MSG!

Monosodium Glutamate kicks my butt.

    When we were newlyweds, we enjoyed our freedom, dual income-no kid status and frequently ate out.  It was bad news for me for many reasons, but most of all, I noticed that I began to have a weird reaction when eating at places like Applebees.  Places where the spicy, relatively cheap food is SO GOOD that you just can't stop eating.

This is the feeling of guilt you get when staring at the bottom of a bag of Doritos... The "I can't believe I ate it all" feeling?  You with me?

I wouldn't always get sick to my stomach, but my husband would drag my giggly, silly, drunken behind home and tuck me into bed.

Except I hadn't had anything to drink.  Not one drop.

It took me a while to put it together, because I was stressed out with my job and I figured I was just cutting loose and acting a little silly.  I wasn't paying attention to what I was eating.  It was bad news.

Guess what it was?  Our little friend MSG!  Turns out, the stuff ends up in a lot of places, mostly in seasoning salt and other "instant flavor in a bottle or shaker" kinds of places.  It shuts down your body's hunger receptors, telling you that you should eat more, even when you're full.  It convinces you that what you are eating is AWESOME!

But check out all the other things it can do to the body of someone who is MSG sensitive.

It reminds me of the "leakage" that was associated with that fake fat they were putting in chips a few years back.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll do you the favor of not enlightening you.

Here's the worst part: MSG can be sneaky.  There are lots of words that food manufacturers use to hide the fact that they're using products that will give you the same reaction.  Lovely.

If you have this reaction, speak up!  Don't be shy about asking a restaurant if they cook with these products.  They should be able to verify that their food is MSG free.  Trust me, you deserve it.