My fiftieth birthday came and went this past year. Very uneventful. Then all of a sudden I was experiencing terrible headaches accompanied with an all-over feeling of blah. The headaches would last for a few days, and then when they were gone, I felt like I was in a fog and incapable of thinking clearly. My sister was visiting from out of town during this time, and reminded me that she is allergic to MSG and our brother to balsamic vinegar. But the food I was eating had neither of those ingredients listed on the label.
With my next headache, and suspecting the link between the food and the pain, I listed all the ingredients from the meal.
To make a long story short, and after hours of researching and reading, I have discovered that my body has a bad reaction to free glutamic acid. This includes MSG, but it is not the only thing. (Some manufacturing processes free the glutamic acids in the foods, basically turning it into MSG.) The very abbreviated list includes every commercial salad dressing, every commercial soup, soft serve ice cream, mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, broth or bouillon, and many additives in processed foods.
I can really get going on this topic, but I will leave that to others. To read an informative article about it, go here.
It is so much safer to make everything from scratch. We shop the perimeter of the store now, and skip all the boxed and canned foods in the middle.
Looking back at all the changes that have come into my life in the last six months, I am amazed. It is really easy to turn down food when I know the consequences will be so devastating to my life over the next few days. (My worst headache yet - 4 days! - was after eating garlic flavored hummus from my local grocery store. It tasted delicious. It had "natural flavoring" in it.) I heard someone say that you can make dirt taste good if you add MSG to it.
Besides being forced to learn new ways of eating, I also chose to become a vegetarian this year, both for ethical and health reasons. (It turns my stomach to think of chickens having the points of their beaks ground off so they don't peck each other in their very confined pens.) I have been very happy with the results and am healthier than I have been for decades.
This blog is to share what I have learned and to pass along great recipes. I am not a nutritionist, or a dietitian, but the things I have acquired have changed my life for the better. Maybe someone else can benefit from this information.
To make a long story short, and after hours of researching and reading, I have discovered that my body has a bad reaction to free glutamic acid. This includes MSG, but it is not the only thing. (Some manufacturing processes free the glutamic acids in the foods, basically turning it into MSG.) The very abbreviated list includes every commercial salad dressing, every commercial soup, soft serve ice cream, mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, broth or bouillon, and many additives in processed foods.
I can really get going on this topic, but I will leave that to others. To read an informative article about it, go here.
It is so much safer to make everything from scratch. We shop the perimeter of the store now, and skip all the boxed and canned foods in the middle.
Looking back at all the changes that have come into my life in the last six months, I am amazed. It is really easy to turn down food when I know the consequences will be so devastating to my life over the next few days. (My worst headache yet - 4 days! - was after eating garlic flavored hummus from my local grocery store. It tasted delicious. It had "natural flavoring" in it.) I heard someone say that you can make dirt taste good if you add MSG to it.
Besides being forced to learn new ways of eating, I also chose to become a vegetarian this year, both for ethical and health reasons. (It turns my stomach to think of chickens having the points of their beaks ground off so they don't peck each other in their very confined pens.) I have been very happy with the results and am healthier than I have been for decades.
This blog is to share what I have learned and to pass along great recipes. I am not a nutritionist, or a dietitian, but the things I have acquired have changed my life for the better. Maybe someone else can benefit from this information.
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