The 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Is the direction of energy transformation processes that can occur spontaneously. It says nothing about the rate of this process.
Catalyst and enzymes control how the chemical substrates experience time in the quantum world. The network is never in the red, so the 2nd law is never violated by life in a metastable state.
Energy transfer via heat which is what the science of thermodynamics is based on is by far the least efficient and non-specific form of energy or information transfer
This is why using a 'calorie' for any metric in biology is absurd. Absurd when you understand what QED says about heat transfers.
Life does not make a living by absorbing heat from the environment. It uses light to control electron motions. No organism can live like a heat engine, nor can it obtain its negative energy or entropy by feeding on carbon or diamond pulp and burning it with oxygen. Calories are for people who just live in a classical world of the past's understanding of biology and chemistry. Understanding that energy and information are synonymous is the first step in letting go of the calories in and calories out myth from medicine