August 28, 2007
Thoughts on Body Odor and Dairy Products
I think I’m genetically predisposed to suffer from some serious body odor (B.O.). One thing I do to keep the stink down is watch what I eat. Garlic and onions obviously kick things up a notch, but the number one culprit I’ve found is dairy products: milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and butter all contribute to taking me to B.B.O. (Beyond Body Odor — an old Seinfeld joke), so I studiously avoid eating them.
I used to play poker with a guy in Atlantic City who was 57 years old but he looked 27 (I swear it). When I asked him the secret of his youthful good looks, he said NEVER EAT DAIRY. (He was also extremely fit.)
I’m interested in my readers thoughts on how to limit B.O. through diet, what are the best and worst foods to eat, and confirmations that dairy products are best avoided if you want to smell pretty. Do you stink? Please share!
August 28th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I am a vegan. Since becoming a vegan my B.O. has decreased significantly.I never use nor do I need to use deodorant. So if you really want to get rid of the B.O. get rid of the animal products all together!
August 28th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Maybe you could do some food intolerance testing like this
It’s not the same for all of us what our body’s need, what is good and what is bad.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Yeah I agree with Duane, eating less meat (not sure about dairy?) will help. I was vegetarian for 4 years and they were the most fragrant of my life, I also didn’t sweat as much. Eating several vegetarian meals a week maybe a good start.
In Buddhism eating the five pungent spices, namely (onions, garlic, leeks, scallions, and shallots) also are known to create body odour too.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
While I was vegetarian however I ate alot of eggs/cheese and drank alot of milk, I was doing one litre a day back then. Fresh Australian milk is the best :) Chinese milk is nothing in comparison :(
August 28th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
About 2 months ago I went to the doc complaining about smelly feet. To my surprise he ran food allergy bloodwork tests and showed my digestive rejection of dairy. In 2 months since going off dairy, I have lost 18 lbs and shaken my foot funk. My only regret is that I live in Chicago and I can’t eat deep dish.
August 28th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
I’ll die before giving up the half-and-half in my coffee!
On another note, a Japanese friend told me that his countrymen think Americans and Europeans smell and that they attribute it to too much red meat in our diet. “Food” for thought.
August 28th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I don’t have this problem but I do have to use a good deo every day and often shower twice a day. Asian chicks are extremely sensitive to smell, especially Thai.
On the dairy - I don’t eat much of that since I moved to Asia simply because I enjoy the local diet. The few times I do eat cheese my gf would let me know what she thinks about it by making extreme faces of disgust lol.
Do you have an issue with sweating? Try also to limit the beer / alcohol consumption AND digestions to places where the ambient temperature is below 20c :-)
August 28th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Arachidonic acid that enters your system when you eat animals or dairy products (meat also rots in your intestines for months), and glycation that you get from a high carbohydrate / high glycemic load diet are the main culprits for micro inflammations and subsequent body odour and premature aging.
Best diet for an attractive fragrance and creating a big difference between your real versus your biological age: few and then only low glycemic load carbohydrates, lots of fruits and vegetables, omega 3 acids from fish or nuts or linseed oil, ample proteins from fish or tofu, and, to clean the system out, at least 3 litres of water a day.
I remember reading somewhere that during the Vietnam war the Vietcong allegedly had an advantage over the Americans in the jungle because they could literally smell their opponents body odour, due to the Americans red meat centered diet.
August 29th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Destined to be the most-commented post of the month.
I am a hairy, profuse sweater and therefore regularly ask people (women) whether I smell. They fortunately answer in the negative.
But I have developed digestion trouble with dairy (cow milk, cheese, but not including eggs). By digestion trouble I mean persistent, aggressive flatulence. I avoid cheese now, but can handle an occasional mozzarella ball. No more cow’s milk: try rice milk, Chairman!
I enjoyed MarkusP’s comments. If I understand the comments thus far, red meat smells good when prepared, but not when processed by the body. Conversely, fish smells not so good (save for the freshest raw fish) when prepared, but not so bad when processed by the body?
I love the Vietcong anecdote, paraphrased: “red meat on the beach = dead meat in the jungle”. For now, I’m just happy that despite a greasy, hairy complexion, I don’t have skin smell problems, or so I’m told.
August 29th, 2007 at 12:13 am
A question for readers who are Asian, or residents of Asia, or who are otherwise students of the Eastern Continent:
what about tea (black, red, green, white, herbal, etc.), how does it contribute to or detract from body smell efflux?
August 29th, 2007 at 12:32 am
Steve, almost everyone in my office (in Singapore) drinks several cups/mugs/bottles of freshly brewed green tea (the Japanese variety incidentally). I drink a few cups a week. Never noticed any effect from it, can’t comment on the other types of tea.
August 29th, 2007 at 12:40 am
Duane, I hope you’re relying on other people’s opinions as to whether or not you need deodorants, not just your own sense of smell (which quickly become immune to one’s own scent). I’ve known many hippie-leaning vegans who claim not need any deodorants, all the while my own nose was crying out that they stunk like all get out.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:06 am
I think MarkusP made great points. I have been eating mostly macrobiotic for over 15 years. It takes some time to understand/organize for this diet but the benefits are great.
You might do a cleanse, check out this site:
http://www.startthehealing.com/colon_cleanse.html
I have a friend doing this now and it is going well for her.
I feel that, most of the time, when you eat food out you pay a lot of money for low quality food. You could change your diet at home and then eat lighter when you eat out.
The macrobiotic diet is lots of whole grains, fresh steamed/quick boiled veggies, fish, beans (I have a method for the beans that gets rid of the gas)etc. Olive oil is good as is flax meal.
One comment on milk: if you can get raw milk, straight from the cow, this is much better than the store bought type: http://www.realmilk.com/
Goat milk is even better (raw of course) but hard to get.
If you do a cleanse, your smell issue should go away quickly. A longer term solution (and much better for your health) is to change your diet.
One other thing that I have found for health is to do yoga style breathing exercises:
http://www.healingyoga.org/
It only takes a little time and the results are fantastic.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:42 am
Meat or other things rottening in your colon is a myth. Ask any (real) doctor who has actually looked at a colon, or intestines. They are all pink and clean, no matter how bad your diet is. There is no need to clean a colon.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:57 am
Thank you TraderD. It perplexes me that any conscious being could think food is rotting inside of their DIGESTIVE system.
If food is rotting inside of you, then you are probably dead, and also rotting.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:48 am
great recent product for steaming foods in microwave
August 29th, 2007 at 7:52 am
easy - just cut down on the pork rinds
August 29th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Here’s Jack’s take on it
“Jack LaLanne: I use no milk of any kind. Anything that comes from a cow I don’t eat.”
August 29th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Thanks to all for your comments and sharing of insight, especially the vegans/vegetarians.
@FX & Ryan: I’ll look into getting a food intolerance/allergy test.
@eyal: I’m a heavy sweater, especially when nervous, but it’s “clean sweat” if I’m careful about my diet.
@MarkusP: In addition to the Vietcong story, the one that sticks with me is how Chiang Kai-shek would insist on all windows being open whenever meeting indoors with his American advisors because he couldn’t stand their stink.
@Steve A.: I drink at least four cups of green tea a day and sometimes as many as eight … I don’t know what the health benefits are but I like the taste.
@Eric & TraderD & Dan: I one time asked a relative who’s an MD about colon cleansing and she said it’s not necessary and recommended I avoid doing it (so I’ve never done it) — she’s in the “they’re all pink and clean” camp.
@pete: I never eat fried vegetables — they’re usually steamed (wok and steamer) or par-boiled.
@Ugly: I haven’t had pork rinds or buttered popcorn in months (and no, your package still hasn’t arrived).
@Linda: I’m with Jack!
August 29th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
I’m really neutral on whether meat rots in your intestines for nmonths or not, all I know is that my daily cleaning of the, uh, plumbing, has experienced great improvements in quality since I switched to a meat free diet several years ago.
“The average American & European colon today carries within it over 5 pounds of putrid, half digested red meat…plus ….another 5-10 pounds of foul toxic waste impacted for years in the folds of the colon with mucus.”
http://www.constipationfree.com/clogged_colon.html
“”…bacteria and viruses, which are cell scavengers, are not there for lack of something better to do. They’re there because there is malnourished, enzyme-depleted, diseased, and necrotic tissue. Functioning as nature’s biological sanitation department, they must break down and eliminate the sick tissue to prevent further poisoning of the body. If you stop their action, you allow continuous poisoning by the decaying tissue…”
- Empty Harvest p 113
Jensen makes a point here that should not be missed. He’s talking about rotting food in the colon as well as diseased living cells of the colon itself, both attracting bacteria. It’s an identical situation in the two separate instances:
“Undigested food in the colon”
“Bacterial infection in a diseased organ of the body (the colon)”
http://www.naturalhealthway.com/articles/coloncleanse/coloncleanse.html
Great comments, all.
Cheers
August 29th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
“Board certified as a gastroenterologist since 1972, Robert Charm, MD, of Walnut Creek, California, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, combines conventional allopathic medicine with CAM in his practice.
“Frequently while performing colonoscopy, I see that the patient is cleaned out from above but below the diverticular still contain fecaliths, those small turds remaining in pockets formed on the gut mucosa. They indicate the presence of an unhealthy colon, and over 50% of Americans possess diverticulosis colae. When inflamed, gastroenterologists called them diverticulitis colae, which can be serious by creating fistulas. Some people then will evacuate through their bladders,” Dr. Charm says. “With patients for whom I perform colonoscopy, about one third of them over the age of fifty who are otherwise cleaned above, still show residual stools sitting in these gut mucosa pockets. Some have held onto the stool pockets for decades. A toxic dumpsite like this is dangerous for them by the elevated concentration of poisons stored in the dumpsite. Cancer can develop!”
http://www.tldp.com/issue/11_00/mjr.htm
August 29th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
This dialogue shows there is nothing to do in this market, afraid to buy, afraid to short and get carried out on the opening, so we talk of breath and colonoscopy;when the market is hot, very little of this?
August 29th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
I have two ultrasound patents, and spent many years in different medical imaging modalities. I’ve seen just about everything, though I am not qualified to read images. One could use common sense on “5 lbs of stuff” in one’s colon. If such existed, there would have to be many medical images showing this condition. URL’s?
August 29th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Re: “they’re all pink and clean” camp.
The site I posted is put together by a “real doctor”. I think the post by MarkuP re: Robert Charm MD is telling. A simple test of health is how many bowl movements you have per day. One should have one for every meal eaten the previous day. If not, there is probably a digestive problem.
The markets will always be here but if you lose your health what is the point?
August 29th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
TraderD:
Links for you:
Here’s an image:
it’s from this page:
this is the relevent text:
Colonoscopy Cannot Detect All Digestive Diseases:
Colonoscopy is a screening test that medical doctors normally use for their patients over fifty years of age to check for colon cancer. However, many people are under the wrong impression that a colonoscopy can detect all colon problems. This is false. First, when medical doctors examine the colon with a colon scope, they can only see the large intestines, not the small intestines or the stomach. Therefore, they may miss Crohn’s disease (which sometimes appears only in the small intestines). Secondly, diverticula are very tiny pockets that may have a stem that is so small, the opening to it commonly falsely appears to be a fleck of fecal material. A diverticulum may vary in diameter from 3 mm to > 3 cm, and most are multiple. Diverticulosis causes no symptoms, and it cannot be detected by colonoscopy. It is usually discovered when doing diagnostic tests for other health problems. Diagnosis of diverticulosis requires a barium enema test. A sigmoidoscopy is also sometimes done, which checks only the last portion of the colon - the sigmoid colon. The second most common location for colon cancer is in the ascending colon. Problems with the ascending colon cannot be detected with a sigmoidoscopy.
Chronic constipation is very common, and I have seen diverticulosis not just in the elderly but in people as young as 16 as evidenced by X-rays of their intestines (barium enema studies). In North America, 50% of people over the age of 50 have some diverticulosis of the colon and almost everyone over age 80, have diverticulosis. The Merck Manual adds that essentially everyone over the age of 90 has diverticulosis. If left as is, chronic constipation eventually leads to diverticulosis, colon polyps, and colon cancer. Having ulcerative colitis for years also commonly ends in colon cancer. According to the latest U.S. statistics, colon cancer is the most frequent type of cancer.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Eric, a that’s a thumbnail. A diagnostic image will be around 2048 x 2048, depending on modality. I’m not disputing colon polyps, but the idea of large amounts of material existing beyond a bowel movement that defies FIFO.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:38 am
TD,
Yes I agree that it’s a small image. Sorry I don’t have more detail. Maybe you have contacts that could get you a barium image?
It would be interesting to have more confirmation on this.
In my mind the main topic is symptomatic care vs preventative care/habits/outlook. My experience is that preventative care works and I’ve been in this mode for over 15 years.
I’ve enjoyed this conversation and I hope everyone stays healthy whatever method they choose.
E
August 30th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Try to cut red meat intake. Eat lots of mints. One way to do it, buy Ricola Mountain Herbs sugar free. Cut on refined sugar. Use natural sweetener instead, i.e., raw honey, agave nectar, or stevia. Exercise! Drink lots of water. I drink about 10 cups of clear water (on average) throughout the day. Include fiber in your diet. Oat bran, oat meal, nuts, fruits, and veggies are great sources of fiber.
August 30th, 2007 at 8:07 am
@JackS: There’s no one so tiresome as the person who has a one-track mind — a market addict. I hope the posts on this blog are varied and interesting no matter what the market is doing.
@Sugi: Ricola mints? I’ll try that. I already do all the other things (little refined sugar, exercise, lots of water, lots of fiber, etc.) Where do you come down on dairy products, Sugi?
August 30th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Sugi: Bad news on the Ricola mints front… there are no sugar-free ones in China except for the “Fresh Pearl” gummi-type drops which are sugar free but sweetened with the dreaded aspartame (terrible, deadly stuff) and acesulfame-K. I’m perfectly happy to eat the original Ricola mints all day but that’s a lot of sugar (and glucose syrup) — empty calories I’d just as soon avoid.
August 30th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
TraderD, an idea might be to contact some of the doctors and medical professors from the link I provided above:
http://www.tldp.com/issue/11_00/mjr.htm
Btw, just found this which seems somewhat relevant in this context, why is it that bad habbits always spread like brushfire, while their positive counterparts tend be avoided like the plague:
“Due to global economic changes in Asia, people there have overcome widespread lactose intolerance and taken a liking to milk; a novelty in their diet and a product for which they have no industry. China alone shows a 25% year-on-year increase of its consumption of diary products.
…
Don’t tell me it will be all fine, that they can have our milk and die younger of our diseases, while we drink green tea with rice cakes and live to a hundred. I don’t want a dull, pleasureless, butter-free life; I want to live it to the full-fat.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2158470,00.html
August 31st, 2007 at 12:20 am
Chairman, I’ve had trouble with aspartame, too. Haven’t touched it (save accidentally) for a good 10 years. What is the word on sucralose? I’ve been avoiding it; intend to let others test it for me.
MarkusP, that’s a fun story. I’m having odor anxiety thinking about how Chinese chefs will smell on their way home from work (using public transit) after a day in the greasy, oily kitchen drinking French milk. ;-)
August 31st, 2007 at 6:48 am
I didn’t know aspartame was bad. Yikes! I’ll stop taking Ricola then. Thanks for the comment.
As for dairy products, I have no idea if they could be singled out as the root of B.O. Personally I don’t drink cow milk. I do drink soy milk every day. I don’t eat cheese even though I do eat pizza from time to time. Last time I checked, I don’t think my mother-in-law has B.O. even tho she drinks milk every morning.
Another suggestion, use shampoo and soap that have no chemicals, i.e., olive oil shampoo by Heritage Products, and Dr. Bronner’s soaps. I also use hair care products that have no chemicals … don’t remember the brand on top of my head; but I can let you know if you’re interested.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:01 am
Here’s how to reduce odor and enhance health
August 31st, 2007 at 11:23 am
@Steve Austin: I think all the artificial sweeteners are bad, and I know I have an especially severe reaction to aspartame (I always spit it out when I taste it).
@Sugi: Thanks for the article; it led me to a number of interesting, related pieces. I appreciate your product suggestions, but like any normal red-blooded guy I just use whatever is sitting in the shower at home and in the gym. ;-)
August 31st, 2007 at 12:45 pm
What’s the record for most comments on a post? Let’s try and break it.. :-)
CM, did you do some research on Aspartame or just from personal experience / reaction to it? I drink quite a bit of that since I really like (read: possibly addicted to) diet coke. Not surprisingly there’s tons of contradicting ‘research’ on the web on this. This was an interesting one:
http://www.aboutaspartame.com/flash/aspartame_preloader_final.html
August 31st, 2007 at 2:51 pm
eyal: All of my health-related posts seem to draw huge numbers of comments … I haven’t read any research on aspartame but anything that makes a big tough ugly guy like me retch can’t be good.
“AboutAspartame.com is a service provided to health care professionals and the general public by Ajinomoto Food Ingredients LLC, a producer of aspartame”
Why does the producer have such a slick site “for consumers”?
August 31st, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Nice one, Steve ;-)
Eyal, my drink (during the day when sobriety is indicated, at least) is a shot of 100% blueberry juice filled up with water, or 100% apple juice with soda when it’s hot, makes your drink a bit more tasty than just water, and it’s pretty healthy, too, blueberry juice for example appears to offer quite a few of the health benefits of red wine, if one doesn’t overdose because of the natural fruit sugar content.
Sugi, great link.
Have a nice weekend, all.
Cheers
September 19th, 2007 at 10:58 am
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