A story with a purpose

Stay with me okay? This may just seem like a bunch of pictures, but I have a point to this.

So a day last week Amy went with us to give her opinion on some kitchen counters.

The twins were a little suspicious of the attire they were required to wear there.
But at least it was better than having to wait on the side lines.
They look so tiny there…I think Téa is on her tip toes.


Since it was heart stopping excitement looking through color after color, 
we decided to cheer them up and go for lunch!



btw, there's something about Amy sitting in the back seat of our car that makes us feel like she's our little girl. And as you can see, the twins were quite over the moon having their Mama between them.
It was while we were driving home and talking about lunch, that Amy happened to mention that whenever she eats Sponge Bob Mac and Cheese she has to go to sleep right afterwards…that she cannot stay awake! So she quit eating it entirely. I had never heard of Sponge Bob Mac and Cheese, and wondered if there was something in it she was allergic to?

Well wonders of wonder….the very next day look what was a top news story on CNN:

Kraft removing artificial dyes from some mac and cheese


The article goes on to say that Sponge Bob is going to soon become "less yellow." The company will remove Yellow #5 and Yellow #6 and are "thinking" of replacing it with paprika and beta carotene.

Did you know in Europe if they use Yellow #5 they must include a warning that says, "This product may have adverse effect on activity and attention in children." So England's Kraft mac and cheese replaced Yellow #5 with paprika and beta carotene.

They are even questioning now if food additives can actually change our DNA. Scary food.

This double standard has upset American parents. Good for them! For being upset I mean. So now, it looks like we will finally get a change too, although they said it could take up to a year for this to actually happen!

Yellow #5 has been linked to "hyperactivity, asthma, some skin conditions, and cancer." Yet we unknowingly have been feeding this to our children!

Don't get me wrong. I am NOT finding fault with Amy. She is an excellent mother. Sponge Bob Mac and Cheese didn't exist when my kids were little but I did give them Kraft Mac and Cheese. They liked it, and it was easy and they learned to make it themselves. I didn't know about the damaging effects of chemicals and preservatives in our food back then.

But now, all these years later, our food has become much worse. And our children will be paying the price for this, if they haven't already.

Someone recently told me, "We live in a very unhealthy world right now." I've also heard and read repeatedly that we need to eat the way our grandparents and great grandparents ate. Whole food in the state closest to nature. And to quote a margarine commercial that was very popular when I was a little girl, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature."

So this upcoming change, finally, of removing the yellow additive from Sponge Bob, began with one woman named Vani Hari…take a look! I've just recently discovered her blog: The Food Babe Blog. I'm impressed!

10 comments:

Rebecca said...

I think that Kraft Mac and cheese tastes like pure chemicals! Has it gotten worse over the years? I don't remember it tasting like that years ago! Why do kids love it so much? Cute pictures. I am curious, though, do the twins not need car seats anymore? That would be so nice not to have to use car seats anymore with my grandson, but here in Utah you have to have one if you are under 8! Just wondering.....

Scrapally said...

wow...I need to read labels better. I mostly watch for sugar content, but will watch for more now. thanks for introducing it to me! ps I love it when Amanda sits in our backseat with her two boys...there's just something sweet about it! :)

Anonymous said...

It's funny because I've always cooked 'from scratch" and the reason is that it is CHEAPER. I bought organic ingredients, in bulk, and learned to cook large batches of food for our family of 7. Cooking is really an art and it takes years to get really good at it. I'm looking forward to the future as more and more people start learning to cook this way. It really is fun!
By the way, GH, would you please post this U-Tube on Facebook and I'll share it around. Thanks!
Darlene

Grandma Honey said...

Rebecca…They are actually sitting in boosters with special strapping….some sort of a lock thing near the bottom of the strap. They just converted over to those from car seats last month.

Darlene…Sure I will try to do that but not sure I know how. :)

the Rich girl said...

So, I used to make this for Rich all the time--he loved it! But then, out of the blue, he started getting a rash that agitated his eczema anytime he ate Kraft mac 'n cheese!! I couldn't figure out what was causing him to react to it, but I bet Yellow #5 is to blame.

Grandma Honey said...

Interesting, Karen. I think you may have found the culprit!

threelittlebackseatdrivers.blogspot.com said...

I just shared this. Love it. A new one that I just learned about from a cousin is making my own yogurt. It sounds so granola and home-schoolish. But she showed me how simple it is and I tried some she had just made and it was so fresh and sooo good and natural. It made eating yoplait taste like eating cake. I really dislike how yoplait originals have the same amount of sugar as a soda! I've been buying plain yogurt and mixing it with regular just to decrease the sugar but keep my kids happy with the taste. But now that I've seen her make it so easily, I'm converted. I think it's just a few things at a time, like replacing a box of mac and cheese with something else that make a huge difference. Recently, I stopped buying granola bars which my kids love and started buying raisin boxes and dried cranberries. They love the change and I love that they aren't getting high fructose corn syrup for a snack. Thanks again for sharing. :)

Anonymous said...

look at the contents of chips. Most favored ones like Doritos, cheetos, etc have those same yellow dyes.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this!
Heidi

threelittlebackseatdrivers.blogspot.com said...

Yes! Doritos, believe it or not have Red Dye #40. It sends my daughter thru the roof with hyperactivity. :(

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