This entry was inspired by Kate Hudson's stomach. I've encountered a lot of Fabletics advertising lately, and if you have seen these ads, you will know what I am talking about. Every perfectly defined abdominal muscle sits in taught, perky, judgement of my bad eating habits. The half a quart of mint chocolate chip ice cream eaten in the darkness of my kitchen at midnight that I thought no one would find out about? Kate Hudson's stomach knows about it. Kate Hudson's stomach sees all. (I'm also a huge fan of her athletic line-they are really cute, affordable, and made with well considered materials, but I digress.)
I was recently reading an article focused specifically on losing belly fat. It had all of the usual tips- exercise using different forms of cardio, cut out drinking alcohol, keep sweets and bad snacks out of the house, plan meals ahead to avoid falling into the throes of desperate food shoveling, if you cannot pronounce it; don't eat it, eat regularly, stay hydrated, avoid refined carbohydrates in excess, and being generally aware of what choices you make throughout the day, etcetera. These are all rules I have long lived by, so I was about to chalk this read up to another comprehensive, well written- albeit somewhat trite (to those of us who constantly research this sort of thing)- article on fitness and health, when I read the ending cumulative paragraph beneath the subheading "Wake Up!!".
First of all- two exclamation marks? You have my attention. I was delighted to find that this paragraph offers a fresh perspective on weight loss and health in general. The article asserts that the majority of us are less healthy than we were as children. The author points out that as adults, we are most likely less active and less regimented about our eating habits than we were as children.
"When you were little, you only ate when you were fed- at meal times. You weren’t allowed to snack whenever you felt like it. You ate the healthy meal that was made for you, and you were told you couldn’t eat the unhealthy stuff that you begged for. And you went outside and had playtime. A lot of playtime."-Idealbite.com (I would like to directly cite the article, but it contains no information about the author, or publication.)
Many people gain a significant amount of weight during their first stint outside of the family home- i.e. "freshman 15". This is because they are suddenly out of their routine and making 100% of their nutritional choices. If my past twenty-four years of life have taught me anything it is that we, as a majority, will NOT make the right decisions for our well being- even when presented with facts and supporting information. It is just too easy to consistently abuse our own freedoms, and consequently, our bodies.
The article's novel take on personal choices sparked the personal realization that we need to be our own adults. This sounds like a simple awareness to arrive at, but it becomes more complex in its application. We let ourselves off too easily, too often. We've become our own "fun uncle" or, in my case, "lackadaisical teenage babysitter". We allow ourselves to eat too many sweets, skip our vegetables, and continually stay up past our bedtimes. It's high time we grow up and be a "big kid" about our personal choices.
Now, that's enough time on the computer- go play outside.