15 Minutes a Day…

In roughly 15 minutes, the average person can consume 300 calories if they drink it in the form of beer.

That becomes zero calories if they drink an equivalent volume of plain or carbonated water.

In roughly 15 minutes, the average person can consume more than 400 calories if in the form of fusilli pasta.

That becomes 61 calories if they eat an equivalent volume of spinach, kale, or arugula leaves (and that’s not even considering the difference in hormonal impact).

15 minutes of TV watching, Internet surfing, or blogging will burn roughly 40 calories and leave a strangely beguiling pale blue tint to your skin.

15 minutes of walking in the park on a Wednesday evening conversing with a loved one on the merits of socialized medical care within a libertarian philosophical construct will burn roughly 60 calories and aid circulation, improve joint health, and reduce stress levels.

15 minutes of running on a treadmill at a “normal pace” (say, 6mph) will expose your joints to between 60 and 90 tons in impact forces, and while it may burn some calories, will do nearly nothing to ward off losses of bone mineral density or muscle mass (in fact, it may accelerate it).

15 minutes of lifting heavy things at a slow speed will expose your joints to nearly nothing in impact forces, helps to burn calories, and has been scientifically shown to build both bone mineral density and muscle mass.

The time difference between calling out for Chinese take-out or a pizza and grilling a sirloin steak and some asparagus (dressed simply with salt, pepper, and extra virgin olive oil) is roughly 15 minutes.

What are you spending your 15 minutes doing?