Listen Up, Boys: Salads Make You Smell Better to Women

Michelle No Smelling Food
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

Before any big date I like to aggressively chew eight cloves of garlic and refrain from showering for a few days. Because frankly, if you don't accept me at my smelliest, you don't deserve me at my... um, not smelliest.

But if you are the kind of guy who suffers from olfactory anxiety when it comes to the opposite sex, you might want to clean up your diet. According to a new study published this month in Evolution and Human Behavior (which you've obviously read cover-to-cover by now), dudes who ate balanced diets full of fruits and vegetables, with moderate amounts of fats and proteins, ended up smelling better than their carb-loading counterparts -- according to the lab women who were sniffin' them. 

If you are wondering why this study is focused on attractiveness to females -- and not just the overall misfortune of being smelly -- consider that smell has proven to be a highly significant factor with women choosing potential mates. And if this is seeming a little heteronormative -- first off, good on you for noticing! -- the study is specifically geared toward tracking factors that influence reproduction. Something that can obviously only happen between a man and a woman (for now).

So in the end, swapping out your pizza for a Caprese salad once in a while will not only keep you svelte, it will keep you smelling good. And you know what they say: the way to a woman's heart/bedroom is always straight through her nose.

They say that, right? 

They don't?

Well, they should. 

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Wil Fulton is a staff writer for Thrillist. He actually is smell-blind. Follow him @wilfulton.