Artificial food dyes, beautiful but ugly

A few weeks ago I received a booklet from Nutrition Action titled "Chemical Cuisine" and I read that under

  Yellow #5: "In the 1990s, FDA scientists discovered Yellow 5 was contaminated with such cancer-causing substances as benzidine and 4-aminobiphenyl (or chemicals that the body converts to those substances). In 2011, the FDA rejected a request by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to determine if the carcinogenic contaminants were still present." -Nutrition Action

OH, AND:

Yellow #6: "The same as Yellow #5, except the FDA not only refused to conduct new studies but its known to maybe cause occasional, but sometimes severe, hypersensitivity reactions." -Nutrition Action

**Yellow 5 and 6 are the 2nd and 3rd most commonly used dye in the US - Nutrition Action**

Yikes! So earlier today I was eating a bowl of cinnamon Life cereal and had the box sitting in front of me (I was reading the nutritional facts and maybe I wanted seconds..) It wasn't until I got towards the end and saw the preservatives followed by YELLOW FOOD COLORING, not just one..but two different yellow food dyes #5 and #6.

So lets start by talking about the Quaker brand and how they are trying to educate the public with their article on how to read nutritional labels:

"There is no better place to start educating oneself about the nutritional values of foods than with food nutrition labels. Many people, however, don’t know how to properly interpret the information contained in food labeling. Many food labels are also misleading or confusing, trying to hide less healthy ingredients and additives, for example." -Quaker

This seems a bit ironic. Considering in their cinnamon Life cereal they have a few less healthy ingredients..

So many companies claim their products are safe and very well tested..That is until other tests are conducted and a lot of additives end up becoming banned. 

Heres a short list of how many artificial colorings have been put on the market and then became banned.

 Butter Yellow

Green 1 and Green 2

Orange 1 and Orange 2 and Orange B

Red 1 and Red 2 and Red 4 and Red 32

Sudan 1

Violet 1

Yellow 1 and Yellow 2 and Yellow 3 and Yellow 4

I should add that they are all synthetic and banned due to huge problems. The problems were anywhere from heart damage, liver cancer, organ damage, intestinal lesions to cancer. Now, do the food and chemical industries believe that these are all safe within "moderation"? Because not only do the serving sizes on almost all products seem way smaller  than what most people actually eat, but companies throw the dye in places that don't even need it!! Honestly take a look at Life cereal, it's light brown..Why on earth would they add yellow dyes to it? Do they really believe a different shade of brown would be less appealing, causing sales to decrease? Ugh.

Now I understand that my M&M's, Skittles, Red Velvet Cakes and those brightly delicious sweets clearly contain artificial dyes. However, it's when companies decide to brighten up foods that (most likely) don't need it and many people wouldn't expect their to be food coloring in it! 

Get ready for a frustrating fact of the night:

Other countries have BANNED both yellow #5 and #6 food colorings, yet the U.S has not. (For example the UK found it causes behavioral changes in children, oh hey there ADHD...)

So how about the company KRAFT, selling Macaroni and Cheese here in the U.S adding yellow #5 and #6 to make the appearance better.

Yet over in the UK the same company KRAFT sells it (under a different name, Cheesy Pasta) but they don't have those Yellow food colorings in it. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that they look almost identical..

It's a shame that these synthetic coloring are dying all of our food (This is not just a yellow dye problem, either). Has anyone ever though about using natural dyes to enhance the look of their food? Oh wait..Here comes thee most frustrating fact of the night:

Companies are using natural dyes in places other than the US because they have banned them, but they use synthetic dyes here. And yes this is true for US based companies. :/ I'm talking to you M&MS! 

I want my kids to enjoy candy (especially since it's halloween time!) but it's so frustrating that in the U.S the companies use cheap, problematic ingredients but they'll alter the recipe for other countries that ban it..Let's do something about this!! 

Just in time for the fall..sorry candy corn...

Metamorphosis

My initial intention was to write a blog post about growing a small herb garden (well, my husband would say it's big.. but I think it's tiny! ha). But then I got side tract researching different bugs that were hanging out in my garden. So later I'll make a post about starting and maintaining an easy herb garden that is SO worth it :)

It all started with my sweet mint plant. I was noticing a lot of the leaves were being eaten by something, other than me! So one morning I went out super super early and busted this little critter:

For weeks I thought this little guy was just a cute young caterpillar, and tonight I was proven wrong, horribly wrong! I first started researching things on Google like "caterpillar identifications" and "young green caterpillar with black spots" and so on but nothing looked like "him". So I thought..maybe  I should back up and get a better idea about insects. This is when I was reminded about (most) insects life cycles, metamorphosis. 

So tonight I want to talk about one of the many mind blowing biological processes that happens to but definitely not limited to most insects, metamorphosis! Metamorphosis is when the animal transforms through different stages of it's life. There are four different phases of complete metamorphosis:

1) Egg

2) Larve

3) Pupa 

4) Adult

Some animals don't go through all four phases, though. These animals go through Dramatic cellular changes and usually their habitat is completely changed! I could go on and on about this process but I want to stick to identifying this "cute little green caterpillar on my mint, well used to be on my mint". Since this little guy is in his larvae stage it will be quite easy to identify using this chart. I know that there are segmented thoracic legs (this means that right behind the head there are three pairs of legs) so I will be using a chart I found on the University of Kentucky page. (If there aren't the segmented thoracic legs than you would use a different key)

Pretty Gross...I know! Well after following this chart I was sadly mistaken my little green friend up there as a caterpillar, but really it is a SAWFLY! So I did a little research on sawflies and found out they were closely related to bees, not so much flies. Deceiving, yup!

It's amazing to think they go from a plant eating larvae to something similar to this:

So if you ever find an insect in it's larvae stage and want to know what it is, this webpage is a really great reference: http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef017.asp

I hope you weren't too grossed out by my random metamorphosis rant. When I was younger I always wondered if butterflies remembered being a little caterpillar, hey I never said I wasn't weird ;) Have a good night!

Lovely Music and How it Helped Me!

As I sat here this morning listening to some music I came to realize just how important music is to me. I am the type to listen to music to match my mood and activity taking place. But no matter what I'm doing or feeling there is just one band that knows how to put a smile on my face. I can't even express how happy I am that this band exists! You, too should take a look at this great indie folk band called The Head and The Heart. Check them out at their website!

www.theheadandtheheart.com



From their first album, The Head and The Heart I recommend giving a listen to:

Lost In My Mind
Down In The Valley
Rivers and Roads







From their second album, Lets Be Still I recommend giving a listen to:

Another Story
Shake
Homecoming Heroes









Okay, now I feel like I'm promoting their band..I just truly find so much happiness in their music I want the same for you! :)


So, I want to go back and talk about my realization on how important music is to me.

When I came home from the hospital after giving birth to my baby boy, trying to rest and relax was much needed and listening to music was how I did it. There are so many stories I heard about postpartum depression and it can truly happen to anyone. So I decided to do my best at staying positive and relaxed through my biggest life changing experience. Boy do I remember the first month of post-baby, it was really hard! Thankfully I had a wonderful husband and other members of our family visit and help us out for the first few weeks. However, there was a part of me when I'd be alone whether it be nursing the baby or when my husband would head to work, that I needed something to keep my spirits high. Of course I was so overjoyed with our healthy, beautiful new born baby but for me it was so hard with the very quick and dramatic change. Getting no more than two hours of straight sleep, being in pain from child birth, my internal organs felt so jumbled and different, learning how to nurse, understanding my baby, etc.

For me this was surrounding myself with music I loved. Not only was the music I love soothing to the baby, but for me too! So I hope that (not only newly moms out there) but everyone in general find some music that makes you happy, start jamming and smiling :)

Happy Monday!

Blogging Adventures Begin.....Now!

This whole blogging experience is completely new to me, but boy am I excited to share with everyone the lovely adventures of my life! My future posts will include anything from gardening/botany, DIY projects, recipes and of course anything that randomly sparks my interest. 

So, for my very first day of blog post I wanted to post this photo I put together earlier today. It's a lovely reminder of how beautiful life is, and don't forget to SMILE! :)