by Heidi Templeton
I love Easter Sunday, the colors are bright and cheery, the weather is on the cusp of being mosquito bitten humid and make up melting hot and there’s mimosas! But there’s another side to that cute Easter bunny…..he delivers some questionable treats.
For starters, those yummy, squishy and fluffy peeps you loved as kid contains gelatin. Gelatin a is protein obtained by boiling skin, tendons, ligaments and/or bones with water. It is usually obtained from cows or pigs. This is from the FAQ page from the website Just Born, manufactures of Peeps: “Our PEEPS® Marshmallow Candies are not kosher because they contain pork derived gelatin.” Sit back and chew on that while I tell you about Jelly Beans.
Whether or not you enjoy a shellac manicure from time to time, you are enjoying it while popping a few jelly beans in your mouth. Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed into dry flakes, which are combine with ethyl alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used for nail polish, food glaze and wood finish. Woooo what? Go back, food glaze? So the same stuff used to paint nails is used to give Jelly Beans their shine.
We all love a good wax! But do we love it on our Robin’s eggs? Mmm, not so much. Robins Eggs, those yummy little eggs we see at the bottom of Easter baskets gets its glossy finish using Carnauba wax. Carnauba is used for things like car, shoe and surfboard wax…..yum, shoe wax.
Last but not least we didn’t forget about you Cadbury Eggs. Amongst all kinds of weird used to make the cream inside those eggs there’s that sneaky little Yellow 6, que the soap opera dramatic music. Yellow 6 is a synthetic dye made from coal tar. It’s actually banned in Norway and Finland and actually has pretty serious side effects like gastric upsets, diarrhea, vomiting, and migraines. The only migraine you should have is the day after Easter from one too many mimosas!
There are plenty of “safe” candies and treats to fill Easter baskets with! Check out your local health food store or one of my favorite websites www.naturalcandystore.com.
Enjoy the day with your family and friends and celebrate everything that this spring season has to offer!
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Heidi Templeton is a Tampa Bay Area yoga instructor. When she’s not practicing asana, you can find her in the kitchen cooking up vegan dishes. Heidi is sharing her love for all things health and wellness on www.facebook.com/HeidiFit
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Header image courtesy of Veggie Grettie