Body odor


(Daisy) #1

Forgive me if this has been discussed, search only brought up one journal entry.

Is it normal with carnivore to have increased body odor? I’ve been carnivore for a couple weeks now and had vbs this week at my church. I was pretty active, but not terribly so. But I could smell myself each night, after putting a ton of deodorant/antiperspirant/perfume, and refreshing them every hour. And when I say I could smell myself, that’s bad enough, but I mean I have gone a week without showering and not smelled anywhere near as bad as I have each night after 3 hours (with refreshing deodorant on the hour) I’m legit gagging myself. My husband even commented how bad I smelled.


#2

That’s a good question, Daisy. I’m afraid I don’t know. Especially associated with carnivore. What kind of meats are you eating, just muscle meat or some organ meat too?

You know, I’ve read several people having trouble with “keto breath”, but it never affected me, so I’m not sure if it has something to do with hormones, genetics, etc.

I know none of that is very helpful, sorry.

I wonder if @amber is around, and could shed some light on this?


#3

@Ketodaisy what an opportunity for experimenting.

In the forum:

The question is do you smell? As in the sense of smell.

Or do you have an odour? As in body odour.

If, a diet change has put you more into strongly into ketosis, then the smell may be due to ketones, as already mentioned.

Not everyone can smell ketones. That ketone being acetone. Possibly you and your husband are genetically able to smell ketones?

The ketones can combine with other volatile biochemicals (like the aldehydes mentioned in the reference) to create a variety of odours.

Sweat is the substrate that creates the environment to combine odour causing chemicals on the skin.

You mentioned that this odour is different to non-showering body odour. That is part of the experiment completed. The cause is not related to the lack of showering. Showering removes sweat and some of the skin biome for a short period of time.

If not everyone can smell the odour you detect, then you can be confident the dietary change is probably related to an intensification of ketosis, which matches going carnivore. This makes the odour a biomarker of a change to improved health. As we know with ketosis, there is some adaptation time to find a new steady state. During the adaptation, as the ketones are excreted, that may be the time period of detectable odour production. The key being that it goes away.

Are you measuring your blood and or breath ketones in this carnivore change? There may be clues in those numbers, if you are.

The chemical sprays and perfumes you apply may react with the biochemicals on your skin, and over time result in odour creation? So a subtractive approach of not applying topical chemicals to managing the odour you detect, could be warranted as a test. If available, have a dip in the ocean.

The dietary fat changes may affect the sebaceous secretions of skin and hair glands (part of the keto glow/ healthy looking skin effect). But those secretions can affect the skin biome. It is a possibility that odour chemical creating skin flora may predominate for a short period of time as the body adapts to the diet change.

These are all suppositions.

If it really worries you, check with your low carb friendly physician. Don’t wear perfume to the consult. Ask her if she can smell the odour. It’s also an opportunity to get some tests done to check health biomarkers, genetic and hormone testing.


(Diane) #4

I read something on the internet that suggested that applying your deodorant at night allows it work more effectively. You might google this and see if you want to try it.

Also, several members were discussing which strong deodorants work best for them, you might try searching deodorant here in the forums to see which ones they thought were strongest.


(PSackmann) #5

We don’t think about it, but perfumes react to our individual body chemistry, changing subtly on each person. Perhaps carnivore has changed your biome to the point that your normal scents no longer smell good, instead creating a worse smell. Try experimenting with scents that are a bit spicier, less musk and floral, more lemon and rosemary type of scents. For me, those keep a fresher smell longer.


#6

I don’t use deodorant nor perfume. I use a Dr Haushchka body oil that contains rose essence, but I don’t put that under my arms.
I’ve been carnivore (except for raspberries occasionally) for awhile now and I have noticed I have some new body odour in my armpits…so I now take a bath at night, with sage and epsom salts, shower that off… and take a shower in the morning to wash under my arms.

I am only eating organics and I think it may make some difference but have no reference for that.

I don’t have a body odour except in my armpits.

I eat the minimum protein I can. I monitor with chronometer to ensure I am getting enough protein and eat mostly fish and chicken with 2x weekly beef organ meats…and I am obsessively careful about what I eat and the quality of it. I totally avoid all preservatives and chemical additives.

Ex vegetarian here!
Eating meat and keto for health.


#7

Can you (or someone close to you) describe the odor? If it has an acetone or sweetish smell I would suspect that you’re sweating out ketones. But if it has a more ammonia-like component to it, kind of like cat pee, you may be getting rid of excess nitrogen through your skin.

Can you give us an idea of how much protein you’re eating and your activity level, lean body mass?


(mole person) #8

I had a very short duration body odor change early in my fat adaptation for keto. It lasted about two weeks. I didn’t get it a second time when I switched to carnivore however. Are you eating way more protein?


(Marianne) #9

I notice I have more underarm b.o. than I ever did before. I used to be able to wear my shirts a couple of times, but now they need washing after every wear. Deodorant doesn’t seem to work very well. I wonder if it is body toxins being released, and will lessen over time.


(Daisy) #10

To me it smells like a back alley homeless person who hasn’t showered in 6 months.

Here are the previous 2 days. I don’t often track my food, and the one I just entered to the best of my recollection from yesterday.


(Daisy) #11

Thank you all for your replies. I’ve never tested blood or ketones and am too lazy/cheap to start now lol. I come from a pretty strong smelling family, so have been always very self conscious about it. I don’t start a conversation with someone without a piece of (sugar free) gum in my mouth and I always keep the strongest clinical strength deodorant/antiperspirant with me at all times.

Some background: I have been very lazy keto off and on for over a year, on for over 6 months. I’ll go a week or 2 of very strict, then a month or 2 of too lazy. I HATE measuring and tracking, but it’s the only thing that keeps me on track, so I’ll do it for a week, do awesome, lose a few pounds, then get tired of it and stop. Start gaining weight and get frustrated, so I stop getting on the scale, then gain a lot of weight. I almost never eat anything “non-keto”. I can count on one hand the times in the last 6 months (red lobster cheddar biscuits 2 weeks ago… a tiny spoon of pasta at a baby shower 3 weeks ago, some fruit at 2 birthday parties in the last 6 months and gluten free pizza about 4 or 5 months ago), but I have portion/moderation issues. Before Christmas, I lost my fat adaption on “keto friendly” desserts. So eliminated all sugar substitutes. After starting back at Christmas and getting re-adapted, I gained a lot of weight from overeating nut butters and unsweetened chocolate. Have grounded myself from those things lol. So then I tried just going strict keto and had no luck losing weight. So I decided on carnivore. Lost 5 lbs the first week by meticulous weighing/tracking. Then got bored and stopped. Gained 4 of those back over the first weekend (I did eat a few peanuts and a salad on Father’s Day when we went out), but just over ate in general and did too much snacking (pepperoni and cheese). Have had a super busy week with work and vbs, so haven’t tracked much, but have made a conscious effort to keep my portion sizes reasonable and cut out the pepperoni and cheese/all snacking in general. But that’s when I started noticing the odor, probably Tuesday. I’ve been wearing a costume all week for about an hour, so I do get hot, but not unusually so.

Most of what I’ve been eating is ground beef, eggs, butter and a small amount of chorizo. And salt. I had some Nathan’s hotdog wieners and my homemade hotdog chili (very clean ingredients) one night and a ribeye another, but the rest of the times it’s been a lot of eggs and hamburger.


(Marianne) #12

To me, it smells like strong “stress b.o,” which is the ammonia, cat-pee smelling type.

Why are we getting rid of excess nitrogen - where does that come from? Is it a body impurity?


#13

Excess nitrogen is from protein metabolism. The ammonia group is split off and disposed of through urine and sometimes sweat. If you are exceeding your nitrogen balance you will pee out more. How much protein is required for that balance is a highly individual level.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #14

Body odor is highly individual. There are some people who have a genetic variant that causes them to smell fishy, no matter what they do to try counteracting it. Be glad you’re not one of those folks.

It’s also possible that you might be more sensitive to odor than other people. Do you have a friend who would be willing to be brutally honest with you on this matter? Though of course the response might or might not be reassuring. . . . :grin:

Seriously, however, if you find that you are smelling of ammonia, cut back on the protein and increase your fat. The body can handle a fair amount of ammonia, but if the uric acid cycle is being overwhelmed, ammonia toxicity is just around the corner and that is not a good thing.


#15

Yes, I definitely smell stronger. Currently 2 weeks+ into carnivore after 4 years keto (and currently not tracking). I was one to not smell or have body odor even if I didn’t shower for 5 days or do weights for 1 hour etc. I used to only sweat when I was stressed or very anxious. NOW, I feel my armpits smelling …all the time. I wash and 2 hours later I feel myself stinky again :)) Even my husband is surprised as he knew I NEVER EVER SMELL. I hope it will go away after a while tho. As carnivore feels too good to give up.


(Marianne) #16

Same here. I have b.o. way more than I did, even when I am not stressed or doing anything strenuous. Oh well, people will just have to deal.

:laughing:


(Bunny) #17

The reason for the smell might be butyric acid (what body odor mostly is besides pheromones) from the saturated fat in the meat your eating!

May want to try switching out your sources proteins periodically and add more marine sources of protein like fish, caviar and roe, crustaceans, shell fish etc.

Maybe a nice sword fish steak?


#18

Hmmm, buyric acid would smell like vomit or sour milk, maybe.

We need an objective smell test to figure out which of possibilities is the most likely candidate.


(mole person) #19

Weird. I’ve always been virtually odorless. My hair will start to smell bad before any part of my body does and that takes about five days. Even sweat from working out or frequent hot flashes doesn’t lead to odor.

But keto seriously messed with my breath and even after two years it was still a real problem for me. Carnivore fixed it and I can’t even imagine why since I’m still in ketosis.

I wonder if the lack of additional body odor, though, is due to my efforts to keep my protein near my keto macros?


#20

Yep, same for me. I’ve transformed into a smelly meat-eating savage. Ha ha…Oh well…:rofl::crazy_face: