Most of you know how passionate I am about raising healthy kids and helping parents make healthier choices for their children. Well, this week I had the pleasure and honor to host a Twitter event for Healthy Child with the focus on Safe Food for our children, with some healthy food celebrities that I truly admire, like Robyn O’Brien and Laurie David.
What an amazing event it was! We reached over 1.4 million people with our message about safe food. The conversation was fast and furious as moms from across the country shared frustration with the food industry, desire for better choices, and ideas that have worked for them. In fact, the CEO of Annie’s Homegrown tweeted: If all you power moms got together on this issue no one could stop you!
Here are some of the highlights. I hope that you’ll share your thoughts, questions and ideas in the comments section below so that we can keep the conversation going.
How did we get here?
It’s disappointing to learn that people in other countries rallied together to say NO to food dyes, which led to US food manufacturers to complying. Economic pressure talks – and moms hold that purchase power.
One mom expressed shock to move here from Europe to find food dyes that weren’t allowed back home. The EU requires warning labels on food containing RED 40, YELLOW 5 & YELLOW 6 (all allowed here without any warning label). The reality is that we really don’t know the extent of harm from food dyes and chemicals in our food system.
How do we know what to look for?
Educating ourselves so that we know what to look for when reading labels is a great start to identifying which products contain food dyes. Thankfully, more natural food coloring are becoming available on the market made from beets, blueberries and tumeric.
We also need to watch for green dye in pickles, red dye in watermelon, and artificial food coloring in oranges from Florida. Talk to your grocer to better understand what you’re buying, and to let them know you want real food without artificial ingredients.
This can all feel overwhelming
One mom shared: I get overwhelmed because I want to do it perfectly which makes me stop the whole process.
Another shared: I thought I was feeding my boys healthy food until I learned more. I’m trying now, so hopefully that counts for something.
We’re not perfect, let’s face it. Robyn O’ Brien put it so well: When it comes to making changes in the ways we feed our families it’s about progress not perfection. Remember that potty training didn’t happen overnight either!
The biggest surprise of the night was to learn that white frosting contains a lot of food dye. Yes! White and clear foods and beverages often contain more than you’d imagine.
What can we do to make change in our home?
There were so many great ideas around this like setting a good example for our kids – they eat what we eat, and we obviously benefit, too, from eating healthier.
Laurie David shared: Teach your kids about dyes and how to read labels! Empower them. The recycling movement is being advanced by vigilant kids. Food dyes can be too.
Other ideas included growing food with your child, reading labels, incorporate natural colors into your meals, and to cook with real food at home so that you know exactly what is going on your plate.
What can we do to make change in the food system?
Lisa Druxman, founder of Stroller Strides, shared: one way to help spread the word to your community is to become an ambassador for Food Revolution (great idea! Jamie is looking for help.)
Buy from companies that pledge to keep artificial food dyes out of their products – there are an increasing number of brands, and stores like Whole Foods, committed to the health of our families.
Sign the petition to let Kraft know that you want them to remove food dyes from their products here in the US, just like they have in so many other countries while still making a profit.
Share this with a friend. If we all told five friends about this topic, think about the impact we’d have. Just five friends – we probably have more.
Real, healthy food for everyone
Our kids need to eat, whether we're prepared to feed them or not. Some days it would be great if meals just created themselves, but let's get real. At Feed Our Families we'll share new ideas, recipes and inspiration to help make meals happen in your home. 
Sounds like a great conversation! I’m sorry I missed it. So many parents care so much and want what is best for their kids and it is so great to see them speaking out!
This is great stuff, Gina. I’m going to write about it for Safety at Home right now.
Thanks Whitney – I’m glad the word is getting shared!
I agree with teaching our kid to eat healthy by being a good example at least. I honestly do not know anything about food dyes, but nevertheless I will look for food labels with such as it really got me curious.