Low carb without the bad breath?

[Choccywoccydiddlyboo]

I have been low carbing for more than six months, mostly successfully. I struggle with sugar addiction and although I've managed to give up sugar in drinks I keep giving in to chocolate cravings. I don't want to anymore!

I have about a stone to lose but am happy to take my time. My worry is my breath smells when low carbing and I hate the thought that my colleagues etc think I smell. Is there a way to avoid this, I.e low carb lite?! So mainly low carb but not enough to make my breath smelly? Would I still lose weight?

I've cut wheat totally out of my diet due to IBS. Would eating the odd potato help avoid bad breath?

I drink lots of water every day, only drink black decaff coffee otherwise, have lots of veg, berries, meat, fish, eggs. Apart from chocolate my diet is healthy. And I am determined to kick the chocolate habit. (My main reasons for eating chocolate seem to be stress, addiction, boredom, anxiety.)

I don't want to go back to eating wheat, I do want to lose weight, I need to get rid of the chocolate addiction, but I don't want bad breath.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Bad breath appears when you're in ketosis, so very much low carbing. You then also lose weight. Chocolate, potato etc will take you out of ketosis, so will stop bad breath but also inevitably slow down/stop weight loss. You can of course do low carbing in a less extreme version, so no ketosis, but I am not sure how quick the weight loss would be then. Chewing gum, mouthwash hundred times a day.. Sorry that's all I can think of...

www.m.webmd.com/oral-health/features/low-carb-diets-can-cause-bad-breath
Found that as well, hope this helps.

Thank you. I've never liked chewing gum and don't want to have something sweet in case it awakens the cravings again. Mouthwash - and chewing gum - will just - partially - mask the problem. I'd rather not have the problem . Difficult. I was hoping there would be a way round it.

do you actually have bad breath or just worry that you do?

the drinking plenty of water really helps - it flushes out the ketones so fewer are expelled on your breath (this is important for weight loss too as i'm sure you know). i haven't had any problems (that i have been made aware of ), though i do notice a funny taste if i haven't had a drink of water for a while

Well, no one has told me I have but I have a nasty taste in my mouth most of the time. I do drink lots, although mainly Decaff black coffee, but will try and up my water intake.

Less protein and more fat.

Does that help? I try to have plenty if olive oil on salad and butter on veg.

Thanks Ethlinn for the link to the webmd article, very interesting. I guess I'll just have to persevere until I reach my target weight, maybe with a mouth spray in my bag, and then introduce a few carbs when maintaining.

It's probably worth seeing a hygienist, most bad breath originates from plaque in the mouth rather than food. (I work in a dental practice where we all low carb with no bad breath)

Thanks, have check up next week. It just seems to go when my diet slips and I eat more carbs?

Does that help? I try to have plenty if olive oil on salad and butter on veg.

If you're not eating a huuuge amount of protein and you're already eating good amounts of fat, then it's probably not a problem for you. :) It's been my own experience that I only ever get unpleasent ketosis symptoms if I eat more than my share of protein and not enough fat. No bad breath or other classic low carb nasties on LCHF so far. It was a bit of a revelation for me originally, which is why I probably mention it everywhere...

I do eat quite a lot of meat to keep me full. How much is too much?

I do eat quite a lot of meat to keep me full. How much is too much?

I think this depends a lot on a person's size and activity etc and there's loads of different recommendations out there. I think the most common range I've seen is 0.8 - 1.2 grams of protein per kg of weight, but some say more, some say less. I kind of use the 0.8g mark, and aim to get about 15% of my daily energy from protein, but I know a lot of low carbers out there do a lot more and feel fine. And I also don't think it's necessary to count these things out like that really... I'm just a control freak Just if you think that might be a cause of you not feeling great, try to eat a little bit less for a while and see if you feel better?

Thanks

I don't want to make this about counting and working out either as I know I'll lose interest - I just don't have the time for that. I like to think that low carb means I can eat as much as I like until I'm full of anything low carb It's worked well so far, but I have been eating quite a lot of meat, i.e. 2 slices ham with a slice of cheese and salad for lunch, 2 pork chops with veg for dinner, we have 700g of mince between 2 adults and a child in bolognese, chilli etc.

I feel fine on that most of the time, not tired or lacking energy unless I've not slept much.