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Saturday, December 6, 2008

An MSG Rant **EDIT**

Last night RL and I were in the grocery store trying to find some ranch dressing. I usually make my own dressing, but I was out of the necessary ingredients to make my mix. To avoid spending a bundle on spices, I thought I'd just buy a bottle already made. Boy was I was shocked when I checked the labels of all the popular (aka delicious) brands of ranch dressing ! Every single one of them contained MSG (monosodium glutamate) . It frustrates me to no end that almost everything now contains this harmful substance. It's very difficult to shop for ordinary things. I posted a video below that shows some of the harmful neurological effects of MSG. I also have some physical reactions to MSG. Almost upon touching my tongue, my skin begins to become bright red and blotchy. I start to feel slightly nauseous and if there's a high concentration I can even become dizzy. The next day's effects are much worse though. I experience terrible stomach cramps and diarrhea, which often leave me bed bound for a couple hours.

One recent MSG reaction happened at KFC. I don't usually eat there, but I received some coupons in the mail and gave in. RL had worked a long shift and I had been busy all day, so there was no dinner made at home that day. I went to KFC out of the sheer convenience. I later wished I hadn't given into that convenience factor. We both got the hot bar there. I took a couple bites of some breaded okra and immediately the rush of redness came over my skin. I started to chill and felt like the sides of my face were literally expanding. I continued to eat some chicken and didn't notice any change, but when I ate another piece of okra, my symptoms increased. I'm certain that the okra was full of MSG to cause that degree of a reaction. A bit later, my symptoms started going away, but then I ate a little bite of the skin from my chicken and it all started again. So apparently I now am not able to eat there anymore. Take this as a word of caution if you too are allergic or highly sensitive to MSG.... no KFC.

MSG is a terrible toxin in our foods today. I learned a lot by watching the following video. I had always wondered why I was so drawn to foods with MSG. You ladies know that kind of craving I'm talking about right? You know when your mouth is literally watering thinking about some nice cheesy Doritos or Cheetos or even some peanut butter. Now I know why those things have enticed me so. I hope you'll be enlightened some from this entry and the video below. If you don't want these toxins in your body, please do some research and check your food labels. It's really important to take care of your body, especially for those of us trying to conceive and/or with PCOS.




~*Melody*~

**Edit** I wanted to add a link to another website. http://www.msgtruth.org/
This page in particular.
Apparently there's research now that theorizes some cancers can now be linked to glutamate receptor cells. Interesting...huh?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never had a reaction to MSGs. Sam's mom doesn't do well with them. Actually, I've never had any problems with any foods, ever.

I don't tend to crave those types of foods, either, probably since I really care for Doritoes, Cheetos or peanut butter haha (well I love fake sugared peanute butter in desserts, but not real). I'm not a big salty or sweet snack food person, though. I'd rather sit and snack on meat, haha, or something like pizza rolls, hot pockets or McDonald's fries.

When I crave something, it's almost always steak or pickles, lol. IF I crave some kind of typical junk food, it's usually Martin's handcooked potato chips that you can get in PA but not here, haha, but ONLY them.

Melody said...

Lauren, after reading more into that website, I found that most steak sauces are full of MSG. I also crave pickles a lot, but some of them also contain MSG. I buy a lot of organic pickles.

Unknown said...

It's incredible to discover the wide range of foods that contain MSG. All Campbell's condensed soups contain it. Most any pre-packaged food that has a "meaty" flavor will have MSG, whether it actually says MSG or not (there are a lot of other ingredient labels companies use to get around having to outright say MSG). It's terrible.

Liberty said...

I heard that Taco Bell has alot of MSG. I have found that since we stopped eating out I don't crave it anymore and I definitely know it was the msg.

Christina said...

I don't have reactions to MSG, but the knowledge that I'm consuming a harmful chemical is not appealing to me. Yuck.

Kay said...

I suppose I'm like Christina. I haven't had any problems from it, and honestly never really knew what it was, just that half the Chinese places say "NO MSG" on their signs (lol). I'm not thrilled with the idea that I'm consuming this stuff though, and it kinda makes me angry to know they put this stuff in junk and perpetuate the obesity epidemic. No wonder kids want junk ALL the time!

Anonymous said...

Melody, (haha I almost wrote "ryc")

I don't eat steak sauce, it ruins a good steak. :) The pickles I always eat are Claussen refrigerator pickles and they don't have MSG in them, because I just checked! haha

For His Glory said...

i found the video very interesting. i haven't really searched labels for msg and perhaps should start. we eat out a lot, usually sit down restaurants and almost never fast food, but do they do it too? i stopped artificial sweeteners about a month ago when i heard it likened to/or was it actually - formaldhyde on a tv program - that made me want to stop! anyway, it bugs me that they get you addicted to stuff by adding stuff - isn't it kinda like subliminal messaging that they outlawed in tv ads years ago? doing something we're unaware of in order to get us hooked - anyway, thanks for the info.

Adrian said...

I'll have to come back to watch this video later.

Blessed Among Women said...

I've not ever had a reaction,thankfully. I'm sorry about all that Mel.

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