Tuesday, May 3, 2011

of all the pretty colors...

This blog post reminded me of something I've been obsessing about lately. I thought I'd share in case it affects you too; and so it's not just Patrick who has to listen. I haven't been able to find much about RED 40's affect on adults, so I feel kinda alone.

So I eat pretty well these days, mostly natural foods and such, but every once in a while I'd like to partake in a little treat of super fake food. You know- cheap chinese, chewing gum, m&ms, ramen. Yum!

Well, recently a couple of those things have started to make me feel pretty gross; specifically my cinnamon gum and m&ms. Just one piece of gum gives me intense stomach cramps, and a serving of m&ms will give me pain and the personality of a bear with a toothache. It's no wonder there are all those sites out there blaming Red 40 for their children's bad behavior. At some point I knew something was wrong and I STILL wanted to smash everyone and everything in sight.

RED 40 is evil, ladies and gentleman.

And boy do I miss it. Patrick and I went down the grocery aisle reading the backs of things, and I'll just sumarize- if it's red, I can't have it. They add red food coloring to fruit juices and a million other things. (ALL my favourite candies, for instance.... goodbye starburst, goodbye skittles.) Add this to my inability to eat anything with aspartame or MSG, and now I'm ruined for almost all processed unhealthy snacks.

Now RED 40 is on the list of things I tell everyone about, I'll add it to my repertoire
"You drink diet drinks? Watch out for migraines. Oh and, good luck finding gum."
"If you feel like your body is shutting down organ-by-organ after eating canned soup or doritos, watch out for MSG... which is in everything."
"Did you break everything in the kitchen? It was probably the coloring in your grape soda."
It makes me really good company; but you should know these things.... right? right?


Thanks for listening, and next time you have a drink with grenadine, a maraschino cherry, or a red starburst please think of me.
Do you have anything you've had to give up?

4 comments:

  1. Hmm.

    Certain foods make me feel like crap, but I haven't narrowed it down yet. I rarely eat processed foods, though, so I'm starting to wonder if I have a gluten intolerance. If that's true, my life is over... ;-)

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  2. Maraschino cherries are disGUSting anyway!!!

    I see a new greeting card in your etsy shop...

    Front: RED 40. HAPPY NOW, SAD LATER.
    Inside: Welcome to clean eating!

    It's a niche!

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  3. Hi Alison, I won't go over everything I can't have but, in being presented a list of things I cannot eat I have been able to discover a new world of things I can. Foods I would never have tried if I had no food allergies. Not to say that there's not days I just want a fried egg sandwich with hollandaise sauce and a piece of cheesy pizza, because there is. But the idea that I am starting to have the best diet of anyone I know and that I can eat bacon whenever I want makes things seem not as bad. Good luck to you!

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  4. Oh Alison! I am sorry, RED 40 is so delicious! I kid, I kid!

    It is funny I read about allergies to RED 40, and how more people are figuring out that it is making them sick. In that same article I read about how most sunscreens have the 3 O's that are really bad for you... so living in a sunny state and having to wear it EVERYDAY, I have had to make the change over to safe sunscreen and wear a hat!

    Now that I have rambled... !!

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