Is your body odor too strong?

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Category: Health Concerns

Recently I received an email from a reader concerning extreme body odor and clothes being ruined even with using a "prescription strength" men's deodorant.  I was asked if I had any suggestions.  Yes.  I do.  I suggest improving the acid alkaline balance.  Why? And how do you do that?  Let me explain.

Body odor is the smell of bacteria growing on the body.  We need some bacteria (specific kinds) to protect our skin.  This bacteria makes our skin slightly acidic. Our slightly acidic skin helps to fight off harmful bacteria. Many of the contaminants that might enter our skin, such as chemicals from the atmosphere and harmful bacteria, are alkaline in nature (i.e., they have a pH of higher than 7). Our skin’s natural acidity neutralizes these chemicals and bacteria,

However, if our body fluids are too acid, the body tries to achieve balance by sweating out the acid.  It is this overload of acid and resulting excess of bacteria that ruins clothes and causes odor.

Long term (chronic) low grade acidosis causes many problems for us, even more serious than body odor.  In a workshop on acid alkaline balance, I described what acid alkaline balance is, what health issues are caused by acid alkaline imbalance, and how we can improve our health by restoring acid alkaline balance in our diet and lifestyle.  In the workshop we learned how to test acid levels and interpret the results, learned what behaviors affect acid alkaline balance, and learned how to evaluate recipes and design menus that will help achieve acid alkaline balance. I am in the process of creating an on-line course on this topic.

It would be impossible to cover all that material in this one post, but I can provide a quick overview that might be helpful in resolving this specific problem, that of extreme body odor.

Most functioning of the body makes us acid and then the body systems work at bringing us back in balance.  Stress really makes us acid.  Exercise does also, but we need to exercise for other healthy reasons.  Usually the body can manage this quite well.  But if diet (like our Western diet, AKA SAD) causes us to be more acid, then the body has trouble managing it, and our health begins to deteriorate.  It is not about eating acid foods, it is about balancing acid and alkaline FORMING food.  So a lemon may be acid when we eat it, but after it is metabolized the body fluids are more alkaline.

During each meal (or more accurately at any time we put food in our mouth) we need to eat 60% Alkaline Forming food and 40% Acid Forming food IF WE ARE HEALTHY AND WANT TO MAINTAIN.  If we want to IMPROVE OUR HEALTH, we need to eat 80% Alkaline Forming Food and 20% Acid Forming Food.

Here are a few quick tips for planning meals to help achieve a more acid alkaline balance:

• Cut down on (but don't eliminate, for you need the protein ) animals foods (meat, dairy) and grains (breads), for they are very acid forming.

• Eat more fruits and vegetables - look at total volume of fruits and vegetables to meat and breads and try to get about 80% fruits and vegetables and 20% meat and grains.

• Stop drinking sodas - they are EXTREMELY acid forming.

• Squeeze some lemon in water or tea (not sugar or milk).

• Minimize table sugar - it is acid forming.

• If drinking or eating anything that is acid forming, include almonds - they are alkalizing.

• Most nuts are acid, however almonds (which technically are NOT nuts) are alkaline.

• Add herbs, flaxseed, almonds, raisins, coconut oil, coconut flakes whenever wanting to add alkalizing forming ingredients to a recipe.

Teen?  Hormones can be a factor.  Just help him out by providing him a diet that is acid alkaline balanced.  Teach him how to manage stress.  Something like learning Tia Chi (or other Asian martial arts) is a very healthy way to help the body deal with stress and more accepted by boys, if they do not want to learn yoga or meditation.