Damn the First Law of Thermodynamics

Grand Canyon North Rim - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Scott Sturman
fliesinyoureyes.com
“I hardly eat anything, but I keep gaining weight. It must be my slow metabolism.” Anonymous 2010

Several years ago my wife and I were backpacking in the Grand Canyon. We were hiking down the South Kaibab Trail with heavy back packs to Phantom Ranch where we planned to camp a few nights and then return to the South Rim via the Bright Angel Trail. On the way down to the Colorado River we noticed how few men and boys were on the trail. Probably 75% of those participating in this strenuous hike were women. Where were the men who thirty years ago would be looking for adventure and teeming over the canyon's steep trails? Like over 95% of all visitors to the Grand Canyon, most elected to stay on the canyon rim or sadly stayed home and played video games.

The First Law of Thermodynamics is the conservation of energy law and states that energy can be transformed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. If one consumes a certain amount of energy (food) and does not expend this energy either by physical activity or metabolic output, then weight gain will ensue.

As previously examined, the government unwittingly exacerbates the obesity epidemic by encouraging the consumption of unhealthy foods which are high in calories but does little to promote physical exercise.
http://flies-beentherereadthat.blogspot.com/2009/11/feeding-obesity.html
Yet in the private sector successful businesses realize productivity and moral increase when employees are physically fit. My daughter works for Yahoo in San Francisco. The company feels strongly enough about these benefits that it pays a portion of their workers' monthly health club membership fees.

To illustrate the power of economic persuasion consider this example: Several years ago the federal government allowed corporations to write off the entire expense of any vehicle with a gross vehicular weight of over 6000 pounds. The law was intended to help the agricultural industry, but as with rules which lead to unintended consequences it prompted unanticipated behavior to take advantage of a tax loophole. Despite a looming energy crisis with escalating energy costs, many professionals who never used four wheel drive in their lives were driving around town in their greater than 6000 pound SUV's burning gasoline at less than 15 miles per gallon.

The costs associated with treating the complications of obesity are staggering. Preventative medicine, as unglamorous as it may be, is the only effective means to deal with the crisis. First of all government food stamp programs must not pay for food which is unhealthy, and secondly the use of tax incentives can be used to encourage more exercise in our sedentary society. Tax payers should be able to write off the cost of their health club dues. In order to qualify for the write off they must demonstrate the benefit of the membership – either loss or maintenance of body weight depending on their individual starting points. One would be weighed at a doctor's office once each year. For those with body mass indexes (BMI) over 35 a weight loss of two pounds per month would be required for the tax benefit. Patients with a BMI between 25 and 35 would need to lose one pound per month, while those with a BMI under 25 would receive the write off automatically. For patients opting to lose weight without belonging to a health facility, they would receive a tax credit if they achieve these weight loss milestones - $500 per adult household member per year. Since this involves a substantial amount of money, documentation by a physician would be necessary.

Last week I cared for a five foot six inch patient who weighed nearly four hundred pounds. Patients of this size are becoming more common, but just as common is the argument proposed by many of these morbidly obese people that they eat hardly anything at all. It is as if they gained weight by osmosis or their bodies generated calories out of thin air, but that damned first law of thermodynamics puts that argument to rest.