Loose weight, be healthy

(written by Lawrence Krubner, however indented passages are often quotes)

I first realized that Javascript could be a serious programming language by reading the essays of Douglas Crockford. I am surprised to see that he has also written an essay about weight loss. He brings his usual intelligence to the subject and, really, it is one of the very few intelligent essays I’ve read on this subject:

I look at decisions as tradeoffs. Every choice has good aspects and bad aspects. Good decision-making is a process of optimization. In that context, I look at the familiar admonition Consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program. I’m not exactly the Surgeon General, or even the Attorney General, but I believe this to be legal advice, not medical advice. It is intended to protect the healthcare industry from lawsuits and shakedowns, not to help you to make good decisions.

I think the statement has the unintended result of discouraging most people from beginning any exercise program. It gives the demons the argument that exercise is dangerous. Which is the greater problem:

fat joggers dropping dead on our streets
fat people living sad, empty lives, predictably ending in long, humiliating, expensive hospital stays
The Consult your doctor admonition reduces occurrences of the first, and increases occurrences of the second. If you look at the number of lives saved and lost, and the quality of life improvements and degradations, I think you have to conclude that the admonition’s net result is extremely harmful.

And the odd thing is that we only apply it to things that are good for you. We don’t have the admonishment Consult your doctor before eating any snack food to excess. You know that your doctor is not going to say “Crunch all you want, they’ll make more.”

I would like to see some legal reform that would allow people to receive better advice. Then we could say Consult your doctor if you are sick, injured, or in pain. Otherwise, get your fat ass off the damn couch. Ultimately, we need to take personal responsibility for our own health. We should not be taking health advice from lawyers.

Jim Fixx died while running. He fell over with a heart attack at the age of 52. There was heart disease in his family. His father died at 42. Jim was lucky that it was himself that died while running and not one of the readers his book, The Complete Book of Running. The lawyers would have pecked him to death.