I feel like every time I talk about food, it’s always negative… I’m either telling you to avoid things or warning you about some health hazard. But hey, the truth is the truth right? And that’s what I’m going to bring to the table, take it or leave it. It’s a part of the job description for sure of being a Personal Trainer in Red Deer.
Honestly… if the food, health and supplement corporations looked past the dollar signs and used common sense, I wouldn’t be sitting here bringing this to your attention.
So on with today’s topic. MSG. This substance (like aspartame) is one of the “slow poisons” that’s killing us and the reason we couldn’t pin-point this substance is because it hides behind 10 or 15 names on the ingredient list.
That’s right, the food companies KNOW its bad, and they KNOW that if someone reads the ingredient list on their product, and finds the technical term for MSG (Mono-Sodium Glutamate) they will not buy. So they have a bunch of different names for it, but they all pretty much mean MSG. Before we get into the names, let’s see why this substance is used so extensively and why it’s so bad for us.
The core reason for using MSG is pretty innocent… In fact it’s downright brilliant. MSG takes the flavors of any food and enhances them to the max, then uses its addictive qualities to make sure the customer keeps coming back for more.
You can quite literally take any dish, sprinkle on some MSG and you instantly have something that smells and tastes better, along with the fact that it now has addictive qualities. When Lays’ says “Betcha can’t eat just one”… They aren’t kidding, they mean it! With the amount of MSG in their chips, they KNOW you can’t eat just one.
So if that’s the case, where do all these health hazards come in? Well as you can probably guess, the use of MSG sounds too good to be true, and it is.
Here’s what you can expect if you consistently consume MSG:
- Risk of diabetes. Msg has shown to trigger a dramatic production of insulin in people who consume it. And what does insulin do? It causes the body’s cells to take up and absorb glucose from the blood. So if you keep eating MSG, your sugar absorption is surely going through the roof, whether you like it or not.
- Migraines & Headaches
- ADHD
- Autism
- Rare cases of Alzheimer’s
- Obesity
- Be addicted to the product like a mindless sheep
And that’s just the beginning. If you want to see more studies done MSG, go to www.pubmed.com and type in MSG or monosodium glutamate and see for yourself.
How do I avoid this stuff?
Well that’s good question. The truth is that it’s VERY hard to avoid 100% of MSG. It’s been used in the food industry since the 1950′s… And therefore it has made itself quite the presence in our foods.
Here are some of the “fancy” names that companies use to cloak MSG with. Make no doubt about it, if you see these on the ingredient list… DO NOT BUY. Some of you will be giving up a few of your favorite foods, just warning you ahead of time. Get ready.
Sodium glutamate
Autolyzed yeast
Calcium caseinate
Gelatin
Glutamate
Glutamic acid
Hydrolyzed corn gluten
Hydrolyzed protein (any protein that is hydrolyzed)
Monopotassium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate
Natrium glutamate (natrium is Latin/German for sodium)
Sodium caseinate
Textured protein
Yeast food
Yeast extract
Yeast nutrient
So there you have it. The inside scoop on why you should avoid. You’ll be much healthier in the years to come if you avoid this stuff. Now, for those that have been eating this substance without knowing, what should you do? Well that’s easy… a detox. But here’s the hard part, how do you maintain yourself after doing a detox? You make sure that you eat clean. I’m not talking about eating 4 bowls of salad a day, I’m talking about knowing how to properly portion your meals to make sure you eat real whole foods.
