Striving4Zen

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of the most common and hazardous food additives on the market. MSG is reportedly more toxic than alcohol, tobacco and many drugs. MSG is an excitotoxin, so it tricks your brain into wanting to eat more and more foods containing the ingredient, even if you are already full. Side effects of MSG include: obesity, eye damage, headaches, depression, fatigue and disorientation. Food manufacturers know that health-conscious consumers try to avoid MSG, so it is oftentimes not listed in a product's ingredients.

MSG is banned in organic foods.

Here's a list of ingredients that ALWAYS contain MSG:

Autolyzed Yeast -- Calcium Caseinate -- Gelatin Glutamate -- Glutamic Acid -- Hydrolyzed Protein -- Monopotassium Glutamate -- Monosodium Glutamate -- Sodium Caseinate -- Textured Protein -- Yeast Extract -- Yeast Food -- Yeast Nutrient

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Labels: food additives, MSG, toxic, toxins

Olestra: a.k.a. Olean is a synthetic fat found in some potato chips and prevents fat from getting absorbed in your digestive system. It can also inhibit vitamins found in fruits and vegetables from being absorbed.

Sodium nitrate: used to preserve color and flavor in meat products like bacon, ham, smoked fish and luncheon meats. This preservative prevents the growth of healthy bacteria and has also been linked to various types of cancer.

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydrozyttoluene (BHT): used to preserve foods like cereals, chewing gum and potato chips. Both are antioxidants that may cause cancer.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG): an amino acid used to flavor soups, salad dressings and restaurant food. It can cause headaches and nausea and other health problems.

Most of these additives are used to preserve and enhance the flavor of packaged foods. You don’t need to eat bland food, but rather by eating fewer packaged foods and opting for ingredients you can pronounce like vegetables, whole grains and fruit you will maintain or improve your health.

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Labels: BHA, BHT, MSG, Olean, preservatives, sodium nitrate, toxic, toxins, unhealthy

Eat food, not food products. This doesn’t mean you have to forgo all forms of soy, but I’ll just say up front that food products with “the benefits of soy” conveniently added in just aren’t convincing me.

As I’ve said before, soy really needs some form of preparation before it’s safe to eat, and that in and of itself gives me pause. That said, minimally processed soy forms like fermented tempeh and miso as well as edamame seem like preferable options.

Soy processing isn’t a very comforting picture with acid washing and neutralization solutions, large and leaching aluminum tanks, and high temperature heating (rarely a good thing in the food world). And this doesn’t take into account the artificial flavorings, including MSG, that are often times added to improve flavor. (Hmmm. When we say healthy tastes great, we kind of mean a food itself and not all the chemical crap added to it. No?) Finally, it’s vital to go organic when it comes to soy. Not only is it nearly all genetically modified, it has one of the highest pesticide contamination levels of any crop.

Thanks Mark!

Labels: food, MSG, pesticides, soy, Whole Foods

Food manufacturers are not stupid. They’ve caught on to the fact that people like you want to avoid eating this nasty food additive.

As a result, do you think they responded by removing MSG from their products?
Well, a few may have, but most of them just tried to “clean” their labels. In other words, they tried to hide the fact that MSG is an ingredient.

How do they do this?
By using names that you would never associate with MSG. Fortunately, you can get a full list of ingredients that contain MSG at MSGMyth.com.

For instance, the ingredients below may all contain MSG:
Gelatin
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP)
Yeast Extract
Malted Barley
Rice Syrup or Brown Rice Syrup
Textured Protein
Glutamate

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Labels: food, healthy eating, MSG, toxins, Whole Foods