Twenty years ago, I was writing a newspaper column for the Lakeview newspaper. Here is one of those articles on Bad Breath. Today, I have added some perspectives on that.

First the original article.

Bad Breath.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Treiber wrote a very nice article in the Lakeview Area News about this topic.  He explained the details of dental and oral hygiene as it relates to bad breath.

Let me give another aspect of this common problem.  Many years ago, before I was involved in natural health, I had a lot of difficulty with bad breath and body odor.  Like most people I use mouthwash, brushed my teeth regularly, and for the body odor used underarm deodorant and antiperspirants.  I also had a lot of post nasal drainage and sniffed and snorted a lot.  This was such a habit that I didn’t know I was doing it. 

My new wife, Barbara, suggested that I do a colon cleanse.  The theory behind this suggestion was that if the colon is not working correctly, toxins need to be removed from the body in other ways.  One of those ways is through the nasal mucus, which unfortunately often is swallowed and it returns back to the digestive tract.  That explanation made sense to me, so I used a colon cleanse made from some Chinese herbs.

The amazing part is that within a week the post nasal drainage had changed and diminished to a great extent.  Also, to my astonishment, the body odor and bad breath also disappeared.  My research indicated that again, if the colon wasn’t working correctly, the body gets rid of wastes through other channels—through nasal mucous,  the lungs, and through the sweat and skin oils.

The normal routes of waste elimination include the liver and the bowel, the kidneys and bladder, the lungs, and the skin.  So, sometimes bad breath is not related to oral hygiene, but it is wastes being eliminated from the body through this route of elimination.

This is not necessarily related to constipation.  If the lining of the small and large intestine are not working correctly, then wastes are reabsorbed back into the blood rather than being eliminated from the body.  We think that at least once or twice a year, people should do a colon cleanse.

Think about that for the New Year.   Start out with a healthy digestive and waste elimination system and your whole year will be better.  You will feel better, smell better and most likely have a better outlook.  

Put Your Health in Your Own Hands

Now for the new perspective.

Bad Breath and Body Odor: What’s Really Going On?

We often hear the word “metabolism.” What does it mean? Simply put, it’s the complex process by which our bodies convert food into energy that fuels every cell without creating too much toxic waste products.

Ok, let’s step back for a bit.

The sun is the ultimate source of energy for all living things. Plants capture the sun’s energy and, through photosynthesis combined with water and minerals from the soil, create living plant material. The animal kingdom then uses that plant material for sustenance. Humans consume both plants and animals. Of course, today we have a lot of processed food, but it all primarily originates from the sun.

Through digestion, our food—proteins, fats, and carbohydrates—are broken down into simple sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids. These are absorbed by our small intestines, then converted by the liver into compounds our bodies use as building blocks for our physical tissue and organs. Much of it is transformed by our cells into energy. This life-giving process is remarkably complex and well understood, although science continues to unravel the mysteries.

Like every system in the universe that produces energy, there are by-products—what we call waste. Our body has four routes of waste elimination. The liver, through bowel movements, and the kidneys, through urine, are the primary methods. The lungs, through exhaled breath, and the skin, through sweat and oil glands, serve as alternative routes. If our liver and colon are not working properly, we can reabsorb wastes and our body begins to eliminate them through the alternate routes of elimination.

This means bad breath and body odor can signal issues with the liver, colon, or kidneys. We need to pay attention to that.

First, let’s look at what we eat. Highly processed foods have been created for convenience and self-life. Most of us don’t have time to hunt and gather anymore, or to visit the market daily like our ancestors. We rely on the food industry to bring products to our supermarkets. Hidden in those processed foods are chemicals our bodies were never designed to handle—substances that often cause our systems to malfunction.

Even though approximately 90% of us are metabolically unhealthy, our amazing bodies have adapted and adjusted to keep us alive. The medical system and pharmaceutical industry have attempted to help our bodies cope with these challenges, while the natural health community with nutraceuticals has done its part as well.

Today we are overwhelmed with information from books, the internet, social media, and AI assistants. It becomes increasingly difficult to sort it all out. Who do we listen to? Who do we trust? Ultimately, we must use our own intuition and common sense to navigate through all the noise. Most people choose the path of least resistance and simply go on with life, not paying much attention to their bodies.

So, let me add to the conversation for those struggling with bad breath and body odor.

The main issue often lies in the colon, or large intestine. First, consider a colon cleanse and second, a liver cleanse. Then we must learn to maintain colon health going forward. We, at the Healing Center in Lakeview, have found Nature’s Sunshine Product’s, Colon Cleanse to be very effective at reducing and eliminating bad breath and body odor. We recommend using it—or something similar—twice a year. Nature’s Sunshine’s Liver Cleanse Formula, used a couple of times yearly between colon cleanses, is also very helpful.

Most importantly, we must focus on maintaining your digestive system. It can become “leaky” so we reabsorb wastes instead of sending them down the toilet. Then our body begins to use those alternative routes of elimination. The good news is that we can heal our “leaky gut”.

There are foods that are best avoided. Highly processed foods—anything in a box or bag with a bar code—have been significantly altered from their natural state. Do your best to eat whole foods instead. Choose fruit over fruit juice, whole grain bread over white bread, wild rice over white rice, and fresh vegetables over canned. Use healthy oils like coconut, olive, and avocado instead of seed oils such as vegetable, canola, corn, soybean, and sunflower oil. These highly processed foods can damage your systems, so it’s best to avoid them.

Maintaining the digestive system is essential, and it begins with the microbiome—the generic term for the trillions of bacteria living in our colon. These are the beneficial bacteria we cannot live without, mostly belonging to the lactobacillus and bifidobacterium families.

People are often advised to take probiotics, and that’s fine. However, if you do use them, choose one that doesn’t require refrigeration. Most refrigerated probiotics die off from our body heat and never reach the colon. Probiotics aren’t even necessary if we feed the microbiome with prebiotics—fiber. We need a variety of fiber types: soluble and insoluble, found in fruits, vegetables, and nuts. These can be supplemented with a good balanced fiber product like Balance, made by Unicity. These beneficial bacteria ferment the fiber, producing fatty acids and other compounds our bodies need to heal the colon lining, generate building blocks, fuel, and neurotransmitters. These are essential for metabolic and mental health.

The bottom line? 

To smell good, we need to cleanse the liver and colon a couple of times a year and maintain the microbiome. Begin by eating food that serves as fuel, not junk. Choose natural carbohydrates, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables; healthy oils like olive, coconut, and avocado; and quality proteins such as grass-fed beef, free-range chicken and eggs, nuts, beans, and legumes. Supplement with fiber if you’re not eating plenty of fruits and vegetables.

For more information on how to maintain metabolic and gut health, visit healinsulinresistance.net. Email bob.huttinga@gmail.com