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Why does Chinese food always make me so tired?


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I've never thought to ask this question, but someone out there might know:

 

About an hour after I eat Chinese food, I find it impossible to stay awake. Just impossible. My husband even jokes about taking me home and "tucking me in." I don't get a headache, feel dizzy, or have hives. It isn't the so-called "Chinese restaurant syndrome," though maybe there is some histamine response happening. :confused:

 

I just can't stay awake, so I lie down and am O-U-T. I don't sleep long -- perhaps 20 minutes. I have no other "symptoms," just the drop-off-the-cliff kind of falling asleep. I am so "out." Nothing could wake me up, not a bomb, not a tidal wave. My husband said that today the children were out in the backyard, banging on metal cans (they were "drummers" ;)), and I didn't even blink an eye, though the bedroom window was open.

 

I'm curious, because all the Chinese restaurants around here advertise "No MSG," and I know from the old days that MSG gives me a splitting headache. I've never had any reactions to shrimp, fish, soy, vegetables separately. I don't overload on carbs, because I try to avoid too many carbs. So I'm eating mainly vegetables and fish, chicken, beef.

 

What could it be about Chinese food that knocks me out?

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I also think it's something in the sauces. Or possibly in the shrimp, if you had any. I recall reading somewhere that shrimp is treated with msg so it will stay fresher longer during the packing and shipping. Dh can no longer eat restaurant shrimp--he always gets an msg-type reaction. I get one from some chicken-based, no-msg sauces. I haven't been able to pinpoint the exact ingredient yet, though.

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It's the carbs. You are experiencing a sugar crash. Usually almost everything they serve has some sugar in it, and I also think they often used various modified food starches that are very similar to MSG.

 

:glare: I didn't know this.

 

I have read that many Chinese restaurants say no msg when what they mean is that they don't add any. The pre-made sauces they use can still contain it though.

 

:glare: This I will have to investigate. Hmmm.... you may be on to something here.

 

I also think it's something in the sauces. Or possibly in the shrimp, if you had any. I recall reading somewhere that shrimp is treated with msg so it will stay fresher longer during the packing and shipping. Dh can no longer eat restaurant shrimp--he always gets an msg-type reaction. I get one from some chicken-based, no-msg sauces. I haven't been able to pinpoint the exact ingredient yet, though.

 

I did have shrimp. Ya know, I may need to give up eating Chinese food. :svengo:

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So that I don't starting to overgeneralize about the Chinese and all their cuisine, may I ask: what is it that you typically order?

 

Sweet + sour anything or orange chicken or anything teriyaki (not really Chinese but whatever) plus rice would probably make me a little tired but not fall asleep. But I think I know the feeling you're talking about. It happens to me if I eat 3 big bowls of Cocoa Krispies with milk.

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It's the carbs. You are experiencing a sugar crash. Usually almost everything they serve has some sugar in it...

 

:iagree: I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with DD and controlled my sugar perfectly during my entire pregnancy...minus the one time I ate Chinese. My sugar numbers were through the roof after that meal, and I barely even ate any rice. The sauces are seriously carb-heavy.

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About an hour after I eat Chinese food, I find it impossible to stay awake. Just impossible. My husband even jokes about taking me home and "tucking me in." I don't get a headache, feel dizzy, or have hives. It isn't the so-called "Chinese restaurant syndrome," though maybe there is some histamine response happening. :confused:

 

I just can't stay awake, so I lie down and am O-U-T. I don't sleep long -- perhaps 20 minutes. I have no other "symptoms," just the drop-off-the-cliff kind of falling asleep. I am so "out." Nothing could wake me up, not a bomb, not a tidal wave.

 

You mentioned you had the shrimp. You reaction is the very same dh gets with msg. Whenever we ate at our local Mexican restaurant we'd get the house fajitas which come with shrimp. Shortly afterward dh would not be able to stay awake at all. Once we went to the store afterward and he barely made it; he said he felt like he was just going to pass out. The only thing he could do was lay down and sleep. Somehow we realized it was the shrimp and from then on we got the fajitas without the shrimp and dh was fine. No msg reaction.

 

You can probably still eat Chinese, just not the shrimp.

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I'd bet money it's the MSG.

 

I used to have bad reactions to MSG when I was younger. But then it was almost phased out of food. A few weeks ago I discovered the hard way it's creeping back.

 

It feels like the worst caffeine and sugar crash ever and short of breath.

 

Make your own or go to more expensive restaurants. It's better then anyways.

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I have read that many Chinese restaurants say no msg when what they mean is that they don't add any. The pre-made sauces they use can still contain it though.

This is absolutely true. Check out the hidden sources at truthinlabeling.org. I agree with Martha and would bet money that your food had processed free glutamic acid in it. Most restaurant servers don't know about the hidden sources.

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White rice plus sweet sauces. And then you come down from the sugar.

 

Chinese food in China is a lot less sweet than it is in the West - the recipes are modified for overseas tastes.

 

Laura

 

I can't tolerate the sweet level of the Americanized Chinese food here. Real food in China is not the same as cooked in restaurant here.

Laura is right. It is the western taste that these restaurants cater to, not the Chinese original.

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I'm the same way, though I also get nauseous sometimes. I suspect the MSG, because I don't crash in that way when I eat a lot of carbs in other forms, but I could be wrong! I was really nervous when we took a 16 day trip to China we took several years ago - but I didn't react ONCE to the Chinese food in China. Only to American Chinese food...

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