MSG and the Butterfly

Butterfly has been having headaches for the past several years. We knew that dehydration and not eating regularly would give her headaches, but we finally realized that she'd get them after eating certain foods, too. Reading food labels led us to realize that MSG was a problem. We tested this theory over and over and realized that MSG-laden "foods" ALWAYS gave her headaches. Of course, we cut out everything containing MSG as much as we could, but she'd still occasionally get them.

This year the headaches have ramped up to migraine-like, debilitating, vomit-inducing, stay_in_a_dark_room_and_cry type of headaches. They seemed to occur every time she ate school lunch or school breakfast. They didn't happen when she ate home-cooked meals and snacks, only when she ate junk food or processed food (are they the same thing?) and now school "food".

So Butterfly is no longer allowed to eat school prepared meals. I am amazed that there's so much processed food served at school (chicken patties and nuggets, pizza, hamburgers, fish burgers, etc.) - apparently they are all made with MSG of some sort.

Butterfly still gets to have comfort foods; musubi, oven-fried chicken, peanut butter sandwiches, pizza, and stuff like that - but they are all homemade and I KNOW the food has no glutamates of any sort in them. She also gets fruit and vegetables, cheese sticks, yogurt, salads, and desserts (as you can imagine, there are a lot of brownies, chocolate cake, and chocolate chip cookies.) I'm pretty sure she eats healthier when the food comes from home. The bonus is NO HEADACHES!

After researching glutamates and MSG in particular, I am now realizing why she might still be getting some of those headaches: I'm missing the "hidden" sources of MSG. She got another headache this afternoon after eating potato chips that doesn't list MSG, but does list torula yeast. I thought I was doing a good job of giving her something safe to eat. Ha! Wikipedia defines torula yeast like this: Torula, in its inactive form (usually labeled as torula yeast), is widely used as a flavouring in processed foods and pet foods. It is produced from wood sugars, as a by-product of paper production. It is pasteurized and spray-dried to produce a fine, light grayish-brown powder with a slightly yeasty odor and gentle, slightly meaty taste.

The following quote is taken from The Health Ranger, "If you're looking for hidden forms of MSG chemicals on food labels, look for yeast extract and torula yeast, and anything that is hydrolyzed or autolyzed. Autolyzed or hydrolyzed vegetable proteins are also hidden sources of MSG, according to Dr. Russell Blaylock, author of "Excitotoxins," and perhaps the world's top expert on neurotoxic substances found in the food supply."

So I'm going to have to do a better job of reading labels and, of course, making most of our food from scratch so I'm sure of what ingredients are going into our meals. I'll now be posting snack food recipes along with the main course recipes and desserts.

Here's a little more info on glutamates:

Most people who are affected by glutamates will experience symptoms shortly after eating foods containing MSG. Typical symptoms include numbness on the back of the neck, shoulders and arms; people can have a sense of generalized weakness, and heart palpitations can occur. Other symptoms include facial pressure, headaches, nausea, chest pain and drowsiness.

What Foods to Avoid This website has a HUGE listing of fast foods, processed foods and the companies that intentionally hide MSG in their food products.

Food Additives that ALWAYS contain MSG :

Monosodium Glutamate, Autolyzed Yeast, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Hydrolyzed Protein, Hydrolyzed Plant Protein, Plant Protein Extract, Sodium Caseinate, Calcium Caseinate, Yeast Extract, Textured Protein (Including TVP), Hydrolyzed Oat Flour, Corn Oil

Food Additives That FREQUENTLY Contain MSG:

Malt Extract, Malt Flavoring, Bouillon, Broth, Stock Flavoring, Natural Flavors/Flavoring, Natural Beef Or Chicken Flavoring, Seasoning, Spices, Maltodextrin and Whey Protein

Food Additives That MAY Contain MSG:

Carrageenan, Enzymes, Soy Protein Isolate, Soy Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Concentrate

Read more: http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/msg-reaction.html#ixzz0jvCTDJdq