Monday, February 15, 2010

Oh, the darn artificial flavors

I thought my kids could handle small amounts of artificial flavor, but I now think I'm going to put the ban on that one too. Recent combinations of granola bars and root beer seemed to bring out the scary symptoms in my 10 year old. I realized it's in the hot chocolate too. Hmmm, with 3 storms in the past 10 days, we've been hitting the hot chocolate heavy too.

In case you have not read my other posts on the subject, artificial flavor and color both come from petroleum based chemicals manufactured in China. I haven't always noticed lots of problems with the flavors, but it's starting to look like my kids react the same as they do to food dyes.

SIGHHHHH. It really is easier to steer clear of all the petroleum based chemicals. At least the attitude, angry outbursts, and that "I can't get to sleep because I keep hearing noises and think something's coming to get me" stuff really does go away again in a few days. I just feel blessed that I know my true son and not just the scary petroleum overloaded kid who sneaks out every once in a while.

Guess I'll be experimenting with making my own hot chocolate from scratch since it's still snowing outside.

4 comments:

Carla Cozort said...

I just started this weekend! I have gone through our pantry, frig and freezer eliminating all dyes. I am mainly doing this for my 10 year old son, but also have an 8 year old daughter and 5 1/2 year old son. My 10 year old has had a very rough year in 4th grade. Gets written up almost every week..."had hard time staying focused", "couldn't concentrate", "couldn't stay on task", etc. I finally realized it wasn't just a 10 year old boys will be boys attitude! Thank you for all your comments and suggestions, what a tremendous help! Also, you mentioned vanillan but what about Annato or caramel color, etc. those products that are made from natural ingrediants yet are processed in some manner?

food dye diaries said...

I haven't noticed annato or carmel color to cause any problems in my children, but I know other moms have thought annatto caused problems with their children. Good luck!

Mary Joes said...

My two youngest boys have problems with artificial color, artificial flavor, high fructose corn syrup, sodium benzoate and chocolate. We can always tell when they have "gotten into" something-especially my four year old! We recently found that the soy sauce we use has sodium benzoate! Luckily, the Kroger and Target store brands are sodium benzoate free. We also love Kashi bars and those Wonka gummies (sploshberries and sluggles)! It is so nice to know that other people know what we are going through!Thanks so much!

Dani said...

we recently had to start looking for "artificial flavors" as well in our food. Our oldest is allergic to food dyes (anaphalyctic) and sensitive to high fructose corn syrup. We restrict all dyes and HFCS (which eliminates most foods) but just made the connection between our "safe" granola bars and some hyper behavior. I'm in the process now of researching the artificial flavor and sodium benzonate. I have a feeling the sodium benzonate is getting kicked out of our house next.