I have been raw since June 14th. My sense of smell has been improved since being raw. One thing I have been noticing lately though is a odor that resembles burning wood. I smell it in my house and in the car at times. I don't smell it out doors though. I have asked my family if they smell wood burning but they don't. Has anyone else noteced odd odors that other people can't detect?

I had that for about 3 years, not burning wood but some aftertaste/smell of durian. It was the weirdest thing. I ate some frozen durian once, just a little bit, and the smell stayed for years. Drove me nuts. I'm glad it's gone.

pampam Wrote:
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> I have been raw since June 14th. My sense of
> smell has been improved since being raw. One
> thing I have been noticing lately though is a odor
> that resembles burning wood. I smell it in my
> house and in the car at times. I don't smell it
> out doors though. I have asked my family if they
> smell wood burning but they don't. Has anyone
> else noteced odd odors that other people can't
> detect?

Most of the time!
My sense of smell was good before raw, but now its amazing.
Cooked food has a burnt smell to me.

I have always been able to sense illness/ toxicity through smell.
This has become more acute since eating raw.

Me too. I'm not all raw, but my sense of smell is SOOO strong compared to everyone else around me. I can always smell things they can't. And even things that others can smell and are strong enough for them to smell, they are not bothered by them while I am. I am very sensitive and easily offended by smells. There are actually few things that smell good to me. Fresh raw food smells great, plants and flowers smell great. Fresh clean air, forests, clean oceans, etc. all those types of healthy natural things. Of course natural decaying or unhealthy stuff smells horrible. Almost everything synthetic I cannot stand. Fragrances, chemicals, off-gassing, cooking etc. I usually always smell the off-gassing of even "low VOC" paints, of new furniture, rugs, new appliances, new unwashed clothes, almost anything. I hate pumping gas and hold my breath as long as I can, or make my passenger do it when I have one. I really really really really don't understand why people saturate themselves in nasty smelling synthetic fragrances. I mean really, I can't stand smelling people's perfumes and musks. When you walk into a room you are not supposed to become the mobile air "freshener" of the room, making the entire room or building smell like you, even long AFTER you leave! I JUST don't get it. It's so unnatural and bizarre really.

It's not that I get all super sick from these smells themselves, I just am revolted by them pretty much. It depends on what they are of course, as many of them are signs of toxins and so effect me because of that. Even if I don't immediately feel anything, I know that they are full of these toxins because I read about what is in these things and how dangerous they are for you long term. That knowledge alone also makes me hate them and want to get away from them.... FRESH AIR! Please.

In regards to Cooking and food in general though, especially, I want to know how much of it is considered partially consuming the food particles simple by breathing them in? I'm not a fanatic about raw, since I'm not 100% anyways, but whenever I smell food cooking, it feels like it really effects me, and like I am taking parts of it's negative components by breathing it in. My mouth will get coated, sometimes by throat will get irritated or inflamed, I will feel nasty etc. If it is coating our tongues and mouth by breathing that stuff in while being around food getting cooked (and burnt), isn't that consuming that food in a sense? You're not digesting it and all that, but some of it's chemicals have become airborne and we are taking in those chemicals from it.

Nik, we are so much alike. I get headaches from certain people, with strong body odors. Fake perfume makes me dizzy and nauseated. I busted my 2nd ex husband for cheating, because I could smell AND taste another woman on him. He used to call me a bloodhound. I divorced him, of course. I smell disease, and sickness in people. I like hanging out with vegans & vegetarians. They smell good. Exept for one vegan guy who had the most offensive breath ever.

i have the same problems..
i can smell sick on my family members and others from ten feet away, its crazy.. i tried to explain this to my mother, thinking she would understand what i meant.. she had no idea what i was talking about

i hate exhaust, and oil, and cooked food is soo strong that it effects my throat... also cigarette smoke is the worst..my friends happen to smoke and i just hate it, how could i tell them that it bothers me without coming off as a jerk?

i ride the public transit everyday and i can smell all kinds of things from people. the most gross is when i smell mc donalds on people. i can smell meat secreations on people, i can smell animal odors, and sometimes i can figure out where they work by how they smell and by the general area from where they get on the bus. its not always a good ride.

I get headaches from perfume too, as well as skin reactions sometimes, like an allergic reaction. Well it's good to know my good sense of smell might just be a sign of being healthier. Funny, I always say that my sense of smell is like a dog. However, I'm sure theirs are even more sensitive. But like a little dog, I often do that quick inhaling thing to smell something better and try to recognize it.

Cigarettes are the worst. I do anything to avoid cigarette smoke. I really don't care what people think, they are the ones being offensive by smoking. I hold my breath and run past people smoking on the street, I'll even jaywalk to avoid them. I doubt they know what I'm doing anyways. No way would I put myself anywhere near someone smoking where I could smell it. In Europe I couldn't avoid it and my throat was sore and inflamed the whole time. The longer I am away from it though and then inhale it, the more offensive and more violently by body and throat reacts to it. I really hate it when I don't see it and then only find out there is a smoker around me when I inhale it and smell it. That happens pretty much every time I go out anywhere, walking on the street.

fuzzysox, I wouldn't worry about seeming like a jerk for it bothering you. It's pretty well known that it is offensive to almost anyone who doesn't smoke. Just tell your friends you are really sensitive to it, that it makes you dizzy and your throat hurt whenever you inhale it, and not to do it around you.

As far as cooked food goes, if I forced myself to personally cook everything I ate that wasn't raw, I'd probably be able to stick to 100% raw. It turns me off when I actually see how violently destructive it is. I was baking cookies last week for my husband and watching it cook with the oven light on. It was so gross watching the oils in it violently bubbling up so much as it heated up and actually watching all the chemical reactions and changes in it. Makes me realize just how bad it is for me.

i tell people with too much perfume on that it's irritating my sinuses. i try not to be a total jerk about it but i just can. not. stand. perfume. especially on men, OMG, WHY? please, just smell like a guy dude, i can't take the fake stank.

Very interesting thread. While I don't have as keen a sense of smell as everyone here, since going raw my olfaction has definitely sharpened. I can smell the soap people wear, their shampoo, their deoderant, and there's one cologne bodywash I abhore. I think it's called Axe. I smell it everywhere, and it's truly disgusting. The insides of some stores stink. I now smell rotten carpet where I work, and this is bad because I never smelled it until going all raw. I can go on and on about smells, and I don't think it's simply "suggestion" because I'll be totally thinking about something else, or doing things, and I'll whiff some powerful and sudden odor...

I live in the city, and the smells of smog, exhaust fumes, gasoline, oil, and construction are all very strong. Today while walking the streets I smelled paint. Like, spray paint, everywhere. I can smell insecticides and herbicides in the grass, landscaping, and in shrubs very clearly now.

I'm wondering if it's the elimination of all dairy from my diet, and a simple cleaning out of my sinuses and decreased mucous.

Since my (cooked) childhood I`ve got migraine headache from the smell of perfumes and stronger soaps or air freshener. Now it is not so bad but I still hold my breath back in stores or among people sometimes. hehe.
Also in childhood I noticed that people who had cold, smelled just like the medicine I`ve got when I was sick with cold.
Cooked food does not have the same pleasant smell anymore (most of them). I think somehow The cooked oil or fat in them smell rancid (kid of). It almost hurts my throat.
I was wondering about if the the food particles go into the body by smelling hot food just like nik wrote about. Interesting.

I've always been sensitive to strong odors, too. I've gotten many migraines that are triggered from odors (perfumes, especially), and my throat hurts/gets irritated. Since going 100% raw it has only increased my sense of smell. Most times it's thrilling to smell even more of the wonderful odors in nature, but the horrible man-made odors are too unbearable! We are actually listing our home to sell, so that we can move somewhere that has cleaner air. Plus, I am drawn to the sun so much now that I'm raw and I need to live in a sunnier place.

Nik, I do something a bit similar to dog sniffing, too, to identify odors. LOL I noticed my daughter does it, as well. I can usually identify the ingredients in mixed raw food dishes by the odors. :-)

Love,

Gypsy

I had a terrible sense of smell, but now it's excellent.

I work with kids, student teaching, and they smell like all sorts of bizzare things. I can pinpoint what each one might have had for breakfast.

the durian thing happens to me, but it only lasts a few days.

I used to eat tons of raw brocolli before I was raw...my old roomate once said "a sale on brocolli to you is like a sale on Ben and Jerry's to me." Now that I can smell it while I eat it, it makes me sick. just the thought of it even.

measure twice, cut once.

"In Watermelon Sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar." ~r.brautigan

I make paintings

I am working in a biology lab and I always notice smells before anyone else. My coworkers think I have an unusually acute sense of smell.

Sometimes when I walk out my back door I smell something "electrical" in the air. It's not all the time, but it causes me to envision the odor of burning electrical wires of some sort. This has been for two years, moreso after raw.

I also smell the gas coming from the stove pilot whenever I chop veggies in the kitchen. My hubby never does. It's so strong to me that I'm always checking the pilot to see if it's out.


Odors abound....