wondered why consuming certain healthy foods cause your body to react in sometimes funky ways?
Just as what you eat can impact how you look at feel, they can also result in some strange side effects. Read on to uncover some of the strange ways food affects your body:
Garlic Wards Off Vampires, Improves Body Odor
Halloween may be over, but warding off vampires is a round-the-year investment. Everyone knows garlic helps ward off vampires, but do you know why? It’s because garlic has the power to impact your body odor. In a 2016 study, researchers found that eating garlic might actually help men improve their scent. In the study, women rated the body odor of men who had eaten four cloves of raw garlic as smelling more pleasant and attractive than those who didn’t.
Turns out, garlic has antibacterial properties, which may help kill odor-causing bacteria on the surface of skin.
Beans, beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat them, the more you…
Jack and his beanstalk may tell you otherwise, but beans are not magical (at least not in *that* way) and they are most certainly not a fruit. However, as for the musical part? Well…there may actually be some truth to the schoolyard nursery rhyme.
Beans, a part of the legume family, are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein, making them a nutritional dynamo. If you’re not used to eating a lot of fiber, upping your intake of beans can intensify this gassy effect – hence the rhyme. This is because of the way your body digests fiber.
If you’re switching to a high-fiber diet, ease into it slowly.
Looking for delicious bean recipes? Try this Traditional Hummus or Baked Falafel recipe as a creative way to enjoy chickpeas.
Getting Spicy Before Bed Disrupts Your Sleep
Hot chilies have been rumored to spice up your sex life and have aphrodisiac-boosting properties, but before you decide to Netflix and chili, know that a study found that male subjects experienced poorer sleep after consuming hot sauce with dinner. Scientists believe that capsaicin, the colorless, odorless oil that gives peppers their heat, affect sleep by increasing body temperature during the first sleep cycle, causing a restless sleep.
Not afraid of the heat? Learn how to properly slice and dice chili peppers, and how to best cook with them here.
Asparagus Might Make Your Pee Smelly
You’ve probably heard that eating asparagus can give your urine a pungent smell. That strong odor is a result of a chemical called asparagusic acid, which is broken down into a sulfur-related chemical when released from the body and emits that sometimes, unpleasant, smell.
But before you go boycotting asparagus from your diet, know that not everyone suffers from this bizarre side effect. A 2010 study found that this odor is only prevalent in 20% of the population.
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Have more questions about the funky side effects to eating healthy foods? E-mail us at flikblog@compass-usa.com.