A Simple Goal: Can You Eat Your Way To Health?

The Chinese say we can eat our way to health. Who said it and when, exactly, I do not know. But it sounds good. The fellow in the link above is quite prescriptive of this simple goal and has some good this and bad things to say about the achievement of health through eating. There are many like him and he is cited because of the seeming limitless ways prescribed to eat one's way to health.

Even so, the results of following this simply stated goal would be obvious: either you are healthy because of what you eat or not. No if and or buts. Immediate.

Can you imagine?

So simple a goal. So simply defined the results. So elegantly prescribed the duties of the farmer, the processors, the grocers, the cooks; let alone the scientists and the politicians. Everyone would know what to do. There would be no weasel room because if what you did along the course of achieving this simple goal--it would not matter what part you play--if the results were not health you'd be out.

Either what you do leads to health or its out. Simple. Done deal. Transparent.

Just what kind of baseline is this simple goal? Of course it would be a prime policy baseline in that it argues the question "What should we do?" Answering this question is at the heart of any policy making process and no one would be an expert because we all would have a stake in seeking an answer to the question. And the results would always be the same: health.

But wait you say. Just what defines health? And the answer is, of course, what you eat.