All 3 of my kids jumped into scouts this fall and we've had a flurry of camp-outs, den meetings, and misc. activities. It seems each new gathering presents both opportunities and challenges. The challenge is the same since a started blogging a few years ago: what to eat, what to bring, how to plan food. The opportunity is huge to educate a lot more families about how they can help their own kids enjoy healthy eating with fewer problems in the mood, behavior, impulsivity department.
And with all of this comes the mishaps. It figures we were due for something to sneak in. It's been a very long time. I had almost forgotten how hard it was to be around my kids when they were "high on dye." This time it was all 3 at once (triple ouch). They had a great family scout camp-out with lots of fun activities. I thought I had played it really well since DH took the kids out in the tent and I got to stay home to "let the dog out" and go out to dinner with my girlfriend. I met up with my family the next day to go through the games and help with dinner. when I saw the fruit cocktail, I explained my kids wouldn't be eating it (Red cherries). I told several interested Moms our story about food dyes.
Later I noticed they were also serving canned peaches so I gave some to my kids. It was a few minutes later I realized the peaches had been dumped into the container that originally had the fruit cocktail and there were still red cherries floating around in all the syrup. Uhg! Who likes canned fruit anyway?
Well, that did it. We were fine that night, but the next 3 days I had a hyper hyper boy who couldn't stop drumming all day, a grumpy arguing kid who wanted to pick a fight, and a little miss with a huge attitude who started hitting and kicking and screaming all the time. Figures we had an extra day off school in the midst of that so I got to "enjoy" my children even more intensely for a dye exposed day. We survived, somehow, and I gave repeated thanks that this is not how my children usually are. Once again, it seemed to last 3 full days. Then it was like a magic switch was flipped. I had a compliant agreeable 10 year old who said "please" and "thank you" and "OK" again. My little drummer boy could sit still and focus on homework again. The screamer stopped fussing and peace returned to our household.
If you have not gone dye free yet, you have no idea what you might be missing: the joy of pleasant, well controlled children.
Showing posts with label dye free foods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dye free foods. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Thursday, December 10, 2009
dye free candy canes
I could hardly believe it. I went to Kroger to pick up a few basics and saw in the produce section a huge display of holiday items. It was the typical stuff you use for baking. Then I realized there were boxes upon boxes of Organic Candy Canes! That means no dyes! They are the same kind I went to the health food store to get last week. I checked out their web site http://www.purefun.ca. They even have dye free COTTON CANDY. Do you know how long it's been since my kids have eaten cotton candy?!
My 4 year old probably does not remember eating candy canes since we banned red #40 from the house 3 years ago. I haven't had a candy cane in years. I have to say, it was nice to enjoy a normal holiday treat without the mood problems (mine or my kids'). Maybe the "dye free" choice is finally catching on. It's about time it got a little easier. Feel free to comment on your own dye free discoveries this holiday season.
My 4 year old probably does not remember eating candy canes since we banned red #40 from the house 3 years ago. I haven't had a candy cane in years. I have to say, it was nice to enjoy a normal holiday treat without the mood problems (mine or my kids'). Maybe the "dye free" choice is finally catching on. It's about time it got a little easier. Feel free to comment on your own dye free discoveries this holiday season.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Update of my favorite dye-free foods
My original favorite dye free foods post has been the most visited on my site. I decided to update it as I've found more favorites. We shop a little at the health food store due to food allergies (son needs to avoid wheat, dairy, soy, oats, lemon). Otherwise, we do the majority of our shopping at Kroger. (Helps to have my husband's employee discount so I opt for Kroger and Private Selection products whenever possible.)
Drinks: We do mostly water or milk. Chocolate milk has been a special indulgence only for restaurants. It is usually dye free. I've cut down on juice and Capri Sun since finding that 2 of mine get pretty wired on apple and grape products. However, 100% juice and Capri Sun are usually dye free. Watch out for individually bottled juice drinks. My husband once bought a juice blend that said 100% juice but it had yellow #5 added. We like Simply Lemonade, which is organic, They also have a pink lemonade colored with raspberry juice. Once in a while we get Vitamin Water or the Naturally Preferred H2O drinks for times when I know my kids will be around other kids with lots of Gatorade (baseball). We mostly survived baseball season with our own water bottles that I filled and took with us to each game. I found an old insulated diaper bag that kept them cool and saved us lots of money on concession drinks. Sprite and rootbeer are usually OK, although someone just commented on a post today that A&W rootbeer had dye in it.
We skip all lemonade and punch at restaurants, it always has artificial dye.
Breakfast foods: we make our own pancakes and freeze extras for quick meals on school days. Tip: Most Eggo brand waffles have yellow dye. Most Kroger brand waffles are dye free.
Yogurt: Regular Yoplait is usually dye free. Most of the Yoplait Light have dyes. We skip all the Gogurts, Yogos, etc. (more sugar and dyes added than good stuff) We recently found that Dannimals Crush Cups are dye free. So are the Dannimal smoothies, but fairly high on the sugar.
Cereal: We stay with plain cereals or organic. If you kids want sweet and colorful cereal Kroger brand Cocoa Crispies are dye free. We also like Barbara's Wild Puffis and several Puffin brand cereals (there's even a peanut butter one). Our Kroger has all the organic cereals in a separate aisle. We also like Kashi products.
What to eat for lunch: Macaroni and cheese: Kraft has a white cheddar and so does Kroger. We get the Kroger one and the sauce needs a little more mixing than the regular stuff, but my kids like it better than the yellow stuff. We no longer eat any kind of Lunchables. My kids did OK ditching the colored candy but the preservatives still seemed to set them off. We like Hormel lunch meat as it is all natural. I actually have 2 kids who love tuna. We have PB, but for some reason my kids don't like the jelly. (saves the problem of possible dyes there.)
Foods at Daycare/Preschool: this continues to be an area of struggle and frustration. I had the menu down and provided substitutes for all necessary items. Then they changed the menu for summer. My food allergy son takes his own lunch and is not allowed to eat anything that I did not personally pack for him. For my other two in the summer camp, I check each food ingredient and request to see the packaging on everything. I often spend an extra 5-10 minutes checking this at drop-off time in the morning. I supply extras for them to keep on hand of cookies, sprinkles, candy, popsicles, etc. The biggest factor in our success is my kids constantly asking, "Does that have any dyes in it? I can't have that."
Snacks: Stick with plain pretzels, chips and tortilla chips. If you want more flavor, try the Kettle Brand chips which are all natural. At our Kroger they are in a different section with the natural and organic products. Regular Fritos are fine too. Anything "hot" or BBQ flavored red usually has red #40. Most cheesy chips or cheese curls have yellow dye, but Cheetos has a natural one that is dye free. Microwave popcorn is another source of hidden dye (yellow #5) but Orville Reddenbocker and Kroger both have natural brands that are fine. We also like plain rice cakes and Sweet Pea Crisps for crunchy snacking.
Fruit snacks: Motts/Brachs has a dye free fruit chew (my kids still seems to bounce more after eating them, probably due to the apple juice). We really like FruitABu brand fruit snacks (health food section of Kroger) They have lots of organic fruit leather individually wrapped type snacks. You can also buy organic cereal bars that are dye free.
Candy: My kids love Yummy Earth candies and lollipops. They taste great, but I've only found them at the health food store. I keep them in my purse so any time someone offers us regular candy like DumDums, I decline and hand the kids my organic stuff. I also gave a bag to each teacher so my kids have safe candy at school. We also like Surf Sweets candy. I have other posts about their products. ToysRUs is supposed to carry surf Sweets, but the one by my house does not have it so I get it at the health food store. Basically, we check out the natural food section at Kroger and load up there before shopping in the regular part of the store.
Ice cream and frozen deserts: We check all ice creams for dyes. Many are fine, but we skip the obvious ones like strawberry and black raspberry. Many vanilla ice creams, frosting,etc have yellow and/or red dye. WHY? I can't figure it out, but they do. We found out the hard way that Steak and Shake ice cream has dye, but the yogurt doesn't. I am also wary of "artificial color". I think if they can't tell me where the color comes from, I'm not eager to risk it.
I make a lot of popsicles and smoothies when our fruit gets ripe by putting it in the blender and mixing in some rice milk and natural sweetener. Strawberry, banana, blueberry was a huge hit. We avoid all sprinkles at ice cream shops. Even the chocolate ones have red #40. At home, the Mr. Sprinkles in the clown bottle are dye free. Those are from Kroger too. Watch out for carmel sauces and some chocolate sauces. I have not found any strawberry flavored sauce or product that does not have red #40. I would also want to see the ingredients of the chocolate soft serve dip for cones before letting my kids eat that. I would guess it would have red #40.
Cake mix and frosting. Pillsbury and Dunkin Heinz have boxed white cakes and frostings that don't have dyes. Watch the chocolate ones for red #40. At least half of them have it. It's a pain, but read the labels. If you are going to a bakery, ask about their ingredients. Assume that most yellow cakes are dyed. Also beware of just scraping the frosting and sprinkles off cake at parties. If the knife drags through red frosting all across the cake, then the red 40 will be pulled all through as well. My kids have reacted to as little as one pink jelly bean.
Restaurant food: Beware! You would not believe how much extra stuff is in restaurant food. I thought I was eating healthy getting grilled chicken on a salad. When I have checked the ingredients, there is often a whole paragraph of extra stuff added to the chicken, including dyes. McDonalds adds dye to at least one of the grilled chicken marinades. Also beware that vanilla ice cream, loaves of brown bread, pickles, banana peppers and salad dressings are all common sources of food dyes. We simply don't eat out as often anymore (that milk/soy/wheat allergy makes it pretty tough). When we do eat out, we ask a lot of questions and really annoy the waitstaff, but it's a whole lot better to take that extra step than have 3 days of bad behavior.
So what do we eat? We still eat hamburgers and hot dogs. We make out own fries or bake frozen ones. We grill meat and seafood and have lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Left over green beans, broccoli or snap pea pods become a side dish for lunch. I plan ahead and pack lunches and snacks in cooler packs when I know I will be on the go so that we are not at the mercy of fast food. My kids love to have breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, fruit). We make our own spaghetti and pizza, or we still do frozen pizzas too. We avoid boxed meals such as Hamburger Helper or Rice-a-Ronis as many of those have dyes. I also really like the 5 dollar dinner blog: http://www.5dollardinners.com/. She lives in the same area and has great ideas on how to cook cheap. She also has dairy free recipes.
If all this sounds restrictive, it is at first. It is stressful and time consuming to read lables and worry about food ingredients. But what you can gain is priceless. I have reclaimed my relationship with my children. We have largely eliminated tantrums and defiance, whining and aggression, hyperactivity and wild impulsive stuff that drove me crazy and robbed me of all my energy. What we have gained is true peace and happiness in our family. That is why I am committed to getting the word out. Every family deserves a chance at that kind of joy. Every Mom deserves to have her children be at their best, not their aggitated irriable, embarrassing worst. Every child deserves to eat foods that do not cause them to break down into a mess of behavior and emotion. Every family needs to know that simple changes in diet can do as much good as medication without all the side effects.
Drinks: We do mostly water or milk. Chocolate milk has been a special indulgence only for restaurants. It is usually dye free. I've cut down on juice and Capri Sun since finding that 2 of mine get pretty wired on apple and grape products. However, 100% juice and Capri Sun are usually dye free. Watch out for individually bottled juice drinks. My husband once bought a juice blend that said 100% juice but it had yellow #5 added. We like Simply Lemonade, which is organic, They also have a pink lemonade colored with raspberry juice. Once in a while we get Vitamin Water or the Naturally Preferred H2O drinks for times when I know my kids will be around other kids with lots of Gatorade (baseball). We mostly survived baseball season with our own water bottles that I filled and took with us to each game. I found an old insulated diaper bag that kept them cool and saved us lots of money on concession drinks. Sprite and rootbeer are usually OK, although someone just commented on a post today that A&W rootbeer had dye in it.
We skip all lemonade and punch at restaurants, it always has artificial dye.
Breakfast foods: we make our own pancakes and freeze extras for quick meals on school days. Tip: Most Eggo brand waffles have yellow dye. Most Kroger brand waffles are dye free.
Yogurt: Regular Yoplait is usually dye free. Most of the Yoplait Light have dyes. We skip all the Gogurts, Yogos, etc. (more sugar and dyes added than good stuff) We recently found that Dannimals Crush Cups are dye free. So are the Dannimal smoothies, but fairly high on the sugar.
Cereal: We stay with plain cereals or organic. If you kids want sweet and colorful cereal Kroger brand Cocoa Crispies are dye free. We also like Barbara's Wild Puffis and several Puffin brand cereals (there's even a peanut butter one). Our Kroger has all the organic cereals in a separate aisle. We also like Kashi products.
What to eat for lunch: Macaroni and cheese: Kraft has a white cheddar and so does Kroger. We get the Kroger one and the sauce needs a little more mixing than the regular stuff, but my kids like it better than the yellow stuff. We no longer eat any kind of Lunchables. My kids did OK ditching the colored candy but the preservatives still seemed to set them off. We like Hormel lunch meat as it is all natural. I actually have 2 kids who love tuna. We have PB, but for some reason my kids don't like the jelly. (saves the problem of possible dyes there.)
Foods at Daycare/Preschool: this continues to be an area of struggle and frustration. I had the menu down and provided substitutes for all necessary items. Then they changed the menu for summer. My food allergy son takes his own lunch and is not allowed to eat anything that I did not personally pack for him. For my other two in the summer camp, I check each food ingredient and request to see the packaging on everything. I often spend an extra 5-10 minutes checking this at drop-off time in the morning. I supply extras for them to keep on hand of cookies, sprinkles, candy, popsicles, etc. The biggest factor in our success is my kids constantly asking, "Does that have any dyes in it? I can't have that."
Snacks: Stick with plain pretzels, chips and tortilla chips. If you want more flavor, try the Kettle Brand chips which are all natural. At our Kroger they are in a different section with the natural and organic products. Regular Fritos are fine too. Anything "hot" or BBQ flavored red usually has red #40. Most cheesy chips or cheese curls have yellow dye, but Cheetos has a natural one that is dye free. Microwave popcorn is another source of hidden dye (yellow #5) but Orville Reddenbocker and Kroger both have natural brands that are fine. We also like plain rice cakes and Sweet Pea Crisps for crunchy snacking.
Fruit snacks: Motts/Brachs has a dye free fruit chew (my kids still seems to bounce more after eating them, probably due to the apple juice). We really like FruitABu brand fruit snacks (health food section of Kroger) They have lots of organic fruit leather individually wrapped type snacks. You can also buy organic cereal bars that are dye free.
Candy: My kids love Yummy Earth candies and lollipops. They taste great, but I've only found them at the health food store. I keep them in my purse so any time someone offers us regular candy like DumDums, I decline and hand the kids my organic stuff. I also gave a bag to each teacher so my kids have safe candy at school. We also like Surf Sweets candy. I have other posts about their products. ToysRUs is supposed to carry surf Sweets, but the one by my house does not have it so I get it at the health food store. Basically, we check out the natural food section at Kroger and load up there before shopping in the regular part of the store.
Ice cream and frozen deserts: We check all ice creams for dyes. Many are fine, but we skip the obvious ones like strawberry and black raspberry. Many vanilla ice creams, frosting,etc have yellow and/or red dye. WHY? I can't figure it out, but they do. We found out the hard way that Steak and Shake ice cream has dye, but the yogurt doesn't. I am also wary of "artificial color". I think if they can't tell me where the color comes from, I'm not eager to risk it.
I make a lot of popsicles and smoothies when our fruit gets ripe by putting it in the blender and mixing in some rice milk and natural sweetener. Strawberry, banana, blueberry was a huge hit. We avoid all sprinkles at ice cream shops. Even the chocolate ones have red #40. At home, the Mr. Sprinkles in the clown bottle are dye free. Those are from Kroger too. Watch out for carmel sauces and some chocolate sauces. I have not found any strawberry flavored sauce or product that does not have red #40. I would also want to see the ingredients of the chocolate soft serve dip for cones before letting my kids eat that. I would guess it would have red #40.
Cake mix and frosting. Pillsbury and Dunkin Heinz have boxed white cakes and frostings that don't have dyes. Watch the chocolate ones for red #40. At least half of them have it. It's a pain, but read the labels. If you are going to a bakery, ask about their ingredients. Assume that most yellow cakes are dyed. Also beware of just scraping the frosting and sprinkles off cake at parties. If the knife drags through red frosting all across the cake, then the red 40 will be pulled all through as well. My kids have reacted to as little as one pink jelly bean.
Restaurant food: Beware! You would not believe how much extra stuff is in restaurant food. I thought I was eating healthy getting grilled chicken on a salad. When I have checked the ingredients, there is often a whole paragraph of extra stuff added to the chicken, including dyes. McDonalds adds dye to at least one of the grilled chicken marinades. Also beware that vanilla ice cream, loaves of brown bread, pickles, banana peppers and salad dressings are all common sources of food dyes. We simply don't eat out as often anymore (that milk/soy/wheat allergy makes it pretty tough). When we do eat out, we ask a lot of questions and really annoy the waitstaff, but it's a whole lot better to take that extra step than have 3 days of bad behavior.
So what do we eat? We still eat hamburgers and hot dogs. We make out own fries or bake frozen ones. We grill meat and seafood and have lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Left over green beans, broccoli or snap pea pods become a side dish for lunch. I plan ahead and pack lunches and snacks in cooler packs when I know I will be on the go so that we are not at the mercy of fast food. My kids love to have breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, fruit). We make our own spaghetti and pizza, or we still do frozen pizzas too. We avoid boxed meals such as Hamburger Helper or Rice-a-Ronis as many of those have dyes. I also really like the 5 dollar dinner blog: http://www.5dollardinners.com/. She lives in the same area and has great ideas on how to cook cheap. She also has dairy free recipes.
If all this sounds restrictive, it is at first. It is stressful and time consuming to read lables and worry about food ingredients. But what you can gain is priceless. I have reclaimed my relationship with my children. We have largely eliminated tantrums and defiance, whining and aggression, hyperactivity and wild impulsive stuff that drove me crazy and robbed me of all my energy. What we have gained is true peace and happiness in our family. That is why I am committed to getting the word out. Every family deserves a chance at that kind of joy. Every Mom deserves to have her children be at their best, not their aggitated irriable, embarrassing worst. Every child deserves to eat foods that do not cause them to break down into a mess of behavior and emotion. Every family needs to know that simple changes in diet can do as much good as medication without all the side effects.
Friday, April 10, 2009
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
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
Sunday, April 5, 2009
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.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Rules for staying dye-free
While we're all enjoying the good times, I thought I'd post our rules for avoiding food dyes. We avoid all numbered dyes: Red#40, Yellow #5, Yellow #6, Blue #1, Red #3
1. Always read the ingredients, even if the product looks white, it may still contain dye. Examples of white products containing dye: breads from refrigerated tubes, marshmallows, vanilla frosting, cakes, popcorn.
2. Even if it says there is no dye and it looks white, if it is manufactured with colored products, it probably still has traces of dye. I have found my kids still react to white candies (white nerds, clear Dum Dums, etc.) because they go through the same equipment as the ones with red 40 and probably pick up traces along the way.
3. Ask about ingredients in restaurants. Take the extra time to ask what is in the sauce, how does the rice get it's color, is there red 40 in your cranberry juice, etc. I've had to get over my discomfort with making the wait staff do this extra step. Luckily my husband has no shame and is never afraid to ask. It has saved us many times, but we still miss out on key ingredients sometimes (Watch restaurant food for hidden dyes in vanilla ice cream, mustard dipping sauces, salad dressings, pickles, lemonade, breads, etc.)
4. Provide your own treats and snacks for school or daycare. Get on the sign up list early so you can be the one to make the holiday treats. Then your child eats the same as everyone else and nobody gets the petrochemical overload.
5. Pack your child's lunch. You never know when an item that is normally safe will be traded for a colorful one. The chocolate chip cookies were traded for red and green rice crispy treats at Christmas. The nacho cheese sauce often has yellow 5 or 6. The fruit is often fruit cocktail with red 40 in the cherries.
6. If packing is not practical for daycare meals that you have to pay for, check the menu ahead and substitute as needed. My 3 year old goes to preschool/day care 2 days a week. Her meals are included, but they have a few items with food dyes. It took a while for everyone to get a system in place. I have spent time in the kitchen with the cook and the director. I have read the ingredient labels myself and we worked out which items I will provide. They have a copy of the menu with all items highlighted that Lindsey needs substituted. I send items ahead and they leave an empty box in her cubbie when I need to bring more. I send my own cheese crackers for daily snack (theirs have yellow), fruit cups to replace fruit cocktail, pudding cups since theirs have red#40, and organic cereal bars to replace blueberry bread (red 40) and strawberry newton cookies. It sounds complicated, but it really only affects a couple things a week. She still eats about 80% of what they serve.
7. When you see a reaction, track it down. I've often gotten online to look up restaurant ingredients to figure out what caused the chaos in my kids' behavior. Once you start sharing this information with friends about the hidden dyes and where they are, it's easier to steer clear of them.
I also ask my kids repeatedly if I think they indulged at school and assure them I will be more proud of truthful answers than I will be angry about mistakes. Ben often denies eating dyed foods, but his face gives him away. I tell him I suspect he had something and encourage him to tell me when he is ready. I never punish them for eating the wrong thing.
8. Reward your child for not eating dyed foods. Stock up on organic candy and good treats. If someone (like a bus driver, teacher, etc) gives my child a piece of candy, they get 2 better ones if they bring it home and give it to me (so I can throw it away). I try to keep safe candy in my purse for any time a bank, hairdresser, etc offers something. The expense is well worth the peace I keep by avoiding even small amounts of dyes.
9. Talk to your kids about how they react to dyes. When they are calm, explain that they have a choice to not feel hyper, angry, upset, out of control, etc. They need to connect their choice of food to the problems that happen later so they can be encouraged to choose wisely. I say things like, "I think that treat you ate yesterday is affecting you. Do you want that treat to have that kind of power over you? You need to be in charge of what you eat so this doesn't happen next time. I also really empathize with them a lot. I'll say, "I know it seems unfair. I'm working to change things and ask food companies to make better products. I'm sad that so much food has this stuff in it. But I also remind them about all the good things they still get.
10. Don't forget mouth and body products (gum, toothpaste, fluoride rinse, lip balm and lotion) can also contain dyes that make kids react. Anyone else notice that Wrigley's gum used to be white/grayish but now it is florescent green or yellow? We've been sticking to white toothpaste. I originally paid about 4 dollars a tube at the health food store. I recently found the same natural products in Kroger's healthy food section on sale with 1$ off coupon.
11. Make the house completely dye free so that baby sitters, family members, or others don't feed your kids the wrong thing. It also means DH can't have his secret stash of Doritos and red licorice. The only way to reap the rewards of staying dye free is to take an "all or nothing" approach. Even one pink jelly bean can mess things up. If you decide to be diligent, you may be surprised at how much better your kids can be.
12. Take dye free products with you when you go places. If you have your own drinks and snacks, you are less likely to resort to other products.
1. Always read the ingredients, even if the product looks white, it may still contain dye. Examples of white products containing dye: breads from refrigerated tubes, marshmallows, vanilla frosting, cakes, popcorn.
2. Even if it says there is no dye and it looks white, if it is manufactured with colored products, it probably still has traces of dye. I have found my kids still react to white candies (white nerds, clear Dum Dums, etc.) because they go through the same equipment as the ones with red 40 and probably pick up traces along the way.
3. Ask about ingredients in restaurants. Take the extra time to ask what is in the sauce, how does the rice get it's color, is there red 40 in your cranberry juice, etc. I've had to get over my discomfort with making the wait staff do this extra step. Luckily my husband has no shame and is never afraid to ask. It has saved us many times, but we still miss out on key ingredients sometimes (Watch restaurant food for hidden dyes in vanilla ice cream, mustard dipping sauces, salad dressings, pickles, lemonade, breads, etc.)
4. Provide your own treats and snacks for school or daycare. Get on the sign up list early so you can be the one to make the holiday treats. Then your child eats the same as everyone else and nobody gets the petrochemical overload.
5. Pack your child's lunch. You never know when an item that is normally safe will be traded for a colorful one. The chocolate chip cookies were traded for red and green rice crispy treats at Christmas. The nacho cheese sauce often has yellow 5 or 6. The fruit is often fruit cocktail with red 40 in the cherries.
6. If packing is not practical for daycare meals that you have to pay for, check the menu ahead and substitute as needed. My 3 year old goes to preschool/day care 2 days a week. Her meals are included, but they have a few items with food dyes. It took a while for everyone to get a system in place. I have spent time in the kitchen with the cook and the director. I have read the ingredient labels myself and we worked out which items I will provide. They have a copy of the menu with all items highlighted that Lindsey needs substituted. I send items ahead and they leave an empty box in her cubbie when I need to bring more. I send my own cheese crackers for daily snack (theirs have yellow), fruit cups to replace fruit cocktail, pudding cups since theirs have red#40, and organic cereal bars to replace blueberry bread (red 40) and strawberry newton cookies. It sounds complicated, but it really only affects a couple things a week. She still eats about 80% of what they serve.
7. When you see a reaction, track it down. I've often gotten online to look up restaurant ingredients to figure out what caused the chaos in my kids' behavior. Once you start sharing this information with friends about the hidden dyes and where they are, it's easier to steer clear of them.
I also ask my kids repeatedly if I think they indulged at school and assure them I will be more proud of truthful answers than I will be angry about mistakes. Ben often denies eating dyed foods, but his face gives him away. I tell him I suspect he had something and encourage him to tell me when he is ready. I never punish them for eating the wrong thing.
8. Reward your child for not eating dyed foods. Stock up on organic candy and good treats. If someone (like a bus driver, teacher, etc) gives my child a piece of candy, they get 2 better ones if they bring it home and give it to me (so I can throw it away). I try to keep safe candy in my purse for any time a bank, hairdresser, etc offers something. The expense is well worth the peace I keep by avoiding even small amounts of dyes.
9. Talk to your kids about how they react to dyes. When they are calm, explain that they have a choice to not feel hyper, angry, upset, out of control, etc. They need to connect their choice of food to the problems that happen later so they can be encouraged to choose wisely. I say things like, "I think that treat you ate yesterday is affecting you. Do you want that treat to have that kind of power over you? You need to be in charge of what you eat so this doesn't happen next time. I also really empathize with them a lot. I'll say, "I know it seems unfair. I'm working to change things and ask food companies to make better products. I'm sad that so much food has this stuff in it. But I also remind them about all the good things they still get.
10. Don't forget mouth and body products (gum, toothpaste, fluoride rinse, lip balm and lotion) can also contain dyes that make kids react. Anyone else notice that Wrigley's gum used to be white/grayish but now it is florescent green or yellow? We've been sticking to white toothpaste. I originally paid about 4 dollars a tube at the health food store. I recently found the same natural products in Kroger's healthy food section on sale with 1$ off coupon.
11. Make the house completely dye free so that baby sitters, family members, or others don't feed your kids the wrong thing. It also means DH can't have his secret stash of Doritos and red licorice. The only way to reap the rewards of staying dye free is to take an "all or nothing" approach. Even one pink jelly bean can mess things up. If you decide to be diligent, you may be surprised at how much better your kids can be.
12. Take dye free products with you when you go places. If you have your own drinks and snacks, you are less likely to resort to other products.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
My favorite dye free foods
I've talked to lots of people who find it so much effort to avoid the food dyes, they just give up. We've found lots of great substitutes.
Drinks: we only do 100% juice or Capri Sun. We often do water at restaurants as lemonade and punch are always loaded. Kroger recently started carrying organic lemonade.
Macaroni and cheese: Kraft has a white cheddar and so does Kroger. We get the Kroger one and the sauce needs a little more mixing than the regular stuff, but my kids like it better than the yellow stuff.
Breakfast foods: we make our own pancakes and freeze extras for quick meals on school days. Tip: Most eggo brands have yellow dye. Most Kroger brand waffles are dye free.
Yogurt: Yoplait is usually dye free. We skip all the Gogurts, Yogos, etc (more sugar and dyes added than good stuff)
Popcorn: Orville Redenbocker and Kroger have natural brands that skip the yellow. It took me months and months to figure out microwave popcorn was a culprit for hidden dye.
Fruit snacks: Motts/Brachs has a dye free fruit chew (my kids still seems to bounce more after eating them, probably due to all the corn syrup). We really like FruitABu brand fruit snacks (health food section of Kroger) They have lots of organic fruit leather individually wrapped type snacks.
Chips and snacks: We skip Doritos and cheesey anything like popcorn or Cheetos. Plain chips and pretzels are usually safe. Kroger brand has a barbecue chip that is free of dyes, so are a few others if you like the flavor but not the petroleum.
Breakfast Cereal: We do Rice Crispies, Cheerios, Crispex, Chex. We splurge sometimes on Organic Wild Puffs (again in the Kroger health food section) Its actually fruity and colorful but from natural ingredients.
Candy: My kids love Yummy Earth candies and lollipops. They taste great, but I've only found them at the health food store. I keep them in my purse so any time someone offers us regular candy like DumDums, I decline and hand the kids my organic stuff. I also gave a bag to each teacher so my kids have safe candy at school.
Basically, we check out the natural food section at Kroger before shopping in the regular part of the store. I'm partial to that store as my husband works in the corporate office (designs their web stuff) and we get nice discounts. I also have a color coded list of what to avoid and what to pick instead. It's in a table so I couldn't find an easy way to post it here. Email me at fooddyediaries@gmail.com and I'll forward it to anyone interested.
Drinks: we only do 100% juice or Capri Sun. We often do water at restaurants as lemonade and punch are always loaded. Kroger recently started carrying organic lemonade.
Macaroni and cheese: Kraft has a white cheddar and so does Kroger. We get the Kroger one and the sauce needs a little more mixing than the regular stuff, but my kids like it better than the yellow stuff.
Breakfast foods: we make our own pancakes and freeze extras for quick meals on school days. Tip: Most eggo brands have yellow dye. Most Kroger brand waffles are dye free.
Yogurt: Yoplait is usually dye free. We skip all the Gogurts, Yogos, etc (more sugar and dyes added than good stuff)
Popcorn: Orville Redenbocker and Kroger have natural brands that skip the yellow. It took me months and months to figure out microwave popcorn was a culprit for hidden dye.
Fruit snacks: Motts/Brachs has a dye free fruit chew (my kids still seems to bounce more after eating them, probably due to all the corn syrup). We really like FruitABu brand fruit snacks (health food section of Kroger) They have lots of organic fruit leather individually wrapped type snacks.
Chips and snacks: We skip Doritos and cheesey anything like popcorn or Cheetos. Plain chips and pretzels are usually safe. Kroger brand has a barbecue chip that is free of dyes, so are a few others if you like the flavor but not the petroleum.
Breakfast Cereal: We do Rice Crispies, Cheerios, Crispex, Chex. We splurge sometimes on Organic Wild Puffs (again in the Kroger health food section) Its actually fruity and colorful but from natural ingredients.
Candy: My kids love Yummy Earth candies and lollipops. They taste great, but I've only found them at the health food store. I keep them in my purse so any time someone offers us regular candy like DumDums, I decline and hand the kids my organic stuff. I also gave a bag to each teacher so my kids have safe candy at school.
Basically, we check out the natural food section at Kroger before shopping in the regular part of the store. I'm partial to that store as my husband works in the corporate office (designs their web stuff) and we get nice discounts. I also have a color coded list of what to avoid and what to pick instead. It's in a table so I couldn't find an easy way to post it here. Email me at fooddyediaries@gmail.com and I'll forward it to anyone interested.
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