Additives, Preservatives and Other Diet Dangers

This course will explore the standard American diet and dietary offenders such as sugar, artificial sweeteners, dyes, preservatives, MSG and other flavor enhancers. We will learn to decipher dietary labels and look for hidden dangers in common kid favorites and popular junk foods and even in foods marketed as healthy and low-fat. We will focus on the role of nutrition in brain health and function with special emphasis on how behavior can be improved by modifying the diet with healthier food choices.

Objectives:

To discuss what the standard American diet is and the dangers to our overall health by regularly consuming additives, preservatives, sugars and MSG.
What to look for in a food label – what is healthy and good for your kids and what to avoid.
To discuss the most common dietary dangers and why they could be detrimental to your overall health and behavior
To discuss why food dyes are used to market foods and why they could pose a danger in sensitive individuals.
To compare and contrast the diet of 50 years ago to the diet of today and why genetically modified foods as well as additives and preservatives could be having a serious effect on our health.
To discuss the effects of a junk food diet on the development and behavior of children with special emphasis on the special dietary needs of the developmentally disabled.

Activities:

The workshop will include a power point presentation with accompanying hand-outs.
Open discussion and participation including comparing and contrasting food labels of boxed and processed foods with more natural choices of organic whole foods.
Questions and answers among and between participants.

Presenter:

Tracey McKoy is the mother of a 9 year old autistic son who has been on the gluten free diet since 2003. She has also been following the gluten free diet and is exploring a more natural, whole food diet for herself and her family. She has researched nutrition and networked with other parents of disabled children to learn more about the role of nutrition and behavior particularly to learn what an important role food plays in a person’s overall well-being and function. She has sought out natural methods of treatment for her son’s autism, including biomedical supplements, gluten free cooking and optimizing his diet through whole food cooking.

Workshop Schedule:

8:30 - 9:00AM	Check-in
9:00 – 10:00AM	Discussion of standard American diet with participant interaction
10:00 – 12:00PM	Common dietary dangers and their effect on health
12:00 - 12:30PM	Brown bag lunch
12:30 – 1:30PM	Reading food labels – what to look for and what to avoid
1:30 - 3:00PM	How processed foods effect development and behavior
3:00 – 4:00PM	The importance of good nutrition in developmental disorders