Things that food allergies have taught me: Eating Healthier

I took the boys grocery shopping today. It's never an easy task shopping with two crazy boys. It makes things interesting, to say the least. My youngest son never seems to stop talking. I could try to tune him out, but I'm just not good at that. It makes it hard when I'm trying to read food labels for the things that he's allergic too.

Before I had children, I didn't know anything about food allergies, and frankly, I didn't care too. Food allergies didn't affect me or anyone that I knew. I did read labels however. I read labels for fat grams and calories and I thought I was eating semi-healthy. I was never a health nut. I'm still not (I love potato chips too much). But I'm so much more aware of what we eat now thanks to my sons food allergies. Yes, if there is a bright side to food allergies, this would be one of them. When reading labels, I have to avoid wheat, rye, barley, oat, eggs and tree nuts (and cross contamination from these allergens) but now, thanks to food allergies, I try to avoid so much more.

I never paid attention to what was in my food, where it came from, or what it did to my body other than "weight wise". As long as I was thin, I was healthy, right? Then food allergies came into our life and I had to pay attention to what exactly was in the food we were eating. I used to eat things that had names like "Sodium Tripolyphosphate", "Corn Syrup Solids", "Silicon Dioxide" and other nasty names in the ingredient list. But if the fat and calories were low, then I felt like I was being "healthy". Now, I know better (and may not always do better, but I try).

Most of the people that I know or have contact with who have food allergies or have a loved one with food allergies eat better now than they did before food allergies came into their lives. It's like a veil comes off and you are forced to look at what was in front of you all along. You can no longer ignore that fact that "Acetylated Monoglycerides, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Apocarotenal (Color)" may not be the healthiest thing to eat. I've heard Oprah say that "When you know better, you do better". I find that to be so for eating healthier, especially for my children. I can no longer serve them something with the ingredient list of "Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Milk, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Nonfat Milk, Modified Corn Starch, Kosher Gelatin, Tricalcium Phosphate, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Citric Acid, Colored with Red No. 40, Carmine, Canthaxanthin, Potassium Sorbate Added to Maintain Freshness, Carrageenan. Ingredients: Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Milk, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Nonfat Milk, Modified Corn Starch, Kosher Gelatin, Tricalcium Phosphate, Citric Acid, Malic Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Colored with Carmine, Turmeric Extract, Blue No. 1, Potassium Sorbate Added to Maintain Freshness, Carrageenan" and think of it as a healthy alternative.