Coloring Agents to Avoid When You Buy Food

Artificial colors do not occur in nature. Many are made from coal tar and can contain up to ten parts per million of arsenic and lead and still be approved by the FDA. Still they make food attractive. Babies and kids like brightly colored foods and it is easy for them to want these foods more than things that are healthier for them because they tend to be motivated to put things in their mouth that have visual appeal.

Still foods with artificial colors are terrible to feed any member of your family. They can cause allergic reactions, hyperactivity and ADD in children, may contribute to visual and learning disorders or cause nerve damage. The use of coloring in products normally indicates that other natural ingredients that may contain the color, like oranges, have not been used.

Here is a list of the worst coloring agents –
Blue #1, found in baked goods, candy, and soft drinks, has been shown to damage the chromosomes in a cell's nucleus and cause retardation in both kids and adults. Stay away from giving your kids those popsicles or Freezies that have this blue coloring. Jell-O brand products also contain it.
Blue #2, which is found in candy, may cause brain tumors.
Citrus Red #1 is sprayed on green oranges to make them look ripe so even if you are making juice or puree for your baby you could be giving him or her poisonous chemical additive that causes cancer. Wash and peel the skin off citrus fruit to be safe.
Citrus Red #2, used to color the skins of some Florida oranges, can cause cancer if the peel is eaten.
Red #3 is often added to canned cherry pie filling, maraschino cherries, baked goods and ice cream. Studies have linked this dye to nerve damage and to thyroid cancer.
Red #40 is found in soda, candy, gelatin desserts, pastry, pet food, and sausage, and is a suspected carcinogen. Be careful when serving Baby Jello.
Yellow #5 is the second most widely used colorant, and it contributes to behavioral disturbances in children, and can cause allergic reactions. It is found in gelatin desserts and baked goods.
Yellow #6 can cause tumors in the adrenal glands and kidneys. It is found in beverages, sausage, baked goods, candy, and gelatin.

If you want healthy kids, with good memories and attention spans that are happy and disease free then make sure you are reading labels.

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Unhealthy Teen Eating Patterns

Health eating is crucial for teenagers. Adolescence is a time when they may be growing at a rapid rate. Hormones act up and cause all kinds of changes, as well as erratic behavior. It is essential to each a teenager how to make wise food choices as they will be having more and more meals outside of the family home at this age.

One habit that many teens get into is skipping meals. Watch out for this as this could also be a sign that they are doing recreational drugs or trying stick with some kind of fad diet. If you suspect your teen is skipping meals for any reason insisted that they take a full range of vitamin supplements to make out of it.

There are two very harmful patterns to watch out for in adolescents as they could signify real problems are store for him or her in later life. The first is undereating and the second is overeating.

Teens that undereat, particularly girls, really do tend to become anorexics or bulemics. Anorexia is a behavioral disorder that is the result of a young girl having a distorted self-image. No matter how thin she gets she never seems thin enough. Every time she looks in the mirror she seems ugly and fat.

This also leads to bulimia, which is the act of throwing up your food every time you eat. If your child disappears into the bathroom after every meal time you might want to make sure that she is not throwing up in order to remain thin. You should also make sure that he or she is not taking laxatives to keep weight down as long term every day use of these can damage the intestines and other digestive organs.

Bulemia also causes a great deal of trouble because the vomit can cause damage to the esophagus and teeth. A girl with this problem might be acting depressed, drink a lot of diet tea and have a highly irregular menstrual cycle.

Binge eating is just as bad. A teen will sit down and eat way too much food and then possibly throw up later. Those who do not throw up end up gaining a lot of weight; many end up gaining way too much weight.

To help out a teen who may be comforting him or herself by binge eating it is a good idea to send him or her to a counselor or psychologist to find out what might be at the bottom of feelings that are causing the problem. It is important to nip problems like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating in youth as they can develop in a life-long pattern that leads to severe health problem and a possible early death.

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