Andrea Edwards

 Book cover, as it appeared on allenandunwin.com Nick Vujicic was born with no arms or legs. In fact, he has two feet, but only one of them is functional – the foot he calls his “Chicken Drumstick.” This foot, and a very strong neck, have allowed Nick to become almost completely independent – something he has been determined to be from a young age. You’ve probably seen one of his YouTube videos at some point? Amazing guy, really really amazing. Nick has written a book – “Life Without Limits” – and I have to say, I’ve picked this book up, put it down and picked it up again too many times to count. Why? Because the description on the back of the book talks about his faith in God as the central pillar of his life. I do not have any issue with anyone believing in God or following whatever faith they choose, but rarely do I enjoy reading stuff by people who hand it all over to God. Nick is a very strong believer and his faith is definitely central to all that he does – and with or without God, what he does is incredibly inspiring and amazing. So I decided to get over my initial hesitations – because all perspectives are welcome in my life after all – and I’m glad I did. Living in a world where people fear imperfection, I still find it hard to imagine how his life has truly been. Just the story of his birth and his parent’s reaction to it was heartbreaking. But one thing for sure is that he has the most amazing attitude of any human being I’ve ever known. While he’s sure to have his bad days, as a general rule, he is one hell of a happy dude and throughout the book, he subtly challenges everyone to live a better, happier life, because if he has been able to find a path to happiness, with all of the limitations his body has thrown at him, then we can all do it. He looks at his lack of appendages as a gift to do God’s work, and I think that’s awesome. I was blown away by his experiences, how he’s overcome challenges, his determination, his attitude and so much more. Fantastic bloke, really fantastic, and while I don’t buy into his religious message, the book is so much more than that. If you know of anyone who needs a good kick in the arse, this book will certainly do it – and if they don’t read, he does videos.  Seriously, when you read about his limitations and how he’s overcome them with his attitude, there really can’t be too many people out there with an excuse to stay miserable for the long term. I mean he swims, loves fishing, plays golf, has surfed with the best surfers in the world and so much more. But his story of how he has also been humbled by people he has met is touching too – people with absolutely nothing have shown him great compassion. I really liked his chapter on being ridiculous – something he enjoys. And he’s so right, not enough adults are ridiculous these days and being ridiculous does feel good. He’s reminded me of that. Nick challenges everyone to be happy and to live life to the full because it’s the only one we’ve got, so why not? That’s a good challenge and he’s left me positively optimistic. Good on him. If you want to know more about Nick and his organisation, it’s Life Without Limbs. A great Christmas present if you’re out of ideas. Yours, without the bollocks Andrea

I’ve been thinking a lot about the lessons I’ve been learning on this parenting journey- after the fact of course – and thought it might be good to share a few and hopefully it’ll inspire other parents to share as well. The first HAS to be “What you Resist, Persists.” I can’t remember who made me aware of this, because it took me some time to “integrate” this philosophy into my “parental psyche,” and it was only then that I recognised there were many things I needed to stop resisting before they would go away – if this philosophy was true. Having two lads 15 months apart has been intensely challenging. The main issue is when they’ve gone through their growing up stages that results in enormous anxiety and annoyance for the parents – such as running on the road, flying down stairs, leaping off tall buildings, and so on and so forth, all with no awareness for their safety – is the duration. As a result of the age gap, we’ve never had a break to recover from the stresses and strains it causes, because our “stages” have overlapped and then some, as they egg each other on. All parents know that these hair raising stages are challenging at the best of times, so having them for twice as long is not much fun.  Lex, in particular, is the child I’ve had to really practise the art of not resisting. With his hearing issues he lost two senses – hearing and smell. As a result, he resorted to exploring the world with his mouth for much longer than most kids do. While his oral exploration has significantly lessened since his operation – now only flaring up when he’s stressed or anxious, not to mention I know within the next few months it will stop all together – a couple of years ago it was hell. The shit that boy would pick up and put in his mouth – let me say it used to make me feel sick down to my toes. Naturally it got a VERY strong reaction from Mummy and Daddy, and so it continued. I was resisting it so strongly, because it revolted me so strongly. Then one day I said, “knock your socks off mate, it’s your mouth, your body, go for it.” And then it just pretty-much stopped. That was my first lesson in not resisting, and I’ve got to tell you, this lack of resistance really does work. Jax is going through a stage at the moment, waking up at some point in the night and climbing into our bed. Lex is a pleasure to sleep with, Jax is NOT. He sleeps on your head, kneads you with his feet, is constantly moving, loves to stroke your hair (mine obviously, he shines his Dad’s noggin) or speak to you at 3am – I could go on. As any parent knows, constant night time interruptions are brutal for the mind and body, so as a result, Steve and I are walking around like zombies. However, we recognise that, for whatever reason, Jax needs us right now, and we figure if that’s the case, he is welcome. Jax is not a “needy” kid, so he’s obviously feeling a little insecure about something and we’re committed to helping him though that – whatever the cost to us. While I appreciate that some parents think children in the marital bed is wrong, we have never thought so. Our philosophy is if they need us, we are there – but we do suffer the consequences. The truth is we know that if we let it be and accept the need, one day very soon it will stop – especially because Jax LOVES his sleep.  But if we resist it, Jax will continue for much much longer. I’ve applied this philosophy so many times, in so many situations, and it has worked. For example when the boys go through whining stages – OH PLEASE STOP WHINING – I just switch off and let them be. They stop. I also take the opportunity to reflect often, which gives me the opportunity to really see where I’ve been resisting behaviour, which means it has a tendency to continue. When I recognise my resistance, I stop, take a chill pill, and let them be. It’s working for me. So there you go. I think “What you Resist, Persists” has worked in lots of areas of our lives, and with my kids I have recognised it as a powerful tool in my parenting arsenal. It also makes my life easier and takes away a lot of the anxiety I feel as a parent. I would love to know any other great lessons learnt? In the meantime, I’ve got a few more I’ve picked up along the way I’ll share at some point. I think Lesson #2 is “Don’t Fight the Fashion Wars.” Yours, without the bollocks Andrea

I spend a lot of time wondering why I was gifted with two magnificent children. I look around at other Mums and in many aspects, I am lacking. Take these last two days. I decided it was my turn to participate in the school activities leading up to Christmas. First up yesterday it was Jax’s turn for a bit of carol singing – no problem. Then as I got in the car to make the dash to school, I ripped the inside of my linen trousers and had to spend an hour sitting on the floor making sure no one saw my snatch. At least I participated in “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain” with some gusto – yes I know, not exactly Christmassy. However, the bit of the memo I missed was that we were supposed to take a plate, so while everyone else turned up with beautifully decorated cupcakes, fruit on sticks and gourmet sandwiches, scabby old crotch-less me turned up empty handed. Today it was Lex’s turn and we were going to build a gingerbread house. All the Mum’s and Dad’s were outside waiting, sharing the usual awkward small talk that happens when people don’t really know each other that well – yet. Then the kids were dispatched from their classroom, but I noticed that all of them were carrying plastic bags. So I asked Miss Lucy – Lex’s adorable teacher – if he had one. She looked at me and said “it was in the memo – you were supposed to bring all you needed to build the house.” Awesome…. it seems I’ve missed another memo, so what should we do? I was directed to an art section under the stairs, grabbed a bunch of recycled stuff, and raced back for the exercise. We were sharing a table with the love of Lex’s life, Alice and her Mum Charlotte – who does enjoy this sort of stuff. It was very pleasant, and because Alice loves her arts and crafts, she was very enthusiastically building a tower-like structure, decorated in lovely ribbons and buttons. I sat there with my son, who is so much like me it’s scary, and thought what the bloody hell am I going to build, because Lex certainly isn’t going to help? I could feel the anxiety brewing, like I was back in the classroom many years ago, required to participate in art exercises – something I HATED! And Lex is definitely taking after his mother in this regard.   So we did what we could. I started by painting a box red (Lex’s favourite colour), stuck it on a flat piece of cardboard, and the highlight of the proceedings – we added a vertical green wall to appeal to Steve’s engineering background. Not that I could get the bloody thing engineered in a way that it stayed upright of course. At this point, Lex decided we needed grass for the green wall – see he’s smart if not artistic. He headed off, and while I was fussing around with the box (the sweat starting to pour from my brow), he started hacking big palm leaves off a plant in a pot. I didn’t really notice when he brought back a bunch of branches, and then sat down happily cutting off every individual leaf. When that lot was done, he ran and got some more leaves to cut up. There wasn’t much left of the poor plant in the end – sorry! Jax had joined us by this point, because my children cannot accept the other getting attention from Mummy without getting in on the action. Jax decided to paint the green wall – he’s definitely more artistic in that way – and within about a 20 minute window, we had a humungous pile of leaves, all completely covered in paint, there was glue everywhere, and my Coach bag and shoes had gone from black to an assortment of primary colours. Suffice to say, it was a bloody mess, the house looked like something from Hell, and rather than go back and join the Christmas carols, we had to stay and clean up the carnage left by my two lads. It’s just not me this arts and crafts stuff. I know I’m creative in lots of ways, but painting, cutting, building, etc…. no no no.   Steve thinks it’s hilarious of course, but he doesn’t appreciate how much I wished just a little bit of me was capable of doing this sort of stuff with the boys. With all that said, if we’d just read both memos, I would have been off to a much better start in both activities, but memos seem to get sucked into our house, never to be seen again… Please tell me I’m not the only parent crap at this stuff – please??? Yours, without the bollocks Andrea

I was brought up Catholic. I don’t mind that heritage because it’s given me a very deep understanding of religion as a whole and I like that. However, very early on, I decided practising and following Catholicism wasn’t for me because too many questions had no answers, other than “have faith.” Faith is fine, but you know, sometimes an answer to a simple question would be nice as well. For me, too much was unexplained, too many ideas didn’t sit well, and essentially, as a female, how could I continue to support a religion that made me inferior just because of my genitalia? No, it wasn’t for me, but I continued to read extensively on all faiths, because I’m a history buff and it’s just bloody interesting as the whole world has evolved to where it is today with religion at the core. As a result of my early “education”, I spent my 20s working very hard to get rid of Catholic guilt (a HUGE challenge) and started to consider the fact that I didn’t believe in God at all. I never successfully achieved an atheist mind-set (although I tried), but I was close to being a fully fledged agnostic.   The only problem with all of this was I kept experiencing lots of weird stuff – strange happenings and co-incidences – but ultimately, it was the fact I was haunted (starting 10 years ago) by a randy ghost that made me consider there could be something very big and very unexplained going on in the universe. So I started reading more broadly, covering all sorts of topics on souls, angels, the afterlife, quantum physics, and much much more, as well as reading some interesting authors like Deepak Chopra, Dr. Brian Weiss and NealeDonald Walsch, to name a few. But I also read opposite points of view, like Christopher Hitchens, (although I haven’t read Richard Dawkins yet but I’ll get to it) and I even accidentally read the conspiracy theorist David Icke. I can tell you one thing, reading Icke might leave you with a million questions, most of them along the lines of “are you on crack?” – but he does have an ability to make you look at the world in a very different way. Because the truth of the matter is, I don’t know who is right or even if there is any right. Recently I read two more “God” books and the first one “End of Faith – Religion, Terror and theFuture of Reason” by Sam Harris blew me away. Not only is it a very brave and honest book, but I also think it is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read. This man is a master of the English language. But the book is very powerful, and no religion or society gets off lightly. His focus in the book is religion has the capacity to destroy us and all because men and women are staking “the future of our species on beliefs that should not survive an elementary school education. And then: “religion is as much a living spring of violence today as it was at any time in the past.” He then lists out some recent faith conflicts: Palestine – Jews Vs Muslims The Balkans – Orthodox Serbians Vs Catholic Croatians; Orthodox Serbians Vs Bosnian and Albanian Muslims Northern Ireland – Protestants Vs Catholics Kashmir – Muslim Vs Hindus Sudan – Muslim Vs Christians and Animists Nigeria – Muslim Vs Christians Ethiopia and Eritrea – Muslim Vs Christians Sri Lanka – Sinhalese Buddhists Vs Tamil Hindus Indonesia – Muslim Vs Timorese Christians The Caucasus – Orthodox Russians Vs Chechen Muslims, Muslim Azerbaijanis Vs Catholic and Orthodox Armenians Of course the list could go on and on and on, but it makes you think. One comment, that I found quite alarming, is the fact that with extremism on the rise in many Muslim countries, most other faiths are on the demise in the rest of the world. What does this mean? People who have a belief worth fighting for are a lot more impassioned than those who do not, and he quite rightly points out that this alone could result in the end of the world…. Very hopeful huh? Some stand out observations: “Whenever you hear that people have begun killing non-combatants intentionally and indiscriminately, ask yourself  what dogma stands at their backs. What do these freshly minted killers believe? You will find that it is always – always – preposterous.” “I have just described a plausible scenario in which much of the world’s population could be annihilated on account of religious ideas that belong on the same shelf with Batman, the philosoper’s stone, and unicorns.” “It is time we recognised that all reasonable men and women have a common enemy. It is an enemy so near to us, and so deceptive, that we keep its counsel even as it threatens to destroy the very possibility of human happiness. Our enemy is nothing other than faith itself.” On the subject of honour killings (due to rape): “any culture that raises men and boys to kill unlucky girls, rather than comfort them, is a culture that has managed to retard the growth of love. Such societies, of course, regularly fail to teach their inhabitants many other things – like how to read. Not learning how to read is not another style of literacy, and not learning to see others as ends in themselves is not another style of ethics. It is a failure of ethics.” There are so many more quotes that I could include, because he really does have a way of saying things that resonated deeply with me but that’s enough for now. However it’s important to point out that this is NOT an anti-faith/spirituality/God book – I saw it as an anti-organised religion book. He fully accepts there’s something much bigger out there in the universe going on, unexplained, not understood – but how this “stuff” has been interpreted

There’s a lot being written and talked about these days on the importance of us all loving one another, and accepting that we are not separate, but rather a whole mass of energy that makes up one whole. In relation to love, I think the message is a wonderful thing, but at the same time I find it confusing. It’s hard to take on board because it is a concept defined in a way that contradicts how we’ve been “taught” about love – as in something you do with those closest to you. I mean, how do you love someone you don’t even know? But for our world to evolve and become more magnificent, it seems that we have to love, and I’m happy to do that, because we need to bring down the societal, cultural and racial walls that continue to divide us. It is time. Essentially I interpret this as good thoughts and deeds towards all – so it’s not hard right? Well it shouldn’t be for most… Where did this come from? I’ve just finished reading Dr.Brian Weiss’ “Messages from the Masters” and he reminded me of the greater, universal concept of love once again. I read a couple of his books many years ago, which I found really wonderful and I have to say, I like the way he writes. I like his message because it’s a practical, honest and a not too airy-fairy take on some wonderful, life-changing concepts. Coming to fame with his past-life regression books (such as Many Lives, Many Masters and Only Love is Real), and experiencing a lot of negative shit for discussing this stuff, I think Brian Weiss is one of the good guys, contributing a lot to the world. For anyone else interested in this area, I can definitely recommend his work. The past life information alone is fascinating. In “Messages from the Masters” he talks about the fact that there is only one religion in the world, and that is the Religion of Love. The idea appeals to me (even if religion doesn’t), especially when he maps the world’s religions side-by-side and compares philosophies. Suffice to say, all religion is saying the same thing, so why do we have Holy Wars? Because there certainly can’t be anything “holy” about war – right?   So getting back to love. A little while ago I read an Anthony Robbins book and set myself the task of being happy every day for 10 days straight. I failed every time. I don’t know why it’s hard to maintain a state of happiness, but right now, at this time in my life, it is. I will continue to aim to be happy all day every day, but in the meantime I’ve decided on a new approach, and that is to exude love from every fibre of my being. As love is energy, I reckon the exuding of it is going to be great for me and I’m hoping it helps me manoeuvre through the days to a calmer, happier place. Obviously most of my exuding will be focused on my family – especially my boys when they drive me nuts, which happens on a regular basis. With that said, I wasn’t exuding too much love yesterday when the boys pissed off up the beach out of my sight and into a storm drain…. grrrrrrr. Therefore, if you see me in the coming weeks and think I’m acting a bit weird, don’t worry, I’m just exuding. Anyone want to try it with me? All you have to do is think loving thoughts… Yours, without the bollocks Andrea

I recently commented on a LinkedIn conversation on ‘TED: Ideas Worth Spreading.’ The conversations are pretty interesting with this group if you’re interested. Anyways a member asked the question: “If you could stop all people from doing one thing what would it be? With the granting of a single wish, you can change mankind forever, what would you want to change, or is it best to leave it to evolution to decide for us?” I would love to see all mankind stop judging. Stop judging those closest to us or even on a broader scale where we judge races, religions, societies or cultures. Judgment always feels wrong to me, because no one ever has the full picture on any situation and therefore, because of this, judgment can only be flawed. Unfortunately it seems to be something in all of us, and when I find myself judging anything, I try to correct myself and ask, why would I do that? And I know the answer – because I’m human. So what is your ONE thing you’d like to change in humankind forever? Yours, without the bollocks Andrea

My friend Karl took umbrage about my post on MSG, suggesting that my opinion on it was not a convincing enough perspective as it was not backed up by referenced research. He also believed that my conclusions on MSG were unfounded based on his own understanding of the topic. I pride myself on being well-informed, and while I am only expressing my personal opinions on any topic in this blog, I don’t believe I do so from a place of ignorance – except when it comes to the Kardashian sisters. When something interests me, I read multiple perspectives and use my brain to draw conclusions, even if all of the information is not clearly presented in a nice little package. It will come as no surprise that I believe MSG is a VERY bad and toxic additive in our food chain, and I am convinced it will be proven in my lifetime, as was the case with Transfats. While the last blog was focused on MSG – because I was having such a shocking reaction to it at the time – I also believe things like artificial sweeteners (like Aspartame), High Fructose Corn Syrup, unnatural food dyes, Sodium Nitrite, BHA and BHT (E320), Soy, Tatrazine, and many, many other things are all poisons in our food chain. Heck I recently read an article stating that wheat has been manipulated to such a point, with significantly less varieties available than we had 100 years ago, even eating a whole grain diet is now harmful to us…. but that’s another topic. Getting back to MSG. It was “discovered” in its natural form just over 100 years ago. MSG was then extracted and has been sold commercially around the world ever since. The real challenge with MSG does not come in its natural form, but in the way it is fermented on a massive commercial scale and is now found in just about everything we eat – essentially if it’s not in its raw form, it’s got MSG. The mass production of MSG started in the 1950s and has only grown, and many believe it is the fermentation process applied to its mass production that is creating an inferior and poisonous product – here’s another perspective. For me Soy, amongst many other additives, sits in the same bucket  – the mass production techniques are making it bad – why else go to so much effort to “sell” it as a healthy alternative? I’m not going to try and convince you of anything here, just wanted to share some research and my personal thoughts on various issues, which I believe are linked to MSG and other additives. There’s a lot of shit in our food chain that scares the crap out of me – crikey we’re even eating genetically modified salmon – and they don’t even know what the long term impact will be? Not just that, the majority of governments are not making it mandatory for it to be labelled, which means the consumer can’t even make an informed decision about buying it? That’s outrageous to me. I do not believe that any of us are even remotely capable of understanding the big picture and the impact this is going to have on our minds and bodies, because there is not a co-ordinated or global approach to this topic – but the increase in certain “diseases” and mental illnesses (like Alzheimers and Autism) seem to have a direct correlation to the rise of shite in our food chain. That is my personal belief. Suffice to say, it would take a LOT to convince me otherwise. There is so much more I could say on this, so many arguments I could raise, so many concerns I could discuss, I could talk about the food manufacturing industry’s self interest, the power of lobbying groups, research that supports the arguments for this crap, the fact that livestock is fed on soy and corn so even if we try to avoid it we still get it in our bodies if we’re not vegetarians, and so much more, but then I’d have to write a book – and I am not an expert on this topic, just a very concerned consumer. However, I wanted to share my perspective because it WORRIES ME, but I am not saying I’m right. I could be so far off the mark it’s not funny, but I don’t think I am. For me, having read multiple perspectives on this and other issues, I remain convinced that something very very bad is going on in our food chain, and the corresponding increases in certain diseases, for me, are proof of that. The problem is nothing is conclusive on this topic, because we are not looking at these issues from a global perspective and the data is not being collected in a unified way – so how can we ever prove it if we aren’t even trying to look at it seamlessly? Another argument is that the massive increase in mental illness is being attributed to the fact that people are living longer. As the baby boomers enter their dotage, age is being cited as the key reason for the increases – nothing to do with additives and preservatives. But that argument doesn’t wash with me when I look at statistics on autism, ADHD, etc… Typically considered “young” people’s diseases…   One thing is for sure, if you read any of the research below, the governments of the world are SHITTING themselves, because these increases are going to cost TRILLIONS for the healthcare industry – awesome for the drug companies huh? Perhaps rather than drugging them, or taking any other approach, governments can assess additives and preservatives as a priority? But then, it’s not going to be a current government’s problem is it, so why bother? As my friend Karl said, a person starving to death doesn’t care if is MSG in the food. He is right. But that is a different issue. The issue

For Lex’s second birthday, my friend Julie gave him a Kiva voucher. Kiva is a wonderful, award winning, and highly regarded non-profit with a “mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.” Since Julie gave us this gift, I’ve increased the amount of money we have circulating in Kiva (although I wish it was more) and I am constantly lending $25 to people all over the world, running all sorts of businesses, and the common thread is they all just need a small amount of money to flourish. I tend to sponsor women entrepreneurs, but you can sponsor men and groups too – the great thing is you read the profiles and select where your money goes based on who resonates with you. You also have an option to contribute towards Kiva’s operating expenses, but it’s not compulsory. As you can probably tell, I think this is an amazing organisation and it allows me to contribute to a greater good – something important to me. So as Christmas is coming up, I thought I’d help spread the word for anyone looking to do something a little different, and perhaps buy Kiva vouchers for friends and families for Christmas. No pressure of course, but if you need to buy something for someone who has everything, or you’re just sick of the whole commercialisation of Christmas, or the holiday season for my non-Christian friends, here’s a way to help and give a really special gift that definitely keeps on giving. Just sharing the love. Yours, without the bollocksAndrea

We had our coffees and were getting our heads down to work when the phone rings, and as gently as possible Lex’s teacher explains to us there’s been an accident. Lex was running too fast, tripped on a table, his head made contact with the edge of said table, all resulting in a cut on the head that they said would probably require stitches. We were reassured that our little man was OK after a good crying session, and that he was calm and sitting there with an icepack on his head. Naturally we needed to go and get him. Steve said I’ll go, and I said, no I’ll go, but then we realised we both had to go because who knew what our little love was about to face when we took him to the doctors? Stitches (and other serious stuff) have been unchartered territory for us so far, which is definitely amazing considering the antics of our lads. We drove in silence to school, feeling very anxious and not saying much to each other. Holding hands while driving was the only sign of the apprehension we were both feeling. The most shocking thing when we arrived is Lex’s face was completely yellow – SHIT is it that bad? Oh it’s just paint. Oh that’s good, that’s very good. The cut wasn’t too deep, and Lex was bloody thrilled to have both Mum and Dad there to pick him up. Off to the doctors, a triple layer of glue, Lex was a champion, and afterwards he got a brave boy present. It actually turned out to be an opportunity to spend some time together with Lex – and that is something he loves. So all is good, but shite, this parenting malarkey…. Yours, without the bollocksAndrea

I had some Thai food yesterday over a business lunch. I actually chose the restaurant, knowing that the chance of additional MSG in the food was high. The restaurant was just an easier choice, and besides, I’ve been avoiding it for so long, it’s always kind of interesting to see how I react. Well react I did, with the most crippling headache for about eight hours, and a “restless leg” sleep – always a sign that shit is in my body. So today I feel shattered and out of whack. At least I didn’t get all of the symptoms I usually get – racing heart, diarrhoea, heaty headache, and more. I discovered a low tolerance for MSG not long after arriving in Singapore eight years ago. I would go to all of the wonderful hawker centres in Singapore with my mates and be screwed for the rest of the day or evening. But the worst has always been Thai restaurants, and it doesn’t matter how posh the restaurant, they all seem to overload their food with “taste good salt” – as the old aunties like to call it round here. But it’s not just Asian food. I can’t eat any junk food without getting itchy skin or feeling nauseous, and if I have soy sauce, chips, or any other crap, I have a bad night’s sleep. So this is not just an Asian food discussion, as many seem to think. You see, once I realised what was going on, I started to research MSG and it’s quite frightening what I found. For every article on why MSG is bad, you’ll find 20 talking about its virtues. Check out Wikipedia’s definition, which I’d say is pro and definitely unbalanced, and here’s MSGTruth, an article on Blessed Quietness and Truth In Labelling – all of which fall into the “anti” category. But there is progress – while looking for anti-MSG articles today, more came up higher in the search results. Eight years ago I had to dig deep to find anything anti – so it seems momentum is building. For people like me, pro-MSG researchers say I’m allergic to it (which is 1% of cases), whereas anti-MSG research suggests I’m sensitive to it. This is a big difference, because being sensitive to it is a very good thing – when you are sensitive to it you avoid it because you have such a bad time on it, whereas those who are not sensitive keep munching away on the shit. The reality is, just because you don’t have a reaction doesn’t mean it’s not doing bad things to your body. The worst thing is, MSG is bloody everywhere. If it’s in a packet it’s got MSG, in a tin it’s got MSG, diet dairy products have MSG, cheese flavouring of any description is MSG, plane food is full of it, all pre-prepared food is full of it, and I could go on and on and on. But the labelling professionals have gotten very good at hiding it. When it says “no MSG added” on the label, it doesn’t mean there isn’t already MSG within the ingredients, just that none was “added.” If the word extract is on a label, that’s MSG. It’s seriously everywhere, and when you really start looking into it, it’s quite frightening and very difficult to avoid. MSG has been linked to all of the brain diseases (e.g. Alzheimer’s and Autism) and the majority of heart attacks are attributed to it. It’s hard to prove any of this, but I am sure the FDA and other legislating bodies are quite aware of the consequences. However as the food production companies and lobby groups certainly don’t want it to go away – as it makes the production of food significantly cheaper – still we suffer in its evil grip. If you want a list of what to avoid, check this link out.  Some may argue that it’s all bullshit and not as bad as all this, but as a person who is sensitive to MSG, I will always stand on the other side of that fence. There is NO doubt in my mind that at some point in the future, MSG will be declared bad for us, as was finally achieved with smoking. In the meantime, any chance I get to join the anti-MSG debate and push the argument further out into the world to ensure the pro-MSG lobby groups no longer dominate, then I will. I just believe that everyone needs to be able to make a conscious choice about whether or not they want to eat it, and when so much effort is made to convince the public of its virtues, one really should be hearing alarm bells. Unfortunately most people do not have the time to address it because there are just more important things to focus on – and why not, when you don’t suffer the side-affects? It is this that concerns me most – a type of apathy – because we are all unknowingly poisoning our bodies, and MSG is only one additive within that lethal mix. I truly think it is criminal what’s going on in our food-chain – all to save a few dollars. If you’re with me, keep the anti-MSG arguments going or share this if you like it. So much progress has been made, but like all things, we’ve got to keep at it so we’re not drowned out by big corporations focused on profit and not the health of their customers. In the meantime, I’ll be avoiding MSG like the plague once again… well whenever I consciously can. And here’s some final food for thought – make sure you check out children getting brain lobotomies, when in reality, they just needed to take MSG out of their diets. Yours, without the bollocks Andrea PS: if you like what I’ve got to say, you can follow me on Twitter @withoutbollocks, although I’m not manically active yet.