You Are What You Eat

You may have heard the old saying “you are what you eat.” The phrase is commonly used to link one’s overall health to healthy eating habits – which is good advice! Who originated this saying?

The origin of the phrase is not exactly clear. Some credit the saying to Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French lawyer, politician and expert on gastronomy, who wrote “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are” in his 1825 book The Physiology of Taste. Others cite German philosopher Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach, who said: “A man is what he eats” in his 1863 essay on religion and politics. But when it comes to popularizing the phrase, the clear winner is the pioneering health food advocate Dr. Victor Hugo Lindlahr (1895-1969) who penned the influential book, You Are What You Eat.

Food plays an important in our health. That’s why in 1973, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics created National Nutrition Month, that takes place annually in March. The purpose of the National Nutrition Month is to raise awareness on the importance of making informed food choices, as well as developing sound eating and physical activity habits. It’s also an opportunity to remember the tens of millions of Americans, across all ages and employment statuses, who face food insecurity.

Happy reading,

Suzanne