WHAT DOES KETOSIS MEAN?
The word ketogenic is a term coined for the process by which you reach ketosis. Ketosis is the state by which your body switches from burning sugar for fuel to burning fat for fuel.
Generally ketogenic means you choose a diet that is high in fat and protein instead of sugars and carbohydrates. When you do that, your body switches into ketosis naturally and begins to use a different fuel source.
This metabolic state called ketosis can be achieved in many ways. Some people go on a diet plan called, keto, named after ketosis, and that’s where you cut out carbs completely.
Others go on a keto-like diet, where they only eat a minimal amount of allowable carbohydrates and cut out all sugars.
Though the keto diet has been popularized lately for being the best way to achieve ketosis, there are many other ways to get there without having to eliminate entire food sources your body needs. Intermittent fasting and exercise are some of those ways.
This ketogenic switch, so to speak, is just a term by which the body uses to burn fat as a fuel source where normally it would use up the sugars in your body formed from carbohydrates.
It’s important to note that the word ketogenic, or ketosis, is not distinct to any one diet type or eating regime.
WHY DO YOU HAVE BREATH ISSUES WITH IF?
Not everyone has breath issues when they do intermittent fasting for keto. I don’t, or at least I think I don’t.
People have reported that they have a fruity-smelling breath when doing intermittent fasting or any other kind of ketogenic diet. This is due to elevated ketones and can become quite problematic.
My personal opinion on the matter is that the breath issues stem from detoxification of the body while fasting. Whenever I do intermittent fasting for more than 24 hours, I get a white coating on my tongue.
This coating is said to be toxins coming to the surface. When doing a ketogenic diet your body naturally purges toxins and when they rise to the surface of your skin, whether that be in your mouth or not, you need to remove it.
I brush my tongue to get all the white off as soon as I notice it there. If I would leave it, I can see how it would cause bad breath. I think that’s all that is going on here.
Breath also has to do with your stomach. If you have gut issues like leaky gut or irritable bowel syndrome, that may also cause toxins to be expelled through your mouth when doing a ketogenic diet.
Over time, as you progress through your intermittent fasting program, gut issues can heal, especially if you introduce probiotics. I make my own probiotics by brewing kombucha tea.
Since I’ve been drinking kombucha tea, my breath has gotten better overall both when I do intermittent fasting, and when I don’t.
This is just my opinion, from what I have experienced for myself, but other’s may experience something completely different.
A ketogenic diet is not the same for everyone, so, some may experience keto breath, and others may not.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
There are a lot of things that you can do about keto breath like making sure you brush your teeth regularly while fasting or on a ketogenic diet.
You don’t want anything going stagnant in your mouth for a long period of time whether that be caused by excessive ketones or body detox.
Rinsing with water regularly is helpful as well.
I think brushing the tongue, is the most helpful advice I can give you. I do it every time I see a white coating on my tongue. I believe that coating is caused by body detox due to intermittent fasting, and long fasts as well.
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For further information, go to the Hungry Old Lady Youtube channel by clicking on the video at the end. I hope you enjoyed this article and consider living an intermittent fasting lifestyle.
