“What you eat today walks and talks tomorrow”

“What you eat today walks and talks tomorrow” means that what you eat today becomes a part of you tomorrow. Sheffield Farms advertised its milk in several New York City newspapers in October 1920 with the advertisement:
 
”‘What You Eat Today
Walks and Talks Tomorrow’
THIS, as near as we remember, is what a great physician once said to his patients, to stimulate thought in the selection of foods. Think of it; what you eat today is the real you of tomorrow.”
 
“What you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow” is still used and was said in the movie Babe (1995).
 
 
Chronicling America
16 October 1920, New York (NY) Tribune, pg. 4, col. 7 ad:
“What You Eat Today
Walks and Talks Tomorrow”
THIS, as near as we remember, is what a great physician once said to his patients, to stimulate thought in the selection of foods. Think of it; what you eat today is the real you of tomorrow.
(Sheffield Farms Co, Inc.—ed.)
     
Google News Archive
14 January 1921, Providence (RI) News, pg. 6, col. 1 ad:
Dr. Sullivan further said: — “What you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow.”
(Dr. James Sullivan, formerly physician at Bellevue Hospital. The advertisement is for Nuxated Iron—ed.)
 
Google News Archive
5 June 1922, Lewiston (ME) Daily Sun, “Bread And Milk Perfect Food,” pg. 3, col. 7:
“What you eat today walks tomorrow,” a well-known milk producer asserted recently and the capacity for work or play depends largely upon the kind of food one eats.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Remember! What you eat today walks and talks tomorrow : wishing you enjoyment and good health as you try these recipes
by Invercargill Seventh-Day Adventist Church (Invercargill, N.Z.);
Book
Language: English
Publisher: [Invercargill, N.Z.] : Invercargill Seventh-day Adventist Church, [197-?]
 
Google Books
Counseling the Young Learner
By Edwin R. Gerler
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
1982
Pg. 97:
There is an old Slavic proverb that says “What you eat today—walks and talks tomorrow.”
 
Google Books
Australian Cross Country Skiing
By Ian Hampel
Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Kangaroo Press
1988
Pg. 54:
‘What you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow.’
(Old advertisement on Teague’s Bakery, Redfern)
 
Google Books
The Best Things Ever Said in the Dark:
The Wisest, Wittiest, Most Provocative Quotations from the Movies
Edited by Bruce Adamson
New York, NY: Allworth Press
2004
Pg. 30:
What you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow.——Babe (1995–U.S./Australian)