Eat fresh, smell fresh

It's the end of the summer and the humidity is high. It's like sitting in a sauna. At this time of the year, everyone's body door is high. Often, it is not only high temperatures and humidity that make us sweat. There are several other reasons why people sweat. Stress, anxiety, exercise, anger, age, fever as well as overall health and weight can all trigger a sweat response. Some people simply generate more sweat than other people on any given day.

I have noticed that the smell of someone's sweat gives off more than just an odour. It also conveys a person's health status and immune fitness. How you smell can tell the story of your health.

There has been a lot of discussion on the causes of body odour – good or bad. It's a fact that our body odour is largely determined by genetics, overall health and personal hygiene. Often, body odour is caused by the presence of bacteria on our skin metabolising the proteins and sugars in our sweat. Though the foods we choose to eat can also determine the odour.

There are probably not many, who intentionally go around smelling like last week's workout t-shirt. Sweating is a natural and beneficial bodily response on many levels, and blocking it via antiperspirants, deodorants or powders is not a solution. You need to permanently improve your body odour.

Some of the foods and beverages that negatively alter your body odour are:

Alcohol: Your body sends alcohol through your bloodstream before it leaves your system, which means the alcohol seeps out through your pores and sweat glands, creating a pungent odour.

Red meats: Red meat is also on the list of smell-inducing, sulphur-rich foods. It is hard for the body to digest properly because it is so fatty. As a result, it leaves behind a residue in the digestive tract. This mingles with bacteria in the digestive tract, which produces fatty acids that are then released out of the body through the form of pungent-smelling sweat or gas.

Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and the rest of the cruciferous vegetable family can be odour offenders on two fronts. First off, these veggies contain sulphur, a stinky compound that smells like rotten eggs. Eating them "may increase the availability of sulphur to skin bacteria, allowing them to make more sulphur-containing compounds," meaning you may start producing that rotten smell.

The best remedy to prevent body odour is to eat fresh foods, add foods that can make your sweat odourless and to decrease the amount of foods and drinks that cause them in the first place.

Chlorophyll: It is associated with neutralising body odours and is present in dark green vegetables like spinach. It is easily available in India and can be incorporated into our food regularly.

Fibre-rich foods: They aid in the digestion and elimination of the food that you eat. In the process, any smelly compounds in your food are eliminated faster. Thus, there is no chance of it exiting through sweat.

Citrus fruits: The common lemon is a great citrus fruit. Just squeeze it on your food, have lemon juice with salt and roasted cumin seeds. Citrus fruits contain acids that aid water to pass through the body, automatically minimising toxins that come out through sweat.

Deodorise: Add herbal teas, especially mint tea. The fragrance will not only help your bad breath, but it'll also regulate your digestion and clear the air of embarrassing odours from gas.