What is the meaning of "nutritional tangents"?

Question

I'm reading *The Fermented Man* by Derek Dillinger. The author has this one-year plan of eating only fermented food, such as yogurt and bread. As a result, his options become extremely limited. Then he says:> ...this year, this diet, was not easy. I definitely hadn’t started it> to prove any scientifically valid points about nutrition or health,> and yet the deeper into the year I got, the more **tangential** health> issues it raised. I fell down rabbit holes I could have never seen> coming. I got stuck, often, on **nutritional tangents**. I hoped the> way I was eating wouldn’t kill me, as this particular project would be> a pretty stupid way to do myself in. I'm confused about his use of "tangential" and "tangent" here. The dictionary says "tangent" is "a straight line or plane that touches a curve or curved surface at a point, but if extended does not cross it at that point". And "tangential" means "of or along a tangent".The definitions just confuse me more. In this case, what is a nutritional tangent? Does "tangential" simply mean that the issues he's faced with are related to health? When he says he "got stuck on nutritional tangents", does this mean he doesn't have enough nutritions? Or that he worries about his nutritions? Those are just my wild guess. Can anybody explain what he means for me?

Answer 1

Hi Olivia,

This is a case where you want to keep looking past the first definition in the dictionary. If you look up tangent in the Google dictionary or the Merriam-Webster dictionary online, you will see that both provide a definition that does not relate to geometry.

Google

2.a completely different line of thought or action.

"he quickly went off on a tangent about wrestling"

Merriam-Webster

2 : diverging from an original purpose or course : irrelevant tangent remarks

Using these definitions and the idea of "rabbit holes" (defined by the Google dictionary as a "bizarre, confusing, or nonsensical situation or environment, typically one from which it is difficult to extricate oneself"), a clearer picture of the author's intended meaning emerges.

I can see why you were confused at first. Going to the dictionary is a great strategy. If that fails you in the future, make sure that you check all of the provided definitions, not just the first entry. You might also check different dictionaries to see if a different publisher has a definition that's easier to understand.

Best of luck with your reading!