Happy Easter

We seemed to avoid food dyes this Easter. I was really happy when they gave out brightly colored shoe strings at church, rather than candy. The kids had fun looking for eggs inside. We ended up putting puzzle pieces in most of the boys' eggs. We added some erasers, jacks, and "squishy bugs" and they enjoyed it quite a bit. We had limited amounts of chocolate eggs and jelly beans (Sweet treats brand). All in all it was a good day. I've been wanting a better picture of my kids and they manged to stay dressed up just long enough to oblige me after church.

food dyes and bugs

I've had some recent emails and comments about dyes made from bugs. I don't think my kids have a problem with the bug dyes. These are different than the numbered dyes that I avoid. I avoid the chemical dyes commonly called red #40, yellow #5, yellow #6 and blue #1. My understanding is that the numbered dyes are manufactured from petroleum. They are synthetic chemicals that do not commonly occur in nature. Thus, our bodies are not well equipped to digest them. I've seen repeated references to artificial colorings being neurotoxins that excite the brain (not in a good way). While they are very prevalent in food marketed to children, research shows more and more that they cause increased behavior problems.

The bug dyes, on the other hand, are made from ground up bug parts, which is considered a natural product. They are referred to as carmine, or chochineal. They come from the chochineal beetle. Here is link to an article about the differences in bug dyes and artificial dyes that explains it better. Allergies to carmine are not as common, but I've seen many discussions of more life threatening problems to carmine such as anaphalatic shock.

I guess the bottom line is still the same, know what you are eating and know how it makes you react.

Food dyes and Easter

I have not looked into dye free Easter candy much this year as one of my children is on a pretty strict "sugar free" diet. We are going to do more stickers, tatoos and small trinkets for Easter baskets and eggs. The last few years I've filled eggs with things like plastic soldiers, plastic butterflies, etc. If you want jelly beans, Jelly Belly and Surf Sweet brands both have some dye free jelly beans. We'll stick mostly to chocolate. Watch out for the inexpensive foil wrapped chocolates as they sometimes contain red #40 if they don't contain much of the real chocolate. You are pretty safe if you stick to known brands like Hershey, Dove, etc.


I think I'm skipping the coloring of eggs, unless I can find some kind of kit with stickers and decorations rather than dyes. I'm thinking my boys' contact with eggs at school has them both reacting somewhat today. I've been wondering if skin contact is a problem, now I may have my answer. I think my kids react to skin contact with artificial colors as well as eating it. I've been getting the dyes out of lotions, tooth paste, shampoos, etc.

We're also on day 3 of the shrieks and screams after Lindsey came home from preschool telling me she ate a blueberry muffin. The staff clarified that it was put on her plate but quickly replaced by her organic blueberry cereal bar that I provide. Well, if she even nibbled at the fake blueberries or if it rubbed off on her plate onto her food, then it doesn't really matter. She might as well have eaten the whole thing. She's reacting like she did. It's so sad to see my sweet, affectionate child turn into a little maniac for a few days. It should run it's course tonight.

I've also had a few more requests for my list of dye free foods this week. I am still willing to send that out if anyone is interested. When I have tried to post it, the table doesn't copy over and it gets all messed up. So, I just email it to anyone who asks. I want as many people as possible to know about food dyes and be able to avoid them. It still stuns me that this is not common knowledge to most people.

I think many doctors do families a huge dis-service by prescribing medication to children with behavior problems and not ever telling the parents that they may be able to fix the problem just by making some simple dietary changes. The problem is that it is sooooo hard to be consistent in avoiding dyes that many mom's I've talked to are reluctant to even try it. I wish other moms could see for even a few days how much smoother life goes when kids don't have dyes in their systems

Signs of progress today

I found some pleasant surprises today. We read the labels at the grocery store and found out that Dannimals smoothies and crush cups of yogurt are actually dye free. I had not checked Dannon yogurts for a while as the last time I looked they had red #40. Now they are colored with fruit and vegetable juices. My kids were so excited. I also found a dye free Suave kids shampoo. I've been slowly trying to get rid of dyes and for once it seemed like the task was easier than usual, right off the shelves at Kroger rather than the health food store. Maybe companies are finally starting to realize that many of us want to be dye-free. Let's hope the trend continues.

How do you convince people that food dyes are a problem?

I found myself in an interesting conflict the past couple of days. I attended a professional training conference for Play Therapists. (when I'm not blogging about my housewife days, I'm actually treating traumatized children at my private practice a couple days a week.) The conference was really excellent and I learned quite a bit. There was a tremendous focus on brain research that indicates that the use of multiple senses helps heal trauma.

There were lots of great examples of how to do this. However, it was frustrating that the suggested foods were almost all with dyes (M&Ms, colored and flavored marshmallows, gum drops, etc.) Then there were the conference snacks which also contained food dyes. I found myself repeatedly tempted to eat things I know could make me react. I didn't give in, but I wanted to. I was also pondering how to use the activities with my clients. I have set a new rule for my therapy sessions that I do not give out anything containing food dyes. I decided that if it's bad for my own "sort of normal" kids, it can't be good at all for children who have abuse histories and behavior problems.

Luckily, my friend is a "dye free mom" and fellow play therapist who attened the conference with me. We brainstormed and really ended up with good substitutes: mentos candy (only some flavors are dye free), Brachs fruit chews, Sundrops (dye free M&M like candy), chocolate candy. But I couldn't help feeling like there is so much further to go with getting the word out.

So, tell people about the research. Talk to them about what you see. Send them a link to this blog or other links on food dyes. Please keep spreading the word so that other families can feel the difference of being dye free.

return of the calm orderly family I know and love

I can barely describe the difference I saw in a 24 hour period with my son. He was wild and impulsive all day Wednesday. It was wearing me down quite a bit. I was easily frustrated and irritalbe too (my reaction to dyes). Then by Thursday afternoon it was like the cord got unplugged and all the wild stuff just went away. Life was normal again. I've seen this so many times. We eat food dyes, everyone goes a little crazy for 3 days. Then we are all normal again. I'm breating a huge sigh of relief that my oldest didn't have as much of a reaction. Maybe there is hope that one can outgrow it a little.

2 out of 3 hyped again

Well, we tried to get away to an indoor water park for a few days since the kids are on spring break. That's why I haven't posted in several days. It was really nice to get away, but I'm pretty sure we've had another "food dye mishap." It's been harder to narrow this one down since we were eating out for several days. My best guess is that the spicy curly fries from the hotel restaurant may have been the culprit. I'm not sure if it could have been the orange batter or the seasoning, or both. I should have been suspect of orange fries anyway.

All the same behaviors have returned in 2 of my kids. The hyperactivity, the impulsivity, the yelling, it's all there full force. It's amazing the complete difference in their demeanor. I hope for my husband's sake it wears off by Friday. He gets to stay home with the kids while I go to an all day training.

I'm tempted to go back through all my posts and count up how many times we accidentally get food dyes in restaurant food. It seems to be a trend now.