Food is definitely my love language, and making festive recipes to celebrate all the different holidays throughout the year is one way I express my love to family and friends. With Valentine’s Day coming up next week, I wanted to share with you some fun, easy, and healthy ways to add colors to your treats without the use of artificial food coloring. I have even included an entire year’s worth of holiday ideas below that are colorful and fun, but free from those synthetic dyes! But why would this even be worth a discussion or the effort to swap?

Last week, the USDA and HHS released 2020-2025 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Amid all the other news going on in the world, I don’t think this made headlines anywhere, but I have been waiting for this report for weeks (health nerd alert!). I have read (or at least skimmed through) all 835 pages of the Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, and I think the most profound and relevant message in the whole document was found on page 2.