When I was at my lowest point, not only did I have relentless anxiety but horrendous body odor. Gross, but honest! So what’s the connection between anxiety and putrid body odor? Could be many things that cause the body odor like stinky underarm bacteria – lack of showering, too much garlic and curry, out of control diabetes, kidney dysfunction, or…. protein indigestion. The latter was my case, some of it linking back to food allergies.
When my intestines were so damaged from food allergies, I couldn’t digest foods properly. This was especially the case with protein. Undigested protein can lead to a lot of smelly things like armpits and rancid gas. Sweat is unusually pungent when ammonia waste from the protein exudes from the skin. Because I had an allergy to dairy protein (especially casien), I would really stink after eating cheese. WOOOEEE, watch out!
So what does this have to do with anxiety relief? If the intestinal lining is compromised from adrenal fatigue, then things like food allergies creep in. When that happens, food doesn’t get digested and absorbed properly. Result – nutritional deficiencies. No protein digestion + no amino acid absorption + no raw material to make neurotransmitters = anxiety, panic attacks, or other things like that. At lease that was my case. When I spruced up my digestion, I felt a whole lot better mentally and emotionally. Stinking less was the bonus.
Other deficiencies occur too that contribute to mental un-wellness, but protein is the case here. We can eat a lot of it, but it’s not what we eat it’s what we absorb! What did I do to help this? My doctor tested me and found which free form amino acids I needed to take until my intestines were repaired. To repair my intestines, this is what I (Jen Crippen) did:
- Eliminated all foods that were causing further damage to the intestines. For me it was dairy, wheat, soy, corn, night shades (potato, eggplant, peppers), and caffeine
- Strengthened the adrenals
- Took digestive enzymes. My favorite are 1 Essentialzyme, 1 Polyzyme and 1 Detoxyme with every meal.
- Super strain pro-biotics to replenish the intestines with good bacteria. This stopped much of the putrification and the formula I use (Life 5) also kills yeast rhizomes. I’ll have to blog about my candida yeast adventure in the future!
- Drink a lot of water to help get the toxins out of my body.
- Used anti-bacterial natural soap to kill nasty bacteria in my pits.
- Ate chlorophyll rich foods to help combat the acidic condition in my body that contributed to the body odor. Anything super green like spinach, broccoli, kale, chlorella, Multi-Greens, wheatgrass, etc.
Oh, by the way – when we don’t digest protein well our blood sugar is all over the place too. Hence, another factor which contributed to the extreme hypoglycemia. Who’d think body odor is linked anxiety therapy?
Very interesting info, i too stink when i drink milk!!!! My blood sugars go crazy over protein (meat) as well. What’s interesting is that in my diabetic training class, I was told to add additional protein (chicken being the best form of protein) to my diet. I am running out of things to eat, yet the size of my does not indicate that….my weight has not budged!
Love all of the great info,. you provide for us, Jen
Great article Jen! I have had some panic and anxiety issues before and so I can relate to this. I also had some of the same issues, especially with eating cheese and caffeine was an offender too. However, when I started doing some of the same things you mentioned I improved. I think what especially helped me was taking the digestive enzymes. Enzymes are so important to good health as every body function relies on them. I love the Multi-Greens as well and take them everyday!