Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Laura are you doing a lot of beans? I tend to get that when my diet is bean-heavy.

I must say that I have been very un-smelly on the Macdougall diet - that is up until today!!

How timely

Seriously though, not only in the excrement sense. My body odor overall is almost non-existent and unless I consume broccoli or asparagus I have no, uh... *aroma* ... to anything liquid or solid or vapor that passes out of me.

But today I ate a lot of fresh pineapple, which I have not had yet on this plan, and I am actually offending myself.

Just from personal experience, maybe there are one or two foods you are eating that don't agree with your gut. I don't have any digestive issues that I know of but it looks like pineapple might be a problem for me. Maybe there is something like that in your diet?

Best of Luck! Smelliness is no fun

LauraVeg wrote:BTW, has anyone yet googled "stinky vegan farts"?

All that came up was a restaurant in Munich. I think my employer's got some browser restrictions in place though. I'm gonna try typing in "awful vegan whizzers" and see if that has more luck. I'll keep you posted.

LauraVeg wrote:According to everything I've read here, it's the sulphur in animal products that causes the smell. Clearly, based on my experience, that is not true.

Begging to differ, I think it is *certainly* true in the vast majority of, and perhaps all, cases. Perhaps you mean to say, in your experience and in your case, it is not true--rather than that your particular experience makes it categorically untrue, as you imply.

afreespirit wrote:

LauraVeg wrote:According to everything I've read here, it's the sulphur in animal products that causes the smell. Clearly, based on my experience, that is not true.

Begging to differ, I think it is *certainly* true in the vast majority of, and perhaps all, cases. Perhaps you mean to say, in your experience and in your case, it is not true--rather than that your particular experience makes it categorically untrue, as you imply.

Oh, I'm not implying anything. My particular experience does make it categorically untrue. I'm wondering if your experience is with very-low-carb (mostly meat) eaters, or SAD eaters. That would be different. On a mixed diet, how would you know that the animal products were to blame?

Just a thought. Has anyone tried googling the phrase "grown man reduced to tears after Atkins farts". Or "Atkins farts the best" followed by the words "controlled randomised trial".

afreespirit wrote:El Stinko on meat and SAD, Florence Flower on McD.

Free Spirit, you really are the greatest. IMHO.

Nope, no tofu for me. I'm allergic to soy. And when I do McDougall I'm not trying to do low carb. It's starch-based, MWL all the way.

(Gotta say, though, this is interesting. You guys are great. )

Theodore wrote:

afreespirit wrote:El Stinko on meat and SAD, Florence Flower on McD.

Free Spirit, you really are the greatest. IMHO.

Hahahaha. Thanks, Theodore.

Laura are you getting a lot of greens in?

Can you share your basic daily diet?

You know what? Poop & farts smell!!! Oh sure, maybe more, maybe less on certain days, but please don't try to tell me that your farts smell like roses...because they don't!!! Please see your doctor because there is something wrong with your nose!!!

My typical daily diet would be:

Breakfast: A baked sweet potato, sliced and browned in a non-stick pan, eaten with mustard. (My favorite!)

Lunch: Brown rice, frozen mixed vegetables, and salsa. (Second favorite.)

Dinner: Baked white or sweet potato and green vegetable (Usually spinach, green beans or kale). Or a repeat of lunch.

Snacks: Fruit (apple, orange, or banana) and/or raw vegetables (romaine lettuce - I love it and can eat one or two heads at a time -, carrots, cucumbers, celery, etc.).

greentea wrote:You know what? Poop & farts smell!!! Oh sure, maybe more, maybe less on certain days, but please don't try to tell me that your farts smell like roses...because they don't!!! Please see your doctor because there is something wrong with your nose!!!

To be perfectly honest, I don't really fart at all on a very low carb diet. You might not be able to believe it, but it's true. If I do, (and it's not likely), there's no smell. HOWEVER...on McDougall and Fuhrman, it was horrifying! Don't believe me, ask my husband!

It has been my experience that all of my body odors (sweat, gas etc) smell much better than when I was eating meat dairy and eggs. My body took a couple of months to adjust to eating all the fiber from a plant based diet.

That was four years ago. I now have no more or no less gas, but it definitely has a much milder odor. I've also noticed that my body digests beans extremely efficiently. I eat them everyday with very little gas. Certain foods like garlic and brussels sprouts cause gas sometimes but it does not compare to the sulphur smell that came from eggs or meat.

Some of these responses are hilarious. Thanks for the laughs.

My question to those who feel there is minimal /zero odor: would you release that fragrant display in church, your bosses office, or on an elevator and be confident that nobody around you would be grossed out? Some of you seem awfully confident that you have no odor.

Is it possible that your odor was horrendous when you ate meat and since this smell is much better you have assumed it is almost nonexistent? I have spent time with people who feel they don't need deodorant and my nose does not concur. I think smell can be somewhat subjective and I think we most certainly get used to our own odors.

I am not sure how one can make the statement that a vegan diet always causes less odor than a meat based diet. I truly feel everyone has their own unique system and processes things differently. I can't imagine that people can consume cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and beans and claim that there is essentially little odor. Is it as bad as meat? Maybe not. But practically nonexistent? I don't buy it.