Food – arguably, the most essential requirement for existence of life on the face of Planet Earth. Food is the most ubiquitous and integral part of our lives. Each day, we gobble up countless quantities of food items, savoring the taste, barely remembering to have a neat look at the stuff we ingest. For most of us, the experience of ‘food’ goes solely by the taste it gives. 
How wrong!
Taste is just one facet of food – it’s all about the health and calories you get from each morsel of what you eat. Many of us fail to realize that when we eat tonnes of junk food by the day – a habit that will actually pronounce death for a major chunk of humanity in the foreseeable future. No, I’m not exaggerating. The fact is: You are what you eat, period.
CC credits: Cayusa
Surprised? Skeptical? Incensed? I’m not done yet, buddy. 
First – the origins of the phrase. What began as a random mention in the essay: “Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante” by French Author Brillat-Savarin in 1826 acquired great fame by the release of the book: You Are What You Eat: how to win and keep health with diet
by nutritionist Victor Lindlahr in 1942. The hippie era of the ’60s saw a craze for healthy food sweep in, giving the phrase a cult aura of its own! 
Needless to say, the food you eat goes a long way in modifying and altering yourself. It’s proved that Junk Food is a silent killer – the more crap you eat, the more are chances that you’ll die an early death! There are clear links between junk food and cancer too!! So the next time you savor on that packet of ‘Lays’, beware – you’re shortening your lifespan!
And it’s not just junk food – many studies and analyses have proved that the phrase has staggeringly literal implications. To cut a long story short – you are often what you eat, literally. A case in my point would be people living in the seashore. Their staple food is, no points for guessing, fish. Go live among the fisherfolk and you’ll know better – seashores have the biggest incidents of violence! Check out any seashore in any part of the world – life would be turbulent there for reasons more than one. Wanna know why? What happens to a fish when you pull it out of water? It dies a violent death. And these people eat so much fish! Those of you from India might know a lot of Brahmins – the caste known for their strict vegetarianism. They’re among the calmest people. Rarely do you see them in a fight. There’s this brahmin friend of mine who actually breaks down in tears if someone’s mock-fighting with him! A lack-of-aggression and calmness caused by stringent intake of vegetarian food.
Some of you might think this is pure blasphemy or even downright crap. You have all right to freedom of expression and interpretation. But I just have one thing to say – the next time you eat something, make sure that you eat it for the nutrients – not just for taste!
P.S.
I recommend Vegetarian food. Yes, I’ve turned veggie, thanks to Art Of Living and Prasanth. More on the ‘transformation’ later.
P.P.S.
Of course, you wouldn’t be nuts once you start eating ‘em! Eating nuts is good! : P
