Come with me, we’re going MSG free
Nov 19th, 2008 by Vanessa
After doing quite a bit of research on migraine headaches and the effect of food on them I decided to try going MSG free. This means we have done an overhaul on the foods we eat; not eating MSG’s means that we now eat almost nothing pre-packaged.
MSG can be hidden under so many names. The ingredients that we are seeking to eliminate are: MSG, Gelatin, Calcium Caseinate, Monosodium glutamate, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP), Textured Protein, Monopotassium glutamate, Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP), Yeast Extract, Glutamate, Autolyzed Plant Protein, Yeast food or nutrient, Glutamic Acid, Sodium Caseinate, Autolyzed Yeast, Vegetable Protein Extract, and Senomyx.
It hasn’t been incredibly hard to eliminate the MSG’s in our daily meals. Learning to make chicken broth and cream of chicken soup from scratch have allowed me to make most of our favorite dinners MSG free. We have also turned to eating lots of whole foods: meats, cheeses, fruits, and veggies.
I have been making my own bread; it’s so much yummier! And I’m working on finding recipes to make foods that I normally would have made from a box or kit from scratch: cakes, muffins, pasta salad, stuffing, etc.
I’ll be posting, periodically, some of the yummy recipes that we have found (with references when possible). Stay tuned!
Kari and I have been doing without MSG for a while now. It really is hard to find pre-packaged foods that don’t have it. The trick we use is to look at organic foods - we shop in the organic section of Dillons, shop at the People’s Grocery, and when in KC we shop at Whole Foods.
I hope going MSG-free helps the migraines! And feel free to email if you want more advice - Kari is getting really good at avoiding MSG.
Thanks Todd! I may actually take you up on that offer for help. So far we have been making as much from scratch as possible and Cole has been snacking on foods that I can’t have and I’ve been snacking on…homemade bread.
I’ve never been to Whole Foods before but that is something that I should definitely look into. Maybe after finals I will head that way and just look around. Costco also has a lot of whole food ingredients and organic foods - which has already been helping us out a lot!
Hi! I found your blog on a friend of a friend’s blog. (Kevin Bacon, anyone?) I discovered yesterday that I have a medical condition that requires avoiding sodium and MSG. Would you mind e-mailing me any info you have about MSG–what foods it’s in, links to online recipes without it. Anything really would be helpful. Thank you SO MUCH for your time!
Melissa, I would love to help you out with the information that I have found. I’m still at the very beginning of this journey too…I think it will become something that I do a great deal of writing about here in the future! Look for an e-mail in the next day or so - I have so many resources that I can share with you!