Bad breath?!!

[tlbj6142]

The more I hike, the more little things I start to notice. On the last two hikes I noticed that my breath is quite nasty from about mid-morning until after I brush again. I noticed that it has the same "base smell" as the rest of my body. Which, stinks to high heaven as well. I sweat like a pig once I get my momentum going, so I can understand the body smells, but bad breath?

Any ideas?

Also, I'm trying to figure out why I stink so much worst than others on the same trip. Sometimes I get close to making myself gag. Guess I need to start washing up a bit when water is plentiful.

[stickman]

Assuming that you have good oral hygene to begin with, not gum disease, etc, then you could be getting a whif of the keytones that your body releases when you start to digest your own muscle as food. I don't remember all the chemistry, but when you use up stored (blood) sugars, don't have much available fat, and start to break down your own protein for energy, it releases chemicals called keytones into your blood stream, and man do they smell on your breath! It isn't necessarily harmful, but its a sign that you are self-canabalizing your own body.

Based on when it happens (a couple of days into your trip), I'd guess that you don't have major fat reserves, have used them up after a couple of days on the trail, and may not be getting enough food to meet your nutritional needs.

[tlbj6142]

Interesting. I have plenty of fat. But I have read that you need a certain amount of readily available carbs in order to burn your fat. Maybe I didn't meet the later requirement. Though, I ate more on this trip than I normally do. As I was attempting to follow Chris' "How to fuel up for 30+ days" plan. I cut out a few things as I was only doing ~20.

I wonder if the keytones can be release under other cirumstances?!?!

[deeddawg]

I recommend folks read up on ketone production and ketosis (and be sure to differentiate it from ketoacidosis).

As I'm no expert, I won't directly comment, but will say that what I've read here is counter to a lot of other info I've read.

Be aware, of course, that ketosis is the key part of all the low/no-carb diets out there such as Atkins; as such there can be a quantity of contradictory information so you may have to be discerning as to what the truth is.

Here's a start: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis

[icemanat95]

You might want to talk to your doctor, as a matter of fact, I think you really NEED to talk to your doctor as soon as is practical. There are some things here that strike me as unusual and worrying, but I am not qualified to say anything more than get to someone who is qualified. It may be as simple as diet or your individual metabolism, it could also be something more serious. Go to a doctor.