Food Fighter

Good Friday Afternoon!

I was really hoping my family was going to be immune to all the "new age" food allergies, fads and diets. It doesn't look like it is going to go my way but that is okay. 

LJ has eczema. I'm sure 9 out of 10 kids have some form of eczema and it ranges from minimal to severe. LJ is somewhere in the upper middle part of the scale. I was doing some more research on ways to handle eczema outbreaks without all the steroid creams and medications. While looking into some more healthier alternatives we also noticed he did not handle certain foods very well. Specifically, he did not handle drinking milk with Nestle Strawberry Syrup. 99% of the time he would throw part of it up and 100% of the time his skin would break out. **I only realized this after all my research**

After looking over the ingredients my husband, Coder (nickname), thought it could be the Red dye they use. We decided to not give him any of the strawberry syrup and only stick to chocolate syrup. His stomach issues were better but he continued to break out in rashes. 

Since I am entering my 3rd trimester of twin pregnancy my wonderful mother came down for a week to give me slight break from the boys and house work. I mentioned the strawberry syrup to her and why we aren't offering it to LJ. 

**She is a veteran teacher and is always talking to parents about changing the diet of the children on medication for ADD/ADHD instead of popping pills all the time. 

She mentioned this to me since she noticed the boys do not sleep well (by not sleep well I mean going to bed late, up in middle of night, and up before 7:00am with very little napping. 

Upon doing MORE research and digging I began (and still in the process of) learning about RED 40 intolerance/allergy and the side effects of the dye. I couldn't believe what I was reading. On all the webpages, blogs and medical sites they all said the same thing: linked to behavior issues. I was in shock!

Who knew that feeding my kids simple, easy, kid friendly foods could cause some of the behavior issue I was dealing with. I am not going to blame it all on the dye and assume that changing their diet will "fix" anything. I do believe it is a starting point and it is a healthy one! 

Today marks the first official day both boys are beginning the RED 40 free diets. I am making a food journal for them and writing down everything they eat and when. I'm keeping the notebook in the kitchen for easy access. Whenever I fix a meal or snack I write down the time, what I prepared and after they finish I write down how much they ate. 

By taking this extra step I'm seeing exactly what they are eating and I'm also keeping myself accountable for what I fix them. Major label reading is my new future and hopefully rashes and tantrums will be our past.

Since this is the very beginning of the journey expect more posts about RED 40 and how we are dealing, if it works and the results we are finding. 

Praises to Him,
Angie K