The conventional calorie game assumes all calories are equal. It all comes down to energy. One unit of energy is one unit of energy. Cool story, bro. It’s like money. All money is money. It all spends the same. When I was little, my grandma often gave me a $2 bill on my birthday along with [...]
The conventional calorie game assumes all calories are equal. It all comes down to energy. One unit of energy is one unit of energy. Cool story, bro. It’s like money. All money is money. It all spends the same.
When I was little, my grandma often gave me a $2 bill on my birthday along with some other money. The $2 was a special thing. I’ve spent a lot of money since those days. But I still have that stack of $2 bills.
What do you do with money you win at a casino? Spend it quickly, most likely. It’s free money! What do you do with money you make after a full day’s work of cleaning poop from toilets? Save it, most likely. You worked hard for it!
I had this written down before I heard what Peter Attia said on this podcast with Tim Ferriss. (And I paraphrase.) We know that we’re governed by thermodynamics. Calories in v. calories out matters…but that’s just not a very interesting story. It’s like saying, “You know why Bill Gates is rich? He makes more money than he spends.”
And he’s right. It’s not interesting. Probably why I am biased towards wanting to believe the body can’t be so simplistic. But despite my mystic mind, the questions should still be on the table.
When you parallel money with calories, the world of nutrition is quite different. There are different forms of currency. Dollars. Gold. Salt. Euros. Money is money, yes. But does that mean all money is spent the same? Or treated the same? Why do some people invest? Why do some people spend money on lavish goods even on a tight budget?
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I’m enjoying: pondering relatively useless yet controversial questions in order to feel important.