The Healthy Cookie

When we were kids and did something bad, our parents would ask “Why would you do something so foolish?”. Knowing very well that we had in deed been caught doing something super dumb, we would respond “Well, everyone else was doing it”. And then our parents pull out the old faithful “If everyone else were jumping off a bridge, would you join them?” And then we would go sit in our room and decide that the next time we got caught we’d have a much better excuse.

When it comes to food and nutrition and why we knowingly eat food that does more harm than good with the overly simplified reasoning “…because it tastes good” or “it’s easy”… it is the equivalent of doing that dumb thing with our friends, knowing it’ll lead to no good but figure, if everyone else is doing it, how bad could it really be?

The other day I was in the supermarket and there was a man with a microwave in the produce section offering samples of microwavable mashed potatoes. I am standing in the little organic section and he comes over to me and asks “Would you like to try some mashed potatoes. They are so easy. You don’t have to wash them. You don’t have to peel them. You don’t have to cut them. No boiling or seasoning or anything. All done for you.” I looked at him, and then we both looked down into my basket full of greens. I did my best not to start a ‘discussion’ and simply responded “No thank you. I don’t eat food out of a microwave”. He chuckled, leaned closer and whispered “You are a very smart girl. Very smart”.

I laughed and kept shopping and as I went passed him again he said in a low voice “Don’t tell anyone”.

I try not tell anyone anything without them asking. However, occasionally something will happen that makes this a very challenging oath to keep- like when I see families dining together through the window of McDonald’s, a child in a stroller clutching a bag of ranch Doritos, or the mothers at the store with their carts loaded with chips. crackers, Campbell’s soups, stir-fry seasonings and frozen dinners. This food is completely devoid of anything nourishing, has an endless list of additives and preservatives and contains an extremely harmful chemical the general public knows very little about: Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

MSG should not be consumed. Not ever.

MSG is not a preservative, vitamin, or mineral. MSG goes by dozens of different names and is a highly addictive and destructive drug. A drug that attaches to glutamate receptors located on major organs in our body including the pancreas and heart, as well has the potential to cross the blood bran barrier (protective barrier around the brain).

When we describe natural food as ‘earthy tasting’ it is for this very reason. We are so accustomed and so addicted to the ‘flavour explosions’ found in processed foods that anything else tastes like nothing unless loaded with salt, sugar and/or vinegar. Processed food is full of chemicals like MSG that create these little flavour explosions in our mouths that we become chemically addicted to. The addiction stems not only from how good this chemical makes our food taste but also in how it affects our brain.

MSG like aspartame, is a forms of exitotoxin. Excitoxins are chemicals that excite the brain cells, causing them to fire rapidly, and then suddenly die. This chemical was first added to food after World War II and since then has been added by the food industry in dramatically increasing concentrations. MSG works by magnifying the taste of food by stimulating cells in the brain and the tongue.

MSG has infiltrated nearly every brand and nearly every product line of processed foods, from infant food, seasonings, and soups including some found in health food stores. It is in everything! Seasoned crackers, chips, commercial soups (including Campbell’s), Doritos, Instant Noodles, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Kraft Dinner, Heinz ketchup, Swanson frozen prepared meals, Kraft salad dressings, especially the ‘healthy low fat’ ones. The list could go on forever- essentially listing the majority of products that line the aisles of the supermarket. MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (another common name for MSG) are also in the food we get from Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, and KFC.

Why do all these companies add MSG to their food? Beyond the fact that without it the food would taste like the waste it is made from, but MSG also has a highly addictive effect on the human body.

MSG is to food what nicotine is to a cigarette.

People eat more of the food when there is MSG in it. MSG is now being blamed in part for the fatness of Western Society. This chemical is making us eat more food and more bad food. We crave it when we haven’t had a fix in a while. The chemical itself then causes us to feel fatigued. We eat crappy food, lie around on the couch until we crave more of it, then go out to fulfill our craving. Apples and carrots aren’t going to do it. We need a fix of MSG.

Common MSG reactions include nausea, vomitting, diarrhea, head aches, fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, numbness in throat and tongue area, and fainting. Could this be, in part, to blame for our society turning into a bunch of couch potatoes? Long term and/or frequent consumption of MSG is associated with increased risk of heart disease, atheroscleorosis, high blood pressure and cancer. Some forms of cancer cells have glutamate receptors on them, thus causing the cancer cells to duplicate and spread more rapidly when exposed to the isolated glutamate found in MSG.

MSG, Aspartame and other chemicals that qualify as excitotoxins are potentially toxic to everyone, even to people who do not experience the common adverse reactions. The most susceptible however are children (four times more vulnerable than adults) as their blood brain barriers are not yet fully developed and the elderly whose barriers are deteriorating. Additionally, there is sound scientific research that suggests that the glutamic acid in MSG may act as a “slow neurotoxin,” not resulting in observable damage such as dementia until years after the MSG was ingested. MSG consumption has been closely linked to addictive behaviour, obesity, stunted growth, behaviour disorders, learning and memory disorders, hyperglycemia, stroke, epilepsy, brain trauma, depression and anxiety.

Checking food labels for Monosodium Glutamate is not that simple. MSG is found in dozens of ingredients used in food processing and labelling laws do not require manufacturers to list the ingredients of ingredients. MSG itself also has a variety of other names. Check this link for a complete listing and then have a look in your cupboards.

So yeah, maybe McDonald’s tastes good. Maybe that Campbell’s cup of soup with a handful of Wheat Thins is an easy dinner. After all- everyone else is eating it right? How bad could it be? The decision ultimately is our own. We can read the labels or we can chose not to. Perhaps we need to think up a better reason to knowingly poison ourselves than “It tastes good” or “It’s easy”. We definitely need a better reason for feeding it to our children.

We may be addicted to it, we may think it tastes good, we may think we aren’t consuming that much and we may even think we are depriving our children if we do not let them have it- but if they don’t know what they’re missing where is the harm? It is easily in our control to prevent children from consuming this terribly toxic harmful chemical. MSG is not something children should ever be exposed to. They can not develop antibodies to protect themselves- no one can. It is a chemical drug that should never have found its way into our food supply.

Is eating this toxic poison worth it just because it tastes good? Is it okay to eat it just because everyone else is? And if we chose to eat it, if we chose to make the leap, well, that is our decision. But it is our responsibility no to drag others, especially the young ones, unknowingly, down with us.

Related Healthy Cookie Links:

• I’ll have the growth-hormone-free chicken please
  
• Organic Health vs. Chemical Death
• Supermarkets are scary