What if we stopped kids eating sugar and processed foods altogether?

THE BLUE DRINK

Six months ago, walking to the gym past the waste-not charity shop,

The card shop, the fish and chip shop, two estate agencies, a mobile phone

Repair shop, a mobile phone sales outlet, the closed-down sports shop,

The closed-down gift shop, the closed-down news agency, the closed-down

Shoe shop, the closed-down dry cleaner, the closed-down Laura Ashley outlet,

The closed-down optician, the still-open optician, two nail bars, three coffee shops,

Two cafes, two pubs, Boots, WH Smith, a closed-down butcher and a butcher in business,

I noticed the size of the arms and thighs of passers-by, and of the boy with the blue drink.

He was pouring it into his body as if filling a balloon with high fructose corn syrup,

Citric acid, sodium citrate, malic acid, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate and blue 1.

Stretching the fleshy seams of his ample upholstery, he discussed with his friend

The merits of having an orange drink next, as if an expert judge of coloured carbonates.

That was then, but tonight, heading for the gym again in my efforts to keep fit,

Stay slim, and not disappear into a morass of sofa cushions and chocolate peanuts,

Clutching the TV remote as if it were an antidote to all ills, I noticed two things;

The last optician had left town and a boy with a blue drink was standing outside the Spar,

His pillowed fingers squeezing the bottleneck as if strangling a mink. Inside the shop

I explored the aisles and wondered how much would remain if everything not natural

Were taken away. What little would be left? I bought grapes, bananas, sweet potatoes,

Blueberries and courgettes and walked the many shelves of sugar snacks to pay.