Seasonings, sauces and MSG

[josephusminimus]

One of the growing issues inside the US is the increased use of MSG by the food industry.&nbsp; For those of us who react to it monosodium whatchallit, glutamate can be a killer.&nbsp; A small dose of it taken in, say, a Chinese restaurant [where it's used profusely] shoots my blood pressure through the ceiling.<br /><br />But over the past few years, while the awareness by consumers has increased, the use of it by the fast food industry has increased correspondingly.&nbsp; And the FDA has gradually relaxed the requirements for labelling foods containing it.&nbsp; In fact, there's a movement powered by lobbyists to cease requiring labelling of MSG on any food packaging.<br /><br />I use a lot of seasonings and sauces on foods I'm cooking, and one of the ways I've found for avoiding having MSG sneaked into my diet is to buy imported seasonings whenever possible.&nbsp; Most larger cities nowadays have at least one large Oriental food store where foods imported from all over the world are on the shelves, frequently at prices far lower than in US grocery stores, or WalMart type stores.<br /><br />And most of those products still have labelling identifying what's in them, what's been added.&nbsp; MSG doesn't look much different on a Vietnamese label than it does on a Brazilian one.<br /><br />Living in an RV a person mightn't have the storage capacity to carry a lot of spices or keep sauces refrigerated after opening, and that's a problem I haven't resolved yet.&nbsp; But at least the ones I am able to carry, I can be more-or-less confident won't gift me a stroke for my trouble because the MSG added to it wasn't on the label.

 

[offroad]

And any salt too. Have you used the NO SALT products for seasoners?&nbsp;

 

[Lostinspace]

Anybody remember 'Accent' aka MSG?&nbsp; From about 1962, when I was 6, I remember we had it on the table right by the salt and pepper when I was growing up.&nbsp; Used it to kick up meat a bit.&nbsp; It's a wonder any of us made it out of childhood. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" /><br /><br />I like beef jerky and if you read the label they all have the MSG in them.&nbsp; As do slim jims too I bet.&nbsp; And they seem to put sugar in everything.&nbsp; I picked up some slaw from Publix grocery the other day and it had so much sugar in it, it wasn't edible.&nbsp; Now why would you put sugar in slaw?&nbsp; I used to like eating in Sonny's BBQ but all of their BBQ sauces have sugar added and it spoils the meal for me, so they are off my list.&nbsp; Actually I took them off the list a long time ago when they changed their garlic toast recipe, no doubt a cost cutting move.<br /><br />I make better sauces, garlic bread and all the rest a lot better than any restaurant I've been in in a long time.<br /><br />Off my foodie lectern...Wade

 

[josephusminimus]

offroad:&nbsp; I've done a lot experimenting with salt ingestion as it relates to my own blood pressure because I'm acutely aware it's considered verboten for people with high blood pressure.&nbsp; So I applied it to foods and checked my bp carefully over the next hours.&nbsp; In fact, I've done it with a lot of other additives as well, chasing foods and blood pressures all over the map trying to identify what might be excluded to keep me from having to take the meds.<br /><br />In my own case, salt doesn't seem to do anything consistently, and in the case of sea salt, it actually seems to lower it, as opposed to raising it.&nbsp; Though not enough to allow me to escape the meds.

 

[sl1966]

Kosher and Himalayan salt are also healthy alternatives to regular table salt.<br /><br />

 

[offroad]

And drink water damn it!! &nbsp;Just not drinking enough water.&nbsp;

 

[josephusminimus]

Offroad:&nbsp; If the motive is to lower my blood pressure by cutting down on the sleep I get that ought to do the trick.&nbsp; Instead of stepping outside to pee every two hours I could just stand outside peeing a couple of hours then step back inside for quick power naps between-times.

 

[crazybill]

On the subject of MSG; here is a quote from wikipedia:<br />"Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of several forms of glutamic acid found in foods, in large part because glutamic acid, being an amino acid, is pervasive in nature. Glutamic acid and its salts can be present in a wide variety of other additives, including <a class="mw-redirect" title="Hydrolyzed vegetable protein" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolyzed_vegetable_protein">hydrolyzed vegetable protein</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" title="Autolyzed yeast" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autolyzed_yeast">autolyzed yeast</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" title="Hydrolyzed yeast" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolyzed_yeast">hydrolyzed yeast</a>, <a title="Yeast extract" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast_extract">yeast extract</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" title="Soy" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy">soy</a> extracts, and protein isolate, which must be labeled with these specialized names even though they are unfamiliar to the general public. Since 1998, MSG cannot be included in the term "spices and flavorings". The food additives <a title="Disodium inosinate" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disodium_inosinate">disodium inosinate</a> and <a title="Disodium guanylate" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disodium_guanylate">disodium guanylate</a>, which are <a class="mw-redirect" title="Ribonucleotides" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribonucleotides">ribonucleotides</a>, are usually used in synergy with monosodium glutamate-containing ingredients. However, the term "natural flavor" is used by the food industry when using glutamic acid (which is similar to MSG, lacking only the sodium ions). Because of lack of FDA regulation, it is impossible to determine what percentage of "natural flavor" is actually glutamic acid."<br />&nbsp;Sorry for being a bandwidth hog but I wanted to show how pervasive the stuff is. <br />&nbsp; Lostinspace, I like jerky too but have always made my own. I actually used to sell in to my co workers for a while. I would make it to order according to the person's preference. I use a simple dry rub and a smoker, takes about 4 pounds of meat to make a pound of jerky. <br />&nbsp;But when I made some using a marinade that contained a little sugar and salt, people loved it and that was what I mostly sold. The jerky was softer and easier to chew, and reduced the meat ratio to 3 pounds of meat per pound of jerky. Didn't keep for as long either. Didn't increase my profit margin much because of the extra cost of the marinade. <br />I don't sell it anymore, but I still make my own. Love the stuff.

 

[virtuousman]

Had to chime in on this one. MSG put me in the hospital twice near death in the last ten years and has caused much pain since I was a tike. Doctors couldn't figure it out...in fact they kept poisoning me with their msg laden hospital food and didn't understand why I wasn't getting better. I finally took matters into my own hands and systematically eliminated foods from my diet until I found the culprit. Can't even get near anything with msg in it today. In fact I won't eat anything that has a laundry list of poisonous ingredients. I feel so much better now. The stuff should be banned for what it is...a neurological toxin. But greed being what it is....

 

[offroad]

So what are the toxins in food lately? &nbsp;<br /><br />MSG<br />Salt - high blood pressure<br />High fructose corn syrup<br />Sugar - diabetes<br />Peanut or other nut oils - nut allergies<br />Milk products - lactose intorance<br />Gluten - intolerance<br /><br />Think I will find a rock to live under to escape. Or an RV and go grow a bean field somewhere.&nbsp;<br /><br />

 

[HWJ]

There are plenty of salt free, low sodium options for cooking. I use Mrs Dash where I can.<br /><a href="http://www.mrsdash.com/">http://www.mrsdash.com</a>&nbsp;. Also fresh herbs and spices.<br />The problem is that it can get costly to live healthier, so you have to find a balance.<br /><br />Spend some time in the super market going through labels. Or spend less time in the aisles and more time in the produce sections...

 

[josephusminimus]

#12<br />Tank:&nbsp; I don't know.&nbsp; Seems to me they used to brag about salt being iodized and it being a health issue.&nbsp; But that was before salt became unhealthy.&nbsp; Might depend on which week a person asks the question.<br /><br />Mainly I just wanted to mention the Oriental food stores and what a fine assortment of goods they have without MSG.&nbsp; <br /><br />I tend to dowse my diet items with a pendulum to find out what I'm needing and what I don't unless I'm conducting some specific experiment such as the one I described with the BP and MSG<br /><br />

 

[josephusminimus]

Re the last sentence of the previous post.&nbsp; Before anyone explains to me I'm stupid or insane let me pre-explain back that I'm not asking for advice on the matter.&nbsp; I'm not evangelical about it.&nbsp; It's just something I do instead of going to doctors and troubling myself over a lot of things I'm not interested in devoting the energy to think about.<br /><br />For me being crazy is all right, satisfactory, okay.&nbsp; So's being stupid.&nbsp; Some of the best people I've ever been acquainted with were stupid.&nbsp; And I'm healthy enough at 70 years old so's I can afford it.

 

[frickinducky]

This is a big issue for me. I have elevated levels of gad65 despite the effort to cut out MSG and its relations from my diet. It may be implicated in chronic pain conditions and type 1 diabetes. I love little Asian food markets! And bulk spices.