I thought of blogging about the effects of artificial food addiditives eversince we confirmed about its harmful effects on our kids. I believe that it's my responsibility to let you know of our experience since I blog about food and school lunches.
While most kids are allergic to peanuts, dairies, eggs, soy, and so on, there are also sensitive individuals who get ill-effects from the artificial flavors and dyes, MSG, chemical preservatives commonly found on foods we eat, and beverages we drink. For a decade, I have believed that my children have no known allergic issues on most things. That made me so grateful coz I can practically feed them anything that I find healthy and nutritious.
I am allergic to MSG (Monosodium Glutamate). That is the least diagnosed case to most individuals unless they care to get tested. My doctors said I am one sensitive individual to even react to it. It causes me to bruise easily, and tons, on my limbs even without any history of bumps and falls. Thought I suffer from early stages of leukemia when I was growing up, but my blood tests would always come back normal. Until a Chinese doctor told me about the ill-effects of MSG to certain individuals. As soon as I stopped eating canned foods, instant noodles, and chips, I stopped getting bruises too. Interesting, huh?
Now it's our kids' turn of sensitivity issues. Have you ever noticed how the present generation of kids have grown to be? Most are hyperactive. Not just any ordinary hyperactivity, but some are behavioral as well. Neurologists have confirmed to us that hyperactivity may be due to an iron deficiency or sensitivity to artificial food dyes, regardless of its individual diagnosis. Most on Red, some on Yellow, and others on Blue. Not sure if there's a sensitivity test for dyes. But if you want to try to eliminate all the dyes from your diet, I was told to allow at least 2-3 weeks resting period when testing out one dye at a time. This is to give ample time for the body to eliminate the previous dye/s circulating in our system. That way, you know which dye is causing an issue to your child's health.
We are affected by this hypersensitivity issue. My kids are mild-to-moderately affected by hyperactivity, which I tend to dismiss and thought it was just the way they are. At least we ain't getting extreme behavioral issues yet, but we're deeply concerned. Never had a clue that it can either be caused by a nutritional deficiency, or by a hypersensitivity to food dyes/flavorings/preservatives. My kids will have their blood drawn to test whether they have iron deficiency. Consequently, we are ditching artificial food dyes in our life. Tough as it may seem, but I'd do anything to minimize my children's exposure to allergens to live a better and sound life.
Grateful that I've learned about it as early as now. Now that they are quite mature to understand its ill-effects, and have voluntarily said NO to artificial dyes. Two thumbs up for Mr G, for being so diligently avoiding DYES at all cost.
Right now, we are on the stage of switching our diets to DYE-FREE and ALL-NATURAL. So please bare with us, as I re-invent our daily school/work lunches. We have sworn to eat only home-cooked meals from now on except on special occasion that we need to eat out. I believe eating out occasionally wouldn't hurt much compared to a daily consumption. I hope you follow me on our quest to a new diet for a healthier and cleaner living.
Let's protect our kids from harmful food additives. This might help them live a better life. Say no to artificial additives. Who knows? They could be the greatest precursor to cancer producing cells.
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