"Easter Candy Blindness" happens when parents ignore labels and the reality of what they are really buying their child for Easter. After Easter is a good time to review labels so that we are reminded as parents what these products that are going into the bodies of our children really do contain and their potential to compromise health.

San Bernardino, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/04/2013 --Stop and read those Easter candy labels before tossing them out this year and let’s try and stop the viscous circle of ”Easter Candy Blindness!” Maybe if we all read the labels now after Easter, we can accept the reality of what we just did to our child giving them all those Easter candy products. Before Easter we get caught up in a flurry of putting together the “Easter Experience” so we can bring smiles to our children’s faces and feel the joy of watching them hit the candy jackpot. All our parental instincts and common sense goes out the window.

Even those that might otherwise be critical of any food ingredient that passes through their child’s lips are willing to forget the rules for one day. The fact is whether we want to accept it or not our children are ending up with a basket full of Easter candy that is also full of pesticides, genetically modified organisms, GMO high fructose corn syrup, GMO artificial sweeteners, flavors, and colors, additional GMOs in the form of corn, cornstarch, and high fructose corn syrup. You have to assume any oil coming from corn, cottonseed, or soy source contains genetically modified organisms since 90% of these crops today are GMOs.

Doubt we’ll stop giving our kids treats for Easter anytime soon because it’s obvious that parents get a kick out of making our kids happy with a basket full of candy.

The good news is we don’t have to stop letting the Easter Bunny visit our house, all we have to do is give the Easter Bunny better information on best choices for our child’s Easter Basket. Once learned these skills can be applied to other special events or moments that involve “treats.”

There are many delicious organic versions of our favorite candies and treats now available that are made with real food ingredients, grown without pesticides and GMOs, and have no “hidden” chemicals.

As parents that are supposed to protect our child from bad things, exposing them to this kind of concentration of food ingredients could hold risks on it’s own. In actuality many common ingredients used in many candy products don’t ever belong in a child’s diet because of the long list of diseases associated with them.

Read the article “9 Crazy Things Pesticides Are Doing to Your Body” by Leah Zerbe and Emily Main to find out nine diseases that can be trigged or made worse by exposure to pesticides.

We blindly buy many of these Easter candies so nicely displayed on store shelves thinking only how we are going to bring happiness to our child. Why bother to read the ingredient label when we already know that it’s not good. We think, “This is Easter so what’s in it doesn’t matter.”

Why not start to think that it does matter from now on and think how many bad ingredients that you could prevent you child from ingesting with your “Smart Treat Choices.”

Most consumers don’t think about what is NOT included in the ingredient list. The truth is if you buy a product that has artificial flavor, there could be 50 “hidden chemicals” added to that product that you don’t see on the label. It takes that many chemicals to make fake strawberry, blueberry, cherry, or other food flavors. The chemicals are ridiculously cheaper than buying a real food. It is easy to see why organic companies that are forbidden from using these chemical substitutes would cost more.

Chemicals are cheap compared to real organic food. What happens when your child eats them is also different. Clean organic food nutrients are delivered in perfect little packages that our bodies recognize, but when confronted by the foreign proteins in GMOs, and toxic chemicals and pesticides that attack our cells all energy has to go into defense and detoxification of the new poisons that have entered our system. With a focus on defense, other cell maintenance needs suffer.

Tasty Brand organic gummies was started by a pair of moms fed up with products full of ingredients they didn’t want to feed their child. Many ingredients found in non-organic gummies are also listed on the Center for Science in the Public Interests “Chemical Cuisine” site. They can be found under the categories to “Avoid” altogether, “Certain People Should Avoid” such as children, and “Caution” which is another way of saying, “why even go there?”

These Tasty Brand gummies contain organic fruit juice and real organic fruit powders such as Organic Apple Powder, Organic Acai Powder, Organic Blueberry Powder, and Organic Pomegranate Powder.

Compare those ingredients in non-organic brands that contain pesticide and antibiotic laden fruit, multiple corn, soy, and cottonseed GMO sources. Hydrogenated transfat oils that are also GMOs.

Colors and flavors come from artificial sources. Add an additional 50 chemicals for every artificial flavor (that’s how many chemicals needed to make them), and then look for the artificial colors on the “Chemical Cuisine Avoid” list. Those to “Avoid Completely” include Blue#2, Green #3, Orange #B, Red #3 and #40, Yellow #5, Yellow #6, and aspartame artificial sweeteners, and transfats.

Let’s make next Easter different and not fuel the industry that puts the type of ingredients in their candy that our kids should avoid all together.

This Easter and throughout the year, consider quality over quantity. Spending a little more for organic treats, and giving children a little less also decreases their total pesticide load and therefore their risk of disease. It sends the message to our children that you deserve food without poison and could help them set higher standards for themselves in other parts of their life.

Don’t give in easily. When you have a choice, choose organic for you and your family. Read labels and compare. Get wise which are real food ingredients and which are GMO.

Use the “Smart Health Talk Organic Treat List” on our homepage to get started. These products taste so good, you won’t want to go back to fake food.

About Smart Health Talk
Smart Health Talk is a radio show based out of San Bernardino, California and broadcast on KCAA 1050 AM every Thursday at 4:00 pm PST. Host Elaine McFadden, MPH, RD wants consumers to be educated so they can make “Smart Choices.”