Mommy's little helper.
Earlier today I watched an interesting clip on Good Morning America about how a food's color affects perception of taste. In the video, children and adults are given the same flavor of jello and chocolate pudding, but it's been dyed several different colors. Both the tots and grown-ups assume each color is a different flavor. Most food is artificially colored in some way and at the end of the Read more
It's eggtacular! With all of the talk about food dyes and their effects on young tots this week, mamas preparing for Easter may be thinking twice about how they'll color their eggs this year. Using plant, fruit, and vegetable extracts, rather than the Red 40 and Blue Lake dyes at the forefront of the controversy, the Eco-Eggs Easter Egg Coloring Kit ($16) still creates vibrantly dyed eggs without Read more
They make food fun and enticing to a lil one's eyes, but there's more to food dyes than many mamas might imagine. The same drops that are used to create rainbow foods have been linked to attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in tots and much more. This week an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration will meet to discuss the possibility of added warning labels to products Read more
You are what you eat and so the saying goes, but a group of parents believe that the food coloring their children digest affects their behavior. Commonly found in processed foods like Twizzlers, Doritos and Twinkies as well as baked goods, red dye no. 40 is to blame for aggressive outbursts in kids according to some moms and dads. The FDA maintains that the dye is safe for consumption. Read more
Should warning labels be on artificially dyed foods? The FDA is trying to decide this following a study showing that those petroleum-based dyes found in everything from cereal to candy can cause behavioral problems like ADHD. If the findings worry you, moms who still want to make a colorful treat for her kids can still feed them the rainbow by using natural food dye, which are made from the Read more
January sure is a busy month. Along with National Soup Month, it also happens to be National Tea Month. We thought we'd start off the festivities with a primer on a very trendy tea. Green tea came from Asia and took America by storm with its claims to fix just about every ailment. But what exactly is this wonder tea? Keep reading to find out. Read more
Lauren Conrad dragged her luggage behind her at the airport in LA yesterday following a trip to Texas, where she dined on local BBQ food. She was sporting darker hair after recently experimenting with the color by dyeing her ends light pink. LC's locks may be of interest but it's her reported relationship with Derek Hough that's making headlines. LC and Derek have been spotted out together Read more
Huito is the natural equivalent of bacon cupcakes: an unexpected combination that really hits the spot for some people. The yummy fruit, which grows across the Caribbean and all the way down to Peru, makes both great jam and a pretty awesome black hair dye. When ripe, it's popular as a flavor for preserves and ice cream, but when it's still green the geniposidic acid it contains makes a Read more
Mother Earth surprises us with plenty of naturally colorful foods, from blueberries to squid ink, and everything in between. So have you ever been stumped about why, given that cow's milk isn't orange, certain cheeses have such a shockingly bright color? I asked our resident cheese expert, Laura Werlin, what the reason is behind that. Turns out there are several possible historical explanations. Read more
The kitchen is the center of the home, and for families with young kids, it's generally a very messy center. From sinks filled with bottles to floors (and walls and ceilings) splattered with toddlers' leftovers, parents spend as much time cleaning up after their children, as they do feeding them. How parents clean it up takes on new meaning once kids are in the home — both for the health of Read more
