Thanks to the diet I’ve been forced to adopt, I’m eating more salads these days.

I like those raw red onion rings on my salad and I get the ones from the salad across the table. If ever I get to eat a hamburger again, I’m going to have it with onions.

Now it would stand to reason that nobody wants to be around me after a salad or burger.

I’ve always heard that eating peanut butter will mask onion breath. But to be sure I’ve Googled the experts and sure enough, it’s true. Now you have to decide if peanut butter breath is better than onion breath or a combination of the two.

And that’s not the only common myth I was able to explore.

For instance, does a box of soda deodorize the fridge? Yes it does. The natural chemicals in baking soda act to neutralize unpleasant odors but only up to a point. Experimenters put an open jar of chopped garlic in the fridge with a box of soda. After two days, they could still smell a faint odor of garlic but most of it was gone. That’s good news in our house because there’s usually a box of soda in the fridge.

Hot water freezes quicker than cold water. A repairman we had to fix an ice maker actually had us convinced that this was the case but when I repeated that notion to my brother-in-law who is a physics teacher, he got a good chuckle. He said use your common sense. The hot water would have to cool down before it freezes. The cold water is already half way there.

An extra potato will desalt soup. Nope say food researchers. If you oversalt your veggie soup another potato won’t make a difference. Diluting the soup with water is the only way to affect the salt content, but remember, it will also dilute any other seasonings.

Use tomato juice to deskunk your dog. I can speak from experience on this one. It does work. My children’s beloved wirehaired terrier Beegee tangled with “Pepe Lepew” but it took two big cans of juice to deodorize him and his white hair was pink for about a week.

Talking to plants help them grow. Plant experts say this is true. When you breathe on your plants, you expel carbon monoxide, which is what plants need to grow. It would seem to me that you would have to have some long conversations with your fern to have much effect.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Yes, but only if you fear cancer or a heart attack. Diets high in fiber and antioxidants are especially help in preventing these two maladies.

Somebody scaring you can stop hiccups. What about eating peanut butter or holding your breath? All three can work because they make you stop breathing momentarily.

Counting sheep can help you get to sleep. Yes, but you don’t have to actually visualize the little wooly boogers jump a fence. Researchers have found that the mind is racing when you have trouble falling asleep. If you can concentrate on a single subject, like what you would do if you won $10 million in the lottery, it would have the same effect.

Refilling an empty water bottle can make you sick. Only if you don’t refill it immediately and use the contents within a couple of days. Otherwise, bacteria can grow over time and can actually make you sick. And besides, those bottlers wouldn’t be happy to know you’re putting tap water in their special bottles.

Those are just a few of the household myths I was able to find on the net. I hope you feel adequately educated now.