Daycare, MSG Poisoning, and Abandoning GAPS
We’re making some changes around here.
For one thing, little Katie starts daycare tomorrow morning. I found a really great place about 5 minutes away. It’s run by a sweet Guatemalan lady and a couple of female helpers. Kate will be there from 7 am until 4:30 pm Monday through Friday.
I think this is the right thing to do. Kate LOVES being with other kids. And I’m so busy with my new business, plus my consulting work. I’m working hard on trying to launch the Real Food Media site — hopefully it will be up any day now. But even after it’s live, that is just the beginning. There’s so much work that needs to be done. I’m not complaining. I am so passionate about what I am doing — I feel compelled to do this.
I’m actually pretty excited about daycare for Kate. I think she’s going to love it. She is so social.
I was a little worried about letting her eat the food there. They feed the kids pretty well — homemade chicken soup and fruit and that sort of thing. But it’s not organic. Which means the meat may be genetically modified. And the grains are not soaked/sprouted. And they get fruit juice. The milk is not organic and it’s pasteurized. For breakfast, the kids get waffles or cereal.
So I’m going to be bringing all her food. I got a couple of Thermos containers. For her lunch, I will fill them up with leftovers after dinner each night. And I’ll bring homemade muffins or pine nuts and raisins or cheese and apple slices for her snack. For breakfast she’ll have eggs (as usual). I’m going to bring a jug of Organic Pastures raw milk for Kate to drink — which they will let me store in their fridge.
Of course I had to lie to them and say she’s allergic to everything. I asked them to put her in a high chair to eat so she doesn’t share food with the other kids. I don’t feel bad about lying. A mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do. And if I can’t keep her home with me where I know all the food is safe, I’m going to lie if I have to.
I work way too hard and spend way too much money making sure she gets clean, organic, real food. I don’t want her eating genetically modified, pesticide-filled, high-fructose-corn-syrup-laden garbage. She is far too young to have her little body assaulted by all those chemicals and neurotoxins.
The only down side about the daycare is they won’t let me use cloth diapers. They insist on disposables. I’m sad about that. When I whined about it to my friend and fellow blogger, Kelly the Kitchen Kop, she advised me, “Pick your battles.” At least she will get her raw milk and organic food.
In other news, you may have noticed that I haven’t been posting my GAPS food journal the past few days. That’s because I’m off of GAPS.
The ironic (and kind of retarded) thing is, I got all the way through Thanksgiving dinner without cheating once. Not even a crumb. I made my own special stuffing and gravy with coconut flour (the stuffing was OK but the gravy sucked), made my own pies with coconut flour, ghee and honey, and I made my own coconut milk ice cream. I didn’t touch a speck of any of the other desserts or yams or the gravy made with flour. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard to stay on GAPS because I really killed myself.
The next day, I was so exhausted (see previous post) that I broke down and ordered a pizza. I ate 5 pieces of pizza and guess what? No symptoms. None whatsoever.
The next morning I drank my coffee with raw milk and stevia. No symptoms. None. The next day I ate sprouted bread with butter. No symptoms.
Okay, yes I know, this is not the right way to go off of GAPS. But it is what it is. And I’m telling you — I am cured. I feel so much better. A couple of months ago, I was sneezing and coughing all the time. Now my sinuses are completely clear.
I still haven’t tried consuming any fermented foods or probiotics. I’m going to work those in slowly. I’m going to start with a little kefir each day, and work up to more and more.
Anyway, yay! I’m so excited to eat regular food again. I really think I just picked up some bad bugs that day we were near Harris Ranch — and my body just really needed the extra help to fight them off. I think I’m clear now. I really think the GAPS diet can kickstart the body’s natural ability to heal itself.
That said, at the moment I’m feeling crappy and tired due to what I think is MSG. Heart palpitations, dehydration, sleepiness, fatigue. Seth is feeling the same way — so I think it is what we ate.
We were going to go to On the Border for a late lunch — that’s our usual place. The food is not organic of course, but it’s a relatively decent place. I’ve never gotten MSG poisoning there.
Anyhow, they were closed for a party or something. Kate was starving and we really didn’t have time to go driving around and looking for someplace else to go — so we ended up eating at Marie Callender’s.
I will never eat there again.
I ordered a salad and pizza. I asked for real olive oil and vinegar on the side. I figured those things would be relatively safe from MSG. But the symptoms I am having are MSG symptoms. This is how I feel after eating at certain Chinese restaurants. Totally dehydrated and you’re so tired, you want to pass out. And your heart is pounding like a little rabbit.
I read a little online and they say it is impossible to avoid MSG in restaurants unless you are eating at a high-end restaurant. If you google the ingredients, all of Marie Callender’s frozen foods all contain MSG. Now, thinking back on it, it was probably the pizza sauce that had MSG.
Yuck! I hate the fact that we spent $80 (two entrees, two drinks, and a salad) on dinner and we ate neurotoxins. And poor Kate ate them, too.
It’s truly disgusting what has happened to the food in restaurants.
Plus the food didn’t even taste good. The pizzas are advertised as being “stone-fired”. I’m not really sure what that means but I thought maybe it was a wood-burning oven. No way was it a wood-burning oven. I was very disappointed in the crust — it was hard to chew and tasted like cardboard.
Their Cobb salad was shitty. A giant bowl of iceberg lettuce with miniscule bits of bacon, two or three utterly tasteless hunks of chicken breast, microscopic specks of cooked egg yolk, some chopped tomato and a little avocado.
I read this quote on an online forum about MSG:
“Restaurants are in the business of selling what tastes good. Whether it actually is good is of little or no importance to them. To make food taste good they put flavoring in it, which often includes MSG in some form. Restaurants are in the business of taste, not health, not nutrition. MSG is one of their products. Look upon restaurant food as a MSG delivery system.“
From now on, we are only eating at high-end restaurants. We’ll just eat out less often (as it is, we only eat out about once a month).
For example, if we had gone to Joe’s (a local higher end restaurant), it might have cost us an extra $20 or $30 so for the same amount of food, but at least it would be fresh, real food. They make their chicken stock from scratch and they buy their vegetables from the farmer’s market.
OK I’m going to bed now. I have to be up at 6 to pack Kate’s diaper bag and make her breakfast, lunch and snack.
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01/12/2008 at 12:38 am Permalink
We rarely eat out with the whole fam anymore. Like you said, it’s SO expensive, full of crap, and usually doesn’t even taste very good!
About the allergies – that is NOT lying, Ann Marie! Kate’s little body IS allergic to all the icky stuff in “regular” food – so are ALL kids! Just because the reactions may be delayed a few years (or decades sometimes?), doesn’t mean it’s not causing bad or “allergic” reactions!
01/12/2008 at 1:12 am Permalink
i’m so glad your transition is going well!
do be mindful of how you feel (ditto seth) for the next 1-2 weeks — subtle intolerances can take 72 or more hours to make themselves known and appear gradually.
and good luck on the daycare!
01/12/2008 at 1:17 am Permalink
Thanks, Kelly & Carys!
It’s not easy making the transition to daycare. I will miss my little honeybunch. But it will be best for everyone. She’ll be happier with all the kids and I’ll be glad I can get my work done. And then the time we do spend together will be even more special.
Good advice, as always, Carys. I will watch to see how it goes. So far so good (other than the MSG — blech!!!)
01/12/2008 at 3:50 am Permalink
Glad to hear you’re feeling better! The GAPS diet looks entirely too intense for a normal person to sustain for any length of time. It just doesn’t seem natural (HAR HAR)!
Will be looking forward to see how you fare on fermented foods, because I was wondering: why do you have to be so careful with them? One minute I thought they were the best thing for you – easy to digest, good for gut flora, everything – and now they have to be dealt with carefully? Maybe I’m missing something! I thought the idea was to eat as MUCH fermented stuff (and probiotics) as possible.
Obviously, I’m easily confused.
Oh, and PS – I’m sure Kate will thrive in daycare! I think it’s good that you’re worrying about what she’s eating, but I think also that you can put trust in her body to deal with small amounts of bad stuff, too.
01/12/2008 at 9:42 am Permalink
Hi, Kim,
I took one tsp of fermented cod liver oil and it made me sneeze. This was about a week ago. Yes, fermented foods are good for you but if you have a bunch of pathogens in your gut (like I did/do), if you take too much you have what is called “die-off”.
Here’s more info on “die-off”: http://www.healingnaturallybybee.com/articles/help1.php
I would agree with you about the “bad stuff” if it were only pesticides, white flour and sugar we are talking about. Even high fructose corn syrup and msg.
The thing I’m really concerned about is GMOs. Genetically modified organisms.
http://www.relfe.com/GMOs.html
http://www.saynotogmos.org/ud2006/usept06.php#confused
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/GeneticRoulette/HealthRisksofGMFoodsSummaryDebate/index.cfm
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/Home/index.cfm
01/12/2008 at 10:54 am Permalink
That’s a lot of changes! My husband went back to some grains, not many, but some and has been doing great. He is still off dairy, that seems to be his biggest problem. I think if your careful enough and watch what is going on, you’ll be just fine!
I agree about picking your battles, I know a lot of daycares will not allow cloth diapers. You can get chlorine free, more environmental and baby friendly diapers though. Which is a blessing compared to some of the other diapers on the market!
01/12/2008 at 1:42 pm Permalink
Too bad you don’t live closer. I’d watch Kate for you. No GMO here.
Soon we will have fresh raw butter as well. If your daycare doesn’t work out you will have to move to MO.
01/12/2008 at 1:50 pm Permalink
OK great!!! I’ll tell Seth. LOL! “By the way honey, we are moving to the Ozarks so Kate can eat properly at daycare.”
I would be soooooo lucky to have you watch Kate, Katie. That would be a dream for me.
Do you live near US Wellness Meats? Just curious. They are near Canton, MO.
01/12/2008 at 2:15 pm Permalink
Being spoiled living int he SF Bay Area, we rarely come across a place that uses MSG. It happens usually when we are traveling and we end up desperate for something to eat if we dont find anything else in the area. Migraines are my #1 symptom of MSG poisoning so I really feel for you.
Good luck with day care!
01/12/2008 at 3:35 pm Permalink
Nope, that is 5 hours away. But we live one hour from Raised Right Meats: http://thepeoplewhofeedus.com/?p=79
Kip Glass is a first rate jerk but he has great chicken.
Made Well Meats is 1.5 hours away but both these vendors go to the farmer’s market.
http://madewellmeats.com/shop/
I get my meat from them and another couple that sells buffalo meat. No shellfish in MO though.
01/12/2008 at 4:09 pm Permalink
I just saw the part about the diapers — have you talked to them about all in ones? Some places will allow cloth if it doesn’t mean any extra work for them — I know a couple moms who successfully convinced their daycares to use all in ones. They roll up the dirty diapers without rinsing or anything and pop them in a wet bag for the moms to deal with at home. That way there’s no additional mess or work for the daycare. Many daycares who don’t have kids in cloth think all cloth is still trifolds and diaper pins — when they see the all in ones with the velcro or snap closings and see it’s just as easy to roll them up and bag them as roll up a disposable and throw it away, they are often easy to convert. (Plus less trash for them to dispose of…)
The abstract of a study shown here http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1615268 helps convince some day cares as well, since it showed no difference in contam rates for disposables vs cloth.
01/12/2008 at 4:12 pm Permalink
ETA: bringing in a couple to show them in person is pretty helpful, rather than just talking about it.
01/12/2008 at 7:51 pm Permalink
The first thing I thought when you were talking pastuerized milk and fruit juice was “tell them she’s allergic!” Unfortunately, it’s the only way to get people to pay attention; otherwise they assume you’re just being overprotective.
I dream about a WAPF coffee shop/ cafe. Maybe someday. Can you imagine sitting down with a paperback in a comfy chair and ordering a glass of raw milk or a bowl of bone broth, maybe a chunk of raw cheese and a bottle of kombucha. Can you imagine? Organic coffee with raw cream and real dark chocolate. Or a coconut smoothie with egg yolk and berries. Sigh!
01/12/2008 at 8:12 pm Permalink
Wow! Organic dark chocolate w/o soy. Thats heaven.
02/12/2008 at 12:25 pm Permalink
I would like a WAPF diner. With grass-fed cheeseburgers, French fries made with beef tallow, chocolate (raw) milk shakes, and raw milk ice cream sundaes. With real whipped cream!
Yum. I would eat there every day.
02/12/2008 at 10:36 am Permalink
I was on gaps for a month before it got too expensive and it provided enough healing for me to be able to claim that I’m no longer lactose intolerant! There’s still much healing to be done, though, so I may give it another go when things turn around financially. I’m glad that your symptoms are gone. What a relief that must be!
02/12/2008 at 5:04 pm Permalink
Hey, if you open that diner, I will move to WHEREVER you put it!
03/12/2008 at 3:44 am Permalink
How is it going? I hope Kate likes daycare. Maybe she will potty train soon and you won’t need to worry about what kind of diapers to provide.
I have felt the symptoms of MSG poisoning after eating Papa John’s pizza. But it also depends on how much I eat. I love pizza, so I usually eat a lot! I cannot believe it costs so much money for you all to go out to eat! The difference in income and cost of living varies so much within the US, it just amazes me.
03/12/2008 at 9:33 am Permalink
there is a restaurant in Lawrence, Kansas (home to KU jayhawks) called Local Burger that serves grassfed and local burgers, local vegetables–salads etc. and the fries are baked in coconut oil. they have homemade local organic chocolates. they have kombucha and other organic drinks including beers and wine. they make smoothies with coconut milk, but they do not use raw dairy. they are wheat and soy free and maybe something else, can’t remember. i used to live in kansas city 45 min. from Lawrence and we would go every friday night for dinner. now when we go back at the holidays to visit we make a special trip just for Local Burger. they are awesome!
03/12/2008 at 1:08 pm Permalink
Amanda, that sounds amazing.
We do have a great little place in LA where we can get grass-fed hot dogs.
http://www.letsbefrankdogs.com/
They have locations in San Francisco, too.
They are so delicious!
03/12/2008 at 1:10 pm Permalink
Wow and look:
http://www.localburger.com/
How very cool!
The fries are really baked in coconut oil????? Yep — it says on their menu palm oil.
Oh I wish this place was near me!
03/12/2008 at 1:11 pm Permalink
Christy, I really think GAPS works very quickly to help the body heal itself. Congrats on overcoming your dairy allergy.
I’m amazed at how much better I feel.
03/12/2008 at 1:12 pm Permalink
Carys… this is an excellent idea.
I am going to talk to them about it.
I DESPISE buying those giant boxes of Huggies!
06/12/2008 at 1:28 pm Permalink
RE: Diapers…I’ve heard the same thing, especially about Bum Genius diapers. Provide the wetbag and they generally will accept!
06/12/2008 at 2:12 pm Permalink
I’ve never done a wet bag before. How do you do a portable wet bag?
I saw Bum Genius last week at Target. Can you believe that? So cool!
I think I will do this. I could buy a small amount of Bum Genius or AIOs just for daycare. I had to go to Costco yesterday and buy a giant box of Huggies and it made me sick. Plus it cost $40!!!
I think maybe — just maybe — my hubs realized how smart I am about the cloth diapers when I told him I spent $40 on that box.
Then again, he still calls them the “Communist diapers”.
I’m going to wait until January though… Kate is only there one more week and then we’re taking the last 2 weeks off for vacation. So I’ll broach the subject of cloth with them come the new year.
Oh and I so LOVE buying cloth diapers. So that will be fun!
PS: Don’t tell Seth. He was so relieved when he found out we wouldn’t be using cloth diapers at daycare (of course I still use cloth at night and on weekends).
27/07/2009 at 3:31 pm Permalink
I really enjoy your blog and this post was interesting to me in particular since I just took my son off GAPS. Unfortunately, I stopped reading when I came accross this phrase
“The ironic (and kind of retarded) thing is, I got all the way through Thanksgiving dinner without cheating once.”
*sigh*
You’d think that an educated well informed adult would have a wealth of vocabulary to choose from given the million or so words in the English language, yet you have to use ‘retarded’. Unfortunate. Then again I’ve learned most people don’t have any decorum. I’m disappointed that you are one of them. Will still read your blog,(except for the political jabber) but I’m disappointed.
27/07/2009 at 4:52 pm Permalink
Gosh, I’m getting hit from all sides this week. First all the comments about the foie gras and now this.
I’m sorry you are disappointed. I was not trying to offend anyone.
From the Online Etymology Dictionary: retardation – 1426, “fact or action of making slower in movement or time,” from L. retardationem, from retardare “to make slow, delay, keep back, hinder,” from re-, intensive prefix, + tardare “to slow” (see tardy). Retarded “mentally slow” first recorded 1895. Retard (v.) first recorded 1489, from O.Fr. retarder (13c.); offensive noun meaning “stupid person” (with accent on first syllable) is from 1960s slang.
So in other words, the word retarded has been around since the Middle Ages and has only recently (a few decades ago) has had the connotation of “stupid”.
Even so, I was referring to MYSELF. I was being self-deprecating. Would it have been less offensive to you if I had used the word, “slow”? Or if I had called myself stupid? If I had written, “…the stupid thing is…” what would be wrong with that? If I was referring to someone else, I could see why that might be offensive — but why is it bad for me to call myself slow?
And as far as the “political jabber” — I try really hard not to write about politics on this blog. Because of the number of negative responses I have received, I now try to refrain from writing about politics. I do this in an attempt to be respectful of my readers.
Perhaps you, the reader, could try to be as respectful of my politics — and my feelings — as I try to be of yours. I’m a person, too, and it does get old fielding all these comments about what a bad person I am for eating foie gras, or lumping me in with the great unwashed, accusing me of having no “decorum”.
It’s not easy writing a blog week in, week out. It’s not easy putting yourself out there to be judged.
It’s very easy to write a comment though.
28/07/2009 at 10:20 am Permalink
I’ve respected your politics which is why I haven’t’ commented on them at all. It’s not really relevant to why I read this blog.
I also have no idea what foie gras comments you speak of. I’m sure it is hard to put yourself out there for everyone to criticize but if you’re wanting to do that I think you have to come to expect some.
You also have to know how your audience is and I suspect maybe you don’t totally realize who yours is and that’s why you made a poor choice of words. Many people who adapt the Nourishing Traditions whole foods life style do so because of their children, children who have autism, metal retardation, among other things, children like my son. Readers like us have to put ourselves out there too, in real life not on a blog, and patiently put up with people using the word retarded or or retard with no thought whatsoever to what it means or who it hurts. I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t alive 100 years ago when retarded was used in a different context and carried a different meaning, nor was I alive when some racial or gender slurs were part of everyday vernacular. I hardly think I’d be excused for using a racial epithet now just because it was acceptable 100 years ago. You and I both know what retarded means, what it refers to, it refers to someone who has a neurological condition that it beyond their control. Stupid would have been a better choice, as anyone can be stupid
Like I said in my first comment, I do enjoy and appreciate the information your blog very much, but I wish you would have made a more……compassionate word choice.
28/07/2009 at 12:22 pm Permalink
OK, I was stupid.
Again, I’m sorry for my word choice. I do my best to try to consider all points of view before I write blog posts, but I can’t always please everyone.
28/07/2009 at 6:51 pm Permalink
Of course you can’t please everyone nor should you attempt to nor do I expect that, THAT would be stupid
and selfish. My first comment was overly hard and I apologize. I know that there was no malice intended with your choice of words, I guess a mom can only read and hear it so much before the momma bear rears her head. If anything I hope you realize you’re reaching a truly broad audience and that is something to be proud of. Keep up the good work 
and thank you for taking time to respond to my comments.