New to the Forum, new to reading food labels

[nicoleb]

So, I have been watching my MSG intake for a long time, and notice that the more take out/more MSG the longer, stronger my M's are. I alos know that things like artifical coloring, Aspartme, citric acid, and Pectin can be food triggers. Unfortunately, I am not in a finical place to only by whole, organic foods- so I read labels. Can everyone list what they would specificly look for in their food labels? I want to complile a list of what MSG's might also be listed as, or that this/that chemical is a know trigger for others... then I can exclude all (or all that I can) and use the process of elimination to see what I react to.

Thank you all so much!

[Cookie Monster]

Hi Nicoleb,

Welcome to the forum. I have found a ton of new ideas on here as well as great support and good information. In response to your question, Zomigman wrote a whole pile of information on this topic under Common Migraine Triggers. If you check out his post, you'll find info on MSG as well as a bunch of other dietary triggers. While I haven't been able to identify any food triggers as of yet, I think it is a very worthwhile thing to explore. Good luck!

[highwaves]

Hi nicoleb,
In reply to the food additives that trigger migraines, my neurologist told me to cut out all aspartane and she guaranteed I would notice a difference in migraines right away. She was right! Aspartane is one of the WORST things for triggering migraines. Each person is different as to if certain foods affect them, but aspartane seems to be one of the worst for many. Good luck to you!

[nicoleb]

Thank you both so very much for your response.

I am working on cutting out a whole list of things that I got from a Zomigman post. I want to do a cleanse, then slowly add things back in. The problem is that I have started reading the labels of the foods I eat... I HAD NO CLUE!! The amount of trigger additives are astonishing. Maybe I should wonder so much why my head hurts just about all of the time.

So, a follow up question. What CAN I eat? A friend suggested Kosher (because the food has to be pure, it has to be low on additives)... any other suggestions?

Thanks all!!

[Mini]

Did you know that even salad is rinsed in chlorineted solutions to make it last longer? I never knew this. I will not touch it any more. I am strongly affected by anything to do with chlorine it brings instant M.

My solution to all trhe additives is that I cook everything from scratch. Simple meals, not necessarily organic since they are twice as expensive, but I never add any ready made sauces, or preparated ingredients. Lookijg at labels all the time is such a pain. IN the end they never list all the ingredients.

So, I just buy meat, chicken, or fresh fish (which cookes, or grills in minute) some fresh vegetables (we have some farms here, so I try to but there, but not always), potatoes, rice or pasta.

I use pure unsalted butter for cooking, as it adds delicate flavour and lots of fresh herbs for flavouring.
Most of the herbs I grow myself in pots. Buy them at supermarkets, then plant them in bigger pots with plenty of fertiliser, water them often and they last forever.

I cook simple and healthy meals which are very tasty (my freinds tell me). In restaurants I ask for any sauces to be on separate dish, and no seasoning of any kind on my meat or fish. I add myself any salt or pepper.
I play safe, it is not worth risking another migraine.

It works nots of the time, and I get much fewer migraines and I don't mind cooking myself since I know it is all healthy and in this way I have even lost some weight, without trying.

IT is all a constant battle, and we find our own way of coping.

[nicoleb]

You are most certainly right- reading the labels is enough to drive me batty *looks for emoticon* close enough to somthing that looks like crazy.

I am going to go all whole-food/ home-made food- but that is going to take some time, and a little bit of money. I did find a couple of sights that said store bought breads would be ok (I was worried about no toast, no sandwiches, and I was going to cry.) Potatoes are another ok food...

Here's another question- I am wanting to do a whole body cleanse. I am assuming that the increasing frequency of my M's are from a build up of toxicity. Now, since I am on a slew of psych medications (some to slow migraines), I really need to make sure that I don't do anything to mess up that balance. I know that ginger root and Tumeric root are supposed to be good for detox, and I am thinking of creating my own, rather than buying a clensing system that has who-knows-what in it. You know, cuz we are all so sensitive to everything.

Anyother suggestions?
You all are so very, very awesome! that one's cute too. Thanks all.
NicoleB

[Cathy]

Cleanses always caused such bad reactions in me, I stopped doing them. Even before I was on any meds. I would throw up for days.

With the MSG, don't assume it wouldn't be in something, that's my best advice. I was looking at the ingredients on an angel food cake one time and it was in there! The local grocery store here puts them in their donuts. It's just stupid and crazy. It should be illegal.

After you keep reading labels, you'll get your favorite foods that are okay and keep going back to them. And cooking as much as possible from scratch was a great suggestion too.

-Cathy

[Cookie Monster]

Hey there,

Just wanted to mention an excellent book that was recommended by someone on the forum. It's called "In Defence of Food" by Michael Pollan. It has some really insightful info on how our western diet came to be the way it is and some simple, general suggestions for getting away from a processed food diet. The only problem is, after reading it I feel the need to go even more over the top with my diet. I've long since abandoned frozen dinners but now I'm wondering about things like seasoning salt and BBQ sauce. Perhaps I'm taking things a bit too far?

[david_benett]

As we are talking about food labels, I would like to tell you all that the numbers on the labels are just estimates and the actual values can deviate by more than 75% in many cases. Although 75% is rare but it is true that real values differ substantially.
In fact, it was found in a recent study that 11 of the 27 top-selling energy drinks in the United States do not even specify the amount of caffeine in their beverages and of the 16 drinks that did list a specific caffeine amount, five had more caffeine per serving than was listed and the average amount over was more than 20 percent.

[dcook60]

one more reply re: MSG and its many many clones. depending upon the list, there are at least 40-50 other names for this ingredient, which is a "trigger' (poison) to many of us.

when you first consider this, it doesn't make sense. how could it be MSG when it isn't that way on the food label? what happens is that all the huge list of food additives are highly processed, which breaks apart the protein bonds of the substance, and lets "free glutamate", which is not in nature as such, float around and cause havoc.

citric acid, for instance, is in nearly EVERYTHING processed. i have to buy tomatoes imported from italy to avoid this one. and no, i don't have very much money to work with. i eat just plain REAL food (as michael pollan says in his marvelous books that we all should do.)

it's a lot of trouble, all right, but learning about this has saved me a huge amount of pain.

here are two excellent websites, with lots of information on other food chemicals, as well, and lists of the ingredients which always, and sometimes, have the MSG effect.

www.msgmyth.com and www.msgtruth.org

it takes time to learn all this, but please do let us know your successes. dianne

p.s. you see by my avatar that i still have migraines, now daily. but i could not have gotten this far in life without food knowledge. (43 years of migraines). when i eat something that should be safe, but turns out not to be, even the triptans don't help. my body feels poisoned. there's no other way to put it.

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