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The Basic Science of Gluttony and Sloth

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$35 billion a year.

That's the net revenues earned by the entire book publishing industry,¹ the speculated crop value of the largest U.S. cash crop — cannabis,² and the gross domestic product of Croatia, Libya, and Guatemala each.³

It is also the amount of money Americans spend yearly on weight loss remedies.⁴

Clearly, the desire to look good is an overwhelming pressure on many people. But if diets pills and other concoctions are so popular, why is it that 140 million Americans age 20 years and older (that includes a lot of college students) are considered overweight?⁵

Not to excuse personal responsibility, but it's little wonder: Manufactured foods have become more enticing and their advertising more aggressive. Though not completely understood by scientists, doctors and dieticians, high-sugar, high-fat foods do have addictive elements. Also, buying healthy, fresh food is more expensive and typically less convenient than eating at restaurants and fast-food chains.

So, weight loss remedies are the preferred choice. Clearly, people consider chemical solutions more desirable than eating healthy or exercising. Yearly health club revenues amount to only $17 billion⁶ while home fitness equipment nets an annual $5 billion.⁷ Compared to the amount Americans spend on these preventative measures, it seems the over-the-counter cure-alls are practically flying off the shelves.

What we're really dealing with here are two archaic-sounding vices. You've probably heard of them before: gluttony and sloth. What do these actually look like in modern times? Is super-sizing your combo meal gluttonous? Is watching reality TV slothful? Is being overweight a sin? Is God angered by these vices as much as, say, lust, envy or even murder?

While I'll leave those questions for you to ponder, I will address the basic science behind these two vices, as well as how you can avoid them.⁸

The Human Body Equation

For a moment, let's approach the obesity problem from a simplistic point of view, a "first principles" approach, if you will. Let's consider basic human physiology and think about the body — without the promises and hype that saturate the media and late-night infomercials.

From a purely physical point of view, what makes you, you? Another way of saying this is, What does the physical body consist of? This question can be answered a variety of ways, but a simple equation can accurately describe the human body:

Your body = what goes in – what goes out – what goes on inside

It really is that simple. Notice this equation doesn't say anything about the condition or health of your body. It focuses on the input, the output and your body's internal processes.

To think about how your body converts food into waste, let's consider a statement that you may have heard before: The human body is a machine. How true is this? Let's compare the human body to a food processor. Both break down food into smaller parts, but there are three important differences between the two.

First, food processors acquire their energy from electricity, whereas we humans derive ours from the food we're processing. Secondly, while food processors are made of metal and plastic, our bodies are made from components contained in the very food we consume. We literally are what we eat. Lastly, food processors can be switched off. However, our bodies are always on, to some degree. Simply to stay alive, our bodies always need a certain amount of energy — what's called the basal metabolic rate. And we need even more energy for anything above and beyond merely being alive, like having a conversation, walking to class, or going for a swim.

How to Become Overweight

With things like your body's basal metabolic rate in mind, let's return to the human body equation. Let's imagine that there is some ideal weight range for each body, and that a person, without ever paying attention, has always been within that zone. There are only three ways this person could increase their weight:

1. Increase food intake
2. Decrease excretion
3. Decrease energy expenditure

While decreasing excretion is not very likely in the absence of some disease or parasite, increasing food intake or decreasing energy expenditure will cause weight gain, all other things being equal.

Food intake can be increased a few different ways — eating too much of a good thing being the most obvious. But there is another way that appears to be at the root of much of America's weight gain. The body needs certain things to live, e.g. certain amino acids, vitamins and minerals. When the body's levels of these components get too low, the body sends off warning signals. That's what hunger and cravings are all about. If the food going into the body has minimal amounts of these nutrients, the signals don't turn off. We keep eating because we don't feel full, even with all the junk that's going in.

By eating the wrong foods then, we can end up eating too much, as our bodies desperately try to get the nutrients they need to survive. Eating a whole bag of bite-sized candy may get you 100 percent of the vitamin C you need for the day, but it also brings with it 1,000 percent of your daily allotment for sugar. Something to consider next time you load up on French fries in the food court or cafeteria.

The other way we can gain weight is by lowering our energy expenditure. This is quite easy if we just literally do nothing … "Nothing," as in splaying out on the sofa to watch TV in your dorm lounge after midterms.

The more "convenience" our culture has brought to our lives, the more sedentary we have become. Many of the activities of modern living require very little energy. Unfortunately, the human body is highly efficient, so it minimizes the amount of energy it uses for tasks. This is one way that the body's metabolism adjusts to the amount of energy our daily activities require. The body's efficiency will bring the basal metabolic rate as low as it can possibly go, meaning that over time, foods that we used to be able to eat without gaining weight (because we were more active) now give us love-handles.

The No-Pill Solution

How difficult is it to eat well and get the nutrients we need? Not very difficult at all. In fact, you can compare food labels for the nutrient amounts to the recommended daily intakes (RDI). To get really informed about it, you can go to the USDA site where the nutrient data of more than 7,000 foods have been determined.⁹ You can keep track of what you eat and add it all up every day to see the number of calories you're taking in.

And how hard is it to increase energy expenditure? Again, easier than you might think. Not everyone can jog five miles a day, but everyone can do little things that burn energy.To do this, first you need to calculate your basal metabolic rate.¹⁰ Then, look at the activities you do on a daily basis and think of quick activities you could do, given your schedule. All these activities burn calories — and you can estimate how many using a calorie calculator.¹¹

When your energy expenditure is greater than the number of calories you take in, you will lose weight — guaranteed. Ideally, you want the two to be equal, which is one aspect of being healthy. How do you know when you're healthy? Simply calculate your body mass index.¹²

Gluttony, Sloth and Sin

All this begs the question: When does overeating cross the line into gluttony? When does relaxation become slothful? When it comes to these two vices, the line between what is and is not sin is a little blurrier than the one we cross when we lie or commit murder. But we can be sure of the source of the problem: poor choices.

C O F F E E  S H O P

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When do eating and entertaining ourselves turn into gluttony
and sloth?

Join the discussion!

But we needn't complicate the situation. We don't need pills. We don't need creams. No need to put strange herbs or chemicals in your body. Just the simple math of the human body equation, as well as a measure of resolve to live within the "zone" that our bodies were designed for.

It doesn't take a degree in nutrition to reason through the basics of how the body works. But it does mean choosing stewardship of your body over gluttony and sloth.