Parents all over the world want their kids to be healthy. What sane parent would throw an old tennis shoe in a pot of toxic stone soup and expect their kids to feel well after eating?

Kids in the US are currently encouraged to eat colorful food, but at what price? Unfortunately Americans seem to be getting swayed into favoring the artificial dyed edibles over natural variations of hues in fresh food. We seemed to be decieved by the major food industries that we are giving our families the best food because it looks like healthy color.

Above is a photo I took the food coloring I use to color homemade play dough.

Just like the food processors, I will use a drop of this and that to mix and match a different shade or color so it is appealing. If I had to list the ingredients for the playdough I would start by listing the flour, first, because flouris the what I used the most. the i would list water and salt, oil and cream of tarter the food dye is last on the, but, it is in that recipe for play dough.

If I mixed up all of the colors of playdough turning the mixture yucky grayish-brown, the kid gross out and won't play with it any more. this is the same reasoning food processors add coloring to food. Many food turn brownish color while others just aren't exatly the same as all the rest.

We have all become accustomed to consistency in order to have confidence in a product. Thus, our food is dyed.

That is because the bright happy colors are what they are used to.

Kids behaving badly

Way back in the 1970's when I had an overly energetic son we all watched pediatrician Benjamin Feingold on the Phil Donahue show. While I personally believe Dr Fiengold was on to something important, hper-active became a buzz word for any child who did not sit passivley with his hands folded in his lap.

After that people labeled my very active son as hyper-active, when he was just a healthy boy seeking constant input.

I grew my food in the garden. No artificial dyes for us back then. At some point, when the kids went to school, I lost control of the food choices my kids were making.

There are many more warnings, since the '70's, from those who advise us about artificial coloring causing ADHA and cancer.

I have not done the under the microscope research, my self, but I can see there can be a big possibilty from my own years of experince working with kids. I am not disputing this claim. What I want to say is parents need to be making good choices by informing themselves about the foods their kids are being fed. In this fast pased world we live in, we tend to grab and go whatever looks good with making informed choices. We assume, all food is good to eat,

Having experince with behavior management, I want to caution parents to not be blaming everything on food pigments as an excuse for lack of parenting skills. (another blog) Kids feeling like crap sure don't feel like behaving.

Knowing some chemistry, I have found some disturbing ingredients used to make these food dyes. The biggest offending ingredient is petroleum. Many food dyes are made from the same petroleum that make the soles on your tennis shoes.

A petroleum product will always be a petroleum product.

I wonder why we American parents would be feeling so good about feeding our kids food made from ingredients that contain petroleum. M-m-m? By adding a "just a few drops" of anti-freeze, oh, I mean red and yellow food dye made from petroleum, how much would it take to posion your pot of chili or make changes in your child's health?

I don't know the answer for sure, but why would I want to take risk?

Below are 5 food dyes used to enhance our food experince in the US.

Citrus Red 2
Blue #1 (E133) and Blue #2 (E132)

• Red #3 (E127) and Red #40 (E129)

• Yellow #5 (aka Tartazine, E102)

• Yellow #6 (E110)

As soon as you can I encourage you to go to your kitchen cupboards to look for these dyes.

Why is it that these dyes are banned in other countries and not the US?

Here are some places to look: vitamins, real orange peel, ice cream, hot chocolate, cereal, candy, soft drink, fruit cocktail, juice, pop-cicles, mouth wash, tooth paste, hotdogs, mac and cheese, over the counter medications, antibiotics...

What every day items are made from petroleum?

gasoline
kerosene
jet fuel
fertilizer
food preservatives
raincoats
flip flops
pantyhose
magic markers
scotch tape
motorcycle helments
baby aspirin
baby shoes
teething rings
latex gloves
laxatives
cough syrup
microwave dishes
lipstick
mascara
teflon coated pans
antifreeze
food dye

There are 1,000's upon 1,000's of items including food dye, made from petroleum that American use every day and think nothing about where they came from. We would not think of ingesting or eating a pair of panty hose, yet, we think nothing of feeding our kids colored dyes derived from the very same petroleum.

Why is that? Other countries have banned those food dyes I listed above. they have evidnce that they caus bodies harm and behavior issues.

Why re-invent the wheel?

I don't plagerize. I do sahre other resources. Below are some links to some related sources to get you started on your reading.

http://www.rd.com/recommends/rainbow-risks-6-artificial-food-colors-you-need-to-know-about/#ixzz2eKuMErZ8

http://www.rd.com/recommends/rainbow-risks-6-artificial-food-colors-you-need-to-know-about/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2957945/

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=41&t=6

Toxic stone soup series:

http://nonon-centsnanna.com/nanna/nanna.php/growth-development/health-basics/toxic-stone-soup-immunization-contorversy

http://nanna.teoe.com/b2evolution/blog1.php/toxic-stone-soup-series-continues

http://nanna.teoe.com/b2evolution/blog1.php/toxic-stone-soup-is-immunizations

http://nanna.teoe.com/b2evolution/blog1.php/toxic-stone-soup-kid-appealing-packaging-tricks-parents-to-feel-good-about-giving-kids-toxins