The Proof is in the Pudding

When my oldest daughter was young she was so busy. Some would say she was hyperactive others would say spirited. I didn't agree with either of these assessments made. Something just didn't seem right. Then I have baby number two and the same people told me the same things about my second daughter.

Many thoughts went through my head like:
1. Am I a bad mom?
2. How did I get such a busy and bad kid when I was so quiet and good as a child?
3. How can this child get into so much mischief?
4. And many other thoughts and questions.

So, I read many books on "spirited" children and they didn't really say much. I took matters into my own hands and I started experimenting with foods. What I learned was that there certainly was a link between the foods my daughter ate and her behavior.

From the time she was 2 until now, she is 8, I have watched closely at what she eats. I never went crazy and eliminated extreme amounts of food, but minimizing candy, sugar and milk seemed to make a big difference. I remember being at my sister's house in Pennsylvania for a hurricane evacuation. SG acquired some red licorice and went nuts. She was about 16 months when I saw this crazy side of her. She started hitting her head on the sofa, running back and forth in the room, laying down hitting her legs on the ground, and other very peculiar behaviors. At this point I just thought it was the sugar. I never really associated it with artificial food dyes.

Over the last 2 years she's had these crazy episodes where she gets crazy fits, sits on the ground and hits her head with her fists all while rocking back and forth. Her mood just goes blank and her eyes seem hollow. It is as though my child was snatched by some crazy creature. This happened again this week. Since we went processed and dye free last month it just hit me. It is red dye. We kept a few candies from Halloween. Sunday she started acting like the body snatchers got her. I happened to see a wrapper for Swedish Fish in the trash can. I asked her if she ate them and she did. I am convinced it is the red dye that her body is reacting to.

It has taken 2 days for it to clear her system. She knows I don't like her and her sisters eating food with dyes and I think this week she realized why. She seemed so scared like her body was making her act crazy and couldn't control it...Powerless.

This is proof to me that artificial food dyes are dangerous. They are out for our family. It is obvious what harm it does to my child.

Halloween Loot

Here's a picture of most of the candy my girls received on Halloween. This is crazy! I weighed it and it comes to 12 pounds and 1.2 ounces. Can you believe this? It seemed to make more sense to me when I separated it. I was able to get a better handle on how much was really there.

Of all the "treats" we received, there was only one healthy snack. It was one lonesome Clementine orange with a Jack-o-Lantern face painted. In addition, we received a few "Little Hug Fruit Barrels" drinks (which really aren't fruit drinks) and a Halloween hand sanitizer.

The girls had fun collecting all the treats, but today is the day we are doing the candy trade in. I mentioned it to them and they decided to go with it and pick a few pieces for later.

A Candy Corn Witch, a Devil, and a Spider Witch

Jack-o-Lantern