Hi,
I also have noticed that my towel smells strongly of ammonia after class. Out of curiosity I did some research. It seems that at a molecular level this happens because your body makes ammonia when it’s forced to consume proteins for energy.
The interesting thing for me is that I am NOT on a low carbohydrate diet. Maybe my intake of carbs has gone down just because I’m more conscious of what I’m eating than I was a year ago, but I don’t avoid carbs. My most common breakfast is a bowl of multigrain oatmeal. For lunch I almost always eat a sandwich and I love having thick slices of bread. My dinners normally incorporate rice, seafood, and steamed vegetables in some combination.
I will have to talk to my doctor about this, but I have a theory: it’s not that my diet is too low on carbs, it’s more likely that I’m just drinking a very low-carb electrolyte drink. My drink of choice during practice has been nuun (the no caffeine type), literally 2g of carbs in a serving and none of those are simple sugar.
I also have a more active than average metabolism, I also arrive at class having eaten almost nothing in the previous four hours. Probably all of those things contribute. But I wonder about those glucose tabs. Simon, did the glucose tabs help you?
Since the ammonia smell means my body is metabolizing protein for energy, I definitely want to see what I need to do to reduce it. That’s not exactly ideal – I think we want to use proteins to build muscle, right? Switching to Gatorade or any other sugary electrolyte drink isn’t an option. They make me sick to my stomach.
