Momversation Monday: Toxins in food

This is another issue dear to our hearts. We happen to have food sensitivities to artificial colorings, flavorings and some preservatives. So we try to eat as close to the source as we can, as close to how the food appears in nature. Now, just in the interest of honesty I should say that I am writing this while I stare at 24 rainbow cupcakes for Emma's scouts I got from target. Its like an artificial color-polooza.

But in out ordinary lives, we avoid high fructose corn syrup, and all the artificial colorings etc. At first it felt like an overwhelming change, especially the first two times I went to the grocery store and spent three hours reading labels.. But now, its just been a matter of changing the brand names we buy. I think this offers us "some" protection. Really, all it took for me was reading about how they process the artificial ingredients and how they start out. It icked me out. People have asked if making this change was more expensive. I suppose there are ways that could happen, but for us, I am making everything from scratch, so it has become a cheaper way of eating.

Once we started seeing the benefits, it really became worth it. Chloe's asthma and breathing problems were cut in more than half, all our skin rashes and weird reactions went away. We sleep better, and there is a much calmer atmosphere at our joint. Chloe and I have a physical reaction, but also an emotional reaction to the artificial ingredients. It feels like by making the changes we did, it gave her a chance to be who she really is, without her emotions being influenced by a reaction to the allergies.

Interestingly enough, she seems to "feel" the difference. The other day we were at Sam's and she really wanted Doritos with her hot dog, which are a no no for us. But I explained to her what they contained, and let her choose to have them anyway. After, she had the typical reaction of challenging behavior, mixed with hyper emotionality and anger with huge sleep problems. She looked at me in a puddle on the way out to the car and said, "Oh mommy, I never want to eat those again. They taste good, but they make me all jumpy inside". Yeah, I know exactly what she means, that exactly what happens to me with diet coke, every once in a while I have to drink one to remind myself...