Msg help

So I’ve been on the msg-free diet suggested on the msg-myth page for almost 3 weeks now; it’s really borign as it’s only brown rice, milk, eggs and vegetables.

My symptoms are low, but I’m not sure whether it’s cause of the diet as I’ve started taking antihistamines to help me sleep at the same time (sleep has been crucial to make me feel like a human being).

How long does one have to be on the diet in order to see whether that’s what’s causing my problems? Any msg expert around? :stuck_out_tongue:

Mikael

Kim is the Queen of MSG :slight_smile:

Kimmeeeeee where are you ???

Personally, I just watch for foods high in added MSG. The key that I use is to look at the list of ingrediants, if it is in there, higher than the middle, and the sodium level is high, then I don’t touch it.

I will admit that I am a little sloppy on the diet. I probably could have better relief if I was a little more strict, but with two kids, a wife that likes flavor in her food, and myself taking night classes, we don’t have time to cook three seperate meals for each meal, one for the kids, one for my wife, and one for me. I just watch for the foods that I know will trigger me. When I say trigger, it can hit me as fast as still being in the middle of eating the food when it hits me and I find myself curled up in a ball, hoping someone can help me to a nearby couch.

I have been on it very strictly for almost two months now and it has been a big help for me. I ate some green bean casserole on Thanksgiving and it has cream of mushroom soup which has MSG. I felt really lousy on Saturday and I think that is one of the culprits , plus the weather was bad here so that coupled with the food did me in on Saturday.

I have become pretty creative with my diet a lot of chicken, fish and fresh vegetables. I cannot have the bread or rice because of sugar issues but I felt so bad before I started it that I will suffer through boring before I will go back to the way I felt. :mrgreen:

MSG is not always spelled out in the ingredients so you have to be really careful not to get something that is not listed as MSG.

msgmyth.com/hidename.htm

nutrition4health.org/nohanews/NNSp00_MSG.htm

Last night I tried to eat stuff which I was pretty sure had msg in it (peanut-butter chocolate etc).

What happened? I couldn’t sleep. Had huge trouble being still. And then I remembered that this always happens to me if I eat candy in the evening. Maybe it’s the msg which does that, or maybe the sugar? :stuck_out_tongue:

Will definately go back on the diet though, feel pretty lousy today…

— Begin quote from “MikaelHS”

Last night I tried to eat stuff which I was pretty sure had msg in it (peanut-butter chocolate etc).

What happened? I couldn’t sleep. Had huge trouble being still. And then I remembered that this always happens to me if I eat candy in the evening. Maybe it’s the msg which does that, or maybe the sugar? :stuck_out_tongue:

Will definately go back on the diet though, feel pretty lousy today…

— End quote

Peanut butter = nuts = trigger
Chocolate = caffeine, phenylethylamine = trigger
Might be MSG in 'em too, but even if it’s not, those two triggers alone are more than enough to be nasty.

Mikael, I’m one who is extremely sensitive to MSG, I’m no expert by any means, but I’ve learned alot in the past couple years (thats for sure). Ridding my diet of it has made a huge difference for me.

I agree, brown rice, eggs and vegies are very boring - especially 3 weeks in!!! :shock:
When I started, I didn’t see huge improvements overnight. Just small ones. Enough for me to know I was on to something, and it was all the motivation I needed to keep trying. It was very difficult (still is at times). Everytime I thought I was “MSG - free”, I would discover I really wasn’t. It would be hidden in something I was consuming regularly (even in my toothpaste- yuck!)

My advice to you is this - if you think you are having some improvements with the diet (even if they are small ones) continue on. Chances are you are probably still getting small amounts of MSG here and there. Are you in the U.S.? (Here, they inject alot of our poultry with it before its sent to the stores, its added to our meats, and its even sprayed on our vegetables (a product called Auxigrow). Not ALL of it, but much of it, and the average consumer has no idea.

I eat pretty much normal these days (well, many would say its not normal - lol). I just have to work harder at it. I actually have to cook now (yuck). No more fastfood burgers, or microwave meals from the freezer. :x

If you want to PM me, I’ll give you a sample of what I eat in a day. Theres also a great MSG Forum -

msgmyth.com/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

There’s a ton of good information there, lots of helpful stuff. You need to start adding foods back into your diet, slowly. In the beginning my reactions were very delayed (3 days), so it was hard to pinpoint when certain things were affecting me. Over time, my reactions now happen faster, and its a bit easier to spot when I’ve slipped.

Hope you feel better -
Kim

P.S. -

I can eat peanuts, chocolate, and all of the other “migraine triggers” without any trouble as long as it doesn’t have MSG in it. (Not everyone can though). It took some sleuthing (ALOT of sleuthing), but it was well worth it. :mrgreen: