I bet that title made you look. My post today is about stomachs, mainly because mine has been center-stage recently. I’m working to reduce the size of it. (on the outside) So, what is a stomach?
1. The stomach is a muscular organ. It can change its shape depending on the amount of food in it.
2. When you eat, food from your mouth goes down a tube called the esophagus into your stomach, where it is stored temporarily, then later digested. As the food arrives, the stomach wall starts its glands working. One type of gland gives off a mucus that lubricates the food. Other glands give off acids which kill any bacteria in the food; while still others give off special chemicals, called enzymes, to break down the food into tiny particles. (which sort of takes the shine off eating a chocolate bar!)
3. Tall, thin people usually have long, narrow stomachs, while short, stocky people have short, wide stomachs.
4. Most adults’ stomachs hold about one quart of liquid and food.
5. Once a female is past her teens, the stomach is naturally rounded.
6. Once you are an adult, your stomach pretty much remains the same size — unless you have surgery to intentionally make it smaller. Eating less won’t shrink your stomach. (I’m thinking that’s inside your body because outside you could lose some of the fat off it, right?)
7. I consulted my favorite characterization book, Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon for some stomach descriptors. There are flabby stomachs, spare tire stomachs, love-handles.
8. beer-bellied stomachs
9. flat stomachs
10. middle-age spread stomachs
11. pendulous stomachs
12. toned stomachs
13. And my favorite – washboard stomachs.
14. Oh, and pregnant tummies. :grin:
What do you think of stomachs? If you’re a writer what sort of stomachs do you give your heroes and heroines, your secondary characters? Do you like your stomach?
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Umm… Let’s not get into what sort of stomach I have, okay? Let’s just say it’s…sufficient.
Fun and informative TT, btw. :)
Ciao!
Good blog, Shel. I always fall back on flat abs.
Umm, interesting facts LOL I love where your mind goes at times ! As for my own stomach…. I am so not going there.
Happy Halloween!
When it comes to stomachs, (at least how they LOOK) I’m in denial. That’s a better place for me to be.
Yeah, the title made me look twice. I’m working on making my fleshy bag smaller too. Not sure how much muscle is involved.
You always give me something to think about! Great post…
Lots of interesting facts there, Shelley! Happy Halloween! *hugs*
LOL! Interesting TT!
*hugs*
Paige
My TT is at http://tinyurl.com/4zejcp
Í’m liking my stomach much better these days. It’s unique since it has a scar from an accident when I was 21. I’m stuck with the scar so I’ve come to live with it. :wink:
The places your mind goes boggles me sometimes. LOL Thank you for not sharing any truly disgusting facts as you surely could have with such a topic. :wink:
Would you believe I’ve actually considered this for most of the cast at my place?
I’m either thorough or mentally deranged. I’d prefer the former…
LOL! What a great, original post! That’s my least favorite body part, but I loathe sit ups and like cookies way too much!
Hi Shelley!
I love pregnant tummies too. hehe Sadly, mine was 51 inches around with both pregnancies. :eek: I am roughly 58 inches tall… :lol: Bye bye nice tummy :cry:
Very interesting topic!
Interesting post. We don’t really acknowledge all that our stomach does… not unless it’s a sore spot, then we focus on it quite a bit. lol
Heather – LOL – I didn’t want to put myself off dinner so I kept things fairly clean!
Susan – nah, never deranged!! :lol:
Nancy – I thought it was an orginal topic. No one else ever blogs about stomachs…
Colleen – Yep, tummies aren’t the same with a pregnancy.