Life Laws and How We Can Apply Them to Our Health Advantage
Written by Kate Taylor, Registered Nutritionist
Kate is a Registered Nutritionist and the Founder of Eat Drink Think Nutrition Limited. Kate supports systemic health & wellness through personalised nutrition, diet and lifestyle strategies & recommendations, and particularly specialises in Brain health, cognitive function and Dementia risk-avoidance.
We often cite philosophical ‘life laws’ as aspirational words of wisdom to follow or cautionary warnings. So I thought I would take six ‘life laws’ and one ‘life story’ and adapt them to a nutritional standpoint to offer supportive guidance and inspiration from a professionally informed perspective.
Occam’s razor
“Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.”
Nutritional application: Of two competing nutritional options, choose the simpler. It may help with consistency, habit stacking and dietary sustainability.
Segal’s law
“A person with one watch knows the time. A person with two watches is never sure.”
Nutritional application: Nowadays, this can be applied to nutrition because it is becoming an oversaturated ‘influencer domain’, with enticements to buy and promises of miracle cures one week, followed by health warnings the next. Qualified Registered Nutritionists follow evidence based criteria, never guarantee certainty, and personalise the recommendations according to a client’s health nuances. Distanced, impersonal ‘influencers’ do none of this. Try to wear one professionally guided watch, but also keep your professional accountable, since mixing and matching sources will inevitably lead to uncertainty.
Goodhart’s law
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
Nutritional application: Nutrition is not unquestionably centred around calorie counting or macronutrient tracking. Nutrition is about feeling healthy, nourished, satiated, energised and cognitively astute. The health sensations are worth more than the health statistics.
The law of correspondence
“As within, so without.”
Nutritional application: What we put into our bodies will be reflected in how we feel and look on the outside. Food is fuel, if you fill your body and brain with suboptimal dietary synthetics, that may transpire as the output.
Kidlin’s law
“If you write down a problem clearly, the problem is half solved.”
Nutritional application: Before a health consultation of any sort, particularly Nutritional Therapy, write down, using a maximum of three words, what you would like the consultation to achieve and how you would like the consultation to leave you feeling. Too many wishes or imprecise goals may leave you feeling disenfranchised and disappointed, either on your part or that of your professional. In healthcare, focus is key.
Gilbert’s law
“The problem with work is that no one tells you what to do, finding the best way to achieve a goal is your responsibility.”
Nutritional application: This may be hard to hear, but your health professional can only impart what the research relates to, to the best of their knowledge, and apply it to your personal situation. What you do with that information is up to you. If you are having trouble actioning the recommendations, you simply need to let your professional know so that, together, you can devise an implementation strategy that suits you. Try to avoid worrying in silence, you and your professional are on the same team, cheerleading you on your path to health and healthspan accomplishment and contentment.
The tale of the hare and the tortoise
There’s nothing wrong with being a nutritional tortoise.
Nutritional application: Nutrition is typically not a quick fix race, but rather a long term investment in your healthspan. Results are rarely instantaneous, they need to be curated, and perseverance is often a non-negotiable necessity. In nutrition, rushing could be futile. How would you feel in years to come about an opportunity you missed through impatience? Don’t mind running with tortoises, moving forward in your health goals is forward progress.
As an aside, whilst I was researching laws, I came across a bizarre law enshrined in Section 32 of the Salmon Act of British law in 1986. This law states that “it is illegal to handle salmon in suspicious circumstances.” Since oily fish are amongst the most highly evidenced omega rich sources of essential beneficial fat, hopefully the purchase and consumption of salmon and smoked salmon are perfectly permissible, and indeed nutritionally recommendable, to nourish and support your cognitive function and Brainspan.
Nutrition and diet are the benchmarks and the starting points that have been recognised since 1903, when Thomas Edison commented in The Newark Advocate, “The doctor of the future will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” Our medical sciences are advancing with phenomenal alacrity, but it is important not to forget that underpinning health, especially brain health, is a healthy respect for fresh, nourishing food, a balanced diet and a wholesome lifestyle.
If a functional medicine perspective on nurturing, nourishing and supporting your brain health and cognitive function is of interest, the time to act is now, "Why postpone what could be actioned today?" Investing in your brain health and Brainspan could just be the wisest decision you will ever make.
Please note that these are general nutritional statements. They are not personalised, and they are not tailored to account for or include recommendations for any existing health imbalances or medical conditions. In these cases, please consult a medical professional and/or a nutritionist or dietitian if you have a particular health or dietary requirement.
Read more from Kate Taylor
Kate Taylor, Registered Nutritionist
Kate is an advocate of proactive and preventative healthcare through optimising and personalising the basics, nutrition, diet, and lifestyle. Kate's experiences watching those around her develop and decline from Dementia instilled in her a mindset of 'prevention is better than cure' and that, particularly when it comes to Brain health and Dementia risk-avoidance, the perception 'false hopelessness' should not triumph over health optimism. Whilst sensitive to the fact that Brain health and dementia risk avoidance are multifaceted and cannot be solely addressed by nutrition, Kate's professional nutritional aspiration is to empower & inspire people that diet and lifestyle are integral foundations to health, healthspan, and importantly, Brainspan.
References:
Legislation.gove.uk, Salmon Act 1986. (accessed 19th July 2026)
