Better... sort of.

Well, I'm feeling much better today. I'm in a good mood and my bloating from the MSG incident has gone away and I'm back down to the weight I was before it happened. Unfortunately, my partner is in a horrible mood and has been jumping down my throat all day. Makes it sort of difficult to enjoy getting through this rough reaction! Man, if it isn't me, it's him! If only I could convince him to go Failsafe. But he loves his junk food. He's so addicted and knows it's bad for him but would never consider going 'clean' of it all. Getting him to go Failsafe would be about as easy as getting him to agree to having his toenails pulled out with pliers.

I think I'll just lay low and avoid him!

Rice is nice

Hmmm... after my mini-meltdown last night, I discovered I had some plain long-grain white rice in the cupboard that didn't have any odour, stale or otherwise. I had 45 g dry weight of it with 3 gently fried eggs and 1/2 oz. butter for dinner. Not only was it totally yummy and vaguely reminded me of eating Korean food, but I somehow managed to not be hungry afterward. Unheard of!!

I made twice as much rice (it's very difficult to properly cook 45 g rice by itself - it turns out better if you make a bigger batch) and the leftovers are in my fridge. I intend to eat the rest tonight in the same fashion, but I'm now wondering if rice will develop amines overnight in the fridge. It does have protein... I remember in chef school hearing in one of my lectures that old rice is a very common cause of foodbourne illness, although no one ever knows that. People usually blame it on the meat that they're eating with the rice. Hmmm. Well, I'll eat the rice in the fridge, but I'll monitor my reactions carefully. And I'll also try to pick up some sushi rice on my way home tonight, which is less reactive than long grain to many Failsafers.

I'm not eating any meat right now, either. Just eggs. There is a Chinese market close to my house that sells meat that always smells very fresh that I may trial later on, but I'd like to reach baseline before I start mucking around with that.

*Update - January 08: The rice started giving me rebound hunger about 2 days in.

Stupid effing MSG

So MSG is so harmless, eh? This, unfortunately, is the current new belief in the health-o-sphere, thanks to a recent NY Times article and an accompanying timely post from Dr. Michael Eades. Emma blogged about it here. Yes, I suppose it's perfectly reasonable to add it to every stinking food on the shelves. I challenge you to go to the supermarket and find 3 packages on the shelf that don't contain some form of MSG. Remember it comes in a number of disguises. I suppose it's totally reasonable that they now add it in the most unsuspected places, like in vitamins (which you don't even really have to 'taste') and even effing baby formula. Yet another reason to nurse your children, ladies.

It's too bad, I typically agree with most things Eades has to say and find him to be quite humorous and generally a fun and informative read. But that post was just downright dangerous. I really hope it doesn't lead to an onslaught of stupid idiots 'testing' their friends allergies and intolerances by slipping things into their food! One really has to think about what one says.

I've been on a roller coaster of an MSG reaction for over 24 hours now, due to a work-related incident where I was forced to taste several packaged foods, all loaded with the stuff. They were all low in carbs, so that wasn't a concern for me. My calorie intake was no greater yesterday than it usually is. But today, I weigh 2 pounds heavier than I did yesterday. I'm also groggy, headachey, bloated and downright pissed off. And that's after the worst of it has worn off. The worst part is that I just discovered that the sour cream that my Mum was nice enough to bring over while I was recovering (with which I'd been enriching my Balkan yogurt) contains 'modified corn starch'. I hadn't read the ingredients because I just didn't want to bother with the possibility that it wasn't OK and since it was a nice gesture for her to bring food with her. Doing big shoppings isn't easy right now with my incision still being a bit sore. Now I feel like I can't accept food from anyone, or I have to secretly get rid of it after they leave.

Emma brought to my attention that glutamates stimulate an insulin reaction, just like amines and salicylates. That explains why I wasn't losing any weight during my recovery, despite only eating 1400 calories a day (which would typically be a good weight-loss amount for me). It's the bloody sour cream I've been eating. The amines in the yogurt probably weren't helping. What the hell am I supposed to eat now? I'm going to be living on poached eggs and butter! Sushi rice sounds good. I might have some Korean rice lying around in the cupboard, but it's probably stale.

*sob*

I guess the depression part of the MSG reaction is kicking in...