I “Stink” According to my Husband LOL

One symptom that can occur with low carb eating is that it can release or burn “ketones” from the body. Ketones can make a person smell like nail polish remover.

I love it when my hubby tells me I stink! cause I know that my body is burning ketones, which means that my low carb eating is working at burning fat from my body.

Actually, to be honest, he says its not stinky exactly, just kind of odd smelling – thats ok too. I keep lots of sugarless gum on hand so I don’t offend anyone (or try not to anyway)

The burning of ketones, or ketosis, according to the Atkins Diabetes Revolution – the Groundbreaking Approach to Preventing and Controlling Type 2 Diabetes (page 137-138) is explained as follows:

“When you initially cut back on carbohydrates the Atkins way, your body starts primarily burning fat for energy, a process  that’s known as lipolysis. your body breaks down fat into chemicals called ketones, which are used by your muscles and other cells for energy. Most of the cells in your body can “burn”  both glucose and ketones for energy production, so your stored fat can be used for energy. That’s how you lose fat when you control carbohydrates. when your body burns fat very rapidly, some of the ketones escape in your breath and urine. This process is entirely normal; in fact, our bodies use ketones for energy when we are asleep. When you produce more ketones than you can burn, and extra ketones are excreted, then you are said to be in ketosis.”

So I am happy to smell, because it means that even though the numbers may not be going down on the scale, my low carb way of eating is working at burning the extra fat off this body of mine – thank god!

By the way, I highly recommend the book Atkins Diabetes Revolution – the Groundbreaking Approach to Preventing and Controlling Type 2 Diabetes. As a person  in the pre-diabetes zone, on my way to full blown diabetes if I don’t do anything, this book is an invaluable tool, full of good information and well laid out and explained, easy to understand. Buy it for your health!

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