same old story

I'm wondering if the food dyes have slipped in for various reasons. Hmm, maybe it was the 5 times my 3 year old woke me up last night (a child who normally sleeps through the night every night) or the spitting, hitting, kicking and constant whining all day. All the classic signs are there, including a conversation about having chocolate cake at preschool. I'm temped to go back through old posts and check how many of the "3 year old high on dye" posts were the day after being at preschool. Praying for patience again!

Sometimes I wish I could go back to food just being food and not having to know every ingredient of everything we eat. I also finally have conclusive food allergy results back on my son. It appears that milk and soy are major problems, but not so much the wheat as we had expected. Unfortunately, watermelon and lemons are also moderate on the allergy scale, so there go a few more fun foods. So I'm in the process of re-evaluating everything on the menu. So besides my family taking up a second residence in the dug-out at the Little League field, I'm spending a lot of time just figuring out how to cook without any form of soy. I'll probably be back to posting more regularly when I come up for air in mid-June.

Jelly Beans

I've been so busy, I haven't had time to rant and rave about this one. My son came home from school a week ago and sobbed on and off for a couple of hours. Several things were going on that he was upset about, but his reaction seemed unusually severe (very much like a food dye reaction). He swore he had not eaten anything. I'm finding it a little too coincidental that he has reacted twice to handling dyed foods at school (Easter eggs and now jelly beans). That was part of what he was crying about. The class did a jelly bean activity. He was supposed to sort, count and taste jelly beans and then write about it. I was not informed they were doing this, or I would have sent dye free jelly beans for him. Jelly Belly and Surf Sweet both make dye free jelly beans.

He was upset that he had to make up which flavor he liked and that he had to watch the other 2 boys on his team consume 144 jelly beans, since he couldn't have any. Now am I just a mean mom that I would not consider letting my child have 50-75 jelly beans in one sitting? And even if I did want my child to eat that way, should my school promote that as an academic task? I like teachers who make education fun and interactive. But isn't there a way to do it without sugar and food dyes? Now I think this is a good teacher, who does a nice job most of the time, but when I have sent my request in writing and made several reminders about my son needing to be "dye free" I just wish I didn't have to continually start over. It's always one step forward, two steps back.

TGIF

I probably will not be posting as much during Little League season as my boys have games Mon-Thurs and again on Saturday. Since they alternate days and my husband is coaching 2 teams, we are really living on the go right now. I kind of wonder sometimes if it is worth all the insanity and portable dinners, but then Ben pitched 3 strike outs in a row in one inning and Alex got his first 3 hits all in one game and we can't help but celebrate.

The down sides of Little League: concession stand full of red candy, just about every kid on the team has a brightly color sport drink, and my kids sit back and watch all the other kids have their food coloring fiesta for 2 1/2 hours every night. I have stocked up on safe gum, candy, treats, and other drinks, but sometimes it gets to be a pain. At least I think we have finally seen the last of the effects of that dixie cup of Crystal Light the other night.

I'm not sure how I would survive if my son were that irritable, whiny, demanding and over-reactive on a regular basis. It makes me all the more thankful I've been able to see his REAL personality without the food dyes for the past 2 years. The contrast is so "Jekkyl and Hyde" it is hard to describe. Imagine watching your calm, loving, affectionate, smart, considerate, polite, responsible boy turn into a sobbing, cranky mess over little things like, "I can't find a ruler to do my math homework." So, here's hoping for a better dye free weekend.

Happy Mother's day to all the moms who follow.

Crystal Light at Little League

The coach's wife was thoughful to bring a big jug of Crystal Light for the kids to drink. My kid who usually knows better was thirsty. Need I say more? Morning hysterics to beat all morning hysterics. Sigh. At least they won.

What does "color added" mean?

I was asked this question by a reader who follows my blog and I thought it would be a good discussion topic. I found a link to the FDA requirements for added colors. My understanding of the topic is that food manufacturers have to list the numbered dyes (red#40, yellow #5, yellow #6, etc) What bothers me is that it sounds like we are trusting the honesty of the food companies to disclose the numbered dyes. I have called various food companies to ask what "color added" means. I often find that those answering the phones do not understand what I am asking, do not know how to pronounce the names of the ingredients I am asking about, and have generally not been helpful. I have been assured that it is not a numbered dye. I have often been told that the person on the phone cannot access further information about origins of the added color. Hmmmm. I guess my take is that if they can't tell me what the real ingredients are, I'm not feeding it to my family.

The Feingold folks also mention this as a concern. In their Feingold Program Details they and suggest avoiding anything listed as "color added" as well as artificially colored or other such terms. Further surch of the Feingold site brought up answers to this question from a 1987 newsletter. Doesn't anyone else wonder why they never tell you this at the pediatrician or when you start reading all the baby toddler books about what is best for you child?

After googling I found another link about color added to Alaskan salmon.

If you really want all the nitty gritty denials from the FDA on color additives you can check the link. But they also deny any risk of color additives exists. So don't read what's there if you aware of any of the recent research because you'll only end up more frustrated. They seem to think thousands of parents just don't know their kids and suggest that removing of additives or going on elimination diets should not be a standard approach for treating ADHD. Hmmm. Do you think anyone paid them off to say that?

Letter to the Food Service Director

I wrote last week about sending an email to the food service director for my school district. I got on the district web site and looked up her email. If you are interested in sending something similar, here is what I sent:

I am writing as a parent who is very concerned about nutrition and how foods affect children's behavior. I would like to request that (school district) consider reducing or eliminating artificial food coloring and preservatives from the school lunch menu. I realize this is a large undertaking, but I feel the benefits, both financial and health related, could far outweigh the difficulties. I have been gathering research, parent testimonies and sharing my own experiences on my blog: fooddyediaries.blogspot.com. Please check it out for further information about the effects of food dyes on behavior.

I have also included a link to a slide show about the benefits of healthier school lunches that I received from the Feingold Association click here to access it: http://www.school-lunch.org/. I would like to encourage you to consider the information on both links as I feel it could hugely benefit children in the entire district. I would welcome a chance to talk to you more about this. Please feel free to call me. Thank you for your time.

You are welcome to cut and paste the text and send it to any school you want. You may want to undue the italics. The links may not copy over (I had to re-do them to get this on the blog). I think it is wise to make it as easy as possible to click right on the information and get folks there easily. Feel free to comment if you send it on to someone else.

Does a little petroleum help test scores?

My kids' school seems to think so. Our school has been doing achievement testing this week. So my son came home a little down that he was the only one who didn't get a mint during the tests. You know, the nice RED and white ones. Seriously, they gave each kid red #40 on purpose to help them on their tests.

Now I know there is research out there about oral stimulation, such as gum, to help with focus, concentration, and test scores. I found a link about it here. But come on folks, red 40?! We still have sooooo far to go with this thing.

On the bright side, my son did not take a mint, as he knows how it would affect him. The hyperactivity or irritability has often shown itself within 20-30 minutes of consumption in my children. So, while I'm disappointed with my school's lack of knowledge on the matter, I'm so very proud of how often my son is able to do what is right for himself, even when the whole rest of the class does something different. He does so well, even under peer pressure. That's pretty good for 9 years old!