MSG
I know I’m not supposed to like it, but it just makes everything taste so much better. You know when you go to a restaurant and you’re thinking, man, what did they put in this chicken to make it taste sooooo goood? Hate to tell you, MSG.
Monosodium glutamate…what makes you so delicious? Well, after a little research and some high school chemistry we realize that a salt molecule is nothing more than a molecule held together by a proton and an electron. That makes up the monosodium aspect, what about the G, the glutamate? Glutamate is an amino acid that naturally occurs in our bodies and tells our neurons to fire. There are two different types of MSG that can be purchased/found in our food. MSG can either be synthetically created or extracted from existing food in which case it has to be broken down to the amino acid level from the enzymatic level.
So if it naturally occurs in our bodies, what’s the bad?
Access glutamate can be a problem (especially for certain individuals, particularly those with neurological disorders, pancreas issues, or diebetes) and how much of a problem is something you should consult with your doctor or dietician or whoever the expert of your health is, because it’s not me (as my grandpa would say, that’s my CYA *cover your A$$* statement). One of the main reasons it’s the big bad for diabetics is that the amino acid that converts access glutamate into GABA (a feel good neurotransmitter that they are worried about for the non-diabetic because it may be addictive) is attacked by their body, causing access glutamate to just build up, causing neurons to over fire, which pretty much fries their neurological system.
There are many other problems that the people who decide what’s good and bad suspect, and many others that I don’t have the knowledge to even cover. Let’s see what the Teen Girl Squad has to say about it:
Okay, so that was ridiculous. Anyways, needless to say MSG isn’t great for you, but I enjoy it in moderation (gosh, that makes it sound like a booze commercial, eh?). My preference is Vegeta, which is dried vegetables with MSG as a flavorant. My husband adores cooking with it, and I love eating what he cooks. Anyway, the whole reason for this post was just to introduce my husband, who will be writing different recipe posts. He will most likely tell you to sprinkle a little vegeta here and there, and if you are weary of that, just use a pinch of sugar and salt instead. I just felt the need to be transparent with all of you so that you don’t go out and buy vegeta and then find out later what it is, nor do I want you to be alienated from the recipe just because it contains MSG…there are perfectly great substitutes out there, and that’s just fabulous 
meganhenrich
