It’s Time to Overthrow the Tyranny of the Calorie
We have become the calories we consume even though the measure is no longer officially scientific.
Scarier in joules.
Photographer: Robert Nickelsberg/Archive PhotosNo matter what dishes are on the table this coming season of feasts — which starts off for Americans with Thanksgiving on Thursday — one word will float through everyone’s mind: calories. How many? How sinful? How empty? How delicious? How boring? How much in carbohydrates? In protein? In fat? How soon to the gym?
The word is extremely useful — and for that we should be grateful. Calories help us visualize ourselves and our physical exertions numerically. I had so much of this, so I need to work it out by expending that much energy. We are constantly calculating — accurately or not, consciously or not — how the first law of thermodynamics operates so that we can retain or amend our body image. Or blame the numbers for how we look.