Last week, my daughter came home from school with a multi-colored lollipop. I looked for an ingredient list, but the wrapper is of course too small. Yes, I’m definitely a label-reader, but I’m also big on not becoming an emotional slave to the habit. She hadn’t eaten a lollipop in a while, so I let her have it.
Within an hour, she was acting like a total basket case. And sadly, not in the crazy, hyper, but funny sort of way. Rather, it was the total emotional meltdown, cease any kind of rational thinking, and get downright nasty sort of way. I couldn’t help but wonder if there were some artificial dyes in that lollipop. Must have been.
No matter how much I try to limit their exposure to candy by not bringing it into our home myself, it seems my kids are always getting a “treat” from somewhere at least 2-3 times per week. Every once in a while, my girls will independently say, “I don’t want that Mommy, because it’s not healthy.” But usually, it’s an exercise in creativity to get them to give it up willingly so that the times they do have it really are limited to the occasional treat instead of every other day or so.
And now, it’s Halloween season. Sigh…
My cousin shared the idea of handing out mini bags of pretzels (but check the ingredient lists as these can be highly processed depending on the brand/recipe), and my friend Sarah wrote an excellent article for natural moms on ‘Kicking the Halloween Candy Crisis.’ Check it out.
Halloween candy article
Great article on artificial dyes