One of my biggest regrets in life is not attending a pickle festival that I was invited to back when I lived in New York. Right up there with the time that I overslept in 2006 and missed out on meeting Cameron Maybin at Marlins fan fest. That’s because I love pickles. Obsessed with them really.
So, you can rest assured that I was super excited when I found out that the cure for my anxiety lies in…eating more pickles!!!
According to National Today:
“Pickles are high in probiotics, an important component of digestive health. This has a strong link to social anxiety and neurosis, according to a 2019 study published in ‘Psychiatry Research.’
The research, conducted by scientists from the College of William and Mary and University of Maryland, tasked 710 college students with self-reporting on how many fermented foods they consumed and any symptoms of social phobia, neuroticism, or anxiety they experienced afterwards.
They found strong evidence there was a negative correlation between social anxiety experienced and fermented foods consumed — essentially, eat more pickles, feel more at ease. Subjects who especially struggled with neuroticism reported decreases in fear of social situations and shyness after upping their fermented food consumption.”
I used to think that eating too many pickles was a bad thing. That if you did so you might start to develop warts on your face and turn into a pickle yourself. Just like Pickle Rick. But I may have to take that chance if eating pickles will cure my anxiety.
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