What You Should Know about FOOD DYES

GUARANTEED you have something in your house with artificial food dye in it. And it's probably Red #40. Go google it, and you'll read articles about how it is linked with hyperactivity and ADHD symptoms in children. I have listed food color additives below, and I dare you to look them up and educate yourself. It's pretty scary. Another reason to eat "clean and real".

The US FDA divides food colorants into two categories: Certifiable Food Additives and Exempt Food Additives.

Certifiable Color Additives are derived from petroleum distillates or coal tars and are essentially synthetic chemicals created in laboratories. These are often referred to as "artificial" colors.

Exempt Color Additives are derived from plant, animal or mineral sources which have been processed in some way. The layman might call these "natural" colors because of their origins, though it's likely they've come out of a factory or chemical plant just like certifiable colors.

Let's really quick talk about one of the "exempt" colors. Carmine. Insects people. The color is extracted from the shells of certain insects (Dactylopius coccus costa) that live on cacti in South and Central America. It's harvested from the female near egg laying time when their shells turn a deep red color. They are then dried and dissolved into a solvent.

Umm...no thank you I would not like my food served with dried insect shells. Disgusting.

Let's compare the idea of artificially coloring "food" to make it more appealing to the wonderful idea of eating actual real food. Naturally, ripe delicious food doesn't need any convincing...and it just so happens that Mother Nature turns her sweet offerings a wonderfully deep and beautifully vibrant color... to let us know Her food is ready.....and there's nothing aritficial about it!! There really is beauty in eating clean and real!

Also, check out this article on Food Dyes: Food Dyes Linked to Allergies, ADHD and Cancer: Group Calls on US to Outlaw Their Use
By the way, In Britain certain food dyes are not used anymore. If you bought a Strawberry sundae from McDonalds here in the US, it would contain Red #40, but if you bought the same thing at McDonalds in Britain, it WOULD NOT contain synthetic dyes.