Continuing this thread
Hi Mick,
Thank you for your reply - My Godmother and sister-in-law make the homemade lime or kiwi marinated (organic) chicken or organic/grass fed beef that I react to now. The lime juice in the marinate is fresh squeezed from whole limes (I've watched myself). And when kiwi is used in the marinade, its juiced (with water only) fresh kiwi.
If my Godmother or sister-in law make boiled or grilled chicken or beef (with nothing added to it) - I'm ok.
They also like to make a tomato and kale salad with lime and avocado dressing (made with fresh squeezed limes) - and I don't react to the salad. If I drink water with fresh squeezed lime added, I'm ok too, no reaction.
That's why I've gotten to the point of wondering what's up with the process of marinating.
I definitely agree with you about over cooking meat potentially causing MSG reactions.
A couple months ago a friend who does not cook often, made Galbi-jim - a Korean dish in which chunks of beef are 'stewed' in a pressure cooker with soy sauce, garlic, and cane sugar. She used organic, grass fed beef and 'no msg added' soy sauce, but WAY over cooked the meat. I made the mistake of having a good sized portion of the meat. Within 10 minutes my face became itchy. Within 30 minutes I was all-over itchy. In my case I don't do well with Benadryl, but I felt so itchy that I took a benadryl. Soon I felt icky/nauseous from the Benadryl and still itchy. The next morning when I woke up I felt like I'd been run over by a truck - I had a massive headache, whole body aches, and had just a sick, poisoned feeling in my stomach for 2 days.
Anyway, like you and Sass write, when you know you react to something, avoid it.
Like (I'd guess) so many people you hear from, I didn't use to notice or feel the effects of MSG. But in the last year it feels like I've tipped past some balance point. Now I definitely react to MSG. And now I get stronger reactions from smaller and smaller amounts of it. (Such a bummer)
Agai,n thank you and Sass for your site. I'm checking labels now, learning ingredients, and working on avoiding all the forms of MSG I can.
What sort of reactions have you and Sass gotten from other people? From family? From friends?
When I tell one of my family "I'm allergic" to soy sauce or MSG, they kind of seem to get it. But if instead I say I react to MSG, they look at me like I'm a hypochondriac or being dramatic.
My mom, luckily is great. She completely understands and sympathizes with what I'm now starting to go through with MSG because she was diagnosed a year ago with Celiac Disease and is msg senstitive also. If my Mom happens to cook something I know I will react to, she doesn't take it personally if I tell her I'm really sorry but I can't eat that dish.
Others in my family, though, seem to take it personally and give me some push back. I don't want to get the reputation of being a picky eater, but on the other hand I don't want to feel I have to eat something I know I'm going to react too.
I'm getting better at just smiling and hiding msg-filled food in paper napkins or on my plate under napkins, but its kind of a bummer.
Thank you again!
Name withheld
My Reply
Sass and I are not experts on the chemical construct of food additives, although a lot of our research has caused us to learn more about chemistry than I would have ever thought I would simply to be able to understand the language used by the industry. If they don't confuse you with the names they use, they will with their explanation of how it is derived.
The number one advice we give is to become a label reader. Print out the list of ingredients we have afforded you and carry it with you while you are shopping. I can assure you, your shopping time will increase two fold by doing this. I think when we quit being in a hurry to get our shopping done, it allowed us to make better decisions when picking out the food we purchased. If you email us your address, we will send you a laminated pocket card with some of the ingredients to avoid....no charge.
We have heard of the complete gambit of symptoms. The number one complaint, of course, is headaches, followed by light sensitivity, lethargicism, tingling in fingers, and throwing up. We also have been told how a mother used our website as well as other websites to cure her 12 year old son of ADHD.
We had a gentleman from England that had been doctored for depression and even managed to avoid shock treatment while this was going on thank us for our website. His research brought him to our site and he used the information to change his diet and cure his depression.
We believe the use of excitotoxins is the number one cause of obesity in the nation. We also suspect that conditions such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease are caused by the use of excitotoxins. by the way, throw in the increased use of high fructose corn syrup in our syrup for the increase in diabetes and you can see how the food industry is doing us no favors.
We found many of our friends and relatives looked at Sassafras like she was being fussy. We have gone to a dinner party where she literally cannot eat anything the host/hostess has prepared. This can be a very touchy situation. We now, when invited, ask the questions when we are invited and if we are not sure, then we eat before we arrive. We have come to the conclusion that there is no reason for Sass to be embarrassed about her condition. There is nothing she did to cause it. The same, I am sure, goes for you. In fact, we tell people she is like the canary in the mine. Everybody is being affected by the use of excitotoxins, Sass is the one that is reacting. Most people don't get it. They make "homemade" soup and use chicken stock from a can. They make a barbeque sauce by opening a bottle and adding spices and claim it is homemade. They use flavor packets for their gravy, soups, etc and they are loaded with excitotoxins. They serve diet pops, diet anything really is harmful because of the use of fake sugars. By the way, most of the commercial Stevia everybody espouses as healthy, is made from an extract and all extracts are harmful to you.
One last thing, carrageenan is being used by the food industry as a binder in so many products. In the SW, Sass cannot eat the cottage cheese because they use carrageenan. This is not true in the Midwest. Almost all ice cream has carrageenan in it today. It is found in almost all the toothpastes. Carrageenan was used by the pharmaceutical industry to kill brain cells in lab animals to mimic Parkinson's Disease so they could test medicines they were developing for that disease and it is now used in our food supply. UGH!
Keep up the good fight
Mick and Sassafras Zellar
Show message history