What do Demi Moore, Kirsty Alley and the Victoria’s Secret Angels all have in common? Apart from making a fairly straight forward game of f*ck/marry/kill, everyone has had a keen interest in their bodies – particularly their stomachs.
Demi Moore’s career rebirthed after the defibrillator treatment of extensive exercise and probably liposuction and starvation. She was finally given the all clear to reenter popular culture thanks to her slow motion bikini run in Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle. But like all Hollywood heart revivals, this success would only last a few minutes. Kirsty Alley’s weight needs no introduction, in fact her weight probably needs nothing at all. Kirsty’s yo-yo dieting transforms her body from banging to gagging as the one-time Jenny Craig spokesperson now has trouble justifying her existence as a single person. She probably wouldn’t want to fly United unless she had the money to pay for two seats. Judging by her heart failure of a career, I doubt it. As for the Victoria’s Secret Angels … I’m sure we all watch the annual fashion shows to witness its creativity and design.
The point is – the stomach attracts attention.
This issue most recently caught me unaware, like torturing BO on the MRT, when I was holidaying in Singapore and attended a bikram yoga class (almost an oxymoron really, bikram, in Singapore). While some middle-aged ladies stopped mid-pose to pull down their T-shirts, my draw dropped onto the burning 40 degrees floor as I stood, with right foot (almost) touching my head, in awe of the personification of perfection posing in front of me. It goes without saying that it was a bit harder to concentrate and look straight (pardon the pun) ahead during this class.
But apart from the almost automatic drops of self-consciousness that seeped into my head, it go me thinking – look at the impact someone’s stomach can have on your perception of them.
Undressing someone with your eyes is not voluntary. If they’re looking malnutritioned or that their death would solve the world food crisis, it’s normal to feel a sense of curiosity. I sometimes wonder whether that’s the feeling Sarah Palin had when she thought she could be a politician. If they’re attractive, it’s human instinct to imagine what lies beneath. And when people wonder that about you, you don’t want them thinking the 2000 Harrison Ford horror film.
The stomach’s function is to breakdown the crap we put in it and turn it into something we can digest. It’s the 3.8 litre engine of the Porsche Carrera. It’s the must-have white shirt in every wardrobe. It’s vital and it needs to look good – inside and out.
Eat: increase fibre and fluid, reduce fats. Click here for more
Do: exercises for all parts of your abs. Click here for more
