Before getting into this I would like to call something to your attention. If you are plagued by any of the following, you could be suffering from an MSG reaction.
Severe headaches; nausea, diarrhea, vomiting; irregular heart beat or blood pressure; depression or mood change; abdominal pain, cramps or bloating; balance problems, dizziness or seizures; tenderness in localized areas, like the neck, back, legs, etc.; sleep disorders; blurred vision or difficulty focusing; chronic fatigue or sleepiness; excessive perspiring or chills; shortness of breath, chest pains, asthma; swelling or numbness of hands, feet or jaw; pain in joints or bones; flushing or tingling in face, chest, pressure behind eyes; gagging reflex or difficulty swallowing; hyperactivity, behavioral problems; chronic post nasal drip; skin rash, itching, hives; bloated face, dark circles under strained eyes; extreme thirst or dry mouth; difficulty concentrating and poor memory; slowed speech; chronic bronchitis-like symptoms, allergy reactions, dry cough, hoarseness, or sore throat; heavy, weak feeling in arms or legs.
Glutamic acid is just one of many amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins. It occurs naturally in many foods such as tomatoes, milk, and mushrooms. It is also found in the cells of our bodies, including mother’s milk, and involves a wide variety of brain functions since it acts as a neurotransmitter.
This natural glutamate in plants and animals is known as L-glutamic acid. When the term glutamate is used versus glutamic acid, it only means that the glutamic acid is bound to other amino acids or substances, such as salt.
When the linkages are broken, then it is referred to as processed or free glutamic acid or free glutamate or MSG.
Our normal digestive process slowly breaks down this natural or “bound” glutamic acid and it is then delivered to glutamate receptors in our body and brain. Broken down this natural way, it is harmless.
In a factory, the bound glutamic acid in certain foods like corn, molasses or wheat is broken down or made “free” by various processes (hydrolyzed, autolyzed, modified, or fermented with strong chemicals, bacteria, or enzymes) and refined to a white crystal that resembles sugar.
The major process today involves a fermentation process in which bacteria excrete free glutamate from the corn (GMO) substance they are mixed with. It is then mixed with salt. Hello MSG, and hello high blood pressure.
This product is 78.2 percent free glutamate, 12.2 percent sodium, and 9.6 percent water. It is odorless and has no distinct flavor. Its chemical formulation has been modified and it is technically known as D-glutamic acid. This factory made concoction causes sensitive individuals more serious reactions than any other form of glutamic acid, and oh yeah, there is no D-glutamic acid found anywhere in nature.
We get far too much MSG in the growing number of processed foods that we have come to rely on. When MSG is in its pure concentrated form, it MUST be labeled MSG. But since this free glutamate can be a component part of certain food additives, such as autolyzed yeast, yeast extract, torula yeast, or proteins that are hydrolyzed or modified, the Fraud and Drug Administration allows it to go into food unlabeled as MSG. Because of all these euphemisms, it makes it very difficult for consumers who are trying to avoid it.
Bear in mind that despite severe reactions to this crap that manifests, the food manufacturers only value MSG’s ability to give a flavorless food a flavor and make them big profits.
Kombu, dried seaweed, has been used for thousands of years as a natural flavoring. Today, MSG is made from mostly GMO corn and wheat. Strong acids, alkalis, enzymes, bacteria and heat are used to hydrolyze animal, vegetable, or milk products, also producing food additives rich in MSG.
Calcium and sodium caseinate are products of hydrolyzed milk protein. Maltoidextrin comes from processed GMO corn and although corn syrup (high fructose), and cornstarch are not as highly processed as maltodextrin is, they are still MSG.
Yeast extract, torula yeast or autolyzed yeast is made by chemically processing natural yeast in a method similar to hydrolyzing.
Barley malt and malt extract contain MSG because of an enzyme reaction used to produce them.
Whey protein concentrate or protein isolate contain MSG if hydrolyzed milk proteins are present or added.
Soy protein isolate or soy protein, which are largely GMOs, is processed for soybeans and often a component of textured protein.
Most smoke flavor or flavorings use hydrolyzed protein to intensify flavor.
Some other MSG containing products include gelatins, which are highly processed by-products of animal protein and non-organic soy sauce.
Despite carrageenan being a type of seaweed, it can contain MSG depending upon the manufacturer using hydrolyzed milk protein or not.
Most people think MSG is a food preservative.
All MSG does is to make a flavorless food taste better. It stimulates the taste buds and eventually the brain receptors into perceiving salt and sweet sensations instead of bitter and sour ones.
Unfortunately, a substance that stimulates brain-cell activity is a neurotransmitter and can actually burn the brain-cells out leading to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and fibromyalgia.
Okay, we know the effect that MSG has on the brain cells, but why would there be adverse conditions like joint pain, stomach problems and vision problems?
It is because the “free” glutamate, not being “bound” to other amino acids, is rapidly absorbed into our system with the amount of glutamic acid absorbed being eight to ten times more than the normal amount.
It is this “freed-up” form that acts as a powerful drug affecting not only the brain cells, but also intestinal muscles, blood vessels, and any system the blood carries it to.
Bear in mind, if it is still intact, that the brain controls every vital function in the body. When MSG reaches the brain and the organs it controls, it can affect normal breathing, nerves, heart rhythm, and hormone secretion. If it settles in the joints – gout, arthritis, or tendinitis-like symptoms manifest.
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, which is about 40 percent MSG, is made by boiling certain vegetables for hours in vats of water and sulfuric or other acids and then neutralized with caustic soda.
Then it’s dried to form a powder, which is high in MSG, aspartate and cysteic acid – excitotoxins. It also contains known carcinogens. When complete, the product is shipped to food companies where it’s added to flavorless foods, including baby food.
There are no current limits on the amount of MSG that can be added to a food product and there is no way to know the amount that is consumed on a daily basis. Since it is added as a component of other ingredients, it is not recognizable or labeled as MSG and therefore hidden from view.
Since the 1940s, the amount of MSG added to our processed foods has doubled each decade. Where it used to take 16 chickens to make a vat of commercial chicken soup, it now takes a couple of chickens and lots of MSG.
What to do? What to do?
It’s not rocket science you know. If man made it, don’t eat it. It it’s not organic, don’t eat it. If it comes in a can, don’t eat it. And, if it had a face or a mother, don’t eat it, unless you really have an acquired taste for GMOs, road kill, excessive hormones and antibiotics, mercury and other toxic wastes, and doo doo laced poultry.
Aloha!
To learn more about Hesh, listen to and read hundreds of health related radio shows and articles, and learn about how to stay healthy and reverse degenerative diseases through the use of organic sulfur crystals and other amazing superfoods, please visit www.healthtalkhawaii.com. or email Hesh at [email protected] or call
Just to put things in perspective, after I graduated from Weequahic High School and before going to Seton Hall University, I had a part-time job working for a butcher. I was the delivery guy and occasionally had to go to the slaughterhouse to pick up products for the store. Needless to say, I had no consciousness nor awareness, as change never came then despite the horrors I witnessed on an almost daily basis.
After graduating with a degree in accounting from Seton Hall, I eventually got married and moved to a town called Livingston. Livingston was basically a yuppie community where everyone was judged by the neighborhood they lived in and their income. To say it was a "plastic" community would be an understatement.
Livingston and the shallowness finally got to me. I told my wife I was fed up and wanted to move. She made it clear she had to be near her friends and New York City. I finally got my act together and split for Colorado.
I was living with a lady in Aspen at the end of 1974, when one day she said, " let's become vegetarians". I have no idea what possessed me to say it, but I said, "okay"! At that point I went to the freezer and took out about $100 worth of frozen, dead body parts and gave them to a welfare mother who lived behind us. Well, everything was great for about a week or so, and then the chick split with another guy.
So here I was, a vegetarian for a couple weeks, not really knowing what to do, how to cook, or basically how to prepare anything. For about a month, I was getting by on carrot sticks, celery sticks, and yogurt. Fortunately, when I went vegan in 1990, it was a simple and natural progression. Anyway, as I walked around Aspen town, I noticed a little vegetarian restaurant called, "The Little Kitchen".
Let me back up just a little bit. It was April of 1975, the snow was melting and the runoff of Ajax Mountain filled the streets full of knee-deep mud. Now, Aspen was great to ski in, but was a bummer to walk in when the snow was melting.
I was ready to call it quits and I needed a warmer place. I'll elaborate on that in a minute.
But right now, back to "The Little Kitchen". Knowing that I was going to leave Aspen and basically a new vegetarian, I needed help. So, I cruised into the restaurant and told them my plight and asked them if they would teach me how to cook. I told them in return I would wash dishes and empty their trash. They then asked me what I did for a living and I told them I was an accountant.
The owner said to me, "Let's make a deal. You do our tax return and we'll feed you as well". So for the next couple of weeks I was doing their tax return, washing their dishes, emptying the trash, and learning as much as I could.
But, like I said, the mud was getting to me. So I picked up a travel book written by a guy named Foder. The name of the book was, "Hawaii". Looking through the book I noticed that in Lahaina, on Maui, there was a little vegetarian restaurant called," Mr. Natural's". I decided right then and there that I would go to Lahaina and work at "Mr. Natural's." To make a long story short, that's exactly what happened.
So, I'm working at "Mr. Natural's" and learning everything I can about my new dietary lifestyle - it was great. Every afternoon we would close for lunch at about 1 PM and go to the Sheraton Hotel in Ka'anapali and play volleyball, while somebody stayed behind to prepare dinner.
Since I was the new guy, and didn't really know how to cook, I never thought that I would be asked to stay behind to cook dinner. Well, one afternoon, that's exactly what happened; it was my turn. That posed a problem for me because I was at the point where I finally knew how to boil water.
I was desperate, clueless and basically up the creek without a paddle. Fortunately, there was a friend of mine sitting in the gazebo at the restaurant and I asked him if he knew how to cook. He said the only thing he knew how to cook was enchiladas. He said that his enchiladas were bean-less and dairy-less. I told him that I had no idea what an enchilada was or what he was talking about, but I needed him to show me because it was my turn to do the evening meal.
Well, the guys came back from playing volleyball and I'm asked what was for dinner. I told them enchiladas; the owner wasn't thrilled. I told him that mine were bean-less and dairy-less. When he tried the enchilada he said it was incredible. Being the humble guy that I was, I smiled and said, "You expected anything less"? It apparently was so good that it was the only item on the menu that we served twice a week. In fact, after about a week, we were selling five dozen every night we had them on the menu and people would walk around Lahaina broadcasting, 'enchilada's at "Natural's" tonight'. I never had to cook anything else.
A year later the restaurant closed, and somehow I gravitated to a little health food store in Wailuku. I never told anyone I was an accountant and basically relegated myself to being the truck driver. The guys who were running the health food store had friends in similar businesses and farms on many of the islands. I told them that if they could organize and form one company they could probably lock in the State. That's when they found out I was an accountant and "Down to Earth" was born. "Down to Earth" became the largest natural food store chain in the islands, and I was their Chief Financial Officer and co-manager of their biggest store for 13 years.
In 1981, I started to do a weekly radio show to try and expose people to a vegetarian diet and get them away from killing innocent creatures. I still do that show today. I pay for my own airtime and have no sponsors to not compromise my honesty. One bit of a hassle was the fact that I was forced to get a Masters Degree in Nutrition to shut up all the MD's that would call in asking for my credentials.
My doing this radio show enabled me, through endless research, to see the corruption that existed within the big food industries, the big pharmaceutical companies, the biotech industries and the government agencies. This information, unconscionable as it is, enabled me to realize how broken our health system is. This will be covered more in depth in the Introduction and throughout the book and when you finish the book you will see this clearly and it will hopefully inspire you to make changes.
I left Down to Earth in 1989, got nationally certified as a sports injury massage therapist and started traveling the world with a bunch of guys that were making a martial arts movie. After doing that for about four years I finally made it back to Honolulu and got a job as a massage therapist at the Honolulu Club, one of Hawaii's premier fitness clubs. It was there I met the love of my life who I have been with since 1998. She made me an offer I couldn't refuse. She said," If you want to be with me you've got to stop working on naked women". So, I went back into accounting and was the Chief Financial Officer of a large construction company for many years.
Going back to my Newark days when I was an infant, I had no idea what a "chicken" or "egg" or "fish" or "pig" or "cow" was. My dietary blueprint was thrust upon me by my parents as theirs was thrust upon them by their parents. It was by the grace of God that I was able to put things in their proper perspective and improve my health and elevate my consciousness.
The road that I started walking down in 1975 has finally led me to the point of writing my book, “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”. Hopefully, the information contained herein will be enlightening, motivating, and inspiring to encourage you to make different choices. Doing what we do out of conditioning is not always the best course to follow. I am hoping that by the grace of the many friends and personalities I have encountered along my path, you will have a better perspective of what road is the best road for you to travel on, not only for your health but your consciousness as well.
Last but not least: after being vaccinated as a kid I developed asthma, which plagued me all of my life. In 2007 I got exposed to the organic sulfur crystals, which got rid of my asthma in 3 days and has not come back in over 10 years. That, being the tip of the iceberg, has helped people reverse stage 4 cancers, autism, joint pain, blood pressure problems, migraine headaches, erectile dysfunction, gingivitis, and more. Also, because of the detoxification effects by the release of oxygen that permeates and heals all the cells in the body, it removes parasites, radiation, fluoride, free radicals, and all the other crap that is thrust upon us in the environment by Big Business.
For more, please view www.healthtalkhawaii.com and www.asanediet.com.
Namaste!
