Tomatoes, sweet peppers, white potatoes...

...eggplant, and tobacco.

Probably because I've been a smoker for years.

I was getting away with it.

Then our neighbors went away, and invited us to help ourselves to their bushes of organic cherry tomatoes while they were gone. We were eating soupbowlsful at a time. I loved the ones that were so ripe and sweet that they were splitting.

Before, I had the odd tiny pin-head blister on my hands that would itch like crazy. A young doctor at a walk-in clinic suggested it was some kind of arthritis. Huh?!

Long before that, oral penicillin had caused a red itch rash down the whole left side of my body. The bottoms of my feet were so itchy that I'd stand barefoot on the kitchen linoleum and twist so hard that the skin on the bottoms of my feet would seem about to tear. Itchy unto agony!

Back to the cherry tomatoes. I think it was the second day of our feasting, or the third. My ankles and feet began to ITCH!

My thoughtful husband was alarmed, and suggested ice water. YES!!!

He got me a 5-gallon bucket 1/3 to 1/2 full of cold water and ice cubes. I plunged my feet in. Ah-h-h... Relief!!!

Then he brought me another bowlfull of cherry tomatoes, and I sat there like a silly fool, watching TV while the ice melted.

Then we went back to the Bahamas. That was a trip of horror... I'll tell you all the details another time.

Anyway, I found a medical doctor who was also a naturopath. In his waiting room I was reading a magazine that seemed to have been written in English, in India.

There was an article on Plants of the Nightshade family. The list burned into my brain...Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, White Potatoes, Eggplant, and Tobacco.

On the way home, I found a small, perfect, eggplant. I craved it. No one else in our group liked eggplant. I sliced it and cooked it for my supper. Yum!

The next morning my right thigh was a mass of red itchy rash. Suspicions confirmed!

However, when you are in the throes of a mysterious ailment, and a big change in your personal life (no, not divorce), you wouldn't DREAM of quitting smoking, would you?

Leap ahead a decade to two days ago. Himself brought in a big, round, ripe, home-grown in optimum conditions, rosy tomato...still warm from the sun.

Oh the color! A whole slice into the mouth at a time! The richness! And, we grew it ourselves!

Chomp, chomp...till there was only the stem and a tiny core left. Nibble the last scraps of the meat.

What? Two hours later? A little absent-minded itch on the hand?

You've got it. That night, not a major attack on my feet, but enough to let me know that I'd had a close call. A few drops of my magnesium bath concentrate (its got lavender in it!), stops the itch cold...I could stop tearing at my skin.

Now, last night. I read and printed out nearly all the pages at http://www.msgmyth.com My husband devoured them.

Now we know...tomatoes contain natural MSG!

A wonderful Aha! moment!

I can even tell you exactly how each one affects me, on a base of tobacco. Tomatoes, sweet peppers, white potatoes, and eggplant.

Now I'm posting like mad at the Quit Smoking forum, and at the Obesity support forum. Because, you know, Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) makes you eat too much of MSG-laden foods. As I've been cutting them out, I've been losing weight, without even trying.

Now to figure out all the sources left in my favorite foods...

Apparently we can even create Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) problems in our kitchens. Sheesh!

Wonder how this combines with all the other stuff, like fluorides, chlorine, etc., etc.

One happy fledgling, a sleuth.