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Dear fellow list members,

I have received many helpful suggestions and lots of support concerning my
query about MSG.  It seems that it's a much bigger problem than most people
think (the web sites are very informative).  Also, it can be irritating when
the gut is inflamed from food intolerances (gluten and others).  The overall
consensus is to take things slow, engage in self-nurturing techniques, allow
the gut to heal, and try to slowly reintroduce foods that may be OK when the
GI tract is back to normal.

Thanks, everyone, for all your helpful words.
---Liz


...Tuna may bother you because almost all tunas have casein (milk protein)
to which you may be allergic.(I am allergic to the proteins in milk, not
lactose intolerant) Soup is very gassy so that might give you a problem. I
also have citrus fruit allergies, garlic and so many I can't even remember
them all.

Just a quick reply to your post - MSG is a definite no-no for me. I react
almost instantaneously and severely to it.  Nitrates are
also a real problem for me.  I know it is a nuisance always watching out for
what we eat - but it is better to feel good and be able to function than
take a chance.  Hope this helps a little.

I just finished a health class and MSG and asparatame was discussed.  I have
some of the symptoms so thought along with all the rest of the stuff I have
to keep track of one more thing I guess won't be too hard especially if it
helps.  I can say that this morning but at the class I was very overwhelmed.
I found 3 good websites that will give you both sides of the stories from
professional people.  They are

   www.mgsmyth.com
   www.magicnet.net/~btnature
   www.ificinfo.health.org/index9.htm

The first two  cover tomatoes, tuna, lists the hidden msg and those listed
under different names.  Hidden places they might be.  As a celiac I thought
American msg was okay.  But after reading what it can do to some of us, most
of my family will get headaches immediately upon eating a dose, it doesn't
seem worth eating it.

It sounds like you have many food intolerances.  In tuna, they can include
many vegetables to make the broth, but all three major brands are GF.  They
may use beans, however, which includes soy beans.  This could be a culprit.

Tomatoes are part of the nightshade family and many people are allergic to
this.  Perhaps an allergist can help.

The following is an article from the Fall 1997 newsletter of the NOMSG
group. It is copyrighted by the National Organization Mobilized to Stop
Glutamate. They can be reached at: P.O. Box 367, Santa Fe, NM 87504 or
800-BEATMSG (800-232-8674). Or at http://www.nomsg.com/

Have you been getting MSG reactions even when taking pains to cook from
scratch at home? One possibility is that you are using cooking methods that
manufacture MSG right in your own kitchen!

Hydrolysis of a protein is the process of breaking down its structure by
using water, heat and an acid to produce a mixture of amino acids, including
glutamate (MSG). This is easy to duplicate in the kitchen when making soups,
stews and reduced sauces which require long cooking times. The addition of
acid foods such as tomatoes, lemon juice or vinegar speeds up the
hydrolysis. In commercial production, this process goes very quickly,
achieving a 50% of protein in 2 hours. The amino acid mixture
typically contain from 20% to 40% MSG and are added to our foods as
"hydrolyzed vegetable protein" (HVP) or "natural flavors."

Therefore, you should avoid any recipe that requires long cooking times.
Soups can be made fairly safe by increasing the solid ingredients and
reducing water in order to get more flavor in a shorter period of time. Do
not use acid foods and cook for only 15 to 30 minutes maximum, at a low
simmer and leave uncovered to promotes evaporation and concentrate the
flavor. You can tell when it is done by tasting the vegetables to see if
they have given up their flavor to the broth and have become tasteless
themselves. Since meat and chicken contain much more protein than most
vegetables (dried beans and lentils are the exception), make an
all-vegetable broth to use in other soups and sauces.

The best cooking methods are grilling and stir-frying, but baking and
steaming at high temperatures for short periods of time are good also. Use
as many foods in their natural state as possible, e.g. raw vegetables, lots
of salads, raw vegetable sauces on pasta, etc. [recipe snipped....]

Tomatoes are a common problem for me as well as other members of that family
such as green peppers,  eggplant and white potatoes..I would guess that this
sensitivity is related in someway to celiac.  They are of a family called
solanacae  or  Nightshade and some members of the family include the
belladonna and Deadly Nightshade.  I found this information out long before
finding out I was gluten intolerant, when I was using up my garden produce
making a lovely dish with  tomatoes, green peppers and potatoes and having
bouts of breathing difficulty.   Now I use only red potatoes and if I use
green peppers I use them only in small amounts and tomatoes the same. And
yes I have less reaction to fresh tomatoes because there is much more tomato
in a cup of cooked down tomato sauce than a cup of tomatoes.

I can help out with the tomatoes bit.  I'm mid diagnosis, having been gluten
free for a year after a gastroscopy suggested Coeliac and then had a 5 week
gluten challenge before a second gastroscopy, which was negative. One of the
things that showed up in the second gastroscopy was that my stomach and
intestines had become inflamed.   (snip)   Talking it over with my ayurvedic
herbalist, he pointed out that tomatoes are very acidic, especially after
being cooked or digested, and that would probably irritate my inflamed gut.
He suggested avoiding them for a while, or, if really stuck, sprinkling a
teaspoon or so of sugar over them.  ( I needed to do this a few weeks later
and it seemed to work OK). My experience of twice recovering from long term
gluten ingestion is that my digestive system just wasn't up to much for a
while and that a time on really bland, simple food helped it to recover to
the stage where I could manage most things again (last time it took about 8
months, this time about 5 weeks). Maybe you would benefit from trying it
too?  stick to simple meals of well cooked vegetables, white rice,
maize-meal (polenta), pulses - its not nutritionally sound long term but it
should help in the short term.

Try to avoid raw things, fried foods, hot spices (though turmeric is very
healing for the gut, and ginger can soothe indigestion). I cut out meat,
too, 'cos I just couldn't manage it, and ended up staying vegetarian! Eat
your main meal at lunchtime and just have a small snack early evening so
that you're not still trying to digest when you go to bed.  (I negotiated
with my boss to take a longer lunch break two days a week so that I could go
home and cook for myself!)  Try not to eat out for a while because it's just
too much to cope with at first - it will get easier as you feel better and
get to know the ins and outs of the diet. If you can manage it, a short rest
before you eat helps too.