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What is the nuance difference between "Eat yourself healthy" and "Eat your way healthy"?

(I tried first searching on Google, but I cannot find a similar question, and comparing "yourself" and "your way" yields nothing fruitful.)

Edit: The word "eat" is muddying the question, so also consider "Laugh yourself healthy" and "Laugh your way healthy".

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    I think the second phrase is incorrect. It should be "Eat your way to health." "Eat your way to health" sounds fine, and I would recommend using this phrase. "Eat yourself healthy" may be technically correct but it is extremely awkward, in my opinion, and will probably confuse many people. So that is my "non-answer" to your question--hope it is helpful!
    – Matt D.
    Jul 12, 2016 at 14:12
  • Where did you find these?
    – Lambie
    Feb 9, 2020 at 19:01

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The second phrase in the original question is not correct, it should be "eat your way to health."

So, the correct comparison is between "eat yourself healthy" and "eat your way to health." In my opinion, there is no substantial difference, nuanced or otherwise, between the objective meaning of these two phrases. In my opinion, however, "eat yourself healthy" is very awkward, and is likely to confuse most people who read it. It just sounds weird. It conjures up strange images of you "eating yourself."

"Eat your way to health," on the other hand, sounds perfectly fine, and the meaning (as I understand it) is perfectly clear. So if you are trying to choose between these two phrases, I recommend this one.

In summary, the nuanced difference between the two phrases is that "eat yourself healthy" sounds strange and vaguely obscene, while "eat your way to health" sounds nice and perfectly understandable.

UPDATE: Asker has requested comparison of "laugh yourself healthy" and "laugh your way healthy". In this case, "laugh your way healthy" is still incorrect, and should be "laugh your way to health."

What is different is that "laugh yourself healthy" does not sound particularly awkward or inappropriate. So, building on Max Williams' comment, the main difference between the two phrases is that "laugh your way to health" implies a journey to health as a destination, while "laugh yourself healthy" connotes a somewhat more direct effect of laughing in bringing health.

Althernatively, we could compare "laugh yourself to health" and "laugh your way to health". In this case, "laugh yourself to health" has a connotation of self-help, of you laughing and making yourself more healthy, whereas "laugh your way to health" is more indirect, and again feels a bit more like a journey that you take, through laughing, and eventually get to the destination of "health".

In any case, the objective meaning of all 3 correct phrases, "laugh yourself healthy," "laugh yourself to health," and "laugh your way to health" are the same, in my opinion. Hope this is helpful.

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    Just to add to this, the reason is that in the intended metaphor, health is a place - somewhere we want to be, while "healthy" is simply an adjective.
    – Max Williams
    Jul 12, 2016 at 14:36
  • Yes, and one might also add, that "eat yourself to health" is another possible, technically correct phrasing, also quite awkward in my opinion.
    – Matt D.
    Jul 12, 2016 at 14:43
  • It's a bit close to "Eat yourself to death", isn't it...
    – Max Williams
    Jul 12, 2016 at 14:45
  • If the word "eat" is muddying the question, let's use "laugh" to remove any obscenities as you say. They how about "Laugh your way healthy" and "Laugh yourself healthy"?
    – Drakes
    Jul 12, 2016 at 14:56

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