Willkommen, weekenders! I know this is the time of the week where most of us kick our health-consciousness to the curb and leave it there ‘til Monday morning; but as fate would have it (“fate” being my blogging schedule), I’m going to invade your carefree Saturday with a little more abdominal knowledge!
In the last two posts, I’ve highlighted exercises that help sculpt nondescript, amorphous marble into stellar six packs, but crunching and twisting can only do so much, only about twenty percent, in fact. Now it’s time to talk about the other four-fifths (is that right?) of the time… you know, those other fifteen hours of the day when you’re not sleeping or working out, those hours which comprise your D-I-E-T.
Before I type a centimeter further, I’d like to provide one of Merriam-Webster’s definitions for the reviled word spelled above: Diet– habitual nourishment. When you’re not sleeping or working out, you are habitually nourishing yourself, be it as you’re taking the bus to school, driving to work, or sorting a bag of M&M’s according to their colors while you’re supposed to be listening in class attentively or working diligently in your office.
On my facebook page (see right!), many people phrase their six pack questions this way: “What exercise can I do to get a six pack?” First of all, unfortunately for our microwave society of high-speed results and instant gratification, there isn’t one exercise that you can do faithfully fifteen minutes a day for three weeks that will make you a Men’s or Women’s Health cover candidate, no matter what the infomercials tell you! Abs are complex little devils that require all manner of exercises to train them effectively. (I won’t bore you with the details of their anatomy; you can check out a Wikipedia article if you’re interested ;-).) Second of all, the first question one should ask if they desire a trimmer midsection or all-out six pack shouldn’t pertain to exercise, but to diet!
One of my favorite screenwriters is Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, Charlie Wilson’s War). On Sunday, he won the Golden Globe for best screenplay (The Social Network), and in his speech, he said something about how, as a writer, he assumes the audience is at least as smart, if not smarter, than he is. I mention that because I aim to do the same thing in this post about “diet.” We all know the simple prescription for weight loss: eat fewer calories than you expend. You’re all familiar with, and have probably tried, at least one diet trend from “Atkins” to “the Zone.” But we have to abandon that particular definition of “diet” because it embroils us in a set of rules and restrictions much like the Mosaic law did the Israelites. We need grace, by golly!
I’m about to reach the expertly advised word limit, so I’ll reserve more ab-tastic advice for another day. Have a great weekend and remember, all things – nutritionally speaking – in moderation!
Stay fit, stay faithful ~<3 Di
