By now you may know that we do not celebrate Easter. But we love to play with our food and for that reason, we don’t have to wait for a holiday to do so. We have learned over time which plants and fruits to use to give us wonderful colors that the children LOVE! 
FDA.gov: “Without color additives, colas wouldn’t be brown, margarine wouldn’t be yellow and mint ice cream wouldn’t be green. Color additives are now recognized as an important part of practically all processed foods we eat.”
Huffingtonpost.com: “These dyes have no purpose whatsoever other than to sell junk food.”
CSPInet.org: “These synthetic chemicals do absolutely nothing to improve the nutritional quality or safety of foods, but trigger behavior problems in children and, possibly, cancer in anybody. The Food and Drug Administration should ban dyes, which would force industry to color foods with real food ingredients, not toxic petrochemicals.” Lisa Leake Of 100Days Of Real Food
So what is a food color? It’s a food color, or color additive, is any dye, pigment or substance that imparts color when added or applied to a food, drug, cosmetic, or the human body. There are two categories of food colors that are permitted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): certified color additives and colors that are exempt from certification. Forget all of that. The FDA will allow questionable “food -like” things in our food. Take the initiative and make your own. It’s not that hard.
Here’s the top four to look out for:
RED- usually has Red 40, crushed bugs The primary reason is to make up for color losses in foods which occur when food is exposed to air, light, moisture,modified, and variations in temperature. (These popular colorants, which today are used to impart a deep red shade to fruit juices, gelatin’s, candies, shampoos, and more) INSTEAD TRY:
- Red cabbage, boiled or juiced
- Strawberries
- Cherries
- Raspberries
- Beets/beetroot (boiled or juiced)
- Red bell pepper (roasted and pureed)
- Paprika (add powder directly, or dissolve in water)
For purple/ blue- aka “FD&C Blue No. 1” This sucks because too much of these fun, and pretty food-like items will destroy your gastrointestinal system. INSTEAD TRY:
- Red cabbage, boiled or juiced
- Eggplant/aubergine skin, boiled or juiced
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Beets/beetroot (boiled or juiced)
Cassie Sweets make GMO treats of all sorts using plants as color bases*
Green- I know that you don’t want a bladder tumor, but it can happen with an overload of green food dye. INSTEAD TRY:
- Kale, boiled or juiced
- Spinach, boiled or juiced
- Water cress, boiled or juiced
Yellow/Orange – My young boys would grab this JUST because of the color! 
When you eat things with Yellow 5, you lose zinc through your urine and saliva. If you have ADHD, you lose it even faster than someone without ADHD (Ward 1990, 1997). Zinc, an essential trace mineral, is required by hundreds of your body’s enzymes involved with the metabolism of protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol. Zinc is also critical for wound healing, sense of taste and smell, immune system function, bone strength, thyroid function, blood clotting, cognitive functions, prenatal development, and sperm production. Even a mild deficiency can produce a wide range of physical and mental problems. INSTEAD TRY:
- Carrots, boiled or juiced
- Saffron (not our favourite choice as it tends to be expensive and imparts a fairly strong flavor)
- Turmeric (either dissolve in water or add powder directly – it has a fairly mellow flavor that is easily masked)
- Golden beets (they impart a very dark yellow color – almost brown!)
Tests on lab animals of Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 showed signs of causing cancer or suffered from serious flaws, said the consumer group. Yellow 5 also caused mutations, an indication of possible carcinogenicity, in six of 11 tests.
These risks are just not worth my families health. The first thing you can do is become more food-label conscious. I guess it’s like they say when you know better, you do better!
Here’s more food Insight
Colors That Prevent Cancer: Foods of the Rainbow
The Dangerous Impact of Food Coloring
Click here for even more scientific information on food dyes
Total Total Wellness,
~QC Supermom
QC Supermom 