Goodbye for now.

I'm going to be away starting today for the rest of the week, but I'm not going to blog for a while, because I'm not making enough progress right now for it to be encouraging to anyone else. I think I started my blog too soon. When things are more consistently positive, I'll get back to it.

I think I have a lot further to go to get well. This whole candida thing is not something I thought I had to deal with, and I have to get a handle on it before I can do anything else.

To anyone who has been reading this - keep moving forward. We will get past this to a much better time in our lives. I still really have faith that this is beatable, and it's just going to take some really hard work, dedication and time. God bless.

Up, down, up, down.

I'm sorry I haven't posted lately. I had a migraine for the past couple of days. Before that, I was feeling so heavy again - like a 50 pound weight was on my shoulders. I remember Admin. from the Beatleakygas blog had similar feelings in the first few months of his cleansing process.

Because I will be out of town next week, I have eased up on the diet a little. I just can't be around other people and be a depressed rag doll. No one would understand, and would take it personally. I haven't gone crazy and cheated big time, but have added back the organic, raw nuts and a little rice cereal for energy.

After next week, I'm slowly going to add the anti-candida stuff, maybe even do a month long candida cleanse (herbal) to start. There are so many products out there and so many different ways to go when deciding how to fight this, it gets confusing.

Once my trip is over, I can focus more again on a strict program. Anyone else having any luck with a diet or new supplement?

Feeling Better

Today I woke up with a lot more energy than I've had in a while, and it feels so good. I worked out harder on my treadmill than I've been able to in ages. Maybe my body is adjusting to the diet, etc.

Yesterday I doubled up on my trace minerals, maybe that had something to do with it. I take a liquid fulvic mineral supplement called Vital-Earth Fulvic Mineral Complex. I've been on it about a month but have only taken one ounce per day. Yesterday I took one in the am and one in the pm. It takes the muscle aches away, and I haven't had a migraine for a while either, so I think it's helping with that. According to the information I printed out on it, it is supposed to be absorbed very quickly into the cells, and helps repair the damage of free radicals, or if the cells are too damaged, it helps the body flush them out. Hopefully it will help repair my damaged liver cells so it can work better.

I'm doing well on the herbal cleanse (called First Cleanse) that I'm on. I've taken it before a few months ago, and decided to stay on this one for now because it is gentle. I've come to the conclusion that until my body starts working properly, I should always be on an herbal cleanse of some kind because I just don't metabolize food the way I'm supposed to, and therefore a residue will always be left behind and cause problems. I am going to the bathroom more easily now, without any laxatives, and sleeping pretty well, too, so things are looking up!

One thing that isn't positive (I don't think) is that I tried the "spit test" for candida a few days ago where you spit in a glass of water first thing in the morning and see if there are "legs" that come off the spit when it floats in the water. I've done this test a lot before, and never had anything happen. The spit just dissolved after a short while. I tried it a few times in the past few days, and each time, there are LEGS. At first I was upset by this, but it would explain why my gut hasn't healed all the way. I realize that it also may be the result of all the cleansing I'm doing - just forcing the candida out from its hiding places.

Anyway, I'm looking into getting on pau d'arco, caprylic acid, and maybe some garlic to fight the yeast. I can't do it right now, because I have a trip out of town coming up in a couple of weeks, and I hate to add more to my program when I'm going to be away for a week. I'm already smelly enough right now. Has anyone had any experience taking the pau d'arco or caprylic acid? I don't know what to expect, but since everything seems to affect me adversely at first, I'm expecting to be sick for a while. Wahoo! So much to look forward to!

Staying Motivated

I've been having trouble staying "up" lately, and I know it is the result of lots of toxins in my body moving around brought on by the cleansing I'm doing, but it still gets to me. I also noticed an increase in the b.o. that the Chinese herbs doesn't seem to take away. I should have expected it, of course, there has never been a single product that produced much of a change in my situation. I'm tired of the emotional rollercoaster. I want to wake up every day and say "today, I'll get a little closer to my goal", and most days I can do that, but not everyday. I stopped working out as hard, due to lack of energy, but that has definitely affected my mood. Today I went back to the full work out and even raised the end of my treadmill so it would be tougher, and I'm feeling better already.

I also got back to my meditation/yoga that I was doing every morning before getting on the treadmill. It seems to put me in a better frame of mind and more prepared to take on the day. I just have to stay motivated and keep this stuff up. It really makes a difference.

There was a woman on t.v. who won the show "The Biggest Loser" (a contest about losing the most weight). She is the only woman who has ever won that show, and she said it was so hard to keep fighting and working toward her goal - especially in the beginning. She said initially she had to say the words "I'm going to win" and keep saying them until she believed it, and then keep believing it until she succeeded. For now, I'm in the "saying" phase, but it's still a step in the right direction.

Losing weight

It takes no time at all to lose weight on this very low carb diet. I never realized how carbohydrates affect weight maintenance and energy level until giving them up. It sucks because I've already lost about 8 lbs, and my husband has noticed it and is getting worried like he did before when this happened. I try to explain to him that I have to follow this plan in order to heal. I realize that I look a lot better when I weigh in the 130 range, but I can't seem to maintain that without at least eating nuts, and for now I've stopped those. I was eating tons of raw almond butter all summer, but then I became sensitive to it (a common thing with leaky gut syndrome), so I reluctantly gave that up.

I guess what I need to do is just start padding my clothes so it looks like there is more to me than there really is. I was looking through a clothing catalogue the other day and saw the underwear with the padding in them. I'm seriously thinking of investing in a fake ass. Yep, that's what I need. I can see it now. Move over Kim Kardashian - here I come with some serious badonkadonk!

Problem Fixed

I think the problem has been fixed (thanks to Sherri) and now anyone who wants to comment on this blog can.

I've been feeling physically really bad lately because when I'm following the strict diet, exercise routine, etc. it starts the cleansing process right away, and my body can't keep up with all the toxins being released into my system (can't throw them off fast enough) and I have been getting the usual headaches, body aches and just generally feeling awful. I think my age may have something to do with that - maybe younger people have less trouble with detox symptoms. It makes me feel very blah, too, and it's hard to be enthusiastic and excited when I talk to friends or family. I don't discuss my diet/cleansing plans with anyone except my immediate family, and I'm sure people wonder what is wrong with my mood when I'm going through this. I wish I could talk to more people about it, but I'm afraid it would make them feel uncomfortable, so I just choose not to.

Anyway, it's times like this that make it really hard to stick with this diet. It would be so easy to just have the coffee and bagel and feel a lot better, but I'm in it for the long haul this time, so on I go. How is everyone else doing?

Trouble with the blog

If you have been reading this blog and have tried to comment in the past few days but are having trouble, will you please let me know by sending me an e-mail. My e-mail address is puttinontheritz@comcast.net.

Another person that has tried to comment has not been able to sign in after trying several times and I still haven't figured out the reason why. Let me know if anyone else is having this problem. Thanks!

Chinese Herbs

As I mentioned before, my acupuncture doctor prescribed some Chinese herbs a couple of years ago that I briefly tried and didn't get any results from. I decided to try them again this week because I researched what they do, and it says they help when the liver is stagnate. I've done liver flushes and herbal detox since the doctor gave me these pills (called xiao yao wan), so I figured my liver might be a lot more receptive to the herbs now.

The good news is, I think they are really helping with the body odor. I've been feeling smelly for the past two months, and I know the carbs, etc. that I had been eating played a big part in that. But after starting on the herbs, I could no longer smell my odor in the house. Yesterday I had a real chance to test the theory, and passed the test with flying colors at a meeting I had to attend with eight other people in a very small room that lasted about an hour and a half. No one in the room sat with their hand to their nose. That confirmed to me that things are at least better. So it may be that the diet is helping, but I also think the herbs are responsible for the improvement overall.

As I mentioned, the reason I think the herbs may be working now, is that I've done lots of liver cleansing during the past year and a half. I think that is key. Another benefit I've noticed from the herbs is that I can sleep now that I'm taking them. Insomnia has been a problem for me for years.

It may be too early to talk about results from something I've only been taking a few days, but I think that the more good/hopeful news about this condition that there is, the better off we all are.

Buying organic food

I'm making a commitment to start buying organic food as much as I can even though it does get expensive. There are times when I can't find what I want in the organic version, but I'm not going to make an exception where certain foods are concerned (I'd rather go without), because of the large amounts of pesticides in certain foods. The worst ones according to A.L. Gittleman are strawberries, cherries, apples, Mexican cantaloupe, apricots, blackberies, pears, raspberies and fresh peaches. The non-organic vegetables are spinach, hot and sweet peppers, celery, and potatoes.

I can always find organic eggs, and haven't made the switch totally to organic meat, but at the point the chicken and most of the beef I get for the family is labeled "all natural, no hormones or antibiotics administered", so that's a step up from where we were a few months ago.

I really enjoyed reading Gittleman's book. It has so many good ideas and information in it, I think it will really help me make the change over to a much healthier lifestyle. My other two favorite books are The Cure, by Dr. Timothy Brantley, and The Detox Book, by Bruce Fife, N.D.
I refer back to them all the time for information on a host of topics concerning detoxification.

Soup Recipes

The following are two recipes that are the the A.L. Gittleman book, "Fast-Track One Day Detox Diet": I'm going to make the artichoke soup today. Now that the weather is cooling off here, I am more in the mood for hot food, so these sound good to me.

A Cabbage Soup for All Seasons

makes 12 servings

This soup can be eaten hot or cold, chicken, turkey or beef can be added for a complete meal.



1 head of green cabbage
(tough leaves removed), coarsely sliced
1 cup sliced carrots
6 celery stalks, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium sweet onion, cut into chunks
1 medium zucchini, halved and sliced
1 medium yellow squash halved and sliced
one 28 ounce can whole tomatoes
one 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
one 28 ounce can tomato puree
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
1/4 cup minced fresh chives
salt or cayenne to taste

1. Place all the vegetables and the tomatoes, tomato puree, and 6 cups of filtered water in a large stockpot; bring to a boil then cover.

2. Lower the heat and simmer until the veggies are soft but not mushy, about 1 hour.

3. Add the herbs and salt or cayenne to taste.




Absolutely Artichoke Soup

2 servings

1 tablespoon chickbroth or olive oil
1 small onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
one 14 ounce can artichokes, rinsed, drained, and chopped
2 cups broth or stock
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt to taste (optional)
Cayenne to taste (optional)
fresh lemon juice to taste (optional)

1. Heat the broth or oil in a stockpot over medium heat.
2. Saute the onion and garlic until translucent.
3. Stir in the artichokes, broth and herbs. Add the salt, cayenne and/or lemon juice, if using.
4. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.



Gittleman is big on using organic foods as much as possible, right down to the spices, and herbs.

Signs of Detox

Up to this point, things haven't been too bad as far as detox symptoms. I feel more tired than usual, and a little more achey. My breasts are tender, which always happens when I start a new plan. I woke up in the middle of the night with a stuffed up nose. I haven't slept really well in a number of years, always waking up between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. In the Gittleman book, she says that is a sign of being toxic, and I remember when I saw an acupuncturist a few years ago mentioning it to her. She said that the liver activity is at it's peak between 1 and 3 a.m., and my chi (energy needed for optimal organ function) is unbalanced due to toxins, so it wakes me up at that time. She gave me some Chinese herbs to balance the chi, but I never took many of them. I'm thinking about giving them a try again, just to see if they have any effect.

The intestinal cleanser by Nature's Way that I started yesterday seems pretty helpful. I think it's going to help prevent constipation, which a new diet always seems to cause.

I know I have a lot of work ahead in order to heal my body and turn this around, but I feel very optimistic that it's going to happen. I've never been this focused before, and this time around I'm armed with so much more information. I think that all the reading and experimenting I've done over the past two years has prepared me for this. Two and a half years ago, I discovered that others had this problem too, and I started researching, and looking at the body odor forums each day. At that time, I really had no clue as to what to do, where to start, or even what the hell was happening to me. I knew I had a problem for a while, but was really good at sticking my head in the sand, and thinking it would just go away by itself. I didn't really start making any useful changes until a year ago, but I didn't stick to anything very long because I lacked the discipline to do it. There is a saying (maybe Chinese?) that says, "The teacher doesn't come until the student is ready". I'm ready now. School is officially open!

Today is the day!

I'm back on the diet, and am glad to have all the obligations of the last few days behind me so I can focus on it. Between exercising, shopping for food/juice stuff, making the food and juice, etc. it keeps me pretty busy. I wonder sometimes how I'll keep this up and go back to work, but I'll find a way. More than anything in the world, I want to be back to work, and around people again. I really don't want to go through another lonely winter in this house. Now there's some incentive!

So far today, I've just had my green tea, water, green drink, Colonix, and some soaked, raw walnuts (ground up) with a little cinnamon and kefir. I decided to keep a small serving of nuts in the diet, at least for now, because I'm trying to avoid becoming super skinny. My family really gives me a hard time when I'm too thin, and I don't need the hassle right now. In Dr. Timothy Brantley's book "The Cure, Heal Your Body, Save Your Life", he says that nuts are ok as long as they are soaked first. He says that grains, seeds and nuts contain enzyme inhibitors. It's only when water hits the grain, seed or nut that it would activate, then we can digest them properly. This seems to be true in my case, so I decided to leave walnuts and almonds (organic, raw) in for now. I soak about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of nuts overnight in filtered water.

Same thing with the kefir - a little bit each day. If my progress isn't fast enough in a month or two, then I'll have to eliminate the kefir and nuts, but I'm hoping that's not the case.

I'm also looking into a diet by Ann Louise Glittleman, Ph.d. She is an expert in the world of nutrition. She has a plan - called a fat flush plan to clean the liver and colon in which you fast one day a week on unsweetened cranberry juice. I was wondering what the significance of cranberry juice was as opposed to vegetable juice, and read that cranberry juice is a fat emulsifier. If you have a fatty liver (like I'm sure I do) then this could be a good way to improve that condition. I'm not going to start my one day a week fasts for probably a week and a half, until I'm used to my new way of eating.

That's it for now. I always get brain fog for a while when I start detoxing, so please excuse me if I ramble, or don't make a lot of sense.

starting a new diet

I'm getting ready to get back on this diet after being only semi-strict for the past couple of months. I'm actually excited to do it this time, even though I know it's tough, because I know I won't be doing it alone.

I can tell you from experience with this particular diet that it is a powerful liver and colon cleansing diet. It's also very healing for the colon if you have leaky gut. The way I know that it's powerful, is that when I get serious about it and start on it, I have some pretty heavy cleansing reactions. Everyone is different, but you can probably expect some changes for awhile that are uncomfortable. It is never a bad idea to transition into a few diet for this reason. Especially if you have been drinking caffeine, eating lots of junk food, etc.

What I have experienced in the past is fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, and insomnia. I also have a temporary increase in body odor. I think it's harder on me, because I'm older, so don't be discouraged if you are reading this. This is all temporary. The faster you go into the diet, the more severe your reaction will be. Experts call this a "healing crisis", so try to think of it that way. It is what your body is supposed to do.

What helps to alleviate this is to drink lots of water (at least 84-96 oz per day), exercise (even if you don't want to) and probably the most important, move your bowels (every day, but twice if you can). I usually have to take an herbal laxative to be sure that I go. If I don't go, what is a dull headache, usually turns into a migraine that can last up to 3 days. I recently read that for muscle aches you can take a hot bath with two cups of apple cider vinegar, but I haven't tried that yet. For exercise, I usually walk/run on my treadmill, but when I have muscle pain, I jump several times a day on my mini trampoline. That really seems to help right away.

Also, this time, I'm taking Colonix, which I'm hoping will help move toxins out of my body faster and help me to get to feeling good again. Any herbal colon cleanser may help this process go faster, but I haven't looked into any others. I welcome any and all suggestions to make this time easier for us.

Just keep thinking about how much better will feel when you get through the healing crisis. It is totally worth it. YOU are totally worth it.

Dietary Specifics

Welcome, Gella and Mybloomnart! I'm glad to hear from you.

Gella, I know exactly how you feel, and that's why I'm thinking that if we band together, we'll be stronger, and beat this thing. My new motto is, "whatever it takes". That's what I'm going to do. I want to wake up in the morning and go to bed at night not thinking about FBO at all. Keep your chin up. I'll post what I eat every day - that will help me stick to it, and maybe give you some new ideas.

Mybloomnart, yes, I agree, this diet is extremely hard to stick to, but the payoffs will be great when we return to our normal lives, and that IS going to happen. Below is my basic diet. I'd like to have more variety, so if you have any ideas for new foods/meals, please share.

Every morning I take my supplements (Probiotics, Earth's Bounty Colon Conditioner, and vit c. with a green drink called Perfect Food). I do the same thing in the afternoon. I recently started back on Colonix, which is a colon cleanse, because I have been on a not so good diet lately, and could stand a cleanse. I used this product in the past and got good results, so I'm trying it again while I transition to the low-carb diet again.

I only drink water (filtered, at least 84 oz a day) and organic decaf green tea. This is one of the hardest things for me to do, because my husband is a coffee lover (I'm an ex-coffee addict), and he makes a whole pot every morning. The first thing I do each morning as I walk into our coffee scented kitchen is dump out what is left in the pot after he leaves for work, so I'm not smelling it all day.

I exercise after I drink my first green drink of the day (about 40 minutes on the treadmill, 6 days a week). Then I'm usually not hungry until about 10 a.m. At about that time, I had been eating raw vegetables, like celery, or broccoli and some raw nut butter - usually almond butter or tahini. Those were great, because they filled me up, and I was able to maintain my weight because the nut butter is very high in calories. Recently I started reacting to the almond butter - it seems to cause inflammation in my gut (I do have leaky gut by the way), so I know I have to find a substitute for that. I use a product called Super Seed by Garden of Life mixed with a little organic flax seed oil as a dip for my veggies now, and it seems to be working out better. Doesn't taste as good as the nut butters, but I'll get used to it. The Super Seed is a mixture of ground seeds that also contains probiotic strains and enzymes, so I think that's why my system likes it better. In the late morning, I cut up vegetables for my serving of fresh juice that I have each day around noon. I juice spinach, cucumber, cabbage (very healing for the gut) a carrot and celery. It's mostly a green juice, but the carrot gives it a little nicer color. I dilute the juice with a little water to keep my blood sugar at a normal level.

I'm not a salad person, so for lunch I make a plate of various vegetables and a half a broiled chicken breast, or piece of fish. Other days I have two scrambled eggs (cooked in olive oil) with onions, peppers, etc. Some days, instead of the meat, I puree some avacado, and add seasoning to it (some organic salsa, etc.) and use that as a dip for my vegetables. I usually don't eat lunch until 2 - 3 p.m. because the juice I have at noon fills me up, and that way, I don't need much for dinner. Dinner can be some more raw veggies, or some sauteed or steamed veggies. This is the best time of year to be on a very veggie diet because the vegetables are so plentiful in the stores.
Our garden is producing lots of juicy tomatoes right now, so sometimes I just go out and pick one and slice it up for a snack. They are so good. I stay away from the carby vegetables such as corn. The cruciferous vegetables, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are the best for liver cleansing, and healing of the intestinal tract.

At night, so I don't have to go to bed hungry, I eat a bowl of kefir mixed with Super Seed. I know dairy is supposed to be bad for us and kefir is dairy, but it is so full of good bacteria that it is pretty much a pre-digested food. Regular cow's milk doesn't have the probiotics, so it's hard for the body to break down. As far as I can tell, the kefir doesn't cause me to smell worse, but if I was to drink a glass of milk, I can tell the smell increases, so I stay away from it.

That's pretty much it - a very bizarre diet from the standpoint of the rest of the world, I'm sure. I try to look at my plates of colorful vegetables and lean organic meat and be thankful for it. I tell myself, it's good, nourishing food and I'm lucky to have it. It seems to taste much better when I do that.

I'd love to have more variety, though, and have been experimenting with a few new things. I'll let you know if they are in any way edible. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi again: I wanted to write more about the diet I've been trying to stick with for the past year. Besides my own research on what would be best for me, I got a lot of information from another blog, http://beatleakygas.com/. The administrator of that blog was able to eliminate his body odor with a very strict diet consisting mostly of vegetables and some meat and eggs. When I stayed on that diet, although I lost a lot of weight (I'm already thin), and had no energy, I did notice a significant reduction in odor. The other blogger also did a lot of other helpful things such as colonics, and some antifungals, and had a pretty intense exercise routine. His positive attitude was impressive, and probably played a big role in his recovery. Even though he stopped blogging once he got better, I still visit his site sometimes just for inspiration.

I hope that through this blog, we can encourage each other, and learn from each other what the best way is to get rid of this. I know everyone is different and believe we are not all in the same place as far as our recovery is concerned, but any help and support with this difficult condition would be greatly appreciated by anyone going through this.

I am about to have a "fresh start" where my diet and exercise programs are concerned. I've been pretty lax for the past few months, because of lack of discipline, and just being tired of it all, but I think it's worse to have the odor, which I do again. I'm willing to write often about my experiences and hope I'll hear from lots of others with helpful info. I'm going to do my best to be positive throughout this experience, because that will take us a lot further, and to be consistent with this program. One thing I noticed about myself for the last few years is that I tend to try lots of new products for a little while, then give up and move on to something else. I've never had good results while doing that.

I hope to hear from you.

Welcome to Smelling Good Again, Diet Support Group

Well here goes. This blog is for people who have metabolic body odor, and will benefit from staying on a low carbohydrate diet. The diet that I'm talking about is not the one for TMAU (a low choline foods diet). On this diet, some of the mainstays are chicken, fish, and eggs, because the protein is needed to heal the body. On this diet all sugars (including honey and natural sugars) are avoided because they increase body odor.

I am a forty-something woman who has been dealing with this condition for about 5 years. I consider my condition to be on the extreme side, and it caused me to quit my job a few years ago. Since that time, I've been reading, researching and experimenting with all kinds of diets, supplements, and products to try to alleviate this problem, and the only time I noticed a big improvement in the odor is when I was able to stay on the low-carb diet for an extended period of time. After a month or two (at the most) on the restricted diet, I always start to cheat, a little here and a little there, until I'm back to eating just the way everyone else in the house eats. My husband and kids don't have any dietary restrictions, and having "their" food in the house makes it that much harder. When I go off the diet, the odor comes back. I think if I could only stay on it until my body heals and I build my enzymes back up, maybe I could get permanently better.

I was hoping I'd find some kindred spirits out there who may be experiencing the same problem, and we could support and encourage each other. Just like alcoholics have "buddies" they can call when they feel like they are going to drink. If this sounds like something you could use, please write. Tell me a little of your history- no specific personal details necessary.

I think this problem is beatable. I read enough about other people who have been where I am, and have managed to turn this around completely. Personally, there have been times when I've been able to improve my own situation enough (when I'm being strict) to have a fairly normal life.

Let's do this together. Please write and we'll get started.