I let both kids have a jelly bean – before supper! – as we gathered at my in-laws’ for Easter dinner on Saturday. Leah was just excited to have a candy, period, because she always is and loves her sweets. Paul understood the full weight of the treat: “But they have artificial colors, don’t they, Mom?” he asked, wide eyed.
“Yes, they do. Would you like one?”
He was geeked.
Results: No night waking or terrible, out of the ordinary fits Saturday or Sunday night and through Monday. The late night Saturday (bedtime after 9:30; our norm is 8/8:30) definitely affected Leah on Sunday/Monday, but nothing beyond usual 3yo girl tiredness.
Read all the posts from the “My Food is Not a Number!” series HERE.
The Easter Bunny brought only approved sweets and treats:
- Surf Sweets sent me some samples of their naturally colored, no HFCS gummies, jelly beans (new!), and sour bears to fill the kids’ eggs. I might have sampled some (don’t tell). They’re really good. You’d never know they were “healthier” candy.
- You can find Surf Sweets at a number of online retailers, including here at Amazon.
- Yummy Earth Organics suckers, available at our local health foods store (but pricey, of course).
- Larabars, which I usually make homemade, but since they were on sale for $1 each at Meijer a few weeks back, I couldn’t help but grab a few. When presented as treats, the kids are so excited to have them, and I love having a healthy, no-sugar snack available in the car.
- A few eggs were also full of chocolate chips.
- Garden clippers and seeds (from the dollar store). The Easter Bunny seemed to know that the kids are always trying to help trim old flowers, thus rendering Mom not able to work because they have her clippers. Now everyone has clippers! E.B. also picked out meaningful seeds for the kids, who were, no kidding, incredibly excited and wanted to run right out to the garden to plant!
- Their own tape (another thing E.B. noticed they were always taking from mom’s desk).
- And for Jonathan, some freeze-dried fruit from Tropical Traditions, which he got to try and thinks is pretty interesting. (This is our only dry finger food so far, since we’re sticking to no grains until he’s one! More on how we’re feeding (and not feeding) the third Kimball babe.)
What I think is great about this is that neither kid even knows the difference between the Easter Bunny’s contributions this year and regular junky candy. I’m pretty sure they don’t even know they got “good” candy in their eggs.
Grandma and Grandpa supplied plenty of junk candy to tempt us all, but I’m fairly certain that on Easter itself, the colors weren’t consumed.
But on Monday night…
Both kids joyously embraced their bags of separated candy full of “artificials” as Leah calls them. Quite literally. There was honest-to-goodness jumping up and down, and I think I may have seen one of them hug the bag.
Leah chose a Now and Later as her first treat back to food coloring and Paul had a fun sized Skittles. He had an achy foot (“growing pains”) about an hour later, which he hasn’t struggled with for quite a while. Coincidence? Wouldn’t that be interesting?
The End Game
For us, I really don’t think the colors are making a difference, but it was an interesting experiment. We definitely haven’t proven that artificial colors cause any behavioral problems in our family. The night waking I mentioned in my last post continued to happen a few times near the end of the next week, when Leah would have been completely off food colorings for two weeks (although she didn’t stay up for an hour this time, thank goodness).
Many questions have been raised in my head about these colors, and I know they’re nasty, but I’m not going to avoid them whole hog right now.
I even just used the regular egg colors that I had in my stash, although I considered trying the natural egg dyes with chlorophyll, turmeric, and beet powder. It just wasn’t meant to be when it came time to dye eggs, and I was totally comfortable with the compromise. Plus, I saved the nasty colored water to re-test the Berkey filters like this next time we clean it. I know that natural colors aren’t all that hard, but since we only used 1/3 of a box of junk colors, it cost only about $0.3o to color a dozen. The natural way, including 2 cups of blueberries and red cabbage, would have cost over $3. Plus, I had an audience of family visiting to color eggs with the kids and wanted to focus on joy and fun, not trying something new. It’s just not something I’m doing while I still have egg dye kits in the house.
There are so many other issues possible in Leah’s behavior post-grandparents’ visits: TV, general excitement, lack of sleep, different SAD food in general…or just that she’s a feisty, stubborn, 3-year-old girl with immature emotions, who, like many preschoolers do after school, lets loose once she gets home because she’s used up all her effort trying to be so “good” at Grandma’s house.
What Will We do Now?
Moving forward, I’m going to work to avoid artificial colors more than I did before, which was zero. I’m not going to get worked up about them, but I’ll choose the non-colored option when there is one and be continuously taking mental notes on behavior, night wakings, and food coloring.
I cannot emphasize enough, however, because Kitchen Stewardship is devoted to finding the balance, with budget as one of the four pillars, that buying pricey candy without artificial colors is dead last on my priorities. I would only do it if my kids actually demonstrated a problem with colors, and then only for special occasions. Like I always say about sweeteners like sucanat or coconut sugar, better to skip the candy altogether than stretch a budget to buy sweets that are only marginally better than the conventional and certainly not actually healthy.
In the end, I’m really glad we did the experiment, if nothing else because these posts inspired at least a few of you to try it in your own home – and some discovered a new child you didn’t know you had, one who had been hiding under the influence of chemicals affecting their brains. I’m so honored to have been a part of your stories, and thank you for sharing them in the comments here at KS and by email.
What did your Easter Bunny bring?
———————————————
I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter, get KS for Kindle, or see my Facebook Fan Page.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
Disclosure: Surf Sweets send product samples for my review, but my opinion is wholly my own. I am an affiliate of Amazon and receive commission if you buy any item starting with one of my links – and it doesn’t cost you any more. So thanks for starting here to shop there! See my full disclosure statement here.
Jelly belly has snapple flavored ones that do not use food coloring
But my daughter has all sorts of things at my parents and we had tears for two days.
[Reply to this comment]
Our EB brought some Ghiradelli dark chocolate (which my kids love and it has no “natural flavors” on the ingredient list), freeze dried fruit from Costco, Kind bars and some Mrs. Mays’ nut crunch, a soccer ball and sidewalk chalk. They were so happy with it and like you said, didn’t know what they were “missing.”
I really liked in your last post how you said they are only sad about strict diets if they know what they’re missing. So true.
[Reply to this comment]
I just wanted to say that it appears Jonathan’s play wall toy thing is attached to the laundry basket. That’s totally what I’ve been doing for my little guy with his!
.
My boys (almost 3 & 8 mos) shared a basket with some socks and small toys, plus Lindt white chocolate truffles for big brother and Dada to share. Spendy chocolate for sure, but good ingredients and indulges in my husband’s white chocolate preference for a special occasion!
Best part of Easter? Teaching my oldest to say “He is risen indeed, Alleluia!”
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
April 12th, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Yes! We have had our favorite Vacation Bible school CD in all through Lent and had to skip the Alleluia song; I kept explaining to Leah, “I know you want to sing it, but just wait, it makes Easter so joyful when we get Alleluia back and celebrate “He is risen”!” Now we’ve been bopping to Alleluia for 5 days straight, on repeat!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
I stopped buying artificial colors a couple of years ago. The one compromise I’m aware of is wickles pickles and relish. Yellow #5. We eat them sparingly so it’s no big deal. For Easter, my 7 and 8 yos got dove chocolates in a lidded Tervis tumbler, patterned duct tape, gardening gloves, a seed kit, an icing bag filled with cheddar bunnies and tied with a green bow to look like a carrot…and two Reese’s PB eggs. Not sure how fake they are, but we love them in moderation.
.
[Reply to this comment]
Our Easter Bunny brought WAY too many jelly bellies, a good amount of pistachios, chocolate eggs, a small Thomas engine for a little boy’s track, and some cute (babylit) board books for a very little girl.
I did try dying my eggs naturally this year, but I basically used what was in my fridge, anyway. The colors were no where near as bright as I’d like, except for the red cabbage blue. I don’t know whether I’ll do that again next year.
[Reply to this comment]
That’s awesome! We bought each of my kids a card and an audio drama from Lamplighter! They loved it!
[Reply to this comment]
Easter Bunny brought us Ghiradelli chocolate, organic lollipops and Annie’s gummy bunnies. No complaints from the girls, 13, 9 and 7. I let the kids have their fill at a multiple family easter egg hunt. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. I thought about trying natural colors this year, but ended up not coloring eggs since 3 of us are egg-free now and didn’t want to deal with leftover eggs. No one even seemed to notice. Love the tape idea since mine is also constantly disappearing.
[Reply to this comment]
We’re actually doing the eggs this week when we have more time!
And we love the surfsweets because they usually have no corn syrup as well as being very tasty (oldest has corn allergy). Glad your kiddos aren’t showing overt reactions to the colors, my oldest has a definite reaction to them. But since blue color gave me hives as a child, I am not surprised.
[Reply to this comment]
My kids *do* react so there are no colors in our home. They got mostly toys for Easter (hat, water bottles, sidewalk chalk, etc.) and some “good” fruit snacks. They each ate both (small) bags before breakfast.
Monday I somehow managed to get my 2 YO sleeping, my baby (who crawls) playing happily on the floor, and my 4 YO went out to the neighbors. I cleaned the house. 4 YO runs inside at some point: “Mom, can I have these? She says there aren’t any artificial colors in them!” Yes. That’s the first thing she said when showing me her candy (which was Starbursts and totally does have artificial colors). I told her this. She insisted that the neighbor girl said there weren’t. I’m sure the neighbor has NO idea what she was talking about. I’m sure that despite her initial concern, she did end up eating some…and several jelly beans. Tuesday did not go well.
I wondered if she knew what artificial colors even were, or if it was just something she’d heard me say. So yesterday we were driving and she brought them up again. And said, “Not real colors. Just pretend.” I guess she does have at least a basic understanding.
Kids are smart!
[Reply to this comment]
Our Easter bunny brought no-artificial color candy and only fair trade chocolate. I think the bunny was quite unimpressed with the selection available, but not so worried about the cost, because a few better-choice items that cost a little more but come guilt-free are better than tons of junk we shouldn’t be eating anyway. The bunny also brought swimsuits and toys
The little Lego kits were the hot item of the morning.
[Reply to this comment]
Love it! My son got a ton of colored candy from a city egg hunt. He also woke up crying with foot pain. He hasn’t done that in forever. It has to be related to something, right?
[Reply to this comment]
We have been off artificial colors and flavors (the nasty “vanillan” is everywhere!) for about three months. They definitely affect two children in behavior. In the other two, the it’s more subtle but I can tell when the teenager has cheated and gotten candy from his friends – his face breaks out. It doesn’t even have to be chocolate because I let them have chocolate here. As far as a two week cleanse, I have seen increased improvement as time has gone on. Two weeks is a really short time for detoxing your body. BTW, my mother and mother-in-law both made sure everything the children got were “legal”. I really appreciate their support of our endeavor.
[Reply to this comment]
Our eggs were filled with the Annie’s Bunnies. I also hid wrapped chocolates from last year that I froze. They are now tucked back into the freezer to be found again next year. I do let them have a couple each so they don’t feel like I’m depriving them. They also got fun things like socks.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
April 13th, 2012 at 10:51 am
Sarah,
Katie
oh, my goodness, I’m laughing at your re-using trick only b/c it sounds like something I’d do if I were that creative!!
Nice!
[Reply to this comment]
Artificial colors, especially Red Dye #40 do a number on my kids. My 5-year-old is the most affected by it. I’ve banned them but they occasionally get things with them from school, etc. My mom brought over some bagels and cream cheese a few weeks ago and I saw that the cream cheese contained Red Dye #40! Ridiculous! That’s why we eat the way we do….to avoid these things!
[Reply to this comment]
We did naturally colored eggs – using stuff we already had around: orange peels and a shake of turmeric for orange (more like yellow), a pot of dandelions the kids collected that made a greenish-yellow, beet skins and the water we had boiled the beets in, and violets that the kids collected that ended up a lovely robin’s egg blue. So it wasn’t expensive, unless you count spending maybe an hour collecting flowers, which is fun and idyllic if you have the time and stressful if not. The colors were *very* light after boiling for 15 minutes as my recipe had, but were nice pastels after soaking overnight. I did some brown eggs as well, but the colors had a really hard time overcoming the egg color. All in all, a fun project if you don’t need quick dying or bright colors. We started Holy Thursday collecting flowers and between two overnight soaks got our 24 eggs done by Easter Vigil.
[Reply to this comment]
i know we used pale brown eggs and as you said carrie, the natural colors had a hard time overcoming it! next year i will source some white eggs. we have brown egg layers, and i think for this reason i may get some white egg layers!
i am sorry katie, but i have to say, to me, budget is of course a huge concern- we are a family of 4 on one very modest income, but to me, even though it is a struggle, i do not put budget before quality- it is a matter of faith. i am not saying i don’t strike a balance here and there, but for me having faith that God is abundant and will provide well for all of us means i do not buy crappy candy, ever, period, or any crappy food just because it is way cheaper. i know the organic natural candy is way more expensive, but i figure as little as i buy it, how much can i fret about it costing more?? frankly i try to keep that philosophy about everything, i try to buy organic, fair trade, recycled, free-cycled, all the time. of course it is a challenge, i am not perfect. i got my daughter some very cute garden decorations ad tools for easter, from hobby lobby- made in china. they were quite affordable for how cute they were…but that cheapness came at a price. sigh!
but i told the grandparents strictly NO weird fake colored candy- stick to high quality chocolate and only an amount you think they can reasonably consume on easter (with a little help from mom and dad!!). it went over very well.
i don’t care if i don’t see a behavior change when they eat weird candy or junk food (which i actually sort of do notice), i am still gonna put my foot down and try to eliminate it as best i can and i owe that to you katie for these series of posts. i had bee slacking at the in-laws lately so as not to offend anyone. luckily both grandmas are chocoholics, so saying they can still treat the kids with moderate amounts of high quality chocolate doesn’t totally rain on their parade
[Reply to this comment]
Thanks for all the great ideas! I’ve started a list for next year. Maybe we’ll do the basket gifting a week early too, since it seemed to take the kids’ focus off of what Easter was about this year.
A fun thing we have done for several years is to put the “fancy” character band-aids into the eggs along with a small piece of Yummy Earth Organics hard candy. We don’t normally buy those band-aids, so they’re a real treat. We also fill some with small stickers and nickels or dimes. Trader Joe’s had chocolate bunnies this year for $2 that had a shorter ingredient list (though not for those with dairy, peanut or nut allergies). We filled our toddler’s smaller eggs with raisins, which he’s addicted to.
Believe it or not, but it’s Thurs. afternoon, and the kids still haven’t finished their bunnies or other candy!
[Reply to this comment]
We do avoid food dyes, because my oldest has a strong emotional reaction. That being said, you are right about junk without food coloring still being junk (and really expensive junk!). I am trying to get away from always using sweets to celebrate. My kids’ baskets had some sweets – naturally colored/flavored jelly beans, a couple pieces of good chocolate, and a couple undyed marshmallows (I can rarely find them, and my kids LOVE them) – but most of it was non-food items. Between the three of them, they got bubbles, activity pads, erasers, a book, a “real” Bible, jump ropes, card game, sidewalk chalk, and play food for their kitchen. When we gathered up the candy, each kid’s got enough to fill a snack (not sandwich) sized zip-locking bag, and they finished it by Thursday. I also bought all the Easter-themed things on clearance last year and stored them with the kids’ baskets in the basement. I got activity pads, erasers, pencils and stickers for 75% off!
Themed baskets could be a lot of fun. Here are few more fun ideas:
Summer-ready basket – a new swimsuit, sunglasses, lip balm and a beach towel
Play basket – sand and pool toys
Art supply basket
Hair care – new brush, pretty hair clips and head bands, maybe some paint-in color
Going-to-the-Park basket: snacks, sand toys, and a coupon for a morning at the local park
[Reply to this comment]
Thanks for this series Katie; I broke down and bought 135 organic lollipops for church or other special occassions after reading more about artificial colors.
[Reply to this comment]
I was really happy with our candy additions this year! We always focus on non-food treats for my almost 4 year old, but I added a honey stick (local honey) and a maple candy to her basket already overflowing with a mini toy birdhouse to paint, pink jump rope, bunny Post-it notes, a pink sand bucket, pink Max & Ruby bowl, pink – notice a trend here? – Disney princess container, Olivia the pig book, and Strawberry Shortcake movie. The maple candy was made at a local nature center (tapped from their own trees) that my hubby and daughter picked up when they went for a visit. It was a great way to add something sweet to her basket without making sweets the focus and she was more excited about them than her once in awhile Earth Organics lollipops.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie, I have been reading your blog for more than a year, and I think you are an amazing woman as well as a helpful resource. Please read this in the spirit it is intended, and forgive me if it comes out as snarky. I am reading through your whole series on avoiding artificial food dyes, and I can’t help but wonder how you got from this…
“See the parabens on there? Now instead of just, ‘These artificial things are certainly not natural and might impact children’s behavior negatively’ I’ve got a hormone disruptor running rampant in my kids’ candy bags. Time to get serious.”
to this…
“Many questions have been raised in my head about these colors, and I know they’re nasty, but I’m not going to avoid them whole hog right now.”
and this…
“…buying pricey candy without artificial colors is dead last on my priorities. I would only do it if my kids actually demonstrated a problem with colors…”
Your responses are always gracious and thoughtful, and I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Thank you for taking the time to go through this series. I bet it has been helpful for a lot of your readers.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
April 13th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Sarah,
You are so sweet to be so cognizant about all my thoughts! Phew – more so than I have been, I see.
I’m not adding any more actual food coloring to my own food, so that’s the result of the parabens being in there and is a change from previous habits. I keep talking Leah into a pink princess cake instead of blue Cinderella for her birthday b/c I know how to make pink…
I might not buy much organic candy – although we’re finally at a point where we have a bit more disposable income, so I can make that choice more freely now. However, I wanted to be gentle to my frugal readers, some of whom have been asking recently about some of the expensive items on the blog.
I won’t buy any candy WITH artificial colors either, you see, and that’s a huge change. I guess I didn’t make that clear in my post. The tough part is that they do come into the home, and I guess I’m not going to go nuts over getting them out, any more than I ban Grandma from using crazy bath paints and smelly shampoos with my kids, even though I’m sure I don’t want to read the ingredients. I can’t protect them from everything…
Does that make sense? So I have made changes based on our experiences and my research, but I’m not adding colors to a list of things we NEVER eat, which is actually pretty short: artificial sweeteners. I keep thinking I should probably ban all trans fats, but that sure changes “eating out with the grandparents,” so, sheepishly, I cringe, I’m not even there yet.
Thanks for giving me a chance to organize my thoughts!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
Your blog has helped inspire me so much especially on my weight loss journey! My husband and I decided this year that we were not going the candy route; we did not even send our nephew candy. Our daughter, (3.5 yrs old), received movies, coloring books, reading books, sidewalk chalk and a stuffed animal. My parents even left out the candy. My sister must have missed this memo, because her gift to our little one certainly had the candy! We have been rationing it though! We are trying to stick to as little processed foods as possible and as little artificial as possible. I am working on getting it completely out of my diet. Thanks again!
[Reply to this comment]
I love that one of your kids got pruning sheers- the baskets seem to be full of cute stuff. My kids got seeds for Easter as well, but I wish I could say it was my idea- they were from my MIL!
[Reply to this comment]
I made up baskets for the cousins so I’d have a contigency plan/substitutes if the relatives offered unapproved treats to my kids. 6 baskets =tight budget! I found some YummyEarth treats (lollipops, gummi worms) on clearance ($1!) at Marshalls. They also had organic jelly beans and bears at their normal price. It’s been 2 years since I went in there, so I lucked out!! I also added gluten free ” ‘nola bars”, Cliff Bar fruit twists, spiderman socks ($1at Target!). Temporary tatoos were a hit, but I later saw a label that the state of California considers part of it toxic. Yikes! Atleast the insulated straw cups were bpa free!
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
April 17th, 2012 at 12:47 am
Johanna,
Katie
I had a heart attack when I saw that State of cal. warning on my air purifier, but the company explained it pretty well – I don’t remember all the details, but the takeaway was that Cal. has some strict, odd standards, and that label pretty much gets put on everything to cover manufacturers’ behinds. I wouldn’t worry (too) much about it.
[Reply to this comment]
Beth in TX Reply:
April 18th, 2013 at 10:02 am
I would worry about temporary tattoos and the coloring in them. The toxins from the fake colors can actually go across the skin barrier and into children’s systems. My son who has lots of sensitivities has a reaction to chlorine in swimming pools unless we put a barrier lotion on his body.
[Reply to this comment]
We haven’t has artificials for quite awhile now. We get tummy earth suckers through a food co-op normally, so for Easter baskets we got 3 bags of their candies that we don’t usually have & each kid got an all natural chocolate bar. So 15 pieces of hard candy & their bar as well as a pack of organic fruit snacks that they never get. For the egg hunt, my hubby and I used our change $$ jar, one $5, & a few $1s to stuff 119 plastic eggs. They kids loved that, especially feeding their piggies ( banks) afterwards. So it was a fun & artificial free day… & I think the spare change eggs cost us more than the few bags of candy.
[Reply to this comment]