apple a day

1. A small preventive treatment wards off serious problems, as in He exercises regularly—an apple a day is his motto. This idiom shortens the proverb An apple a day keeps the doctor away, first cited about 1630.

Example Sentences

This simple at-home treatment is as commonplace as an apple a day.

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“Our ancestors, always hurried,” she writes in “Angel in the Forest,” “left little evidence of their existence, if one discounts intangibles, a sundial, an apple a day, an angel in the forest.”

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But whoever said an apple a day keeps the doctor away was lying.

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“For both an enlarged prostate and prostate cancer, there’s no ‘apple a day’ to prevent this,” he says.

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While eating an apple a day won't necessarily cut down substantially on prescription medications or doctors visits, it could be one step in the direction of making the transition to eating more healthful, fiber-filled, whole foods.

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