Just Say "NO" to Excitotoxins

Part 1: What Are Excitotoxins?

Whether or not you've heard about them, and before I can show you why you should say "NO" to them, let me first explain to you what excitotoxins are.

Excitotoxins are a type of food additive. They are used primarily to enhance the flavor and texture of processed foods. Many scientists refer to them as excitotoxins because they have the effect in the brain of exciting the nerve cells to the point that they die prematurely.

Exciting brain cells to death is the major detrimental effect of excitotoxins. But they are also referred to as endocrine disruptors. They break up the normal hormone functioning in your body.

Now stop and think about that for a moment.

What that means is that flavor enhancers can and will detrimentally affect your brain and your hormones. For people who are particularly sensitive to these substances, the effects can be severe. But don't fool yourself. Excitotoxins can and will affect you even if you're not allergic to them.

Research indicates that they can cause or exacerbate many neurodegenerative diseases. There is scientific evidence linking excitotoxins to:

• Attention deficit disorders in children and adults
• Asthma
• Anxiety attacks
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS)
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Glaucoma
• Alzheimer's dementia
• Parkinson's disease

And the list goes on and on.

To see a full list of health conditions caused or exacerbated by excitotoxins, click here.

Part 2: The "Big 3" of Excitotoxins

There are dozens of excitotoxins, but the "Big 3" are the most prevalent. If you can recognize and avoid these three excitotoxins, then you're miles ahead of most people in terms of overall health.

So without further ado, here they are:

#1: MSG (mono-sodium glutamate) - A lot of people think that the use of MSG is nearly a thing of the past. I mean, just look at the packages of hundreds of processed foods. Many of them prominently display "NO MSG" on the packaging.

But here's the thing that most people don't realize:

The FDA requires food manufacturers to list MSG on their food labels only if the MSG in the food is 99% pure.

That means that any MSG that isn't at least 99% pure can be called by any other name that the manufacturer wishes to use. And they nearly always do--even at the same time that they are proudly displaying "NO MSG" on the front of the package!

Here's a short list of some of the most common names for MSG that isn't 99% pure:

• monosopotassium glutamate
• glutamate
• glutamic acid
• calcium casinate
• sodium casinate
• yeast extract
• vestin
• gelatin
• natural flavor

And I could go on and on. To see a full list of names that means the same thing as "MSG" (except that it's less than 99% pure) click here.

#2: Protein - I know, I know. Protein is the building block of life. It is the substance we eat in meat, eggs, dairy and/or legumes that gives us energy and helps us to grow.

But what I'm talking about here is any ingredient that uses the word "protein" within its description, such as:

• hydrolyzed vegetable protein
• autolyzed plant protein
• whey protein
• whey protein isolate
• textured protein...

Again, I could go on and on with the common names here. To see a fuller listing, click here.

Do you know what any of these things actually are? I mean, if the food manufacturer was using chicken in their product, why don't they just list "chicken". Instead, they save money by using inferior and man-made "proteins" instead.

For example: Recently I looked at the label of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. See the picture on the right below:

Just a few short months ago, there was absolutely no chicken on their ingredients list. Instead they listed "soy protein". Now, this is what they list: "seasoned chicken (soy)". So really is it any better than the "soy protein" previously listed? I don't think so.

#3: Man-made sweeteners - These are not to be confused with sugar. Sugar is not the healthiest substance, true. But your body has mechanisms it uses to metabolize sugar. Man-made sweeteners by-pass many of these mechanisms, which makes them especially harmful. Man-made sweeteners are:

• Aspartame
• HFCS (high fructose corn syrup)
• Maltodextrin, and...

more are coming out all the time.

Part 3: How to Avoid Excitotoxins

I hope I haven't scared the daylights out of you talking about excitotoxins and their harmful effects. But what I do hope is that you gain an understanding about why avoiding excitotoxins is so important to your present and future health.

So let's wrap it up by talking about how to avoid excitoxins.

This may seem really daunting considering how prevalent food additives are in almost everyone's diet. But with a few simple steps, you'll be eating--and feeling--a whole lot healthier.

5 Steps to Avoiding Excitotoxins:

#1: Read Labels - Don't just read the front of the food packaging. Turn it over and read the back. Pay special attention to the food ingredients list.

#2: Unrecognizable Words - Look for words on the ingredients list that you don't recognize as real food.

A good rule of thumb is to consider each ingredient on the list on its own merits. Could you personally buy that ingredient to use in your kitchen to make food? If so, then it's a real ingredient (for example: chicken). If not, then it's probably a chemical-based product used exclusively by the food industry (for example: hydrolyzed vegetable protein).

#3: Avoid all foods with ingredients you wouldn't be able to buy yourself and cook with - This step really speaks for itself. But what's your alternative. Go to step 4.

#4: Find an alternate product - Look for a product that has words you can understand and ingredients you do recognize as real food.

I find that many of the products in the organic sections of the grocery store can make good alternatives. But read the labels on your alternatives too. Make sure they're also free of excitotoxins. Because just being "organic" doesn't necessarily mean they have no excitotoxic ingredients. And if you don't find a good alternative, move to step 5.

#5: Make you own - If you don't do a lot of cooking, this may seem really daunting. But it's also kind of fun to experiment.

For example: I was really frustrated with the children's yogurt in the store. So I decided to experiment making my own blended with fruit version. I blend store-bought organic, full-fat greek yogurt with pureed fruit and sweeten it with pure maple syrup. It's delicious, I know what's in it, and I can sweeten it a little or a lot. It takes me just a few minutes to whip up a small batch each week. Then it's ready for my daughter's school lunches...with a little extra for me.

So it really boils down to this...

• reading the labels of the food you buy.
• avoiding all foods with ingredients you either recognize as an excitotoxin or that you don't recognize as food. And...
• either finding a healthier alternative or making your own version.

Following these simple steps is a great way to embark on your whole food journey.