My 15-year journey
From constant fatigue, H. pylori and winter-long colds to a steadier daily baseline — how I got here, in order, with the dead ends left in.
Read my journey →
General wellness • Oral biome • Lived research
Wellness from the inside out — starting with the mouth.
I’m Shawn — a 52-year-old regular person who’s spent fifteen years rebuilding his health. I’ve made progress on energy, diet, movement and the gut. Periodic bad breath is the one that’s fought back the hardest. I call it the last frontier — and I’m investigating it in public, one honest experiment at a time.
Free content is the give-back. No hype, no miracle claims — just what I’m learning, what I tried, and what I’m still getting wrong.
15 yearsOn this journey
13Pillars so far
3Areas in progress
The show
Play episodes
Inside Out Wellness — new episodes as the research unfolds
Where to start
Pick the thread that sounds most like you. Everything here is personal experience and shared research — educational only, never a prescription.
Oral biome & fresh breath
Tongue coating, hydration, sugar, arginine, BLIS K12/M18 — the live investigation. Wins, open questions, and how to check your own breath honestly.
Enter the investigation →Food & meal plans
Daily anchors that support fresh breath from the inside out, plus practical packable lunches and the full free 7-day plan.
See the food page →
“I won’t tell you any of this will do the same for you. I’m not qualified to. But if the tiredness, the stomach trouble, the feeling of just not being well sounds familiar — maybe something I tried is worth reading about.”
— Shawn, from My Journey
My Journey
My 15-year journey
By Shawn — this is my personal story. I’m not a doctor or clinician, and nothing here is medical advice. It’s just what I did, what I tried, and what I learned along the way.
Where I started
I’ll be honest: fifteen years ago, I was a much different person in terms of health.
I had been eating the same way for about 20 years. I was physically tired all the time — not the kind of tired a good night’s sleep fixes, just a constant, low-grade exhaustion. I had a general feeling of not being well, hard to describe but impossible to ignore. Every winter I’d get sick for at least three weeks. On top of that, I had stomach issues — H. pylori, burning, the works. And stress. Plenty of stress.
My own health concerns were always in the back of my mind — not as fear, exactly, more as a nudge. They made me think harder about what I could actually control.
Why it mattered to me
For me it came down to two things, and they’re pretty simple.
First, I want to be healthy for my family. That’s it. I want to be around, and I want to be around well — not dragging myself through the day.
Second, I want to perform at work. I put food on the table with my brain and my energy, and when your body isn’t cooperating, everything gets harder. Health, for me, is practical. It’s not abstract.
Some of the broader numbers had stuck in my head too — cancer accounts for about 30% of all deaths in Canada, heart disease about 29%, and someone in Canada dies from heart disease or stroke every 7 minutes. I’m not saying my routine changes any of that. I just mean those numbers made the whole thing feel less optional and more worth taking seriously.
What happened next
I didn’t flip a switch overnight. This was a journey — fifteen years of trying things, keeping what seemed to work for me, and dropping what didn’t.
It started with a detox. Then massage and chiropractic care. Then natural supplements. Exercise — which led me to realize I had to fix my diet first, because my body wasn’t absorbing nutrients properly. Then paying attention to the air I breathe and the water I drink. Shifting toward plants. Saunas and swapping out household products. Chlorophyll. Fermented foods for the gut. Cutting sugar. Eating alkaline. Eating with the seasons.
Thirteen steps in all, more or less in the order I took them — and the journey isn’t finished: hydration, sleep and exercise are the frontiers I’m exploring now, and I’ll add them here as they earn their place. That’s what the rest of this site is about — each step, in my own words: what I did, and what I learned.
I won’t tell you any of this will do the same for you. I’m not qualified to. But if any part of my story sounds familiar — the tiredness, the stomach trouble, the feeling of just not being well — then maybe something I tried is worth reading about. Talk to your own doctor or a qualified professional before you change anything. This is educational, from one regular person to another.
Thank you for listening.
Wellness Pillars
The 13 pillars
By Shawn. I’m not a clinician — these are things I personally tried over fifteen years, in my own words. Educational only, not medical advice. Talk to a qualified professional before making changes.
Areas still in progress
The 13 pillars are what fifteen years have taught me so far. These three are where I’m continuing to learn and experiment.
Water
Hydration, done properly: how much, when, and what it actually does for energy, skin and breath. My hydration experiment on the Oral Biome page is the start of this one.
Sleep
The pillar I undervalued the longest. I’m tracking what genuinely improves my sleep — timing, light, the wind-down — instead of just counting hours.
Exercise, deeper
Exercise is already pillar 4 — this frontier is the next layer: strength and recovery alongside the cardio, and how training should change as the years add up.
That’s the arc so far — thirteen steps, in roughly the order I took them, with more to come. None of this is medical advice. It’s one person’s journey, shared in case something in it resonates with yours.
Oral Biome & Fresh Breath — the flagship
The last frontier: my bad-breath investigation
Educational purposes only — not medical advice. I am not a clinician and I hold no medical credentials — I’m just like you: a normal, everyday person trying to figure this out. Everything here is what I’m learning about my own mouth, shared as I go. If you have concerns about your own health, talk to your dentist or doctor. Nothing here diagnoses or treats any condition, and nothing here is a recommendation for you to take anything.
Why I’m calling this the last frontier
Over the years I’ve tackled a lot of health and wellness questions, and most of them eventually yielded to research, tracking, and consistency. Periodic bad breath is the exception. It is, honestly, the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to figure out — the last frontier to crack — and I’ve been working on it for a long time.
Here’s where it stands today: something has finally started working for me. I’m calling it a breakthrough because that’s honestly what it feels like — but it’s my experience only, I’m still testing it, and it is not a cure or a treatment for anyone else. As it holds up, I’ll write up exactly what changed. Until then, this page stays what it’s always been: a live investigation — here’s what I’m learning, with the wins, the dead ends, and the open questions all on the table.
The yellow tongue coating — my observation, not a diagnosis
For a long time I’ve noticed a yellow coating on my tongue. My own observation: it seems worse in the summer. I have a working suspicion that it might be related to a mild Candida overgrowth — but that is a suspicion, nothing more. A tongue coating can have many causes, no diagnosis has been made, and I’m not going to pretend mine is anything specific.
Why mention it at all? Because it’s the visible clue that started the deeper dive. If I’m going to figure this out, I have to start from what I can actually see.
Food & Meal Plans
Food & eating for a fresher mouth
Food is one of the easiest levers I can actually pull. I won’t pretend a meal plan is a cure for anything — it’s just what I eat, and why I think it helps support fresh breath from the inside out.
The 7-day meal plan
The full rotating plan — breath-friendly meals, proteins, fermented dairy and vegetables, and lunches that pack well — lives in a free downloadable PDF.
Simple, repeatable meals: yogurt or kefir at breakfast, chicken or turkey bowls and wraps at lunch, salmon or chicken at dinner, plus nuts, fruit, and cheese for snacks. The lunches are designed to be packed the night before and still taste good at noon.
Direct file: assets/7-day-meal-plan.pdf — the same plan referenced from my morning food-plan thread (Days 1–3 originals, Days 4–7 on the same principles).
Daily anchors
Small things I do every day — honestly, they carry more weight than what’s on the plate:
- 💧Sip water through the day — roughly 2–2.5 litres. A dry mouth is a stale mouth.
- 🍵1–2 cups unsweetened green tea — my afternoon drink.
- ◯Xylitol gum after meals — chew a few minutes after eating.
- 🧀Small piece of aged cheese after lunch & dinner — helps raise mouth pH ~30 min.
- ↺Tongue scrape, morning & night — back of tongue is where buildup collects.
- ◎Baking-soda or ginger rinse — ½ tsp baking soda in warm water, 60s; or simple ginger rinse. Pick one.
Quick reference
Alkaline / acid food chart
Pillar 12 on my journey was alkaline eating, so here’s the chart I keep coming back to. It’s based on each food’s PRAL score (potential renal acid load, in mEq per 100g) — the standard measure researchers use for whether a food leaves an alkaline or acidic residue after digestion. Values are approximate; preparation and variety shift them a little.
How to read it: negative PRAL = alkaline-forming, near zero = neutral, positive PRAL = acid-forming. This is about metabolic residue, not taste — lemons taste acidic but are alkaline-forming once digested.
Highly alkaline-forming
PRAL −5 or lowerSpinach −14Raisins −21Kale −8Bananas −5.5Celery −5Beet greensSwiss chardArugula
Mildly alkaline-forming
PRAL −1 to −5Carrots −4.9Potatoes −4Cauliflower −4Tomatoes −3.1Oranges −2.7Lemons −2.5Apples −2.2Watermelon −1.9Almonds −2.8BroccoliBell peppersCucumberZucchini
Neutral
PRAL near 0Olive oilCoconut oilButterHoney −0.3Milk +0.7Coffee −1.4
Fats like olive oil, coconut oil and butter are roughly neutral.
Mildly acid-forming
PRAL +1 to +9Lentils +3.5White rice +4.6Whole-grain spaghetti +6.5Tuna +7.4Beef +7.8Eggs +8.2Peanuts +8Wheat bread +8.2Chicken +8.7Cottage cheese +8.7
Highly acid-forming
PRAL +9 or higherSalmon +9.4Turkey +9.9Oats +10.7Brown rice +12.5Walnuts +6.8 (moderate — grouped with the heavier nuts)Cheddar +26Parmesan +34
One honest catch
Alkaline-forming is not the same as tooth- or breath-friendly. Raisins are one of the most alkaline-forming foods on this chart — and they’re sticky sugar bombs that feed the exact oral bacteria behind bad breath. Eat the chart, but brush the reality.
A lens, not a prescription
This is a general-wellness lens I explored on my journey, not a prescription. No single food “alkalizes your blood” — your body regulates pH tightly on its own. I use this chart as a nudge toward more vegetables and fruit, not as medical advice.
What I ease off
None of this is medical advice — it’s just what I’ve cut back on personally:
- Sugary drinks and snacks (sugar feeds the bacteria that create odour)
- Heavy soy-sauce dipping
- Sweet, sticky sauces that cling to teeth
- Alcohol-based mouthwash — dries the mouth out, works against freshness
This is my experience, not a prescription. What’s here is meant to support the meal plan PDF, not replace it.
Podcast
Inside Out Wellness — the podcast
Conversations about everyday wellness, the oral biome, and the learning journey. Hosted by Shawn with a co-host. New episodes follow the research as it happens.
My 15-Year Health Journey
Shawn tells the full story behind the site: the fatigue, the H. pylori chapter, the prevention nudge, and the 13 steps that followed — detox through seasonal eating — told as personal experience, not advice. A co-host interviews.
File:
assets/my-15-year-health-journey.mp3 (10:13) • Shawn — male voice, co-host — female voice
The Last Frontier: My Bad-Breath Breakthrough
The flagship investigation, out loud: the yellow tongue coating observation, the 0.6L hydration wake-up call, the Raisin Bran sugar problem, arginine and the protein shake, and where BLIS K12/M18 fits — promising, not proven. No cures claimed, just the log so far.
File:
assets/the-last-frontier-bad-breath-breakthrough.mp3 (8:28) • Shawn — male voice, co-host — female voiceHow this show is made
Episodes are built from the same research notes you can read on this site — same guardrails on air as on the page: teach general wellness, share experience and research, don’t diagnose anyone or prescribe for individuals. “Educational purposes only” up front, every time.
Journal & Updates
Follow the journal as it grows
New journal entries and podcast episodes will appear here as the research develops. If you’d like a short email when something new is published, send a follow request below.
My 15-year health journey
The starting point: fatigue, stomach trouble, the health-history nudge, and the 13 steps that shaped this project.
Read the entry →The last frontier
An evolving record of what I’m learning about the oral biome, hydration, sugar, tongue coating and fresh breath.
Read the latest log →Listen to the conversations
Shawn and a co-host explore the same journey out loud, with new episodes added as there is something useful to share.
Browse episodes →Follow new posts
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Send a comment or question
Have a comment on an episode or journal entry? Send Shawn a private message here.
About
About Shawn & this site
Shawn, 52, is just a regular person — a normal, everyday guy — who has spent the past 15 years quietly working on his own health. Inside Out Wellness is where he shares what he’s learning — starting with the oral microbiome and the personal journey behind it. He’s not a clinician; he’s a researcher of his own experience, sharing it so others can do their own digging.
Why this exists
Most people dealing with bad breath are embarrassed and not finding good answers. The core content here stays free — the meal plan, the guides, the journal and the live investigation log. That free content is the give-back.
Inside Out Wellness is a place for honest notes from lived experience: what I tried, what changed, what didn’t, and what I’m still learning. New journal entries and podcast episodes are added only when there is something useful to share.