Diet & Nutrition Program

“You are what you eat”

This phrase has come to us via quite a tortuous route. Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826: “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.” [Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are].

In an essay entitled Concerning Spiritualism and Materialism, 1863/4, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach wrote: “Der Mensch ist, was er isst.” That translates into English as 'man is what he eats'.

Neither Brillat-Savarin or Feuerbach meant their quotations to be taken literally. They were stating that that the food one eats has a bearing on what one's state of mind and health.

The actual phrase didn't emerge in English until some time later. In the 1920s and 30s, the nutritionist Victor Lindlahr, who was a strong believer in the idea that food controls health, developed the Catabolic Diet. That view gained some adherents at the time and the earliest known printed example is from an advert for beef in a 1923 edition of the Bridgeport Telegraph, for 'United Meet [sic] Markets':

“Ninety per cent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs. You are what you eat.”

Imagine what Lindlahr would say about the average person diet in 2007. In an age where the leading health concerns are cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity, it is hard to ignore the importance of diet and nutrition.

At the Grossman Wellness Center, we believe that individualized diet and nutrition plans are key to good health and preventing disease.

Click on the Food Pyramid or A Short Guide to a Long Life to learn more...

“You are what you eat” origins found on www.phrases.org .