.. to want to share my Chinese 'fakeaway' tip with y'all

I flush ( and some other symptoms) with too much soy sauce because it’s high in histamine, as are tomatoes and citrus and several other foods / drinks that I need to avoid or limit.

i go easy on soy sauce

We very rarely eat takeaway 🥡 food and if we do , it’s usually Indian or Nepalese food because when I’ve tried Indian cooking or Nepalese cooking then it never tastes as good , I’m clearly doing something wrong 😑
I always make my own Chinese food and I don’t use MSG because I’ve never considered using it ?
I make sure I have all the right ingredients such as Shaoxing wine , ginger , garlic 🧄
I i have every single necessary ingredient prepped and I work very quickly .

Exactly this - I reckon I'm fairly tuned in to which products have MSG in (not just chinese food). Mostly because I just can't stop myself from eating it!

Those crisps that literally advertise that 'once you pop, you can't stop' - why do you think MSG is the additive of choice for them? Also doritos & those delicious lime flavoured tortilla chips...all utterly un-putdownable because of MSG. I just know myself & have to avoid it all :(

Recently though, I tried Lidl's version of the delicious lime tortilla chips - amazing, and no MSG. They do list 'yeast extract' as an ingredient, so as others have said, they've clearly found the naturally occurring umami flavour they can use as an alternative to synthetic MSG. Ties in with why a touch of marmite lifts your gravy/spag bol sauce or whatever. McCoys have also switched from MSG to yeast extract I think.

I know me, and I'll keep swerving MSG as a named ingredient as I just can't help but overeat. Not everyone is 'blessed' with this problems - you do you!

All those things are made up of chemical elements - that’s what nature is!

I find that raw vegetables give me terrible headaches. It’s not nocebo: a couple of carrot batons, a lettuce leaf or a chopped tomato and I’m useless for hours.

I blame the cellulose. Appalling chemical. It’s pushed by unscrupulous greengrocers just to fill you up.

And I know what’s true. I don’t need fancy researchers to tell me that eating cucumber slices is a potential week off work.

Does Chinese food make me thirsty? Yes. Have I therefore cut it out and refuse to eat the food I love? No. I just finish the meal with a nice big glass of water! Not exactly groundbreaking stuff- some posts on here have been real eyebrow raisers. My top tip for dehydration is to simply hydrate more.

I put it down to perhaps the oil they cook stuff in. It didn't matter what I ordered, same effects.
Don't know for certain though.

I get explosive diarrhoea the minute I wake up the next morning after a Chinese takeaway. Always have. Home-made Chinese food doesn’t do that to me, just takeaways, and it doesn’t matter what restaurant it’s from. Doesn’t stop me succumbing to it every now and then because it’s delicious, but each time I vow “never again!”

I guess I had blamed the MSG - if not that then what? It’s the only ingredient I can think they’re using that we don’t at home. And we eat a lot of Chinese food in my extended family because I have family members who’ve lived there.

Maybe I should buy some and do a test.

I also get extremely thirsty after Chinese takeaway, and occasionally Indian too. But Chinese is much worse so I avoid it now (unfortunately, because I like the taste). I don't have problems with home-cooked versions so I assumed it was the MSG but I suppose it could be something else I don't use at home.

I don't remember having a problem until about 10 years ago, so maybe it's also age related or due to the fact I eat less Ultra-processed food now?!

Wow some people’s understanding of science really explains a lot……..incredible given they’ve presumably at least finished high school.

I haven’t seen this guy on TikTok I’ll look for him!

I had to stop eating chinese takeaway about 10 years ago, because I'd be up again at midnight with the shits and horrible stomach cramps.
So disappointing, because I loved the food, but something in it didn't love me.

No it doesn't.

Water and oxygen, that is what I live on as these do not contain chemicals!

You understand that is not what food in China (or any Asian country) tends to be like? I live in Edinburgh and despite the high (thankfully!!) numbers of Chinese students I still haven’t found food that s the same as China.

i suggest you go see the world.

So yes. I’m kinda surprised you didn’t know about msg - for years There was drama about it. I lived in China for 10 years. Msg isn’t why the food is better or tastes different - but it might help some - but mostly that Chinese people I met actually tried to cook try or cared about what they ate. Most Chinese food is fresh. Cooked on the spot. Cantonese food in the UK is not my fav but is very gloppy here - unlike there.

Food from the north (my fav) isn’t like that. Maybe learn how to cook some staples (aubergine and green beans/ broccoli and garlic) those are my absolute favs then you won’t need msg. Have a good one! X

I do find Asian condiments to be very salty especially when several are used. I have to use them quite sparingly. Most of the food we cook is Asian inspired. I made crispy beef with jasmine rice tonight, very nice.

I do that. I also use MSG but only a tiny bit as I think too much can taste too artificially meaty. I didn’t know about the browning though as I usually just sprinkle it on the rice or noodles as I’m frying it.

Well, i am going to say that I had symptoms pretty much within a few minutes of eating said food. And then I endured these symptoms for about half an hour after. Anc had a similar episode of symptoms on a different occasion.

Please don't suggest that my brain was so powerful that it suddenly started to have these symptoms randomly. I highly doubt this was actually the case.

I can eat mushrooms ( several times a week ) and tomatoes but haven't eaten a restaurant / takeaway chinese meal in years as they make my heart race and feel spaced out . I've always assumed it was down to MSG . How does race come into it ?

Doing the lord’s work 🙏🏻

I’ve never tried a Chinese fakeaway because I can’t keep all the products at home (DD has allergies) but there’s a family on YT that own a takeaway and their videos are quite detailed. I want to try making my own chow mein so badly.

Why when we make chinese fakeaways does it not happen? DH is very handy with the soy sauce when it’s just us eating, we have spring rolls with extra soy for dipping, rice, noodles, prawn toast and it’s not a bother but from the Chinese takeaway it cripples me

Placebo and nocebo are measurable, real phenomena. Not ‘made up’ at all. Around 50% of painkilling is placebo. Actual painkilling, not ‘made up’ painkilling. Our brains are very powerful. You can burn calories thinking about running if you do it seriously. You can have real symptoms, the cause is just not as a result of the ingredients you put in your body. And it might be. I’m allergic to a couple of very weird things. But most of the people who say they are sensitive to it, aren’t in double blind conditions.

I can tell you that my symptoms were most definitely not in any way made up, and unfortunately I'm pretty sensitive to a lot of things like certain medication, can't metabolise alcohol as I'm half Chinese etc.

I have to avoid MSG as I reacted pretty badly to it after a meal at a restaurant. Even if I had a nocebo effect, I know for certain it is a genuine reaction, and not one I have made up or "in my head".

So that's why meat in Chinese takeaway food tastes so odd. I hate the texture and always put it down to them using really poor quality meat.