My love...obsession with food!

Food, it is my love, passion, okay...maybe my obsession. I love everything that has to do with food. I love buying it, prepping it to be frozen, cooking it, finding the best prices on it, sharing it, and most of all eating it!

I work out usually 5 days a week at boot camp here in Snohomish. I love it. They have some eating suggestions for you and also some different programs you can do to achieve different results you are looking for. So I am on a 10 day cleanse, I have done it before as part of the 24 day challenge but this time I am just doing the cleanse getting all of the toxins out. There are strict eating guidelines while on this cleanse. No refined sugars, no wheat, no dairy, no red meat, no corn. You can have fruit, veggies, lean proteins, hummus, oatmeal, brown rice, so healthy complex carbs, healthy fats, etc you get the point. Really this shouldn't be that hard for me right? I eat pretty healthy, I love fruits and veggies, I got this, no problem!

PROBLEM! I love food, I mean I am obsessed about it. From when I wake up until I go to bed I think about it. My morning starts by feeding my 5 girls breakfast and making 3 lunches to take to school because the food there, well it isn't food. The next thing I have to think of is what to make for dinner because if I don't we will go homeless eating out all of the time. Which by the way isn't a treat really anymore when you have to practically go into the kitchen of the restaurant to make sure nothing has food dye or gluten. Add in grocery shopping, planning meals, eating for myself and all I think about is food.

I have discovered in these last 5 days (the first half of the cleanse) which has felt like an eternity, just how much I am addicted to sugar! Seriously I knew I loved the stuff but wow I think about it more now that I can't have it for these short (well for some people) 10 days. I don't pig out on sugar but I do need to have it everyday. Dark Chocolate is my favorite and I just need a little. I feel like a drug addict rationalizing reasons why it is ok to have just a little fix. I haven't cheated and I am proud. I feel better and this isn't for forever (even though it seems like it right now) and soon I will be back in the land of sugar, I will regulate hopefully a little better. I do know that after not having sugar for 10 days everything will taste sweeter when I do have it.

So I have been eating tons of raw food. Which I love of course because I am obsessed in case you missed that earlier. It is amazing the creative things that you come up with to eat when some foods are off limits. I love hummus and usually have it with multi grain chips, but chips are a no-no right now, so I tried them with celery...too watery...carrots, AMAZING! So every day I have been eating anywhere from a half of a pound to a whole pound of carrots. See I told you I was obsessed! And the hummus is so flavorful you don't need that much at all.

I am also an over eater. I know it seems a little weird because I am "little" but really I overeat often. I texted one of my trainers from boot camp today to ask if sweet potatoes were okay to eat on the cleanse because you guessed it, I love them! She said "Yes but don't OD on them!" PL, you know me too well! I didn't OD though, I probably would have but my 9 year old who doesn't like any veggies really loves sweet potatoes and ate more than half the pan!

All of this to say that in my days of reflection I feel much better when my diet is 50% or more raw food, and this cleanse has reminded me of that. To keep up on the same eating when the cleanse is over and not forget how much I love raw food and how good it is for me, well that is the reason for this random blog tonight.

So I leave you with my 3 favorite cleanse approved foods that I couldn't survive without...
#1 Carrots with hummus, my favorite is Trader Joe's Mediterranean hummus.
#2 Granny Smith apples with Adam's All Natural chunky peanut butter
#3 Popcorn, cooked on your stove top, or "Lori Pelham Popcorn" as we farm folk affectionately call it.

Artificial food dye free foods!

So I scanned the world, or at least my immediate part of it for food that is still "approved" for our house. I never thought I would be one of those food snobs but alas I am, and I am not ashamed. So here is some short lists of what I have found. I will try to categorize it. These will be short lists for now I don't want to put it on here if I am not 100% sure. Keep in mind they change labels often so ALWAYS double check before you buy.

Disclaimer: The food dyes that I am talking about here are FD&C Blue #1 etc. They sometimes just say Red 40 or something like that. They will always have a color and number. There are other food additives or preservatives, but right now I am just focusing on artificial food dyes, they are the ones that makes my kids crazy! Just because it is a white or light color doesn't mean it is safe, read, read, read!
Cereal-Everything below is dye free, other labels will be GF= gluten free, HFCF= High Fructose Corn Syrup Free
Kix (HFCF)
Cheerios (HFCF)
Corn Chex (HFCF), GF
Honey Nut chex (HFCF), GF
Rice Krispies (HFCF)
Cocoa Krispies (HFCF)
Cocoa pebbles
Cocoa Puffs
Frosted Flakes
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Honey Nut Cheerios
Chocolate Cheerios
Alpha-bits
Cookie Crisp
Mom's Best Naturals (Below) are the most like Lucky Charms and are on sale often at QFC for $1.00

A general rule of thumb for cereal, if it is colored it has food dye. If the box is bright it has food dye, think Trix, Lucky Charms, Apple Jacks etc.

Candy-
*Mentos (only the candy, not the gum)
*Mamba
*Fred Meyer carries bulk "Sun Drops" that are natural colored M&M type candies. They also have "gummy slice" type things in the bulk section that are dye free
*Treetop fruit snacks (big box at Costco)
*Yummy Earth Organic candy (lollipops, gummy bears, gummy worms, hard candy pieces)
*Haribo Fruity-Frutti (I found these at World Market)

*Haribo Fizzy Colas (remember those?!)

Yogurt-You have to be very careful with yogurt!
Tillamook yogurt is all food dye free to the best of my knowledge.
Yoplait you have to read every label, the Orange Creme one has no food dye but the Key Lime Pie does.
Simply gogurt (sold in bulk at Costco or at any grocery store)

Mac and Cheese
Annie's Organic makes a dye free mac and cheese.
Kraft has a "home style" mac and cheese that is dye free, but be careful with Kraft they are tricky at times so read the label.

My brain is tapped for the night on this. However I want to give you a short list of foods to watch that you would probably never guess it is in. Again this is not an exhaustive list but just what is on the top of my head.

FOOD DYE IN FOODS YOU WOULDN'T GUESS
White marshmallows
Nature Valley sweet & salty bars (Grrr...still mad about that one!)
Pillsbury Crescent rolls
Cinnamon Chex
Pickles
Dressings and BBQ sauces (not all but some)
Canned fruit (some)
Fruit Juice (a lot of them have it)
Toothpaste
Mouth wash
Chili (especially "Cheddar" flavors)
Cake mixes
Butterscotch chips
Processed items you should ALWAYS check

If there is a category missing that you want info on please let me know!

The best stores for dye free and more natural stuff that I frequent are...
Whole foods
Trader Joe's
Janell's Gluten Free Market
Sno-Isle Food Co-op
Fred Meyer/QFC
Top Foods and Safeway are getting better about their natural food section also.

One year food dye free!

Well folks I can honestly say I had no clue we would be where we are as a family today one year ago. Let me take you back. One year ago my ever loving 6 year old with a heart of gold and compassion for all had me at the brink of sanity. Really how sane is someone with 5 girls running around her house you ask? It is par for the course here and I wouldn't change it for the world...well except that my 6 year old the loving child would randomly change into this monster that no one liked for no apparent reason with no warning making us all want to run away. Like it or nor, loving or not, "Christ-like" or not we would nick name her (not to her face) the spawn of satan, yes it was that bad. It had been that bad for 3 years and I was fed up! This is not how life was supposed to be and I was not ready to settle for this for my daughter who deserved so much of a better life. A friend had told me about her kids who back in the day had ADD and bi-polar. I was strongly against medicating for these things, not that some kids don't need it, some do, but the majority of kids that are just thrown on it as a solution for someone wanting a quick fix and not taking the work to get to the root of the problem, that is what I am against. All that being said I was losing my ever loving mind and walking on egg shells around this kid to the detriment of the rest of my family...I was ready to get meds and I wanted them now!

That led me to my friend Pam who's kids I mentioned before. I will be honest when she said cut out the food dye I was thinking "really? That sounds crazy and not to mention a lot of work!" At the urging of my dad I just checked it out on line. Sure enough I found a blog of a mom going through the same thing as me with her son. The next day I took my little sweet Ellie and we went through the whole house and garage and read every label (talk about going cross eyed!) and rid our house of all of the food dye. Initially this was going to be a one month trial. After about 6 weeks my skeptical husband said to me, "do you notice the difference in Ellie? I haven't seen one of her bi-polar fits in a while." It was then that I realized I hadn't noticed the change because I was still so on edge just waiting for the next fit to come. But she had not had another fit since we eliminated food dye. I was in shock.

I would like to say it has been an easy road and we are all jumping for joy about not having food dye. Not so much. It is in everything, white marshmallows, Pillsbury crescent rolls to name a couple. I think I have become obsessive compulsive about reading labels, it really is an addiction now. We have had MANY a time where food dye has gotten in from either from her sneaking it and me finding a food dye wrapper cemetery under her bed or someone not reading a label and just blindly giving her something with dye. I has happened many times, more than I wish but I have discovered the "life cycle" of food dye in Ellie's body. I am sure it is different for each kid, but for Ellie the effects are not fully gone for 48 hours. It is a horrible 48 hours too! But we have made it through all holidays but one...my favorite candy holiday to be honest. Easter is fast upon us, it is late this year hence being food dye free for one year and not having Easter yet. I love food, especially sugar, and yes I know the real meaning of Easter and it has nothing to do with candy. I am already plotting how to get through the egg hunt with nothing sneaking in. It is so tempting for kids (or adults) when something you want so bad is in front of your face. I do have to say I have noticed in the last 2 weeks though that if my kids are given something that has food dye in it by someone and I see it and say, "oh that has food dye" I don't have to tell them to stop eating it, there eyes get huge and immediately through it away. This is a HUGE milestone for us. This will get easier and easier as we get more and more used to it. We have had some funny moments and hard moments through it all this last year but it has been all worth every one of them. I will be okay with my 3 year old asking me "Does this have food dye?" about EVERYTHING she sees, or my 2 year old running through a store chanting "I like food dye"...it means they are listening to me!

Not only has cutting out food dye led to a mentally better life for Ellie and our whole family, it has lead to a healthier eating style for all of us. Ellie is gluten free (I will talk about that another day) and was dairy free for a few months. We have cut out high fructose corn syrup, sucralose (which I think is so nasty) and many other things with more things to follow I am sure. My motto is one thing at a time. I have seen huge improvements in Ellie's temper, fits, communication, school work and thought process all just by cutting out food dye. There is so much more I could say, and so much I have already said. I guess my one piece of advice for anyone wanting to cut out food dye or any other thing from your life would be, take it one step at a time. If you have no limits on your diet don't try and cut out everything at once. It is SO overwhelming. Start with one thing and do it until you are comfortable and feel like you have a handle on it. Then target your next thing. If you do it all at once you will more than likely fail because it is so much of an adjustment.

I have been asked by several people to write about my family's food journey. So that is what I am attempting here on my blog. I am by no means a professional at any of this, I am not perfect, don't have all of the answers and sometimes get lazy and have an "I just don't have the energy to care right now" kind of attitude at times. My goal is to share my food journey's with anyone who is interested and hoping to help someone like I was helped by others.

I will be posting more often and I have a lot on my mind to share. If there is a specific thing that you would like to know about let me know and if I have dealt with it I will share my experience. I would also love to know what you have found on your food journey, I am a sponge and want to soak up all information and tips I can to make my family as healthy as it can be.