Cupid Candy

Even through all my purpose-driven, chemical-avoiding, Red 40-hating progress I have to admit that Valentine candy does me in. Sorta like the chocolate bunny at Easter, all I crave on Valentine’s Day is that one piece of strawberry or orange crème-filled milk chocolate. With candy in short supply at our house, I usually have to settle for a Be Mine message heart from the kids’ school party sacks, but it’s just not the same.

My dad always brought Valentines candy home for me and Mom each year. The big boxes. The kind that took a week to eat. I loved it! And Daddy would generously help us eat them. But that was before the days of labels under the box lid. So my dad would smash his thumb into each piece to see what the filling was like in order to decide if he wanted to eat it. I squawked, but I really didn’t mind. It just made it easier for me to avoid the nuts and aim for the pink and orange goo no one else wanted. I so wish I had a picture of some smashed-in Valentine candy, but we never took any pictures of it. Because, you know, that’s just gross.

At my office we are especially grateful when Valentine’s Day falls before the beginning of Lent so that we can continue our holiday indulgences guilt-free. And indulge we did! Then Cupid, disguised as Father Price, made the rounds and delivered tiny boxes of Valentine candy to each of us. And I KNEW I would find inside that heart-shaped box exactly what I craved.

And yes, I ate the whole box. All five pieces. I have had my fill of milk chocolate and Red 40.

For now.

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What’s a Person Gotta Do for a Scoop of Ice Cream Around Here????

True story:  This week we were due for grocery shopping.  I usually hit four stores total on grocery day.  Before I was ready to go to the third store, Dom offered to round up our Kroger items (the need for beer and/or milk usually gets him somehow involved). He and Aaron headed to Kroger armed with the list of items I typically buy there.  Such dears.

Much later that evening, after dinner and cleaning the kitchen and everything else that has to be done in a day, Aaron marched into the kitchen with a brand-new tub of Blue Bell ice cream.  I eagle-eyed it as if aliens had just invaded my home.  Aaron proceeded to explain:  “Daddy said this would make you mad, but he bought it anyway.”

I was livid.  LI. VID.  Is all this consumerism and change of conscience really just a joke? I turned and walked away, overdue for a little time on the backyard swing (provided the mean neighbors aren’t cussing each other in their own backyard.  That really invades my “chill” plans in a totally unacceptable manner.)

When I finally approached Dom about the ice cream, he explained to me that nothing tastes as good as Blue Bell, and that’s that.  Was it really so wrong for him to seek a little happiness in a tub of Homemade Vanilla?  And what was it I didn’t like about Blue Bell anyway??

Without the ingredient list in front of me, I couldn’t tell him.  I mean, I’m a conscientious consumer but I don’t have a photographic memory.  As I explained to my soul-mate who was looking at me like I’d just cancelled Christmas, something about the ingredient list was a red flag for me.  And anyway, why the hell didn’t he know how to read labels, huuuhhhhhhhhhhhh???

It was a sore subject for three days.  This afternoon in a very demure and non-threatening manner, I brought the ice cream tub to Dom and asked if he wanted my explanations on why I don’t buy it anymore and really don’t want the kids eating it.  He looked skeptical, but was at least willing to hear me out.

“Milk, sugar, cream…all perfectly fine.  Not organic, but relatively natural products if you can overlook all the antibiotic residue most likely entering your system as a bonus. High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup…why do they need to put so much corn into the ice cream?  Did you ever wonder that?  Do you think corn belongs in ice cream?  Besides that, these corn products are 90% guaranteed to be genetically modified products of Monsanto (and thereby resistant to Roundup, which means no matter how filtered the end product, it still comes to the consumer with traces of pesticides.)  Natural and artificial vanilla flavor…what do they use to make an artificial flavor?  Chemicals.  ‘Artificial’ means it was created in a lab, and chances are it was created with petroleum.”

He blinked a few times and nodded that he understood.  I continued with the list of stabilizers and emulsifiers  – which I generally recognize as safe, but still I wonder why they need so many different ones – and ended with my explanation of the final ingredient, annatto color.  “Annatto is a naturally occurring substance typically used to give color to cheese.  The problem with annatto is that, even though it is natural, it is an allergen for many people.  Not the sniffly, sneezy type of allergen, but one that induces headaches and other random symptoms.   I truly believe annatto is the reason Aaron doesn’t like cheese.  Something about the mainstream cheeses turned him off.  Annatto was a common ingredient in all those things that he liked at one time, but doesn’t eat anymore.”

Please understand I am not on a campaign against Blue Bell.  I generally could never completely stomach their vanilla ice cream, but other flavors with all kinds of unnatural colors fit my formerly non-discriminating palate just fine.  (I was a complete fool for Mint Chocolate Chip in our salad days.) I just think that the only way to hold our food companies to a higher standard is to not buy the crap that they sell.  We have to actually demand better ingredients.  They’re not going to get the picture if the “crap” keeps getting votes at the checkout line.

I have a kick-butt vanilla ice cream recipe, and I plan to keep it fresh and on hand at both my home and my mother’s home for when the kids want to eat ice cream.  And hopefully, everyone in my house will someday come to appreciate the more wholesome varieties for what they don’t have.

Medicine Cabinet Mayhem

One night last week, Victoria had an upset stomach and woke me in the middle of the night complaining that she was nauseous.  Instead of propping her up in the bathroom and crawling back into bed myself (which I seriously considered…aren’t I compassionate at 3 a.m.?), I offered to go downstairs and find something to settle her stomach.  I remembered that I had bought a medicine specifically for nausea a while back.  Surely this would do the trick.

Now, fifteen months of reading labels apparently has a subconscious impact because even though I had no contacts in my eyes and was rummaging through my own cabinet, I clumsily grabbed the bottle and flipped it over to read the label – out of sheer habit.  And am I ever glad I did!!  Having purchased this medication prior to my knowledge of ingredients, I am unsure how it escaped being dumped during the last medicine cabinet cleansing.    What I read made my groggy eyes spring open and my mind race into action.   “FD&C Red #40,” “Methylparaben,” “flavorings.” (Seriously? They call “flavorings” an appropriate ingredient listing????) These things have no place in my home, much less my child’s body.  I tossed the bottle into the trash and returned to tell Vic that we were S.O.L. on tummy meds.

I don’t know where her nausea came from, but it was gone by mid-morning.  With no meds – thankfully.   And I vowed to reclaim my medicine cabinet so that minor medical maladies creeping up at ungodly hours of the night can be resolved without me going into a fit of rage aimed at the Food and Drug Administration.

Because, really…who wants to go back to sleep thinking about the FDA?  Eewww.

Last summer I ditched a whole slew of medications because they contained the certified artificial colors (the ones with name and number) that I was avoiding in our foods and products.  I can’t help but think of the irony…petrochemicals are dangerous to our health – maybe not in the supposed 0.2% maximum recommended/allowed by the FDA in a single specific product, but the cumulative impact of multiple products is never addressed.  I believe the consumption (orally or topically) of these chemicals is responsible for a significant amount of our health woes in the first place.  Is it not ironic that our protective agencies allow those same petrochemicals to be put in the formulations of our medications whose purpose is to heal?  Is there not something fundamentally wrong with this picture?

Dear Corporate America: Are You Sure You Want to Market to MY Kids???

During lunch on Monday I overheard my mother-in-law planning a grocery trip and responding to Victoria that, “I’m not going to get that cereal if your mom doesn’t want you eating it…”

I tuned in instantly.  “What cereal?”

“Awwwwww, Mom!!  Can Mimi buy us Reese’s Puffs if we only eat them at her house???  Pleeeeeeeeeeease?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a negative, sweetie, but let’s just see…”  I plucked my handy phone from my purse and began to Google… “Um, see this list, Vic.  Red 40, Yellows 5 & 6, Blue 1, TBHQ, Modified This and Hydrolyzed That…  Do you think you should be eating Reese’s Puffs?”

She blinked in disbelief at my phone, then threw her head back in despair.  “UUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!  WHYYYYYYYYYYY do they have to put all that in there?!!”

Man, I feel her pain. “Why don’t you ask them?  Seriously.”

And yes, I am serious about this.  Nutritionally-deficient foods are marketed to our children every day.  These ingredients that I’m “bashing” are really not necessary for the making of a good product.  The colors?  Purely cosmetic.  The TBHQ preservative?  Potentially unsafe…why not use Vitamin E?  The modified starches and the hydrolyzed oils?  Genetically-altered, purposed mutations of something that possibly used to be natural. All of it dangerous.  And not just with regard to biology, although that ranks in my book… I also have begun to consider the justice issues, the socio-economic issues and the oh-my-gosh-my-head-hurts-when-I-consider-all-the-resulting-world-ramifications issues.

So no, my kids can’t have it.

As I explained to Victoria, whenever I run into a problem with the foods and products that I purchase, or when I have a commendation or suggestion, I email the company.  Vic has an email address and is learning proper and effective use of technology under my watchful eye, so I think she should feel perfectly validated in writing to General Mills and telling them that she really wants to eat Reese’s Puffs, but because of the ingredients her mom won’t let her have it.  I truly believe if Corporate America is going to target our kids as a market, then they need to expect to hear from our kids.  Vic may very well spend the whole email telling them how much she wants to eat those sugary, chocolately, crunchy corn puffs for breakfast seven days a week.  But she’s also going to tell them why she can’t, why she won’t, and why her mother’s money is not going to be spent on the cereal they have spent money convincing kids to beg for.

I do believe I found the subject matter for the kids’ next typing lesson.  Maybe I’ll sic her on Twitter for corporate food connections.  On second thought…  #whatwasIthinking #crazymomfoodie #mydaughtermighthavemorefollowersthanCharlieSheen.     Perhaps it’s best that I not turn her loose with hashtags just yet.  😉

Day 316: Keeping It Simple

My most recent Facebook status update went something like this: “People are always for healthy lifestyle change until it affects their lifestyle.”  I was in a rather sullen mood this weekend, despite it being the most glorious weekend of the Church year.  It felt like everywhere I turned somebody was throwing one more excuse in my face as to why traditional Easter candy with all its preservatives and artificial colors is okay (duhhhhhh, Mom!), frozen pies from God-knows-where are perfectly acceptable, and crappy chemical ingredients are just fine as long as “it tastes good!”  

So I threw a tantrum.  Yep.  Lenten promise #3 out the window.  I actually let out a primal scream.  One dog came to see what was wrong and the other dog ran and hid.  My husband blinked at me in disbelief. I have to admit, I felt much better after that.

I can see a bit more clearly now, and I have profusely apologized to all the heartbeats in my home for the inappropriate disruption to our daily lives.  Many thanks to my sister-in-law, Kasie, who served as my light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel on Sunday, and brought me back to myself. 

So what do you do when it seems all hope for healthy change is spiraling down the toilet at breakneck speed?  I mean, aside from yelling at everyone you love and accidentally wounding yourself in your own Tasmanian-devil-style fit? 

You find something small, and you focus on that one thing until you can mentally (and emotionally) handle everything else.  I focused on my garden and flowerbeds.  They look lovely. 

This whole spiral-into-oblivion got me thinking about little ways in which we can make healthier choices – little bits of good that we can focus on until the rest is manageable.  Here’s my tentative list of little things to do that can eventually lead to big change:

• Change your makeup remover and/or moisturizer.  I’ve been using almond oil as moisturizer exclusively for two months now, and it works really well.  It’s relatively inexpensive, totally natural, and a little goes a long way.  Making this one change will save your face from at least nine chemicals a day.
• Switch to buying organic milk and/or eggs.  Just this one little change to your habits can make a big difference for you and your family.
• Buy small quantities.  Mega grocery stores and warehouses are great if you consume a trailer-load of food and disposables in a relatively short time period.  But I always found that buying food in bulk made me waste more.  It’s very hard to break the habit of thinking I need to “stock up” on something, especially if it’s on sale, but refocusing on what I will actually consume in a smaller period of time helps keep my grocery budget in check. 
• Buy one or two versions of organic fruit or vegetables. Think of the fruits or vegetables you’re going to want to eat or cook with this week, and buy the organic variety this time.
• Plant your favorite herb and use it fresh while you cook.  Fresh herbs make any dish better, and knowing where it came from and how it has been treated is an added benefit you can enjoy every time you cook.  Plus, plants are happy little fellas. 
• Drink 8 ounces of water right when you wake up in the morning.  I have not done this exclusively yet, but I did it for a while during the winter and I noticed that it helped me continue drinking water through the rest of the day.   Water makes your skin healthy.  Healthy skin doesn’t show age as fast.  Where’s my glass????
• Plan two meals a week, if you’re not on a meal planning schedule already.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, but put real effort into it.  Having a plan ahead of time makes the cooking more fun, and the meal more enjoyable.    And just think of the money you’ll save by not eating out!
• Drink a glass of green tea a day.  Add some orange or lemon and honey to it for some flavor. 

Well, that just about exhausts my wee little mind for the day.  😉  I’m off to move the sprinkler so my new flowers can drink up.

Day 254: The Manis and the Pedis

Nail polish has been one of those Do-I-Really-Have-To-Let-It-Go? kind of things.  The only times in twenty-five years that my toenails weren’t painted were the durations of my two pregnancies.  And now that Victoria is pushing 9-years-old, she’s a nail polish freak too.  (She likes wild, alternating colors…lime green and eggplant purple at the same time.  Heaven help me!)

When we began the vamoosing of our chemical-laden beauty products, I knew nail polish had to be a goner.  What I didn’t count on was the difficulty in finding suitable replacements for nail polish and nail polish remover.  We had just fallen in love with OPI brand and my primary concern, of course, was artificial colors.  And OPI had us at “hello,” for the most part.  They have voluntarily removed the three primary toxicants from their nail polishes in accord with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.  So now, most all of their cutely-named colors score an impressive “4” in the Cosmetics Safety Database. 

But you know I couldn’t just stop there.  I wanted to know what the “4” was all about.  After all, a four is within the “moderate hazard” range.  So I checked in on the database to learn that the only really harmful ingredient in any of OPI’s nail lacquers (since 2006) is Triphenyl Phosphate, an ingredient listed as a “high hazard” cited for reproductive toxicity and neurotoxicity.  Egad!

Putting the nail polish on is not the only problem.  Removing it is even more dangerous.  I studied the ingredients of EVERY BOTTLE of nail polish remover in Wal Mart last week and did not find a single one without FD&C Blue, Red and Yellow colors.  Even the “clear” ones.  Come on, people.  Really?????  Add that to the plethora of hormone-altering parabens, and I was ultimately disgusted.   I’ll be honest with you – it’s going to take a literal team of scientists and physicians well studied in the matter to convince me that toxins are not absorbed through the nail bed.  (If you are one of the people who can do such convincing, bring it on, PLEASE!)  If I don’t want Vic ingesting these petroleum-based artificial colors that promote hyperactivity, do I really want her soaking her hands in them?    

Mint and Berry to the rescue.  I found Aquarella and Scotch Naturals, both non-toxic water-based nail polishes and corresponding water-based removers.  The problem is that each bottle of nail polish is $15, so it’s less likely Vic will have a rainbow of colors to choose from.  But I bought some for Christmas for her, and I have to give kudos to the companies who made these products.  True, the remover takes about four times as long to use (it suds up and works like a cleanser) and the nail polishes, because they are not oil-based paints, tend to chip by the second day.  But they are safe. 

And pretty.  🙂

Day 252: The Caramel Color Confession

WOW.  Did you see the news this past week?  The artificial caramel color used in sodas has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals.  Just like saccharin, huh?  (That’s the pink “sugar” packet which is so readily available at every restaurant table, my friends. I still say the stuff should be banned entirely.)

Okay, you know I was all over this.  Here’s the deal:  In this process, sugar is purposely knocked up with ammonia as it caramelizes.  Then it is used in sodas to give them the dark brown color.  And somehow in the processes it forms two god-awful spelling-bee-finals-level chemicals which are known to cause lung, liver and thyroid cancer. 

Let me break this down a little more for us:   AMMONIA, a “caustic and hazardous” substance (as cited by Wikipedia), is heated with sugar and placed in our BEVERAGES for the sole purpose of MAKING THEM PRETTY.  And this is okay whyyyyyyyyy?  Because the FDA says the typical ingestion of this chemical is not quantity enough to warrant concern in humans. 

AH-MOAN-YAH, people.  IN. OUR. SOFT. DRINKS.

(Side note: It’s AH-MOAN-E-AH only if you’re north of the Mason-Dixon Line, which I am not…)

And sadly, you will also find caramel color in “natural” soft drinks too.  Why?  Because ammonia is merely a chemical compound of hydrogen and nitrogen, typically produced by decaying stuff, and therefore “natural.”  Also very potent.  Too much ammonia in my fish tank kills fish – I mean plague-level wipeout!  Ammonia in Windex gives me a headache.  And now I find I’ve been drinking it. Ugh.

True enough, I drink sodas about twice a month.  My kids love Cherry Coke and Root Beer, so they order soft drinks every time we eat outside the house.  Before all this change in our lives my family would consume a case of soda per week at home.    Last year we dropped the sodas in hopes of dropping a few pounds, and just had not brought them back into the house until recently when the kids realized Cherry Coke is not limited to the movie theater. 

But what about people who drink 6-12 sodas a day?  I know people who do, so don’t look at me like I’ve lost my mind.  Isn’t the potential health risk to those people significant enough to warrant a change in what we allow in our foods and beverages?  Shouldn’t our regulatory bodies actually DO some regulating here?   Because, no, people aren’t going to stop drinking Coke and Pepsi.  (Well, I will, but that’s just how I roll lately.)  Once the “news” came out about the dangers of cigarettes, how many people put them down and never picked them up again on that basis alone?  Right – not nearly enough!  At least there is now an age limit on cigarettes – not quite the deterrent we need to eradicate the production of cigarettes, but it was at the very least, a shallow something.  How many people do you think are going to limit their soft drink consumption in the wake of last week’s news?  And I KNOW we’re not going to put an age limit on Coke and Pepsi. 

Let’s face it. Carcinogens are in our foods at almost every turn.  Unless you are eating whole foods, unprocessed and predominantly raw, from an organic farm or garden, you are consuming cancer-causing substances.  And we are wearing them in our makeup and lotions too.  The bigger problem is that most people in America are not eating whole foods OR reading ingredient lists on food and products.  And, like me, too many people don’t know what other innocent sounding ingredients are made with toxic substances and can do us harm in the long run. 

The Huffington Post and DScriber both wrote informative articles on the caramel color news.  Everyone will decide on his or her own whether to continue drinking sodas, just like they decide whether to reach for the pink sweetener packet.  As consumers, we can affect change if we are willing to do so – together.  There’s a lot of stuff wrong with our food and it just shouldn’t be that way.  I maintain that it doesn’t have to be that way.

Day 232: Fundraising Ain’t What It Used to Be

This past fall when my children brought home fundraising brochures filled with eye-popping pictures of planet-sized cookies, my first reaction was to look for the ingredient list in the brochure.   Not finding it there, I searched for Otis Spunkmeyer’s website and, although I had to dig extensively for it, found the ingredient lists and nutritional information for every cookie my kids were selling.  Voila!  Love to Otis!!

And when the Girl Scouts came around with their order forms, I once again visited the Internet and found ingredient lists for those cookies as well.  Sadly, some of my favorite cookies contain ingredients I wish to avoid, but there are plenty of Girl Scout cookies that pass the muster just fine. 

Last week, a coworker approached me with a cookie dough order form, and I was happy to repay the favor of a purchase.  I immediately Googled the fundraising company in order to peruse ingredient listings and make my selection.

No ingredient lists to be found.  Nowhere.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.

I emailed the company for an ingredient list and have not heard back.  I wrote down their phone number…somewhere.  So I decided at the last minute to buy white chocolate macadamia nut cookie dough, with the understanding that if it has questionable ingredients, I’m giving the whole box to my payroll manager. 

Am I really that picky about ingredients in fundraiser cookie dough?  Hellooooooo… have you READ this blog???

Now, let’s be honest.  No one WANTS to pay $20 for $3.50 worth of frozen cookie dough. I don’t care how good the cookies taste.  The fact is that we are supporting something greater than a cookie company.  We are supporting a school.  More than that, we are supporting the kids who attend and benefit from that school.  THAT’S why we buy $20 cookie dough, folks.  That’s why we have overpriced wrapping paper and cheesy cookbooks in our closets.  That’s why we have chocolate-dipped banana chips and peppermint pretzels in our pantry. 

That’s also why our schools have computers, playground equipment, and smartboards.  Maybe not always as a direct result of fundraising, but more often than not.  Trust me. 

I do feel strongly about the need for any fundraising efforts to be forthcoming with their ingredient lists, and I will continue to make that desire known to the companies who seek to profit.

Hoping to support another child’s school, I emailed another fundraising company today for ingredients in their salsa.  I also suggested that they add the ingredient listing to their website.  Would you believe they emailed me back before the day was out, agreed that the listings on the website would be a good idea, and provided me with the ingredient list straight from the salsa jar?  They DID! 

So, sign me up for the $8 jar.  I like those all-natural ingredients.  And I’ll smile knowing I’ve bought more than just salsa.

Day 179: Grapes, Enzymes, and a Fantastic New Resource!

Yesterday morning as we rushed around (late, of course, due to all the fun we had the night before!) I offered to help get Victoria on track by making her lunch sandwich for her.  As I spread the jelly on the bread, she confessed that she had brought home a “Bee Informed” note from the science lab teacher the previous day.  Excessive talking.  What else would it be?

I noted mentally that we have seen a small backslide into lapsed behavior over the last couple of weeks.  Minor things, but I imagine there is some impulsivity involved on her part, as I have also noticed that I have to repeat my instructions a little too much in the mornings.  I started wondering what could be causing the new rash of conduct marks…I mean – ASIDE from my child choosing to talk when the teacher says not to!

With the swiping of the jelly knife, realization kicked me square between the eyes.  I remember from my earliest reading on the subject, that the Feingold Diet website informed me that grapes should be avoided.  We LOVE grapes, and I thought this to be a crushing blow.  But Victoria was eager to try new things, so it was not a huge issue.  Lately, though, she has been taking PB&J sandwiches in her lunchbox. (The pizza lunchables were a hit, but a girl’s gotta have some variety, ya know?) So I realized the behavior issues resurfaced around the same time as the PB&J sandwiches did. 

Now, what’s up with grapes? you ask…  Grapes are a member of a food group known as salicylates.

Sally- what? 

Actually, I stand somewhat corrected.  Salicylates are chemical derivatives of salycilic acid, found naturally in some foods (like grapes), but also found in artificial colors (they keep rearing their ugly heads, don’t they?).  I admit that I did not understand them at all when I first read about the Feingold Diet, and for this post I can’t seem to adequately explain why children with ADHD should avoid them, but basically in these children there is a deficiency of an enzyme which processes and detoxifies phenols (essentially correcting any adverse reaction to the salycilates).  It seems long and complicated, and it makes sense in my head, but all manner of sense seems to escape me when I try to explain the chemical process to others. 

My newest favorite resource made total sense of the grape thing for me – and not just grapes, but apples, tomatoes and coffee as well.  Joanne Allor, fellow “University of Google graduate,” is mother to an autistic son and a son with ADHD, and her site is Healing Autism and ADHD.  She has an impressive grasp of biomedical intervention as it relates to these two conditions, and I am thrilled that she is sharing what she learns.  Joanne details the issue with phenols and salicylates here and also mentions supplements which help the body process the phenols so as to minimize the effects like (in our case) hyperactivity and inattention. 

Once again, I am steered in the direction of diet, nutrients, and now enzymes essential to helping the body self-correct.  I have a lot of research to do in order to determine optimal supplements to help Vic.  There is no magic pill for any of this, I know.  So I see this opportunity to learn as not only the greatest challenge of my life, but also as a genuine blessing.

Day 172: Breaking News on Food Dyes

Tags

FDA, Feingold, food dyes

I received an e-mail from the Feingold Association today with the announcement that the FDA will hold a hearing in March 2011 on the subject of artificial food dyes.  This is HUGE, and I just had to share it here.  To quote the email,

“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), finally responding to the 2008 petition by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), has agreed to hold a hearing on food dyes in March. See the Federal Register announcement dated today.

This hearing is long overdue, but very welcome! Although Yellow 5, Red 40, and other commonly used food dyes have long been shown in numerous clinical studies to impair children’s behavior, the FDA has continued to dismiss the mounting evidence against the dyes.

According to Dr. Michael Jacobson, CSPI Executive Director, the continued use of synthetic food dyes is hardly worth the risk. “What’s the benefit?” he says. “Junk food that’s even more appealing to children than it already is? Why, when we’re medicating so many children for hyperactivity, would we let food manufacturers worsen some children’s problems? Behavioral problems aside, animal studies indicating that dyes pose a cancer risk provide another reason for banning those chemicals.”

Fortunately, a few companies are adopting smarter policies even in the absence of government action. Starbucks does not permit dyes in any of its beverages or pastries, NECCO has switched to safer natural colorings for its famous Wafers, and Frito-Lay is testing dye-free snack foods.

Europe has moved much more quickly to protect children from artificial dyes. The British government has urged companies to stop using most dyes, and the European Union requires a warning notice on most dyed foods. See more. As a consequence, Kellogg, Kraft, McDonald’s, and other American companies that do business in Europe use safe, natural colorings over there — but harmful, synthetic petrochemicals over here.”

See what I mean?  This is huge for us, and a major step in the right direction for purpose driven parents everywhere. 

Now, you know I just gotta say, YAY Starbucks!  Happy Friday!!!!!