Food Dyes, our story

November 18, 2013 at 10:06am

I started dreading every morning. I dreaded every single event that included my three year old son. I am a stay at home mom, so as primary caregiver to my three children so EVERY thing I do includes him. He seemed to meltdown over everything. Even getting dressed was impossible. He would cry because he wasn't as fast as everyone else. Nothing was fun anymore. Nothing kept him occupied. He was a restless ball of destruction, angry and frustrated with everything. I was tired. Tired of just trying to survive the next tantrum. What was I doing wrong? Spanking did not work. It only made things worse, much worse. Words were just as worthless. Something HAD to give.

I went to the only place I know where to get answers. The internet.  Someone, somewhere (I wish I remember who) sent me to the blog page www.diefooddye.com. I started reading that if I would just cut out food dyes from my son's diet, his behavior would improve. I didn't believe it, but I decided to try, what did I have to loose? November 7th, 2013 was when I found this wonderful resource. Five days later, I was reaching out to the internet community again. "Is there a withdrawal period?" My son was a wreck! Almost as bad as if I had given him something with dye in it. A quick response assured me it gets easier, and yes sometimes there seems to be a withdrawal period.

Day 9. The realization that something has happened. We had gone to the store that morning. Not a single meltdown, and I had made more than one stop! Impossible. We were at Walmart and had found a "make a blanket" kit. You know the ones, where you cut the "tails" then tie them together. He insisted on helping. He focused on the task at hand for the entire 45 minutes or so, that it took to to finish the project. I wanted to cry. He was back. We were going to be okay!

Day 11. Daddy isn't quite on board, he brought home some orange drink. Usually my son's favorite. We gently told him, "We're sorry that has Red40 in it, you can't drink that. Can we make orange juice instead?" He smiled, and said "Yes." I was amazed.

I'm not going to pretend that I may not slip up; food companies are sneaky, their bottom line is more important than our health and safety. I do know I am going to make every effort to keep him away from food dyes.  I don't want to "lose" my son to wherever he was; stuck behind this haze of petroleum based food dyes. I challenge each of you parents; if you have a "defiant", "strong willed", or "naughty" child. Take 10 days to remove all food dyes from your diets. You may find you really do have a sweet, calm, and curious typical child.