Red 40

On my Bucket List for this year I shared I wanted to cut out Red40 from our diet. I thought I would share why and give a progress report.
I am by no means a health nut; but I try to be aware of what is going into our mouths and it seems we eat more junk than we should. I figure the small steps I take add up in my overall health as I realize there is always room for improvement.
Red40 is a dye often put into our foods to help them "look better". Yet if we were to use it outdoors it could be considered a pesticide! It's not a necessary ingredient in the foods we eat. This dye also has a wealth of side effects: infertility, hyperness and migraines just to name a few. In fact most kids who have been labeled with ADHD simply need to eliminate red40 from their diets and most research has shown that after this elimination that medication is no longer necessary.
I am learning that removing Red40 from our diet isn't a huge deal...yes it takes thought and a little work. But, we already eat a lot foods that don't contain the dye. The work comes in when I need to come up with substitutes. For example Klayton loves strawberry milk, one of the ingredients is Red40 and to remedy this situation I now spend an extra 10-15 minutes once a week making our own strawberry syrup. I am also learning that just because a food item is not red that it doesn't nix the idea that there is no red40. Most vanilla ice cream and even some crescent rolls contain Red40. Our main changes thus far are as follows: If we want candy we stick to chocolate. Klayton enjoys fruit snacks so we only buy the Motts brand. We also switched to Tom's toothpaste. Wow, those changes are very overwhelming right?! Just kidding. It's not been a sacrifice and it hasn't been hard. But, I do admit that we have had slip ups...like enjoying that clearance bag of jelly beans. Sigh. But, this journey is about progress!