Muffin-tops

I think Americans are funny. Yes, I include myself in that statement, obviously... despite my Sicilian descent, my family has been American since my grandparents settled in New York almost 100 years ago.

Anyhoo... I was about to write about something completely different when I happened to turn an eye toward the TV (right now I'm in the commuter lounge at Sage), and I caught a commercial for a weight-loss product composed of concentrated green tea (probably among other things). The commercial began with a shot of a woman's midsection, and a voice saying "Hey you! Your muffin-top is showing!"

I cracked up.

I couldn't help it! It's such a ridiculous phenomenon, but so common. I wonder what urbandictionary.com has to say about muffin-tops...

*5 minutes later*

"Muffin-Top is a word used to describe the strange and bizarre waist scrunching effect that results when females wear tight fitting, low-rise/hip-hugger pants along with small-sized, navel exposing, mid-riff tops.

Though, the effect is more extreme with heavier females, all females, with the exception of anorexic models, can fall victim to the muffin-top disaster. The reason for this, is that the design of low-rise/hip-hugger pants, originally popular during the late 60’s and early-to-mid 70’s, defies the natural shape and contours of the average females’ body; forcing the skin and fat around her waist, back and upper buttocks to spill out over her pants and through her tiny crop-top, causing a muffin-top effect.

Originally, the idea behind low-rise pants and mid-riff tops, which made their first reappearance during the mid-to-late 90’s, was to produce clothing that would make a woman’s torso appear longer, and possibly thinner, than it actually was. Normally, men’s pants are designed with lower waists, because of their naturally longer torsos, narrower hips and smaller pelvises. In order to recreate this “longer, thinner torso” appearance for women, clothing manufacturers adopted shorter-waist, men’s trousers, modified the design for the female market, resulting in the catastrophe that the word, “muffin-top” currently describes. The muffin-top’s legacy, if anything, describes the disaster that can result when the fashion industry goes terribly wrong. The existence of muffin-tops is currently quite common, which is a testament to the fact that women will buy and wear anything, regardless of how vulgar and ridiculous it looks, as long as it is popular."

Boy, what a stinging observation THAT is! Is it true? I like low-rider jeans well enough because I feel like my waist is a different size at any given time of day, but I hate short-cropped tops... I prefer my shirts to come down at least down as far as the butt-pockets on my jeans. I think that method is more effective in elongating/thinning the female torso, personally. Being of Mediterranean descent, I can tell you all that though we are not typically fat-- not even really overweight, due to our diets which are high in fresh vegetables, fruits and whole grains-- we are short. Being short, and therefore having short torsos, even a size 4 or 6 waist looks... well, not quite slender, anyways. Being resourceful, however, we have come up with ways to compensate for this.

Food for thought, I guess. Now, obviously I am in no way tying this to diet; I think weight-loss supplements are ridiculous and do absolutely nothing to help the people who take them to develop sustainable, healthy habits with regard to food. Food should be enjoyed but not in excess, and desserts should not be given the opportunity to be seen as "forbidden fruit", because this makes them all the more appealing, and the individual more likely to over-consume.

What I'm saying, in essence, is eat your fruits, veggies, lean proteins and whole grains... and then, once you have, treat yourself to a nice piece of cheesecake.

:-) The End!