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October 30, 2008

A Large Muscular Bag…

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about STOMACHS

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?

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15 Comments

  1. MsMenozzi

    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!

  2. Sandra

    Good blog, Shel. I always fall back on flat abs.

  3. Adelle Laudan

    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!

  4. Jennifer McKenzie

    When it comes to stomachs, (at least how they LOOK) I’m in denial. That’s a better place for me to be.

  5. Alice Audrey

    Yeah, the title made me look twice. I’m working on making my fleshy bag smaller too. Not sure how much muscle is involved.

  6. Debbie Mumford

    You always give me something to think about! Great post…

  7. Stephanie

    Lots of interesting facts there, Shelley! Happy Halloween! *hugs*

  8. Shelley Munro

    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:

  9. Heather

    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:

  10. Susan Helene Gottfried

    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…

  11. Nancy Henderson

    LOL! What a great, original post! That’s my least favorite body part, but I loathe sit ups and like cookies way too much!

  12. Colleen Love

    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!

  13. Mel

    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

  14. Shelley Munro

    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.