Outfit decided. Check. Venue picked. Check. Date decided. Check. But have you figured out the food you need to eat (and avoid) before the date and on the day? Bet you haven’t! Below is a primer.
Before the date
Smelly foods
Avoid eating raw onion, garlic and radish. For obvious (smelly) reasons. It’s a no brainer that bad breath can end a date just as it begins. It could also be something you ate or drank (garlic, radish, onions, coffee, canned fish) in the past 24-48 hour or a lingering effect of cigarettes. So beware. Have instead To be safe eat plenty of fruit. Pineapple is especially good, because it contains an enzyme that helps to clean the mouth and avoid bad breath.
Also, bad breath can even result from not eating. When no food is available, the body starts breaking down fat. Waste products from fat breakdown, called ketones, are expelled in the breath, and smell like stale apples.
Cigarettes and alcohol
Smoking reduces the flow of saliva, which makes its smell linger even longer. So beware. Too much alcohol will surface as a smelly breath as it can cause less saliva production which could make your mouths the perfect habitat for bad bacteria to thrive (and very smelly).
Strong flavour foods
Very often body odour could be due to reasons other than bad hygiene and that’s a bit turn off. Eating foods like cumin, curry, garlic, fish, onion, and dairy can also cause body secretions to smell. So keep them in check. Other culprits such as too much sugar, or a very high-fat/low-fibre diet or even some antibiotics and medication can upset the balance of friendly flora in the intestines. That, in turn can impairs the digestive process and lead to body odour. Keep all this in mind from a few days before the big date.
Cauliflower and beans
These are common flatulence causing foods which lead to the formation of gas bubbles (pockets of air) that move through the stomach, causing pain and discomfort, and eventually released at just the wrong time, causing extreme embarrassment. You would not want to sit too long with a person who is farting right! Same goes for your date, so consciously being flatulence free is a good step. So if you are worried about flatulence, cut back on these foods in your diet on the date day (maybe a couple of days before that too).
Also, stop gulping your meals so quickly. In fact for most people just chewing your food more slowly can help break your wind habit than remedies. Bad-smelling wind can even be caused by spicy food and fermented drinks such as beer or smoking and chewing gum can also cause excess gas, so cut these out too.
Foods you are sensitive to
Avoid any food that you are sensitive to or allergic to (for example wheat if you have gluten allergy or dairy if you have lactose intolerance). You wouldn’t want any rashes, or weird stomach issues on the date day
Messy foods
It is best to avoid messy foods like say soupy dumplings or an over cheese humongous leafy sandwich (difficult to bite into). Any food that is difficult to eat or right make you slurp (and look funny) is a big no no, as wouldn’t you rather focus on the day rather than the the food in front of you.
New foods
A date is not a time to experiment and try a new for you food. Leave experimentation for later dates, or better still for other occasions.
For example, trying out foods that may get stuck in our teeth (and look bad) for example leafy vegetables and little florets and seeds of broccoli etc.
Spicy food
You wouldn’t want your date to see you uncomfortable with your lips burning, perspiring insanely and getting restless, would you! Opt for mildly flavoured dishes.
Too many cups of coffee
Coffee might smell nice to you but its compelling smell can linger in your mouth which could be not so pleasant to the person you are on a date with.
Sodas
Yes this is an underage culprit but can be deadly for your date. Sipping an aerated drink through a straw can cause flatulence, and besides
making you burp (embarrassing) they could also also bloat you like crazy, and a distended belly is not something you want right. Stick to nimbu pani, will help improve the acid alkali balance of your gut too).
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