Glutamate’s Revenge

We are approaching the final weeks of the elimination diet. Still have yet to add gluten back in, but I have a suspicion that it may still cause issues (more on that in a minute). Health wise, I haven't felt this good in a long time. I'm sleeping deeply again. No more hot flashes/anxiety attacks or whatever you call waking up in the middle of the night sweating and heart racing for an hour and for no good reason. Not a single mouth sore in months. And bonus, my weight stabilized to my pre-food sensitivity level after 2 years of slowly gaining no matter how much I exercised/watched what I ate. 

I'm starting to suspect that most of my issues may have had the same root cause as I already knew I had. In other words, I'm even more sensitive to glutamate than I thought or have become more sensitive over the years. Clues for this hypothesis thus far include:

Beef Reaction - my body went haywire for 3 days. Protease, the digestive enzyme for meat/protein, can turn into glutamate in the body.

Aged Cheese - I can eat yogurt, milk, and fresh cheese (like mozzarella) just fine, but the days I've had other cheese I have some gut issues. Aged cheeses are higher in natural glutamate.

Gluten/Wheat - Back in December, I was noticing an association between gluten and mouth sores. The protein in wheat is about 1/3 glutamate. So, I am very interested to see what tasting gluten again will do to my body in a few weeks.

Glutamate - too much glutamate messes with your sleep-wake cycle and is a neurotransmitter related to anxiety. Possible explanation for months of little rest

The elimination diet has been enlightening even if the results circle back around to my old nemesis. If it is ultimately glutamate's revenge, I thankfully already know how to avoid it in it's more unnatural forms and am used to bringing my own meal to potlucks. I'll just have to be more vigilant about the natural sources of glutamate and learn to make more homemade recipes with substitutes to keep my overall intake of it more minimal.

On a sweeter note, honey (at least drizzled as a topping) had no reaction. Today is maple syrup on my paleo waffles. Mmm mmm good!