You Are What You Eat
Meaning
This phrase states the importance of healthy food and is used to convey the message that if you want to be healthy then eat nutritious food.
Origin
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 1923 edition of the Bridgeport Telegraph:
“Ninety per cent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs. You are what you eat.”