Food Dye-lemmas and Allergies

This week, Melanie and Allison will be tackling a hot topic: synthetic food dyes and allergies. Join us as we discuss the origins of these artificial colorants, their potential health risks - especially for children - and share personal stories and insights on navigating food choices. Whether you're concerned about hyperactivity, skin reactions, or just want to make healthier decisions for your family, this episode is packed with valuable information and practical tips. Don't miss out on this enlightening conversation!

Synthetic food dyes, often derived from petroleum, are commonly used in the food industry to enhance the color and appeal of processed foods. Despite their widespread use, these artificial colorants have been associated with various health concerns, including allergic reactions.

Common synthetic food dyes include Red 40, Yellow 5, and Blue 1. These dyes can cause adverse reactions in some individuals, ranging from mild symptoms like hives and itching to more severe responses like anaphylaxis, especially in those with existing sensitivities or allergies. Moreover, some studies suggest a link between synthetic dyes and behavioral issues in children, such as hyperactivity.

NOTE:
In this episode we discuss the California Assembly Bill 418 (AB 418) which specifically prohibits the sale of food containing red dye 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propylparaben. As found on food-safety.com, studies have suggested the additives may be linked to serious health harms, such as cancer, reproductive issues, and childhood behavioral and developmental problems. More information about the bill can be found here.

Other Resources:

1.) Melanie mentioned using the EWG app while grocery shopping. You can download the app on Apple's App Store or by clicking here. More information about the Environmental Working Group can be found here.

2.) Here is a listing of food dyes that Melanie mentioned:

Red 40
Red 3
Yellow 5
Yellow 6
Green 3
Blue 1
Blue 2

More information about synthetic food dyes can be found on the Center for Science in the Public Interest's website or by clicking here. Alternative names for some synthetic dyes can be found here.

3.) The really hard word that Melanie and Allison were trying to pronounce is "Azodicarbonamide".

4.) Melanie mentioned following @thefoodbabe on Instagram.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:32 Synthetic Food Dyes and Health Issues

01:21 Personal Experiences with Food Sensitivities

02:13 The Impact of Food Dyes on Health

04:14 Navigating Food Choices and Alternatives

07:10 The Hidden Dangers in Everyday Foods

17:37 Challenges of Managing Food Allergies

23:08 Living with a Corn Allergy

Find Midlife Moms Pod on Apple Podcasts or wherever you find your podcasts. You can also find us Buzzsprout where we have a full listing of all our episodes, Instagram (@midlifemomspod), and Facebook. Listen, like, and subscribe! We hope you enjoy the show!

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Midlife Moms.

Today, let's talk about what is in food in America.

So the reason we're here today is because we learned on another episode that you were allergic to corn.

Right, and my daughter is very sensitive to food dye.

Okay.

Synthetic food dye.

Synthetic food dye.

Because that's different than just normal food dye from a strawberry or a berry, because that's natural.

You can still make icing with fruit, let's say, or beets or-

And use the dye from-

Right.

That, okay.

So versus synthetic, which is the color that they make in a lab, which is not good for you.

That you would use to dye eggs, for example.

For example, yeah, dye eggs, but it's in everything in this country.

But I have fibromyalgia and thyroid problems.

And I believe that it has to do with what they're allowed to put in our food.

It traces back to thyroid problems, autoimmune diseases, neurological stuff, infertility, it's a big one.

So there's a ton of health issues that go along with synthetic products.

Interesting.

So backstory of me is that right before Emily was born, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and then I started researching what they're allowed to put in our food and different things.

And I thought, okay, I don't want that for her.

I want to make sure that she's as healthy as possible, if I can help it.

So I went down the rabbit hole of food, what's in food and what it does to our body, because I mean, food fuels your body and makes you either healthy or not.

Just background of like what the colors are.

There's red 40, red three, yellow five, yellow six, green three, blue one and blue two.

And each one of those can cause different things in your body.

Now, some people are more sensitive to it than others.

Like Emily's very sensitive to dyes, whereas Matthew may not be, and you may not notice anything about him once he eats something.

But red 40, it can cause hyperactivity and various types of cancer.

Red three, thyroid cancer and chromosome damage.

Yellow five is hyperactivity, chromosome damage and thyroid tumors.

Yellow six is hyperactivity and kidney and adrenal gland tumors.

Green three is bladder and testes tumors from men.

Blue one is hyperactivity, chromosome damage, kidney tumors and asthma.

And blue two is hyperactivity, chromosome damage and brain and bladder tumors.

What is chromosome damage?

Well, the chromosome in your body that makes up our body makeup, the chromosomes in our body, it can cause it to be, yes, I'm not a doctor, but it would be abnormal.

It's kind of like, I don't even know a good example for you to say, but it can mess up DNA, like red and white blood cells, and that kind of thing.

But yeah, we might need to look up the chromosome.

I might consult Dr.

Kugel, which I would not recommend doing.

So I do want to say that we are not medical doctors, nor trained in diagnosing or anything like that.

So this is really for information, just awareness about food allergies.

Food allergies and what is out there.

I'm more like, natural is the best way to go.

Right.

In our house, we don't buy a lot of things and boxes to make.

We make everything from scratch, because a lot of times those particular foods are chopped full of processed stuff and dyes.

You wouldn't believe how much dye is in a food in the groceries store.

It is astronomical.

I can't even begin to tell you.

I am shocked of how much is in it.

Well, I've always been told to shop around the aisles.

So everything that's outside of the aisles in the grocery store is what you should be looking out for or purchasing, right?

Because it's the most natural.

Yeah, and a lot of this is, I started this because of Emily.

I had noticed when she was younger that she ate a cupcake one day, and it was for a Halloween party, and the dye was black on the cupcake.

And of course, you know, I was like, oh my gosh, black icing on a cupcake.

I'm like, that's not something that I would typically buy on a regular basis.

But she ate it, and within 30 minutes, she was crying uncontrollably because her body does not know how to process that.

So I kind of did a process of elimination.

Like, what did she eat today?

What was it?

And I'm like, the cupcake was the only thing she had, and within 30 minutes, she had a reaction to it.

So when I started looking at different things, and black dye has every dye imaginable, and it's make it black, right?

Yeah.

So you're like, okay, we're gonna not do that anymore.

And so that's when I started researching what dye does to you and to your body.

It's actually a synthetic product that they make.

It was originally from coal tar, and now it's petroleum.

And there's like, it's very controversial of whether or not there's safety risks or not, if you eat it.

I believe that it's probably healthier to go the natural way to dye something.

And a lot of foods out there that are on the market right now don't need to have certain dyes in them to still make them good, let's say.

I'm not going to name names, because I just read the back, read the ingredients that you see.

Every day, you walk down the aisle and you flip a bag over, or you flip a box over, and it's literally, there's dye right there at the bottom.

It'll say Lake One or Red Forty or whatever.

And I'm like, you just can't, you can't believe how much is in regular food.

Yeah, I know.

And I, this is one of the things that kind of makes us opposite.

And, you know, I've just always grown up with these things.

So I don't know how to go about even changing it, but look in our pantry and we have tons of it.

And there are alternatives for those particular foods.

It'll say, like I follow a girl, I think her name on Instagram is The Food Babe.

And she'll say, instead of this, try this.

And it'll be a bag of chips, and then another bag of chips that she should try instead.

And we've done that.

We've changed.

I mean, Emily still eats potato chips, Emily still eats nacho chips.

She still eats popcorn, but we buy the Lesser Evil brand.

Where, you know, different brands out there kind of help get rid of the other brands that have the dye in them.

But a lot of things that I see in the stores have dye, and that just floors me every time.

Because I can't take Emily into a bakery and know that the chocolate chip cookie is not gonna have dye in it.

And they do.

They have dye in bakery items in grocery stores in a chocolate chip cookie.

Why do you need dye in a chocolate chip cookie?

I don't know.

I was just gonna say, why would you have dye in that?

You don't need that.

So the other thing is in other countries, they have either been banned to use dyes, or there's an actual warning label on their products to say, hey, this could cause tumors or hyperactivity in your child, which a lot of times, I think kids are diagnosed with ADHD, and I think they need to look at the food before they try to put children on medicine.

Now, I'm not saying there aren't children out there that have ADHD.

I'm not saying that at all.

But I do think that the diet goes along with that.

So if they've been diagnosed with that, try a different diet.

Look at your pantry, look what you have in there, and take out stuff that has dye in it, Red 40.

Red 40 is the big one.

So yeah, I mean, take that out and see if you can change the behavior, because I do believe that dye has a lot to do with that.

But I think there's a lot of products out there.

You can look it up for yourself, because I'm not gonna name names, but there are products out there that have been banned in Europe because they are not safe, and they can cause tumors, cancer, that kind of thing.

Interesting.

But there are ways that you can do it better.

I make cakes all the time with dye that I get from this lady, and it's all plant-based.

So it's like tumeric, beets, different, they almost like freeze dry them type thing, and then make them into a powder.

So you can still dye cakes or icing and that kind of thing.

And don't get me wrong, I love to do that.

That's what I did for hand therapy when I hurt myself.

I went and decorated cakes.

But before I went down the rabbit hole of what's in food, I was using the bottled dye and the Crisco to make the cake and the icing and whatever.

And now that I know more, it makes you think every time you put your fork in a food, you're like, okay, what's in this?

So it's a scary...

I'm on the other side of it now because I know too much.

So those that don't know...

Well, I remember when I was babysitting, I used to babysit, oh my gosh, 20 or so years ago, kids in college now.

But one, I had some M&M's, and I brought them over when I was babysitting, and I'm like, oh, I'll give him some M&M's.

And his dad said to me, be careful, don't give him too many because he will be off the wall.

And I gave him three M&M's.

They were the little M&M kind.

And I mean, that lasted him like an hour.

He was bouncing off the walls for the next hour.

So I thought it was the sugar, but it looked bad.

And a lot of people think that.

Right.

Looking back, it was probably the dye.

I don't remember the colors they were, but I just remember thinking, oh my gosh, I only gave him three.

Right.

And see my thought process of when we used to eat M&M's, I was like, oh, just eat the brown ones because those are just chocolate and there's no dye in them.

Well, guess what?

There's dye in that too.

Because we went to a donut place and the chocolate icing has dye in it.

So because I guess it makes it a richer color, whatever, or, you know, what's the word?

Appealing to the eye.

Yeah, it's not.

I don't want appealing to the eye.

I want whatever's healthy in my body.

I mean, of course you shouldn't probably eat a donut and you're being healthy, but if you want to have a donut, you shouldn't have to be like, okay, what's in that?

I mean, he literally had to go and get the book out of the bag because they have an allergen book.

Because people come in there and he's like, oh, because I asked if they had corn in it because if they use any kind of corn meal or corn flour, I can't do that or the oil that they use.

But, and he walked back there and he's like, oh, it has red fortium in.

I'm like, well, you're out of.

So that's just one of the things, the dye is a big thing.

And then the other ingredient that is in a lot of our products is titanium dioxide.

And if anything that you have in your pantry or candy or anything like that, that has titanium dioxide in it.

What's used, titanium dioxide has been used for industrial and consumer products, including paint, coatings, adhesive, paper, plastic, rubber, printing inks, coated fabrics and textiles, as well as ceramics, floor coverings, roofing material, cosmetics, toothpaste, soap, water treatment agents.

And that can all cause DNA damage.

So they're putting what they use to hang wallpaper in certain candy, which scares me to death.

You're saying just in candy or?

It's in candy.

Let me see.

There's other things that it's in, mostly candy, because it gives it a, titanium dioxide is white.

So if you're making candy and you want a vibrant color of red, let's say, they put white on it first.

So a lot of times when you see the Food Network channels and they're saying how candy's made, you see them in the big tubs and they're rolling and they put that mixture in there and it makes everything white.

And then they throw color in it to make it more bright.

You know, bright.

So that could be your sour candies, your lollipop, your-

Skittles.

Skittles.

Your nerds.

Yep.

Your trolley gummies.

Yeah, all of it.

I'm looking at Dr.

Schugel.

Swedish fish is a gummy type thing.

I don't think they make that white before they make it red.

Yeah.

I think that's strictly the gelatin part of that.

And then they pour in red dye.

And so California is actually, there's a bill out in California to remove it from Boots.

Yeah.

And it could affect popular candies.

I just found this on a-

But here's the thing.

The article.

You can make, you can have Skittles.

They're just called Giggles.

Oh.

And it's called YumEarth, is the company that we buy Skittles.

Well, it's Giggles, they call them.

Giggles.

But they taste like Skittles, and they don't have any synthetic dye in them.

So all the YumEarth brand stuff, they have Jelly Beans, they have Lollipops, they have the Giggles.

You know, that's a decent brand to like, you know, do a rather this, you buy this.

So that's, and those Giggles are so good.

Really?

They're really good.

Oh, so here the European Union has already banned these five chemicals after studies link them to health concerns, like an increased risk of cancer and harm to the immune system.

According to a news release, here is a list of popular food products containing the additives the bill seeks to ban.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

Okay, red dye number three can be found in Pez, Hot Tamales, Double Bubble Twist Gum, and the popular Valentine Day Candy Sweethearts.

Titanium dioxide, which is what you were just talking about, can be found in Skittles, Nerds and Trolley Gummies.

Potassium bromate.

Can be found in Balducci's sugar cookies.

And in bread, it's in bread.

You have to look for that.

We started looking for that because there was discussion about it causing thyroid and kidney cancers.

And it can cause irritation of the nose, throat and lungs.

Interesting.

Brominated vegetable oil can be found in citrus soft drinks.

Mountain Dew, Sun Drop, like that type of thing.

And irritates the skin and mucous membranes.

And the long-term effect is neurological symptoms.

So that's somebody like my dad has Parkinson's.

That could be, you know, not that I remember him drinking these type of drinks, but that doesn't mean that he didn't.

And that's a side effect from that.

And then Propyl Paraben.

Yeah.

I don't know if I said that right.

Yeah, these are so hard to...

Can be found in Sara Lee honey glazed buns and various tortillas.

Yeah.

And that has also been found to alter the endocrine system.

Oh.

And they have found that it affects fertility in mice.

So they've been doing studies on different things.

Does it say anything about...

And I don't even know how you say this, azotocarbonide?

Oh my gosh.

It's a long name.

It's A-Z-O-Azo-dicarbonamide.

No.

But the article I'm reading is just the five chemicals that the bill in California seeks to ban.

And of course, this has been out there for a few years now.

It's called, the bill is AB418.

It's been proposed a couple of times.

I'm not sure if it was ever approved or banned.

I don't know, but that's the California version.

I haven't seen anything else.

I have heard that there's some lawsuits or they're trying to get certain things or certain companies to change their ingredients.

The other thing that is in our food, which they call them lurking in America's food, is RBST.

It's a hormone injected into the cows to increase milk production.

And it has been linked to breast cancer cells in humans.

We try to buy organic or it'll actually say not RBST.

And then so you can look at that to see.

And then antibiotics and animals, they fear that the overuse of antibiotics can contribute to deadly drug resistant bacteria that can be passed on to humans.

So if they are putting certain antibiotics in our food, we could resist it and then we couldn't bite it because it's our, you know, our body gets used to it.

Yeah, I do try it.

We try to buy organic milk.

I mean, I do when I'm at the store.

Sometimes my husband, when Matthew was real little, we always bought organic.

I was put my foot down.

So it looks like I'm gonna have to start doing that again.

But the milk is like $7 a gallon.

Well, think about me.

I have to buy organic eggs because I can't eat.

And we buy organic eggs.

And they're expensive too.

Yeah.

I need property so I can have chickens of my own.

Yeah, I know.

We thought about putting up a chicken poop in the backyard.

Well, yeah.

Your cat would have something fun to look at.

Your cat would be like, oh, they got me a TV.

So yeah, I, you know, now, of course, I'm real cautious about what's in food.

And then of course it makes it hard for Emily at school because unless you're just a parent that already knows about allergies or sensitivity to things, you know, it's just not in your forefront to buy things that have that, you know, or that don't have that, I guess you could say.

So I have bought her popsicles and I keep them in the freezer at school.

So when they bring something and it's something she can't have, then she can get her popsicle.

And I'm always cautious about, you know, what she eats and then if there's something that I know is coming, like a birthday, I'll text one of the moms and be like, hey, what are you bringing?

And if they're bringing something she can't have, then I just bring her stuff that I make from home.

And then so she's not left out of that.

Cause that's hard for a kid that ate, you know?

But there's a lot of things out there that are alternatives to certain foods out there.

I mean, I may have to make it at home, but like the other night, we made ice cream and because I have an ice cream churn, which is amazing.

And I need to give you the other one.

Cause I have two.

Tim's like, there's no household in America, probably that has two ice cream makers.

He's like, but I...

Yeah, and all that's in it is a cup of milk, two cups of heavy cream, a three fourths cup of sugar and vanilla.

And it makes the best ice cream.

And then we just do mix-ins at home.

And then you don't have to worry because in ice cream, they also put corn syrup and stuff.

And I don't even think in Europe, you can buy corn syrup.

It's not a...

Interesting.

Yeah, corn syrup is not a food group.

And high fructose corn syrup, that is definitely something you want to stay away from.

And a lot of things have that.

I do look at the labels for high fructose corn syrup.

So those apple pie things I brought the other day that I made for the kids, neither the pie crust or the apple filling had high fructose corn syrup.

And it was nice because Emily could actually eat it.

But yeah, there's a lot of foods out there that we need to look at.

And not even for...

I mean, yes, the dye is really bad too, but there's other kids that have allergies to peanuts and peas.

I mean, I can't even think of how many.

Gluten issues.

I mean, you can make somebody really sick and peanut issues.

You can go into anaphylactic shock, and then that's a whole nother situation.

With your corn allergy, and I guess I'm picking on you because you're here.

That's fine.

You can pick on me.

I've got all the knowledge about that.

So I'm thinking about the food allergies.

We like to go out to eat.

And I grew up in a family that went out to eat a lot.

My family had restaurants, so we would eat at home a lot, but I remember going out at least twice a week growing up.

So how do you handle that when you go to restaurants?

I mean, can you go out to eat?

I think, well, I can go out to eat, but I eat at the same place pretty much all the time.

I mean, we go to European Street all the time because I know I can eat there, and I don't have to question anybody about what's in the food.

Like Ruth Chris, I can go to Ruth Chris.

I know that there's certain stuff in there that I can eat.

Don't want to pay that much money every time we go eat.

So there are certain restaurants.

Now, if I go to certain restaurants, like we went to Universal Studios one weekend, and we stayed at the Hard Rock down there, and they actually made me a special sandwich that they knew I could eat.

Like the girl went and got a croissant from the other restaurant in the hotel, and then they made me just my own sandwich.

But again, I'm eating either a sandwich or a salad, that kind of thing.

And then I have to worry about dressing.

So you have to ask how they make their dressing.

I would just carry my own bottle around.

Well, I can't even have a bottle.

I can't eat any dressing that's in a bottle.

I have to make it.

Yeah, so I do make a dressing that's really good.

It's balsamic vinegar and olive oil and Dijon mustard.

And so you do half and half of the oil and vinegar and then however much mustard you want.

So I can do that, and that doesn't need to be refrigerated.

So yes, I could take that with me, but that gets weird too.

You go in a restaurant and you're unpacking your lunch.

You know, you gotta do what you've gotta do.

Right, and then of course you gotta trust that what they're saying, that they actually know what's in it.

Sometimes I've had like Longhorn, one of the servers there brought me out the bread package so I could read the ingredient.

Yeah, they were like, you want me to bring it?

And I'm like, do you mind?

And they were like, oh no, we'll bring it to you.

And they brought me the bread.

Wow.

And of course I couldn't eat it, but at least they gave me that option to review the ingredients of what was in it.

Right, no, that was good.

So I mean, most of the time, restaurants are very accommodating to people with allergies, but because mine is not a normal allergy, like I haven't, you know, I'm like on Facebook, there's a corn allergy group, and it seems like there's a lot of people there.

I'm not the only one, but it's not a list that they put on allergies in restaurants.

It's gluten allergy, it's a peanut allergy, it's that kind of allergies, you know, not corn.

When I say, oh, I have a corn allergy, they're like, oh, I've never heard that before.

That's what they always say to me.

So how did you learn that you had a corn allergy?

That's...

Well, for years, they were telling me that if I would be tested for corn allergy, I would have to eat corn.

And I said, not on your life.

I'm not eating corn.

You would have a reaction.

Yeah, within 10 minutes, I would be sick for days.

So they were like, well, you have to eat it.

Well, no, I'm not eating that.

There's gotta be a different way.

This day and age, there should be a different way, right?

So I did, for a long time, I thought I was allergic to salmon because Tim and I used to have on the grill every Friday night, salmon and corn on the cob.

That was my favorite thing of all, grilled corn on the cob and salmon.

And every time, like all of a sudden, because your body makeup changes every seven years, but every seven years, your body makeup changes.

So all of a sudden, I just couldn't eat it anymore, but I couldn't tell if it was the salmon or if it was the corn, because I ate both at the same time, and I would be sick for days.

And so Tim's like, something's wrong.

I said, it's the salmon.

We've gotten bad salmon, right?

Yeah.

And he's like, well, we'll just try it again.

So he bought more salmon the next time, next, you know, the next Friday.

Actually, it wasn't the next Friday because I was still needing, what do you call it?

I was still reeling over the whole eating the salmon and the corn.

So I was like, I don't want that the next Friday.

Right.

So after that, he's like, you want to try again?

I'm like, yeah.

So we tried it again and I got sick again.

And I'm like, oh my God, it's the salmon.

It's the salmon.

Well, he's like, I don't know, whatever.

So we went to the seafood restaurant.

I was like, I really want salmon because they used to do a plank salmon.

And I ate it and I got sick.

We were going to the movies with our friends and I was so sick.

I'm like, I can't sit in here.

I can't, I gotta go.

So we left and I'm like, okay, I'm done with salmon completely.

Right, I would be.

So I'm like, I've never eaten salmon again, right?

That was your third shot?

Yeah.

So I was like, okay.

And then we had grilled chicken and corn on the cob, sick as a dog after I ate that.

I'm like, what is going on?

I was like, maybe there's just something wrong with my body, you know?

Like maybe food's not processing right.

And so I stopped eating corn on the cob.

And I'm not a big chip person, so I wasn't eating chips a lot, you know, and doing any of that.

So I wasn't sick for a long time.

And I'm like, what?

That's weird, right?

I'm like, what did I eat that night?

Tim's like grilled chicken and corn on the cob.

And I'm like, it's corn, it's got to be corn.

So then I ate something that wasn't corn on the cob, but had cornmeal in it, you know, like a pizza, the pizza dough, they roll it in cornmeal most of the time.

And I ate that and I got sick again.

I'm like, what is going on?

So I'm like, what was in that pizza?

Yeah.

And they were like, so then as I went down that rabbit hole of, you know, trying to figure out what's wrong with me, I realized that, you know, there's cornstarch, corn syrup, there's modified food starch, which has cornstarch in it.

You name it, there's probably corn in it.

And you have like citric acid that can have corn in it.

So there's tons of different names for things.

So then you have to be a detective of like, okay, what is that?

So then I Google, you know, modified food starch and it lists out what it is.

And sure enough, you know, so it was process of elimination, long story short, of how I figured out I was allergic to corn.

So that night I went to the restaurant, I think it was the second time and you had-

Did I have corn?

Yeah, you did, because you ordered the salmon and you had corn on the side.

Because I never, you know, I didn't think about the corn.

I was just thinking, normally people are allergic to salmon, right?

Right.

So I didn't think anything about it.

And then, now mind you, I have never eaten salmon again after that.

And it's been 25 years.

Really?

Yeah, because I'm scared to eat it.

Even though I know I'm allergic to corn, I'm still scared to eat it.

Because every time I would eat it, I would get sick.

I'm like, that makes you not want to have it anymore.

Right.

So, yeah.

And then I used to make this, we call it frogmore stew, where it's got corn on the cob, potatoes, kielbasa sausage, and shrimp in it.

And I, you know, can't have that.

I mean, I could make it without corn, right?

But Tim also won't let me make it anymore because he had too much to drink one night.

Like, I think it was New Year's or it was, must've been New Year's.

We was at a party.

Anyways, he got sick because he was drinking too much, and that's what we had eaten.

I'd made a big pot of frogmore stew and people were over.

We were eating and what?

And then he can't, you know?

Yeah.

It's one of those things where he's like, yeah, no, you're not.

So we haven't, but, which by the way, sausage casings have dying.

Yep, just a little hint from Helloies, as my mom would say.

Yeah, I can see that, I guess.

And I haven't been able to eat sausage anymore either, because there's stuff in it that I can't have that's corn related.

Stinks.

And then the other day, I found out that, because they call it corny.

Like if there's a certain, like fruits and vegetables, sometimes they can be corny, even though they're not corn.

Like they're related to corn?

Or they're in a crop with corn, or different things like that.

Yeah.

So I found out that one store, I can eat sunflower seeds, and the other store, I can't.

So I get them from two different crops.

It's just, we call it the corn stomachache, because I know immediately.

And so I'm sick all day, like almost like I swallowed a boulder.

That's what it feels like.

And I have to like rock, because it's like feeling like it needs to like process in my body.

The next day, TMI, I can't stay out of the bathroom.

Like it's like spilling out of my body.

Like I've been poisoned.

And then the next day, I am so wiped out.

It's almost like I've been hit by a truck.

I was like, I lay on the couch.

So I'm down and out for at least three days.

And with a seven-year-old, you can't be down.

Well, why would you want to put your body through that?

I mean, if you know that you're going to get that reaction from a food, it doesn't taste that good.

I mean, I'm-

No, and I'm one of those that like, I'm not going to try to eat it and be like, okay, I'm going to be okay.

No, I'm not.

But if it's by accident or if I eat something that, like that's why I never eat at school functions.

That's why, you know, like that's why the other day when I made mac and cheese, I knew I could eat that because I made it.

I know, well.

And I'm like, please don't.

So I jumped in the first line because I'm like, I need that.

But yeah, I can't eat like out like that.

Like restaurants, you're saying.

That's why I only can go to a few restaurants and know that it is okay.

Yeah, and I, you know, I'm not a big corn fan, but my son is.

He will eat corn on the cob.

That's his only thing he, I mean, if we have a cookout or something and there's corn on the cob there, he will eat all of the corn on the cob instead of eating his burger or whatever else there is.

So he's a big fan.

We are big fans of popcorn in this house.

Yeah.

And, you know, some of my fondest memories are at my grandmother's house.

She lived in Western New York outside of Buffalo, and we would always visit her in late summer and they would have corn fields and we would drive by these corn fields and it was like you could smell the fresh corn.

So we would stop and get.

Well, the only thing that I'm lucky about is I'm not so allergic to it that if I'm around it.

Yeah, like it's just if I eat it.

So like when we went to, I don't even remember, it was the field trip they had, a Diamond D Ranch.

Right.

They have that big corn pit there.

It could roll in.

I didn't know about that, like because the dust that was coming from it.

So I moved away from it.

And then I had her teacher like brush her off.

Oh, okay.

Just to make, just to be on the safe side.

Not that I think that, I mean, my parrot eats corn on the cob.

I know that's.

So I mean, I can still feed her and do stuff with her, but it was more dust that was kicking up in that corn pit that I was like, can you just brush her off and then bring her to me?

I just stood on the sidelines and like, because I didn't know, because I was in, you know, that's that.

But I mean, I think it's just food related.

It makes me wonder, because you mentioned that knot in your stomach, and I've had that knot in my stomach a couple of times, and I don't know, but I'm not down and out for three days.

It might just be something that I ate.

Like there is a local restaurant in town that if I eat there, I become sick.

And it's happened more than one meal, and I'm not sure what it is, if it's oil that they cook in or, but it's also with salads at this place.

So I just-

Maybe they're not cleaning the lettuce good.

I don't know.

Because there is something you can get from lettuce that's not clean.

But it's happened with lettuce.

It's happened with the chicken fingers they make.

Yeah, and it's happened more than one time, like violently ill.

And it's, I've tried a variety of, like I've tried their chips with their basil dressing they have.

I've had a flatbread before.

I've had, I've given it a lot of trucks.

I wonder if it's a spice or something.

That's causing your body, cause see, when I, we would go to this Mexican restaurant in Gainesville, and I loved it.

I can't remember the name of it right now, but I would always get sick.

Well, at that point, I didn't know it was corn, right?

Right.

Everything in a Mexican restaurant is corn.

Is corn.

Right.

I don't even walk into a Mexican restaurant anymore, but I used to have their taco salad.

Oh, go ahead.

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

Yeah, I think that, trying to think what I ate.

I ate the taco salad, and the spices they put in the meat and stuff like that.

You can't, I mean.

Well, it's probably corn too, in there.

Everything.

Because at some places put corn in their salsa.

Well, and you cross contaminate.

Tim's friend owns What's the Catch, which is a food truck, and he sells, he does fish tacos and things like that.

And when we ordered from him, I went there and I was like, can I just get mahi mahi?

And he was like, yeah.

And so he's like, I'll clean the grill before I cook your food, because he makes the tortillas on the grill too.

So he cleaned his whole grill for me and then cooked my stuff.

And then it was so good.

Mahi mahi is so good.

It worked for the, you know, not getting sick that company.

But yeah, Mexican restaurant, you can forget it.

I won't walk in a Mexican restaurant because I just, I can't even try to eat something there that's not cross-contaminated.

Yeah.

I would not force you to do that.

No, but some people will be like, you want to go to a Mexican restaurant?

I'm like, who are you talking to?

So yeah, I just think that allergies are a big thing.

And I think people need to be more aware of allergies just because, you know, like I said, your body changes every seven years.

I think May was food allergy month.

And so when did you find, so how long ago was this again that you found out that you were allergic to porn?

20 years.

At least, yeah.

And I mean, another thing too is your body.

Once you have a allergic reaction to something, your body inflames itself.

So like the intestines get inflamed, your stomach gets inflamed.

So it's like after that, it's almost like detoxing again.

Yeah.

Well, we're, you know, this summer, I've been kind of thinking because I have the belly.

And you know, I'm real conscious of it.

So I gave up many years ago, I gave up starches for a while.

And I had to find the book, but it was, I can't even remember the name of it, but it was, and it's probably been updated since, because this was what, a million years ago, but modifying my diet and maybe going gluten free.

Yeah.

So, well, a lot of times, which I've never done gluten free, you'll probably be like me.

It's hard to, well, gluten, I mean, if I do gluten free, a lot of times it has cornstarch in it.

Like if I were to eat pasta, that's gluten free.

So you trade one for the other.

Is that what I'm hearing?

Yeah.

I mean, to me, I'm a whole nother ball game of things.

Cause like, if I just eat like paleo, if I ate paleo or low carb, I'm completely fine.

And so, cause you don't eat.

Yeah, but that's a lot of meat and dairy, right?

No, well, paleo is more nuts and salads and lean meats.

You're not eating junk type stuff.

It's lean meat, salads, anything that's like fruits and vegetables, you can have nuts or a big thing.

I got addicted to this.

I love salads.

So I went to Publix last week or two weeks ago or whatever.

Anyways, kind of like try to do my salads different.

So they make these to go salads, which I haven't read the ingredients, but next time I get one, I'm going to read it, right?

It'd be interesting.

It would be interesting.

Yeah, now that I've learned some more information from today's podcast, but then I was going down the salad aisle, the condiment aisle and looking for a topper.

So I like to eat sunflower seeds with my salads.

I don't know what it is.

That's good, I do that too.

Do you?

Because I do it instead of crouton.

Yeah, so I found this salad topper.

It is cashews, edamame, sunflower seeds and cranberry, dried cranberries.

So I put it on my salad, but then I'll snack on it too.

But I'll have to read that too and see if it's got.

So anyway, these are just some factoids, but I...

Well, at some point, I have some really good recipes of certain things that are really easy to make, especially for kids, that don't have dye in them.

If people wanted to try them, we make homemade granola bars, which box granola bars, or a lot of them have junk in them that kids shouldn't eat especially.

The problem we have that I need to look at are popsicles.

I know you're a popsicle queen.

I am.

But we get it.

Matthew, and this is like Brent and my fault because when he was little, we tried to different things and it gets really hot here in summer.

So as a kid, Brent and I both remember getting those tube, those flavor tubes, I think they're called flavor ice.

Yeah.

They're probably the worst thing.

We're ingesting the dye directly in after listening to you.

So as you're talking about all these food dyes, I'm thinking, okay, yeah.

So another thing I want to mention is if you find the app, EWG Healthy Living, you can actually go into a store and look up personal care, which is shampoo, facial cleansers, that kind of thing.

You can look up food, sunscreen, household cleansers.

Or household products.

And you can go in and type, hey, I want, let's say, Skittles, right?

Right.

So let's type in Skittles.

So Skittles comes up and it gives you a rating.

The food rating is 10 in red.

When you click on the Skittle part, it will tell you.

It'll say the ingredients, nutrition and processing.

And then it tells you literally what each thing is.

And-

Oh, those are thumb down symbols.

Right, contains four of EWG's top food additives of concern.

Red 40 Lake Lake, titanium backside, blue two Lake and yellow Lake.

So it'll tell you exactly what's in it.

Now, if you find a product that doesn't, so let's do hidden organic valley.

Milk.

And this organic valley is, it'll say the findings.

It's certified organic, no ingredient concerns identified, antibiotics not allowed in organic dairy production.

Hormones not used in the production of dairy ingredients.

And then the only problem that EWG calculates is that the product contains three teaspoons of natural sugar per serving.

So it's just saying it's got a higher sugar content, but it's an excellent source of natural occurring calcium and its product has been classified as low processing concerns.

Does it scan barcodes?

Yes, you can scan your barcode.

Yes, also you can look at the app, it's called Food Scores, and that comes up too.

So those two apps are what I use, but in Healthy Living app, yes, you can, at the bottom, it'll say scan.

So you can scan a barcode and it will come up.

Now, when it comes up and it'll say something like, I can't remember if it's like product not found or whatever that is, if you scan the barcode, sometimes I'll go in and type it in, but if it doesn't come up, that just means that EWG just hasn't either tested that or have it in their database, or it's just like a new product or something that they haven't reviewed yet.

And then of course, you go into your own research.

But yeah, this is what I use when I go, or if I'm like sitting at home and I'm like, hey, what is this?

And I'll go and type it in and it tells me that.

But if you go in and type in-

And what's the name of the app again?

It's EWG Healthy Living.

But when you look up your app, it's under Healthy Living.

Oh, okay.

So it's a-

And not only that, but we could also, I could do a screen print of it and we could put it somewhere where they can see it.

Yeah, you can do cereals.

And so if you go under food and type in cereals, it gives you a whole list of cereals that you can click on, right?

Here's chips and snacks, children's snack bars.

And so if you go to children's snack bars, it gives you what the brand is and then what's going on.

Now, I mostly stay in all the green because the green means good.

A lot of times you'll even just see EWG.

That means it's completely certified by EWG and that it is something you can rest assured that it's okay.

I was gonna try to find one of those.

Anyway, so that's just another helpful hint of going to the store and looking.

And you can search it on your phone where you're sitting at home too.

No, I love it.

So that is my commitment this summer is to find alternatives to those.

Cause we'll pop them in.

I mean, I have at least three a day.

Well, I didn't realize that-

And Matthew does too.

Walmart sells the ones that are-

Oh, good pop.

No sugar added.

So you can look at that.

But they look like that in the tubes.

And they're amazing.

They're really good.

And there's no artificial flavors.

Oh, 25 to 30 calories.

Yeah.

So these are, I looked it up, it was like 30 calories of pop, but it's all sugar.

Yeah.

And the coloring, speaking of dye, the coloring that they use is organic fruit and vegetable juice for coloring.

So they're not the bright color of cherry.

They're not the bright color of grape because they're made with grape juice and fruit juice, that kind of thing.

Well, I'll be going over to the old Walmart.

Yeah.

They're amazing though.

And then they have other stuff too that you can do.

They have ice cream pops.

Yeah.

They have all that.

So we give them like these.

We also make, which one day, maybe we'll just do a recipe podcast.

We could.

Because we make our own popsicles, and we do like with yogurt and honey and fresh fruit, and they are amazing.

And I saw a popsicle, I thought about getting them at, I don't know, I was at TJ Maxx or Marshall's or, you know, I like to shop there.

My new favorite store.

So they had some popsicle molds.

So maybe I'll go back and get it.

Not maybe, I will go back and get them.

And there's, well, I can send you the link too, that I ordered from Amazon.

Yeah, we'll put those on the show notes because I know our listeners will probably want to maybe start exploring this as well.

The other foods that I need to get my son out of the habit of eating are Fruit Loop.

Mm-hmm, yeah, that's right.

Serious Fruit Loop.

Yeah, now they make other Fruit Loops that you could go and find probably that's an alternative.

But yeah, the other thing we make is we make honey candy.

Yes, we had that last time I was at your house.

Yeah, so I'm buying the actual lollipop molds because if your kid says, like we use honey as medicine.

Right.

Because I don't give her just over-the-counter type medicine.

First of all, it has red 40 in it, most of it, which I don't know why.

Benadryl has a dye-free.

Yeah, see, she can't take Benadryl.

It's like she's smoking crack.

Really?

Oh, I give Matthew Benadryl and he's, yeah, no, she had Benadryl once because he-

That was me snoring.

She got a hive, and so the doctor gave her Benadryl, and we had to sit there for hours.

And she literally laughed all the way home.

And when she got out of her car seat, she was running in circles with her head in the air, cracking up.

I'm like, she had a reaction to Benadryl, like she literally was out of control.

But I make honey candy, and they also have, you can make them for sore throats.

So you do honey, cinnamon, you can put ginger in them, and it's all fresh stuff.

So we'll give her, you know.

Like if she tells me, mommy, I have a sore throat, I give her a tablespoon of honey, and I let her have that, and then I don't let her drink water after it for a while.

So it coats it.

Cause I'd rather do that than like the sprays or any of that stuff I really count on.

Like I'm a big herbs and honey and all that are better medicine than.

What will we affectionately refer to in Vermont as a crunchy mom?

I'm a crunchy mom.

You are a crunchy mom.

Yeah, I've been there before.

Nothing bad about that.

Nothing bad.

If we all have sore throats at our house, we're like, where's the honey?

I should take more habits from you.

Cause honey is a natural medicine.

It literally is proven that you can look it up.

Well, I know that you should be buying honey from a local source, because it has the bees that are local to you.

That's very good for our kids.

And I never do it.

You should.

I know, but-

That's all we do.

And we don't buy any honey from the grocery store.

We buy it only from people that have hives, cause it's raw honey straight out of their hive.

They don't do anything to it.

They don't process it.

There's a way to actually tell if honey is pure or not.

You put honey in a bowl, and then put water over it, and then circle it around, and it remembers where it came from.

So it makes the hive impression in the honey.

So it's really cool.

But like it won't do that if honey's watered down.

Cause a lot of times they'll water it down if you're buying mass produced honey.

So we'd literally buy it from the beekeeper that's doing it.

And yeah, you're right.

Buy it from where you are because that helps with allergies.

I'll give, Emily has a spoonful of honey every single night for allergies.

Really?

Mm-hmm.

With my voice.

Really?

Really, do you have allergies?

Really?

Like a 12 year old boy losing my voice.

So I think we should post, I can either post the recipes that I was talking about on the description.

We also have our Instagram page at Midlife Moms Pod, all one word, no underscore.

We also just created a Facebook page.

So we are Midlife Moms Pod on Facebook.

Right, so let us know if you have an allergy or have a recipe, you can post that on our Instagram page or our Facebook page.

Or questions for alternatives of certain snack foods.

I can help find that.

And then we can also have a follow-up episode maybe in a few weeks.

Yep, so.

Perfect.

Well, thanks for sharing your knowledge today.

I know now more about Red Dye.

Do your own research.

I know, well.

Do what's best for your family, but I think it's a good way to go and find some alternatives to certain things.

Can cut down on some junk.

Yeah.

Bye.