Freaking Out About MSG

I have had a hard time following my own advice this week.

In one of my books and in my online classes I tell people about The MSG Myth web site. I have done some reading there in the past, but recently a blog post somewhere else got my interest up about trying to cut MSG and other glutamates out of our diet.

I order the book from the site and received it the other day. Oh. Boy. This book is about an inch thick, and starts by explaining to you what's so bad about MSG (and, boy is it bad!), then tells you a whole bunch of ingredient names that basically equal MSG. And by the time you get through a quarter of the book you start having that feeling like, "What on earth are we going to be able to eat?!?!" (And also, of course, the freaking out when you feel an urgent need to change your eating habits, but it feels very, very hard.)

Thankfully, (THANKFULLY!) probably half the book is recipes. And, they aren't weird recipes. Nothing scary looking. Nothing I can't pronounce. Basically, the recipes gave me hope because I could see that the biggest part of avoiding MSG and other glutamates is simple baking and cooking from scratch. Kind of a no-brainer, I guess. But it encouraged me that I could find a way to do better in this area.

Of course, it was grocery shopping time again. I was right in the middle of reading the book and didn't want to buy anything until I had some sort of plan. (Perfection Paralysis, of course!) We managed to squeak by on what we had on hand for a few more days until I couldn't put off shopping any longer. So, even though I had no plan, off to the store I went.

(come back tomorrow for part two in the MSG saga! :) )