Phyllis Schlafly was right about so many issues, so on the ninth anniversary of her death, let us celebrate one of her favorite topics: good and wholesome food. Long before Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. started talking about Making America Healthy Again, Phyllis was arguing against synthetic dyes, food additives, and processed food. It is fun to see one of her pet issues suddenly become vogue. Even critics of the Trump Administration are in favor of food policies that discourage junk food.

Phyllis Schlaflly was my mother and she set high standards to emulate. Growing up, the food in our household was mostly naturally-occurring brown: brown flour, brown rice, brown sugar, brown molasses, brown maple syrup. She avoided white food on the plate. She rejected the consuming foods that looked like bright colorful plastic and certainly did not allow her children to eat synthetic dyes. Any trick-or-treat candies that I gathered on Halloween always disappeared by the next morning.

Also banned from the kitchen pantry were sugary and brightly colored breakfast cereals. She had greater respect for feminists than she did for the nutritional value of Kellogg's. Muesli, oatmeal, or eggs were the only acceptable breakfast options.

Needless to say, no sugary pop was allowed either. The only acceptable beverages were milk, orange juice, or bottled Mountain Valley mineral water. We were told never to drink the tap water, since it contained fluoride. At one point, my father inherited some shares of Pepsi-Cola stock, but we were still not allowed to drink any sugar water. And that ban was in place long before the creation of high-fructose corn syrup!

At the time Phyllis was raising her children in the 1950s to 1970s, neither olive nor avocado oils were available in our small town. But she always avoided the denatured and processed vegetable oils. The best cooking oil she could find at that time was safflower oil from the health food store. Safflower oil and butter were the only fats with which we cooked.

MSG gave her headaches so she studiously avoided any kind of packaged food. We ate a whole food diet and all cooking was from scratch. Phyllis was suspicious of any foods that were not homemade. These corporate snacks were not even allowed as an occasional special treat. She did not want her children to develop a taste for edibles she considered unhealthy.

Because I was raised on a delicious and nutritious diet without junk foods, processed and packaged foods have no appeal for me today. I never crave any of the salty-sweet snacks. Thanks, Mom, for teaching me right!