The best diet is the one that can be sustained over the long

When Francis Collins declared, “The best diet is the one that can be sustained over the long term, combined with other healthful lifestyle behaviors,” he was not merely speaking as a scientist—he was speaking as a philosopher of balance, echoing truths that have guided humankind for millennia. His words remind us that endurance is wiser than extremity, that true health is not found in sudden miracles, but in the quiet, steady rhythm of daily harmony. It is a truth that transcends food—it is the law of life itself.

In this age of fleeting trends, where every moon seems to bring a new miracle cure, Collins calls us back to the wisdom of consistency. The ancients would have recognized this principle as the foundation of all mastery. The warrior does not train once for glory; he disciplines his body every day. The farmer does not feast on one harvest; he tills the soil each season. So too must the seeker of health understand that the body, like the soul, is nourished not by passion alone, but by perseverance—the devotion to what can endure beyond desire.

The meaning of his words is not limited to the body; it speaks to the essence of human nature. To live well is to choose sustainability over spectacle, to reject the illusion of instant transformation. In ancient Greece, the physician Hippocrates—the father of medicine—taught that health arises from moderation and balance. He warned that the extreme—whether in food, behavior, or emotion—destroys what it seeks to perfect. Francis Collins, in his modern wisdom, mirrors this same timeless counsel: that the path to wellness is a journey of patience, not a sprint toward vanity.

Consider the story of the Roman general Cincinnatus, who, after saving his nation, returned to his humble farm rather than chase glory. His greatness lay not in his victory, but in his discipline—his ability to sustain virtue through simplicity. Likewise, the one who finds health and peace in life does not rely on bursts of effort, but on the daily act of devotion to the self: a balanced meal, a walk beneath the sun, the refusal to yield to excess. The miracle Collins speaks of is not in any diet; it is in the habit of living wisely.

His phrase “combined with other healthful lifestyle behaviors” carries a deeper message still. It teaches that no single act of virtue can stand alone. Just as a single stone does not make a temple, so too one habit cannot build a life. Nutrition must unite with movement; movement with rest; rest with gratitude. The human body, mind, and spirit are threads of one fabric, and only when they are woven together does the pattern of vitality emerge. The ancients saw this unity as sacred, calling it harmonia—the music of the cosmos played within the human being.

There is also humility in his teaching. For Collins does not promise perfection; he promises progress. The “best diet” is not the most glamorous, nor the most rigid, but the one that the heart and body can keep faithfully through the years. It is not about what burns the fastest, but what lasts the longest. This echoes the ancient truth spoken by the Taoist masters, who taught that the softest stream carves the hardest stone—not through force, but through persistence. So it is with health, and with life.

Thus, let this be the lesson of his words: seek what can be sustained. Let no one chase after the fleeting, but instead embrace the steady. Eat not to impress, but to endure. Move not to punish, but to renew. Sleep, breathe, walk, and give thanks, for these are the true “healthful behaviors” that outlast all fads. The body, like the earth, rewards those who honor its natural rhythm.

In the end, Francis Collins teaches a truth older than medicine itself: that the secret to health, and indeed to all greatness, lies in constancy. The best path is not the hardest, nor the newest—it is the one you can walk every day, through joy and through sorrow, until it becomes a way of life. For the strongest temple is not built in haste, but stone by stone, by the hands that never cease to build.