Clift: Exercise and Health-Care Reform

Eleanor Clift has escaped D.C.'s infamous August mugginess to unwind at an undisclosed beach. But like most political junkies, she couldn't help but start thinking about health reform. Here's a quick insight she kicked in last night:

I was sitting on the beach reading Barbara Boxer's new novel, Blind Justice─about a right-wing assault on a liberal senator who seems a lot like Boxer─when a friend called to tell me how outraged she is about Time magazine's cover, "The Myth of Exercise." The article is titled, "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin," and pictures a woman doing a back-bend over a doughnut. The thesis of the piece is that vigorous exercise makes you hungrier, plus you feel entitled to reward yourself, so you eat more food, like doughnuts, after going to the gym. That hasn't been my experience, and while there's a study to support almost anything, I'm dubious of the value of this one. The friend who called me, Pamela Peeke, is a physician whose practice includes counseling people on how to live a fit life, which should include exercise. "You and I hit the gym regularly," she e-mailed me, "and I don't see either of us plowing through cupcakes after each session. We need to set the record straight."

Exercise won't deliver a perfect body and you won't lose weight if you take in more calories than you expend. The Time writer details his fairly obsessive exercise regimen and notes that he still has gut fat that hangs over his belt. I'm not going to list my imperfections, but exercise has kept my blood pressure down near astronaut levels, and the endorphins released during exercise help keep me sane. Next thing you know, the right wing will claim the Obama administration wants to set up health panels where government bureaucrats will demand exercise plans from citizens every five years. Dr. Peeke forwarded me talking points from the American College of Sports Medicine, which points out, among other things, that exercise can help ward off heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, and is an important health tool beyond its role in stabilizing or losing weight. The congressional committees writing the health-reform legislation are struggling to balance the merits of preventive care against its cost. I happen to believe that exercise is the closest thing we've got to a fountain of youth, but keeping people healthy longer doesn't necessarily cost less, and that's the dilemma playing out on Capitol Hill.