It happened to be my day off on Qixi, Chinese Valentine's Day.
After a morning soak in the hot springs, I picked up some Dubai chocolate and cinnamon rolls that my wife loves, planning to eat them together at home.
On the drive back, I listened to a podcast about "energy management," which mentioned something called the "Pick Three Rule":
A person's time and energy are limited, so you can't take care of everything at once — you have to consciously choose.
I've been busy with work lately, putting a lot of my time into it.
With a rare day off that happened to fall on Qixi, I wanted to save the time for her.
No grand plans.
Just buying what she likes, eating something good together, spending an ordinary day off together.
I think that's plenty good.
Afterward, out of curiosity, I looked something up:
Once food enters the body, it gets digested and absorbed in stages, but there's actually no fixed answer for when the absorbed nutrients are fully metabolized.
The body keeps changing, and the food will eventually get metabolized too.
Just an ordinary day like this.
May the good times live on, for now, as calories inside the two of us.
Happy Qixi.
—
Note 1 | I looked a little into calories
Strictly speaking, "digestion" and "metabolism" are actually two different things.
Digestion is more like unpacking a box: we break food down into small molecules that can be absorbed, mostly in the small intestine; whatever isn't absorbed moves on to the large intestine.
Total gut transit time in healthy adults varies from person to person, with studies generally landing somewhere between "a day and several days"; one large study measured a median of about 28.7 hours.
But that doesn't mean the Dubai chocolate we ate that day is "fully metabolized" after 28.7 hours.
Because once nutrients are absorbed, the body may go on to use them, convert them, or store them.
A "calorie" isn't a substance in itself — it's just a unit for measuring energy, so there's no such thing as a precise "day the calories leave the body."
If some of that energy really does end up settling in as fat, then later, when the fat is oxidized for use, most of its carbon becomes carbon dioxide and is breathed out through the lungs, while another part becomes water.
Note 2 | Podcast recommendation
This idea came from an interview with Wang Kuan-hsiang — "The Fastest General Manager" — talking about energy management.
I recently listened to two episodes and recommend both.
I especially liked the "Pick Three Rule" they discussed:
A person's time and energy are limited, so instead of demanding you handle everything, consciously choose which few things are most worth your energy right now.
If you've also been feeling swamped lately — busy every day but occasionally unsure what you're even busy with — I'd really recommend finding time to give it a listen.
The "Pick Three Rule" comes up starting around 33:45.
Sources
· US NIH/NIDDK: Your Digestive System & How It Works
· 2023 systematic review: gastrointestinal transit time in healthy adults
· Gut study: total gut transit time in a large population, median about 28.7 hours