“Don’t eat desserts,” my grandma said to me,
when I first tried to diet at fourteen.
“Avoid potatoes, bread and corn. You’ll see
results if you don’t go for snacks between
good meals.” But I eschewed her strategy:
preferring science to an old wives’ tale,
I read a book, embraced the calorie,
and added girth with every diet fail.

I bought the party line and I gained weight.
The enemy was fat; the friend was grain.
Although I felt myself self-regulate
the fat and protein, still I sang the main-
stream lie – a high-carb menu for the birds,
till research rediscovered grandma’s words.