The Future is in Your Mouth
Fact checked by Shannon Sparks
How have you nourished yourself today? What have you chosen to consume?
Do you eat and drink to honor your body and support your physical and mental health — and your full potential? Do you eat to thrive? I wonder. Be honest.
My favorite writer, Ocean Vuong, has rephrased the adage “The future is in your hands” to “The future is in your mouth.” He was referring to the power of our words and the energy they carry. Think about common phrases like killed it, crushed it, bagged her, you’re killing me, hit the road, hit the books, knocked up, and drop dead. Vuong challenges us to ask whether such violent language supports the values we cherish and whether it fosters the world we dream of creating.
The future is in your mouth. Let’s look at Vuong’s rephrasing in a more literal way.
What do you physically put into your mouth? Your body has specific needs to function optimally, similar to a car, house, or smartphone. For example, the average adult requires approximately eight glasses of clean water daily.
Do you drink eight glasses of water a day? I’ve heard that for every cup of coffee or glass of wine consumed, we need two additional glasses of water to compensate. Dehydration can result in:
•Constipation
•Fatigue
•Headaches
•Kidney stones
Being just 2% dehydrated can impair attention, psychomotor skills, and immediate memory, according to the National Institutes of Health. Are we offering children enough water at school, in community centers, and at home? How often?
Suppose you feel fatigued, constipated, overheated, headachy, and mentally foggy. Are you likely to be living your best life, making sound decisions, and acting with kindness, generosity, and compassion toward yourself and others? Mental health and physical health are deeply interconnected.
Is it humane to feed yourself — and others — foods that can cause serious health issues and even death, such as those high in refined sugar or sodium? The American Heart Association recommends that men limit their daily intake of added sugar to 9 teaspoons (36 grams or 150 calories) and women to 6 teaspoons (25 grams or 100 calories). The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that children follow the same guidelines as women and that children under age 2 consume no added sugar at all.
Make wise, health-supportive choices. Read nutrition labels on soft drinks, flavored yogurts, cereals, processed foods, store-bought soups, breads, cured meats, and condiments like ketchup. Be aware of the present — and future — you’re feeding.
My son once attended a private school in Chicago. What did his teachers use for rewards? Candy. Yes, it may be hyperbolic to call that a crime against humanity, and yet, is it an act of regard?
Refined sugar has no nutritional value. It alters mood and increases inflammation. It also contributes to tooth decay, weight gain, and metabolic disorders. And yet…
My 19-month-old granddaughter, despite her parents clearly stating that they do not give her sugar at home, regularly receives snacks with added sugar at daycare.
Learn which foods support and enhance your brain and body. You don’t need to be perfect, but you can be intentional.
“The mouth is more than just the beginning of the long pipeline to the anus,” writes Diane Ackerman, author of A Natural History of the Senses. “It’s the door to the body, the place where we greet the world, the parlor of great risk.”
Pay attention. The future is in your mouth.
Originally published in the Fall 2025/Winter 2026 print issue.
Kathleen Aharoni is a movement and life coach, forest bathing guide, and author of the award-winning book I breathe my own breath! She has served on the faculties of Northwestern University and Columbia College.
