Additives DO harm children

[txsvicki]

I think food intolerances from some of the high fructose causes some behavior problems. At least I know it does in my grandkids when we had a stomach problem going on.

 

[Taximom]

What are E chemicals?

In short, the E stands for European, and a number is assigned to each chemical. Tartrazine is known in Europe as E-102.

 

[RiverRat]

Whole foods!!! Stay away from the junk.

The sad thing is some of these chemicals are not just in food, which would be easy to avoid by reading the ingredient label. These are also in medications, vitamins, shampoos, etc.

Deodorants and toothpaste - nothing is sacred! :furious:

 

[Brefie]

What I don't understand is why RAW milk is so expensive, and organic fruit & vegetables?

I have always thought that Whole Foods Market was truly only for the wealthy, or those who don't eat very much, but it's not the case. True, produce is pretty pricey, but I have started to really check out their 365 Everyday brand, and it's VERY reasonable. I would suggest checking this place out for those who have one close by.

 

[southcitymom]

I have always thought that Whole Foods Market was truly only for the wealthy, or those who don't eat very much, but it's not the case. True, produce is pretty pricey, but I have started to really check out their 365 Everyday brand, and it's VERY reasonable. I would suggest checking this place out for those who have one close by.

Publix has its own organic brands now - Greenwise, I think - as well as a whole range of organic meats.

I was confused about gracefuljf's opinion? - is she saying all kids are hyper. We try to do mainly whole organic foods, but I am guilty of buying junk too - not a lot of it, but still....

 

[curious1]

Oh, no no no. This is complete and utter bunk. See, it was a finding by a British study? The FDA says that all these additives, colorings, chemicals, and such are safe! That there's no connection between their approved food additives and cancers, poor health, obesity, and behavioral difficulties! And we all know that the FDA never gets it wrong! So stop worrying!...snip

Oh I agree and it's a good thing the FDA stopped the infiltration of that evil evil Stevia. I mean that stuff has been used for years and shows no signs of any of the harmful side effects that so many of the FDA approved sugar substitutes. And to think the FDA is allowing Stevia to now be bought as a stand alone product, pretty soon it will be used as a sweetener in products. We can't have that. A sweetener without all those harmful side effects? That's just absurd. /heavy sarcasm with eyes rolling so hard my optic nerves are cramping...uh oh, I think my eye is stuck like this.....

We really do need a sarcasm font.

 

[curious1]

i dont have kids, but i am around kids all the time and honestly the additives in food are only a slight problem when it comes to child hyperactivity. i think that if they take out food coloring and things like that they would loose money ie...cakes with colorful icing who wants icing that is just white? not me...not kids....leave it be hyperactivity is inevitable no matter what!

You can add colour and sweetness without using harmful chemicals or ingredients manufacturers are just too lazy to do the research. Also, the additives in foods can be very detrimental to a kids behavior. When my sister took my nephew off processed meats, thus eliminating nitrates his migraines cleared and further modification of his diet to include mainly whole foods helped greatly with his behaviorial problems and he was taken off the meds for ADD and HD.

 

[southcitymom]

You can add colour and sweetness without using harmful chemicals or ingredients manufacturers are just too lazy to do the research. Also, the additives in foods can be very detrimental to a kids behavior. When my sister took my nephew off processed meats, thus eliminating nitrates his migraines cleared and further modification of his diet to include mainly whole foods helped greatly with his behaviorial problems and he was taken off the meds for ADD and HD.

My thing with this point is this:

I have three friends with children who have ADD/ADHD diagnoses. Each family is trying a different diet to deal with the issue.

One family does only whole foods - no additive, preservatives, etc..

One family does NO sugar of any sort, but their kid can have all the fake additive sugar alcochol crap in the world and processed food out the yin yang.

One family does the no wheat thing.

Each family swears the change in diet has made all the difference in the world in their kid's ADD/ADHD. :waitasec:

The diets are dissimilar - some in direct contradiction to the others. I;m glad they are all seeing results but I do not understand.

 

[curious1]

My thing with this point is this:

I have three friends with children who have ADD/ADHD diagnoses. Each family is trying a different diet to deal with the issue.

One family does only whole foods - no additive, preservatives, etc..

One family does NO sugar of any sort, but their kid can have all the fake additive sugar alcochol crap in the world and processed food out the yin yang.

One family does the no wheat thing.

Each family swears the change in diet has made all the difference in the world in their kid's ADD/ADHD. :waitasec:

The diets are dissimilar - some in direct contradiction to the others. I;m glad they are all seeing results but I do not understand.

It may be tied to food allergies. They have probably tried different things until they hit on something, not realizing what that something was. My nephews migraines were due to allergic reaction to the nitrates, turns out getting him away from those helped with the ADD/HD some. He wasn't having painful headaches and he wasn't always living in fear of getting one so that gradually took some of the edge off which affected his attitude greatly. Getting him away from high fructose and switching him to things sweetened with molasses helped more.

Now my two main food allergies are: soy and processed sugars. When I eat soy it affect my digestive system, I get bloated, etc and it just makes me feel bad which affects my attitude. When I eat sugar my sinuses get congested and I feel sluggish and very very irritable. Both affect my 'attitude'. I am an adult and can usually control my attitude when I eat sugar, but when it happens to a child well, they don't understand it enough and cannot control their attitude, so you get the cranky, whiney, uncontrollable kid with a bad attitude.

 

[southcitymom]

I agree that sugar is like the devil for most of us. I feel 100% better when I don't eat it, but I still eat it whenever I want to!

 

[curious1]

I agree that sugar is like the devil for most of us. I feel 100% better when I don't eat it, but I still eat it whenever I want to!

I avoid it as much as possible. I just feel awful and the next day I wake up feeling like I have no energy and in just a bad mood. I was never a morning person growing up always extremely extremely grumpy in the morning and it did not take much to throw me into a rage. So my whole family just avoided me in the mornings. Also, an extreme allergy to mold will just about make it impossible to get out of bed some days. I really really thought I was just a very depressed person. I got older and started the allergy treatments and found out about the sugar and soy and it's amazing. If I avoid the sugar and I take my treatment for mold allergies, I hop right out of bed early in the morning like a little ray of sunshine. My parents were amazed, we agree it must have been the sugar and the mold allergies. Thank goodness I was diagnosed and am able to get treatment and know what to avoid. Can you imagine? As a kid I just thought I was mean and miserable and so did my family.

 

[Yeah me]

It's weird how each kid is different. My son's triggers are dairy, refined sugars and red dye. If we completely prohibit the sugars, his body craves sweets and he seeks them out by any means possible. We just have to make right choices and moderate to keep things under control. We don't completely restrict anything (except regular milk), but prepare better when we will be out in public or at family functions. It's not harmful just around the house in the "kids will be kids" sense of things. I don't want him to feel like he's missing out or that he's different. We will have to make changes once he starts school later this year, though. Otherwise, the teachers will be begging us to put him on pills. :furious::bang:

He's such a sweet kid and so eager to please, but I'm just afraid most teachers wouldn't be willing to take the time to understand how to work through his "episodes". He can't help it when he's in full blown hyper mode, you just have to find an activity to keep him distracted from finding his own entertainment or mischief. When he was in daycare, even his teacher could tell when he was accidentally given real milk. Those were the days she was SO glad when we came to pick him up. She would threaten to sell him to the gypsies.

Sad thing is, we had to figure out all of this on our own. His pediatrician balked at the suggestion that he could have a food allergy affecting his behavior.