News Taffy

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m really on a kick to get people to eat better. “Throw out the processed foods in your cabinet and get some real food”, is my mantra. Eating real, whole foods that you can find growing on a farm is the best way to eat a nutritious diet and to optimize your health.

I have become especially interested lately in artificial coloring added to food because I have a child with ADD. The more you learn about the food industry, the more worried you become in general about what is in your food. Artificial colors are added to a wide variety of foods such as candy, drinks, sauces and desserts but are also found in toothpaste, vitamins and cough syrup, not to mention cosmetics, detergents and other toiletries. We are surrounded by color.

In the beginning, people used natural ingredients to color their food but then these were found to contain toxic substances like mercury. Next scientists experimented with making synthetic food coloring, derived from coal tar. Now right away I wonder why anyone thought coal tar would be good for people to eat since it is a thick black liquid produced from bituminous coal but what do I know? Over the last several decades, many of these artificial food colors have been found to cause cancer or other health problems and have been banned by the Food and Drug Administration. Only seven colors remain on the approved list and even those are still undergoing testing due to concerns linking them to migraines, cancer, hyperactivity and other problems.

So far, scientific studies on the remaining seven dyes are inconclusive. Many watchdog groups are calling for warning labels on food at the least, the way many European countries do. That way, consumers can make an informed choice. You owe it to yourself and your family to read food labels, to understand that the food industry is more interested in profits than in your health and to prepare food that is real, not made from chemicals.

Admittedly, eliminating artificial food coloring would be a monumental task and for those companies which rely heavily on food coloring, like cereal and drink companies, it might put them out of business. But the next time you put a sports drink in your child’s lunch or buy him or her some candy at the movies, you may want to think about the chemicals you are pouring into that precious child.

I am not perfect. Right now you can walk into my kitchen and find those Ice drinks which contain Yellow #6 and Red #40 and Hungry Jack syrup which has caramel color, whatever that is. When my kids were younger, I actually served them canned cheese which you squirt on crackers. What was I thinking? But over the years I have taken the time to educate myself about proper nutrition and good health. My kitchen also is filled with fresh peaches, bananas, salad greens and there are green beans and chicken breasts in my freezer. Eating healthy is doable, it just takes effort.