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!

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...

Aftermath

Foods Eaten: eggs; egg yolks; clarified butter; maple syrup; chicken; veal stock; duck fat; chicken wings; breaded and deep-fried versions of all the following: mushrooms, zucchini, jalapenos, mozzarella sticks; chocolate
Cal: 2470 Fat: 185 g Carb: 64 g Fibre: 5 g Protein: 141 g
Weight: 153.5 lbs

Ugh - slept horribly last night. Tossed and turned and felt a bit sick in the night (from the wine). Felt so full that I could barely stay asleep. I was also hot and uncomfortable. But boy was that meal gorgeous. It was almost worth the distress.

My mood was not so chipper today. Had a lovely picnic in the park with A. around noon, but while shopping for the food in the morning, almost had a bit of a meltdown due to the stress of the crowds.

On a really positive note, the indiscretions of last night seem to have lead to an avalanche of horrible eating. Tonight I went to a buck and doe for a friend and ate copious amounts of deep-fried breaded msg-laden junk. What was I thinking?? For foie gras, I'd risk it. For jalepeno poppers?? Whyyyyyy??!!

Update

Foods Eaten: Eggs; clarified butter; canned pear in syrup, drained and rinsed; chicken; Napa cabbage; celery; leeks; garlic; instant decaf coffee (whoops).
Calories: 1436 Fat: 119 g Carb: 28 g Fibre: 4 g Protein: 69 g
Weight:152.5

Well, I feel better today. My face is still slightly inflamed. Last night, I had an epsom salts bath, plus I applied my homemade cream to my face, concentrating on the inflamed areas and today the irritation pales in comparison to yesterday. I had some calcium and potassium to balance all the magnesium. My mood is fine and physically I feel fine again. My spots are reducing a bit. I find the cream really helps with those too. They just shrivel up!

I find it hightly disturbing that I can go to a restaurant, pick out all the food myself and watch the cooks make the food I'm eating and still have such a drastic reaction. What the hell was in that food?? Were the vegetables or meat treated with some kind of preservative? The meat was actually shaved in frozen form and the frozen shavings were piled into a big serving dish that you serve yourself from. If it were thawing and being refrozen, it would all stick together and be hard to remove from the dish, but it wasn't at all. It seemed (and tasted) very very fresh. I really think the culprit was the grill because the reaction was very much an MSG-type reaction (only 1000 times worse than I'm used to) and the grill is the only place my food could have come in contact with anything of the sort.

I'd love to go out for a walk today at lunch to try and rid my body of some more toxins through exercise, but I have a busy day ahead of me. We'll see.

Oh, and my period has disappeared again... (?!?!?!)

Ack!!

Foods Eaten: Eggs; egg yolks; clarified butter; canned pear in syrup, drained; celery; chicken; lamb; celery; Napa cabbage; green onions; bean sprouts; canola oil; garlic; sweet corn; cashews
Calories: 1655 Fat: 126 g Carb: 58 g Fibre: 10 g Protein: 84 g
Weight: 152.5 lbs

Oh my. My boss took me out for lunch today (something I always dread, although it's a nice gesture). We went to a Mongolian restaurant, which, at first I thought would be great, as you just go from station to station picking out veggies and meat and sauces and they fire it all up on a big hot grill for you. Well, I picked only failsafe veg, plus lamb and chicken and did not put any sauce on. I know they didn't put any sauce on either because I saw them making it. However, right now my face is totally inflamed and my eyes are very very itchy!! My rosacea is out of control and my skin, which was almost flawless this morning, is now all nubbly and red and hot. The corners of my nose are painful and red and I now have three spots on my chin, instead of just the one that was there this morning. This is horrible! I also feeling very much like I did last time I had MSG (headachy, bloated, spacey)... so strange. They cleaned off the griddle with big scrapers and with water between each person's food went on the grill, but is it possible that there were traces of additives left on the grill that infused my food? I had no idea I was THAT sensitive. Ugh. I feel awful.

Umami

Foods Eaten: Potatoes; egg yolks; clarified butter; chicken; chicken fat; Brussels sprouts
Calories: 1461 Fat: 125 g Carb: 44 g Fibre: 8 g Protein: 49 g
Weight:152.5 lbs

Taste is the ability to respond to dissolved molecules and ions called tastants.
Humans detect taste with taste receptor cells. These are clustered in taste buds. Each taste bud has a pore that opens out to the surface of the tongue enabling molecules and ions taken into the mouth to reach the receptor cells inside. There are five primary taste sensations:

salty
sour
sweet
bitter
umami

Properties of the taste system
- A single taste bud contains 50–100 taste cells representing all 5 taste sensations (so the classic textbook pictures showing separate taste areas on the tongue are wrong).
- Each taste cell has receptors on its apical surface. These are transmembrane proteins which bind to the molecules and ions that give rise to the 5 taste sensations.
- Although a single taste cell may have representatives of several types of receptor, one type may be more active than the others on that cell. And, no single taste cell contains receptors for both bitter and sweet tastants.
- Each taste receptor cell is connected, through an ATP-releasing synapse, to a sensory neuron leading back to the brain.
- However, a single sensory neuron can be connected to several taste cells in each of several different taste buds.
- The sensation of taste — like all sensations — resides in the brain.

Salty
With salty substances (e.g., table salt, NaCl), the receptor is an ion channel that allows sodium ions (Na+) to enter directly into the cell. This depolarizes it allowing calcium ions (Ca2+) to enter triggering the release of ATP at the synapse to the attached sensory neuron and generating an action potential in it.

In lab animals, and perhaps in humans, the hormone aldosterone increases the number of these salt receptors. This makes good biological sense:

- The main function of aldosterone is to maintain normal sodium levels in the body.
- An increased sensitivity to sodium in its food would help an animal suffering from sodium deficiency (often a problem for ungulates, like cattle and deer).

Sour
Several types of receptors may be involved in detecting the protons (H+) liberated by sour substances (acids).
In one type, the protons block potassium channels thus interrupting the normal outflow of K+ that creates the resting potential of the cell. The resting potential of the cell is reduced and if this reaches threshold, an action potential is generated in the attached sensory neuron.

Sweet

Sweet substances (like table sugar — sucrose) bind to G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) at the cell surface.
- Each receptor contains 2 subunits designated T1R2 and T1R3 and is
- coupled to G proteins.
- The complex of G proteins has been named gustducin because of its similarity in structure and action to the transducin that plays such an essential role in rod vision.
- Activation of gustducin triggers a cascade of intracellular reactions:
--- activation of adenylyl cyclase
--- formation of cyclic AMP (cAMP)
--- the closing of K+ channels that leads to depolarization of the cell.
- The mechanism is similar to that used by our odor receptors.

The hormone leptin inhibits sweet cells by opening their K+ channels. This hyperpolarizes the cell making the generation of action potentials more difficult. Could leptin, which is secreted by fat cells, be a signal to cut down on sweets?

Bitter
The binding of substances with a bitter taste, e.g., quinine, phenyl thiocarbamide [PTC], also takes place on G-protein-coupled receptors that are coupled to gustducin. In this case, however, cyclic AMP acts to release calcium ions from the endoplasmic reticulum, which triggers the release of neurotransmitter at the synapse to the sensory neuron. Humans have at least two dozen genes ("T2Rs") encoding different bitter receptors. However, each taste cell responsive to bitter expresses many of these genes. (This is in sharp contrast to the system in olfaction where a single odor-detecting cell expresses only a single type of odor receptor.) Despite this — and still unexplained — a single taste cell seems to respond to certain bitter-tasting molecules in preference to others. The sensation of taste — like all sensations — resides in the brain. Transgenic mice that
- express T2Rs in cells that normally express T1Rs (sweet) respond to bitter substances as though they were sweet;
- express a receptor for a tasteless substance in cells that normally express T2Rs (bitter) are repelled by the tasteless compound.

So it is the activation of hard-wired neurons that determines the sensation of taste, not the molecules nor the receptors themselves.

Umami
Umami is the response to salts of glutamic acid — like monosodium glutamate (MSG) a flavor enhancer used in many processed foods and in many Asian dishes. Processed meats and cheeses (proteins) also contain glutamate. The binding of amino acids, including glutamic acid, takes place on G-protein-coupled receptors that are coupled to heterodimers of protein subunits designated T1R1 and T1R3. Another umami receptor (at least in the rat's tongue) is a modified version of the glutamate receptors found at excitatory synapses in the brain.

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/T/Taste.html

Perhaps umami isn't just a response to glutamic acid, but also to amines and especially purines.