Bugs For Colorings......Is It All Natural or Bad News

I had heard of this but to be honest hadn't really looked at my labels. I know that the products I get with Wildtree are clean from this but that is as far as I thought about it. Reading it like this makes me think I'll check a little closer now.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479233,00.html
LINK REPRINTED BELOW FOR YOUR CONVIENCE:

Got Bugs? Many Foods Colored With Extract From Tiny Beetle
Monday, January 12, 2009
Associated Press


Got bugs?

Got waffles, lipstick, yogurt or strawberry milk? How about candy, shampoo and nail polish?

The FDA says scattered allergic reactions are the basis for the rule concerning dye derived from the crushed cochineal bug.

Unknown and unnoticed by most consumers, the juice of a tiny beetle first used by 16th century Spanish explorers is responsible for red, pink, orange and purple coloring in hundreds of U.S. products.

Now, the Food and Drug Administration has decided to make food and cosmetic manufacturers identify the buggy source of carmine or cochineal extract, which may be identified only as "color added" in a product's list of ingredients.

There is no way to tell how many products contain the dyes, said Mike Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington: "It can be anything red."

Or other colors: Cochineal is bright orange, while its more purified form, known as carmine, is vivid red. They also may be found in purple or pink coloring.

Center for Science in the Public Interest has spent the last decade attempting to get the ingredient banned, based on reports of severe allergic reactions to the coloring, but even it hasn't been able to accumulate a complete list of products colored with the dye made from the female insect's crushed, dried body.

According to anecdotal cases published on the FDA's Web site, one girl ate a red ice pop and broke out in hives. A woman was hospitalized for five days after eating red candy. A woman who ate strawberry yogurt and fruit punch had difficulty breathing.

Such allergic reactions are the basis for the FDA's rule, which officially was posted recently.

"Cochineal extract and carmine are safe for the majority of the general population," FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek said. "FDA is taking this action to protect the small number of consumers who are allergic to these color additives."

However, the labeling won't take effect for another two years.

Some manufacturers have begun voluntarily listing carmine as an ingredient on packaging. A check of supermarket shelves found both Dannon and Yoplait strawberry yogurts stating "colored with carmine" on their labels. And cosmetics manufacturer Aveda markets lipsticks free of "bright magenta red pigment extracted from the boiled, dried or crushed shells, wings and eggs of the female beetle Coccus cacti."

Cathy Cook, a spokeswoman for the International Association of Color Manufacturers, said, "The beverage companies have been doing voluntary labeling for some time now" and points out that the bug, used in dyes since the 1500s, has a long history of safe use. The trade group supports the FDA's labeling requirement. Adds Cook, "If people have a genuine medical need to avoid something, they can contact the companies."

But the Center for Science in the Public Interest thinks the voluntary and the required labeling are not enough. The center also wants labeling to let people know the coloring is from an insect, without consumers having to scurry to the dictionary. Vegans may want to know they are ingesting even minute residue from an insect, said Jacobson, as would people adhering to strict kosher laws.

The Juice Products Association in Washington, which represents 130 companies, supports the label requirement but balks at any requirement indicating the dyes' insect origins, pointing out that carmine is already the common name for the bug-derived dyes.

Palm Beach Gardens dietitian Christine Bandy said she has never encountered anyone allergic to carmine, but said, "Anything with a label is not natural anyway. The more clean and whole food is, you don't have to worry about it to begin with. That is the take-home message."

Winn-Dixie shopper Nina Sawyer, 24, of West Palm Beach, got a yogurt maker for the holidays, so she'll be avoiding the dubious dyes. But she was a fan of the store-bought varieties. Looking at another shopper's carmine-containing Dannon and Yoplait yogurt, she said, "You figure it has some bad stuff in it when it tastes so good."

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: