Colorings, Flavors, & Preservatives In Our Steak???

I wanted to share this . You might think it's funny but it makes you think what is really going into our meats before they become food we eat. We often think about pesticides and antiobiotics, but what about colorings, flavorings and preservatives.....

Unfortunately the link is no longer available on this one but basically the farms run out of food for the cattle they are feeding them leftovers from candy companies. It showed the cows diet being supplemented with M&M's and potato chips. Unfortunatley for the farmers this is necessary as they need additional feed for the animals. I had showed this to my husband and he informed me that a friend of his used to work for a large chicken farm years ago and they always got left overs from Hershey to add to the feed for the chickens.

I've been trying to purchase local beef from farmers who are all natural, or when I can beef listed w/out antibiotics and hormones, and I'm hoping that means the are feeding the cows clean foods. Organic isn't available close to us and it's expensive when I do travel for it. The sad thing is that the poor farmers who are completly natural and organic are going to be run out of business because it's too expensive to get out there on a large scale between advertising delivery etc. I'm afraid of what the situation will look like in a few more years. Maybe we could start a project "Get Meat" and change things.

Get the History on Additives

I wanted to pass this on, it's a 9 minute video from Jane Hershey of the Feingold Association, the leader in the fight of getting rid of and being clean from these additives. Take a minute to view it, there is really some great information. There is also a second part available for your review to continue the lecture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlgfxOpNvQ

Curing Autism...Is it Possible

All you have to do is type in Autism in a search and you'll get into the controversy of vaccinations causing Autism. You will also find information on ways to cure autism and disorders on the spectrum. Right now Jenny McCarthy is getting the message out with her recent success of working threw her son's autism; here's a link to the CNN story below. There were many others before her that did this same work as well, you can also search on Lisa Lewis, Pamela Scott, Karyn Seroussi, and Amy Lansy to learn more. Perhaps now that with the latest cases against vaccinations and the publicity with McCarthy and Carrey it will help many others in their fight against autism. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/02/mccarthy.autsimtreatment/index.html

When Nathan was 2 and didn't speak, we had concerns of autism; then when Jenna seemed to have social issues, we thought Asperger's. I found some very helpful yahoo groups, one of which is called ADHD Drugfree, they have a very resourceful group who are well versed in natural cures and alternatives. Changing diet, removing additives is just one of the ways to start. You'll want to work with the help of DAN doctor, just search for DAN Dr's. DAN stands for Defeat Autism Now.

If you looking for cures and answers they are out there, it's allot of work, and research, but could be well worth every bit of it. Just make sure you work with a Dr and look into everything before you just try something.

It's Not Just The Food To Watch

If your like me you started by reading labels, removing all colors you could find, like the red and yellow dies or anything that read FD&C# on the boxes. You stopped using nutrasweet and the bad sugars, then you found the other nasties on the boxes like BHA, BHT, and TBHQ.

But did you know you had to watch your prescription and over the counter medicines? Children's medicines are loaded with artificial colors and flavorings. They put it in there to make it taste better so kids will like it, but in the meantime if you have a child who reacts they could be double trouble during when taking the medicines. Even if your child doesn't have a major reaction to the artificial flavors, once you learn how bad they really are you may have a hard time giving them to your children. There are other options, you can get dye free suspensions made by a compounding pharmacy and flavor them yourself. Many of the same medicines in pill form, even generic are color free. But unfortunately not all prescription meds or over the counter meds can be found color free as they are purposely colored to be able to tell the difference at the pharmacy. Work with your Dr and pharmacy to figure out what is the best for you and your child, just know there are other options. It may take some work tracking them down, but well worth it if you need to remove the bad stuff from your diet.

Daddy you should do our diet.

It's amazing what the kids learn and how they adapt to new ways of life. My son, Nathan, soon to be 6 told Dad the day before Easter that he should be on his diet too. He said that it would make his belly fell better and those foods he eats are full of tar and gasoline. My kids call it a diet and often ask if specific foods are on their diet. Even so young they know they can't eat just anything and they don't try to. For Easter desert we did melted chocolate and dipped fruit, teddy grahams, and pretzels in the chocolate. My son said it was the best he's ever had. And sure we had some normal Easter Bunny candy only it was free of petroleum additives and artificial vanilla; by the way I'm making my own vanilla now it's pretty cheap and easy. All you need to do is take a bottle of vodka and add vanilla beans. I got a bottle of Absolute, because the State Store guy said that and Sky are the two purest vodkas, and I added about 30 beans split the long way. I'm waiting about 3 months and yahoo, my own vodka. My husband says sure you won't give the kids artificials and additives, but you'll give 'em alcohol. Well vanilla is 30% or 40% alcohol. You only use a little anyone. I make my own chocolate syrup too. Going additive free is not only easy it's an adventure.

Before And After

I wanted to share some of the changes we found with pencil and paper skills after removing additives from Nathan's diet. Prior to changing his diet he had trouble staying in the lines while coloring and he rushed through everything. Before his pictures were hard coloring scribble in one direction, then After he actually started coloring in multiple directions to go with the picture and didn't press as hard. His attention span got better and I think that can be seen in the pictures. Just sharing so now Nathan is published, he'll love it.

Before Removing Additives Coloring Pictures:

After Removing Additives Coloring Pictures:

Back On Additives w/Antiobiotics Coloring Examples:

Eating Shrimp for Money

Well Daddy and Grandma have figured a way to get the kids to try new things. Last night we had a late Valentines celebration dinner of shrimp and scallops. Of course noses were turned, Jenna complained of the smell, but ate scallops with butter anyway. Nathan wouldn't try any. So Daddy said "I'll give you a dollar if you eat this bite". Boy were they excited when I told them they could spend it at Walmart on something. Between Grandma and Daddy, Nathan walked off with a total of $4.00 and Jenna $2.00 just for eating shrimp. Nathan picked out a new Ninja turtle and Jenna got a puppy pocket today. I have a feeling meals are going to get more expensive around here, but maybe they will find more food they like to eat for free.

Nathan told two elderly women in line in front of us that he got the money for his turtle because Daddy paid him to eat shrimp for dinner. They seemed a bit suprised and they were so friendly with Nathan and Jenna up to that point but then turned around and didn't talk to them anymore. Can you imagine what they thought, paying a child to eat shrimp, they themselves may have been lucky to have meat to eat when they were his age. I figured it wasn't worth it to explain to them that he never eats anything new, that looks of food turn him off, that we've tried everything and that I was impressed this worked. Let them think kids are spoiled and what's wrong with parents today. I can handle it.......

Because those same spoiled paid to eat shrimp kids spent nearly half an hour in the candy isles with me picking out Easter candy. Not once did they whine for candy, grab at the fancy colored boxes, but instead asked if different ones were on their diet while I carefully read the ingredients and labels. They put back what I said wasn't on the list and were happy with what I picked out; although Nathan expressed he'd like some white chocolate too. I'll have to find him some white chocolate yet. Of course my very sharp 5 year old, wanted to know why I was getting the candy instead of the Easter Bunny bringing it. I said that way if the Easter Bunny didn't bring the right kind of candy, mommy would have replacement candy. So much for spoiled, at least for today's trip.

The First Post

Wow I've got a Blog. Three Years ago, I wasn't sure what Blog meant. Two Years ago, I knew people who were Blogging, but didn't get the big deal; "what's the point? and it's a weird word anyway". About a year ago I accepted the word was "Blog" was here to stay and shortly after as I started my venture into food additives, ADHD, and other internet research I began reading other peoples Blogs.

Now I've got my own in the hopes that my ventures can be documented and help others. And of course it's a great way to keep family and friends in the loop and in contact. I have to say, I'm excited to enter the world of Blogging. Stay posted.