you are what you eat?

eat - you are what you eat
March 15, 2012 9:16am CST
So they say you are what you eat.. what do you think? I mean I know the term isn’t to be taken literally. I’m a huge fan of onions, but that doesn’t mean I’m round and fat and globe-shaped.. so what does it really mean? Your body takes its nutrients from so many different things we eat, and even those things that are deemed “not good for you” have atleast something in them our body needs and uses, even if its only sugar lol! So when they say you are what you eat, what do they mean? If you eat a lot of fatty foods, you’ll be fat? If you hardly eat any food at all, you’ll be skinny? What do you think of this?
6 people like this
20 responses
15 Mar 12
Yes, you are right and i am from India where onion used in almost on every non-veg food. Your Indian foods are very oil too. so who ever test the Indian recipe regularly they must have put some weight.
16 Mar 12
.. thanks for this reponse :)
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
15 Mar 12
if all you eat is junk food, you will become larger and not be terribly healthy, however, diet is only one facit of health, exercise has a lot to do with it too.
1 person likes this
16 Mar 12
yes i hear you. my weight goes up and down like a yo yo because somedays i'm hungry and will eat, and somedays i'm not hungry and i won't.. but exercise seems to be the only thing that keeps me weight at a steady level.
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
15 Mar 12
I look at it as, if we eat what G♥d intended for us to eat, we will be healthy and if we eat not good for us, we take a risk of weakening our bodies in one form or another. For example: I know I feel a lot more energy when I take care of my sweet tooth by eating fruits and fruit smoothies, but when I fulfill my sweet tooth cravings with cookies and candy, my energy level drops. What concerns me though, is the chemicals "real" food contains,(unless one grows their own or buys organic) and making something we need, into a nightmare for our bodies...
• United States
15 Mar 12
That is true, though chocolate, unless it is organic, contains chemicals as well. Unfortunately the government is more accepting of foods with hormones and preservatives than foods that are raw and organic. As you know "real" food is bad for you, where as man-made food is perfect..(You can turn on the sarcasm feature with the last sentence of course)
1 person likes this
15 Mar 12
see thats what i was thinking.. ok so carrots are good for us, chocolate bars aren't.. but at the end of the day, whats added to a chocolate bar could essentially be less harmful to us than the chemicals and sprays put onto our fruit and veg!
2 people like this
15 Mar 12
hahaha .. but then again carm.. where would we be without chocolate?
2 people like this
@GreenMoo (11833)
15 Mar 12
I guess you need to look at your diet as a whole and realise that the quality of it will reflect in the quality of your health and wellbeing. When you look at some of the cr*p on the supermarket shelves, well, just yeauch.
@GreenMoo (11833)
15 Mar 12
Well, there's crap that counts as comfort food. Which is obviously awesome (my personal weakness being terrible cheesecakes). And then there's crap like Asdas cheapo sausages which are so ridiculously cheap that they must be made of recycled cardboard or something. Which explains why half the UK population are about as healthy as if they lived on recycled cardboard.
@GreenMoo (11833)
16 Mar 12
Veggie lunch for me today!
15 Mar 12
yeah but some of that crap is awesome.. lol!
@obe212003 (2299)
• Philippines
15 Mar 12
If you eat junk food, then presumably you are not health-conscious and probably obese. If you eat veggies and fruits, then you are a very well informed person with regards to health, your weight and probably age. If you eat three times a day, then you are rich, lol! If you eat once a day, then you are poor, lol!
1 person likes this
15 Mar 12
if you eat junk food you are probably obese? lol.. i think thats a slightly cruel comment lol.. i am an avid junk food eater, and i am a very slim UK size 10, US size 8, or european size 38 lol.. so thats not really fair lol! and i am certainly not rich.. but i do eat 3 times a day lol..
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Mar 12
This phrase has never made much sense to me. Thinking about it now, the best I can come up with is in terms of your internal health and wellness. If you eat a bunch of junk foods, it will take its toll on your body and you'll be in poor health. But if you eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, you're more likely to have a healthy body.
1 person likes this
15 Mar 12
yeah, thats pretty much the way i see it.. but the phrase must have came from somewhere in the first place. i know it's not literal, but surely there is something else behind the phrase?
• India
17 Mar 12
People who include lot of meat in their diet tend to become angry and violent with a small provocation compared to those who are vegetarians. Some food can be a mental stimulation while other junk foods just won't return anything of good use to our body. The point here is being selective in your diet.
30 Mar 12
eating meat makes you violent?
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
20 Mar 12
I always thought that statement was fairly basic. If you eat healthy food you will be healthy. If you eat unhealthy food you will be unhealthy. I just think that all those healthy people are going to look pretty silly when they are lying around dying of nothing.
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
30 Mar 12
heheheh.
30 Mar 12
lmaoooooooo!! brilliant!
1 person likes this
@sukumar794 (5040)
• Thiruvananthapuram, India
16 Mar 12
Eating or culinary habits quite often directly supports the nature of person you are.
16 Mar 12
how so?
@SIMPLYD (90721)
• Philippines
27 Mar 12
People have different types of metabolism. Some people may be eating so much, yet they still maintain their fit figure. And some would be eating only little amounts yet they are chubby. That's because it depends on their metabolism, body frame and age. Usually, younger people even if they eat a lot don't get fat, that's because their metabolism is fast, unlike those aged whose metabolism is already slow, hence they get fat easily. So, for me that phrase isn't what it seems to say really.
@SIMPLYD (90721)
• Philippines
31 Mar 12
You are still young my friend, so take the most of it. You won't get fat easily yet.
30 Mar 12
i used to be really skinny growing up.. not slim.. skinny lol. and my mum and dad always told me my metabolism would catch up on me lol. and it did haha. i'm still slim, but i have to work at it now lol!
@ecaron (678)
• Canada
16 Mar 12
I don't exactly know what that means. you are what you eat, but I do know if you eat plenty of vegetables and fruit and not too much carbohydrates and not too much meat , that you will be healthy. I try to eat fruit and vegetables every day but I know that I don't eat quite enough and that's because we live on a tight budget.
30 Mar 12
oh don;t talk to me about tight budgets! it's terrible! it's far cheaper to buy ready meals these days than to buy fresh fruit and vege!
@maratus (184)
• Indonesia
16 Mar 12
No I don't believe the term "you are what you eat" because it's depend on your body system. According to my biology class in every human body has different percentage of anabolism and catabolism. If someone have more catabolism than anabolism than the body not gonna be fat no matter how much they eat. Because all of nutrient be broken to be small organic molecule. That's way the body still thin skinny and thin no matter how much they eat...,
30 Mar 12
any idea how i can get anymore of those catabolisms? lol!!
@Ralphgee (22)
• United States
15 Mar 12
the term never meant much to me......You are what you eat....so i'm a hotdog if I eat a hotdog or i'm italian cause i eat pizza......I'm Puerto Rican cause I eat rice and beans.......(I am Puerto Rican)......I'm an average Joe.....not fat and not skinny so the term really means nothing.
15 Mar 12
lol! best response right here haha.. i totally agree with everything you just said!
1 person likes this
• Philippines
16 Mar 12
"You are what you eat..." So everything you put in your body thru your mouth determines what you looks physically, thinks mentally and soars spiritually. Let's see if you like protein-rich, low carb diet.. well maybe you'll have a great healthy body if you augment it with proper exercises. Vegetarians thinks better than meat eaters... do you agree? However, if you are meat-eater you fell more sensual and sexier? However if you are voracious eater, blood circulates more in your digestive system rather it will flow into your brain for meditations/contemplations/thinking... Here in the Philippines, we have more obese children in the urbans rather than healthier children in the rurals. Well maybe its because of the high carbs diet sold in the mall , restos, stores for junk foods....(Hamburgers, spaghettis, pastas, cakes, ice creams..)Whereas in the rural areas, they still have to go on mostly with veggies and fruits...
16 Mar 12
thats a very factual answer. i'm not really sure if people are more overweight in rural or city parts here.. probably city too. eating on the go has a lot to do with it too.
@Runite (307)
• United States
18 Mar 12
I took it literally and became a rice.
30 Mar 12
lmfao.. brilliant response. thank you!!
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
16 Mar 12
hi chicksdigscars I think the person who coined that meant if you eat healthy food you will be healthy, eat crappy stuff you will be u unhealthy.Sugar salt and too much fat are all I try to avoid as I am a diabetic but good fats like olive oil avocados and nuts of all kinds are very good for us. I think if we just eat plenty of fruits and veggies,some lean meart,whole grains, get so me low fat dairy foods in us each day we will be healthy and thats all we need worry about. heres to some chocolate every day and some coffee both now have proven health benefits. so there.
16 Mar 12
coffee and chocolate have health benefits? well then my life is complete :) i eat healthy, in the sense i don't eat lots of rubbish, but i don't eat healthy either if you know what i mean? i won't sit and eat takeaways and fried foods.. but at the same time i won't sit and eat carrotts either lol!
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
20 Oct 12
I think it has a lot to do with how much of what you eat. If you eat too much, obviously you will become overweight even if it takes many years. I never worried about what I ate until my doctor started asking me about my eating habits and suggesting that I cut out the fast food since I was showing signs of becoming diabetic by the time I was 45. I didn't take this warning seriously until after she put me on medication and told me to start checking my blood sugar level daily. I found when I moved to China a couple of years later that I was able to stop doing all that because I started eating better (had no choice there) and became much healthier and lost weight.
@SinfulRose (3527)
• Davao, Philippines
16 Mar 12
Maybe it means that if you eat good food, you function well. In simpler terms, if you eat healthy food, you become healthy. But if you eat those that you don't need, you'll end up easily sick. So far that's what I know of that saying.
@Archaiwy (599)
• China
16 Mar 12
Yes. That you are what you eat isn't to be taken literally.I think it just means that people can know what kind of person someone is from what he eats. For example ,if he likes vegetables, maybe he likes insipidity.And others also say if someone likes eating something,maybe his body lacks the nutrients in it.
• China
16 Mar 12
You are what you eat,for the most part, it is true.Strange to say ,for some people ,no matter how much fatty food they eat ,they are all skin and bones.I guess it has something to do with heredity.I think We can construe "you are what you eat "in different ways.It also means that our health depends on what we eat.
@Vvance (280)
• United States
16 Mar 12
Genetics plays a major role in the health of a person. But, sometimes, external forces can affect your health. A huge percentage of Americans are obese, thanks to the wide choice of junk food available. I love potatoes and I'm not as fast as one (though I am called a couch potato, but still not that fat!). It all depends on the situation. I think the phrase was probably made just to scare children to avoid eating unhealthy food. :P
16 Mar 12
i like that you think it was to scare children.. i don't know if you are from the UK or not.. but i love the advert for Green Giant Sweetcorn.. where the little kid says to his friend who's over for dinner "my mum says you are what you eat" and the other boy says.. "so if you eat a runner bean, you'll become a runner.. but what about this then?" and the mum says, "thats green GIANT sweetcorn" and they start shoveling the sweetcorn into them lol!