40 and filterless.  Dear Lord.  Does everyone lose their filters at 40? Is it just me? Should I pray to find my filter again? Is this a blessing? Have I finally given up on caring what others think of me? Help me Lord, because I feel slightly liberated, but also slightly freaked out.  Offending people has never been what is in my heart.  Amen.

True prayer.  This is my life, I am a people pleaser.  I see the good in a lot of people.  It’s a blessing and a curse.  I always tread lightly.  The world would be a boring place if we all were the same.  But recently I have realized that sometimes you just have to speak out.  Also I am kind of tired of not being me in certain situations, or stifling my thoughts, as to not hurt someone else’s feelings.

I probably just went a little nuts on a preschool news letter.  I ADORE our preschool and literally every teacher, parent, and child there.  I started my email professing my love, telling what is in my heart for the teachers, and what a true gift the director is to children.  I would NEVER EVER pick a different place.  I get teary eyed anticipating I will not see some of these women whom I saw several times a week over the past 5 years between my older and younger child, as my youngest head to Kindergarten next year.

So with all those emotions, I still had no filter.  Kids have peanut allergies.  Bad ones.  I am in no shape or form suggesting bringing in a candy with peanuts.  BUT, the list of candy that was suggested made me want to CRINGE.

This helps keep ALL our students safe, since peanuts can cause life-threatening reactions in students with peanut allergies.

These are some suggestions of peanut-free candy:
Hersheys kisses (plain kisses only)
Mild duds
Nerds
Rolos
Runts
Skittles
Smarties
Sour patch kids
Starburst
Swedish fish
Sweet Tarts
Tootsie rolls
Twizzlers

I JUST COULDN’T.  My fingers went faster than I could think.  My response:

So now I need to take all that passion and move it towards something positive.  I am not going to blog about all the studies behind why these candies are so awful, the effects of the ingredients on kids or adults…people can find all that themselves.  Not here to promote what I hate, but what I love.  I WILL suggest the SIMPLEST little things to avoid that business.

Avoid that BUSINESS.  Don’t support the business that produces it.  Support the candy that uses fruit and vegetable dyes from nature, not man.  Real SUGAR.  Not high fructose corn syrup which is basically concentrated with round up (glyphosate) from lovely GMO corn.  Glyphosate is designed to blow up the intestines of pests, but according to paid Montesanto chemists doesn’t affect the human gut flora. I am sorry.  Not buying it.  I believe in common freaking sense.  Not to mention Round Up is used in everything, so if a little is consumed in soy, dairy, corn, wheat, all day long, what about THAT amount?

Real candy.  REAL food.  I am not saying the candies below are healthy, but certainly it is the lesser of two evils.  Not that any sugar is stellar but come on people! Sugar is delish! Kids should indulge on real candy at Easter!  Not chemicals.

The REAL candy is available at a wicked good price at Trader Joe’s, a whole paycheck price at Whole Foods, and we all know AMAZON RIGHT? If you have been under a rock and don’t, then do yourself a favor, check out Amazon Prime and thank me later. It is not hard to get this candy.  I mean, sure a little harder…but marginally.

You could make candy with kids too, but that is SUPER time consuming.  Trust me.  Been there, done that.  Buying takes little effort and still gets the job done.  Although there may be a blog post on a homemade candy or two, a friend just introduced me to something called a “fat bomb” and it was THE BOMB…but I am digressing.

My boy and I took these pictures of all the lovely candy that tastes JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER at Trader Joe’s.  While taking these pictures, one of my favorite folks there, (because I am a regular…lol)  asked what I was doing.  He happened to share with me and my boy that he had asthma, not as a child, but as an adult.  The doctor told him he would be on an inhaler and Advair for the rest of his life.  Guess what?  He stopped eating dairy and his asthma is gone.  I love hearing stories like this, it makes my heart warm.  I think God sends me these stories on purpose.

Take a look at some of this candy.  It is literally the same as the chemical candy above, less the chemicals.  No DYES.   He even got to pick one…which was a total bribe to get him to take a picture.

Notice, not just candy.  TREATS TOO.  Look at these cute little cookies and all the baked goods.  I mean, kids can even have their fun brightly colored treats, without a cocktails of dyes that are actually banned in other countries.

Also on egg hunts, kids get excited over things other than candy.  Coins, little toys, puzzle pieces to put together at the end, jewelry, matchbox cars, tattoos, etc.   Auntie Annie’s Bunnies are gummies that are already on the Easter theme.  Kids love them.  Think outside the egg!  Don’t join the masses, create a healthier Easter!

To the naysayers in advance, we get it.  You are perfectly healthy and you want your Skittles.  Everyone has their own perfect idea of good health.  Pills, surgeries, creams, allergy meds are the norm in America.  For some the idea of eating greasy food surmounts losing an internal organ.  No big deal.  What is a little surgery?  I am the other part of America who thinks my health is my responsibility not anyone else’s.   While genetics, accidents and some illnesses cannot be avoided, thank goodness for doctors to help.  I myself rest easy knowing I did my part for me and my family to be proactive about our health.  But that is my thinking, not that it is right or wrong, but it is my OWN.