My name is Cassie, and I work as a Food Program Administrator at a childcare center.
Last October I attended a conference for the Washington Association for the Education of Young Children. While there, I met a woman that had a vendor booth promoting the Feingold Association. They have been around since the seventies advocating for a diet free of artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. What Dr. Feingold found through his research is that some children react rather dramatically to these ingredients and may display symptoms of ADHD, autism, or psychosis. I read testimonials about people that had tried everything to deal with their children's tantrums and uncontrollable outbursts to no avail........until they found the Feingold Diet. Some of these children described went from almost being institutionalized, to wonderful, obedient, great students! Now not all the stories are that dramatic, but when you stop and think of all the young children that are being treated with really strong drugs that affect their development, it makes you sad to think that they may only have needed to eat "real" food.
Finding the Feingold Association opened up a real "can of worms" for me as someone that is responsible for what many young children put in their bodies. As I did more and more research on many of these artificial ingredients, and their possible side effects, I began to realize that I could not, in good conscience, feed these precious children what amounts to poison!
Anyway, my goal, with this blog, is to connect with other people that are concerned about the state of our food supply, and maybe give encouragement to others to influence their child's school or childcare to feed our kids what they deserve and need....."REAL FOOD"!
Although I don't follow the Feingold Diet per say (they provide a detailed shopping guide of approved foods) I try to ensure that the food I provide is, at least, "All Natural" Once you start reading labels it gets easier.
