True Food: A Love Poem

As headlines swirl and climates whirlrnAnd Wall Street finds its feetrnThere’s one refrain that doesn’t changern“Mommy, what’s there to eat?” Well listen child, I’ll tell you what,rnThat’s no small query there.rnCome over here, and sit right down,rnIn fact, pull up a chair. Your question, dear one, though you ask,rnWith all good heart intended,rnIs fraught with complications thatrnAren’t often comprehended. What we call ‘food’ is not the samernAs what our grandmas ate.rnWould she have had yellow 5 & 6rnOn her child’s dinner plate? What about ‘acesulfame potassium’?rnCan you pronounce that, love?rnDid grandmother have a jar of thatrnIn her cupboards up above? What would she think of all these thingsrnYou children eat today?rnPerhaps she’d bow her gentle headrnAnd just begin to pray….. But since she is no longer here,rnIt is up to you and me,rnTo be the ones who will inspirernHer “true food” legacy. Perhaps as we begin this quest,rnWe might ‘cut the colors’ first?rnOr try to avoid things we can’t pronounce?rnTell me, which do you think is worse? You see, my little one, in our hands,rnIn our minds and in our hearts,rnWe have the ability to affect remarkable changernSo, love, where should we start? Written by Robyn O’Brien, July 3, 2009 Though your time is precious, I invite you to learn more about the Grandmother Theoryand “true food” in The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It.