avoiding MSG

I am just curious to know if anyone is having to avoid MSG for health reasons and how you manage? It seems like ALMOST EVERYTHING has MSG in it! Makes buying convenience (packaged) food and going out to eat practically impossible. It is putting such a stressful damper on daily life. I also worry about the future of my baby as he starts to eat more, that he can't enjoy what everyone else is eating.

The ubiquitous MSG takes some effort to side step, but there are companies like co-op, pal system, tomato boy that not only sell a range of MSG free, non-GM products, but also deliver. As you'd expect the chemical free goods are more expensive than the contaminated ones though. Another thing we did is rented a small vegetable plot in our neighbourhood and grew what we could by ourselves. That was healthy and very satisfying.

Thank you for the tips! How can I find out more information about the co-op, pal system, and tomato boy?

MSG can be avoided quite easily by sticking to your own cooking or "shizenshoku" (natural foods) or, not always but, often by looking for the phrase "mutenka" (additive-free).

The names provided are delivery services that deal with natural foods and other health-conscious products. Here are more details.

Coop (shops and delivery)
http://jccu.coop/

Pal System (delivery)
http://www.pal.or.jp/index.html

Daichi o Mamoru Kai (delivery)
http://www.daichi.or.jp/ad/webstore/index.html?cid=lis_ga_00001

Radish Boya (delivery)
http://corporate.radishbo-ya.co.jp/admission.html?gclid=COCImsi9_6ICFQ...

Kodawariya (shops)
http://www.kodawariichiba.com/index.php

Natural House (shops)
http://www.naturalhouse.co.jp/

There are also natural food restaurants, and some other restaurants also provide additive-free cooking.

But me being a person who prefers to stick to natural foods and additive-free material, I think stress is even more scary than MSG. Sometimes it's just better to let yourself go and accept foods that contain MSG as long as it's not the only thing you eat.

because MSG stands for monosodium glutamate, one of the twenty natural amino acids, unless it is contaminated with other toxic substances (which is not likely to happen in today's Japan). However, many people, even Japanese, do not like the additon of MSG because it makes the taste and flavor too artificial. You can choose foods indicated as "with no additives" or "調味料不添加".

IMO, MSG scare is over played in the west unless you have allergic reaction to it. It is naturally occurring isolated from seaweed originally and is the essence of Umami, the 5th taste element. Pls read Wikipedia or others on your own before you worry for nothing for most people. You have been eating without you knowing.

Thank you for all the links! Our family unfortunately discovered we do, after all, react to MSG, so we appreciate the information you provided!