A Lip-Smacking Diet

Published May 6, 1982.  Trying to lose a few pounds? (And who isn’t nowadays?) In your struggle with the Battle of the Bulge you may want to try something new in the weight loss area. What is it, you ask? Kissing! Yes, kissing.

Not only will you shed a few pounds, but you might spice up your marriage as well.

A team of Italian scientists has determined that the average kiss consumes somewhere between six and 12 calories depending on intensity and length. Susan and I went to a movie not long ago, and we thought the young couple in front of us was going to evaporate before the film ended. We were so offended, we moved away from them three times!

Now you may not think that six to 12 calories is much of a calorie consumption until you start doing some arithmetic. Two kisses a day—one in the morning and one in the evening—over a year’s time, and you’ve kissed away 2 ½ pounds. Sneak in additional smooches along the way, and you are talking about 3-5 pounds a year. Add in a few amorous evenings and who knows the potential of the smackers diet! The next time you are hungry, just reach for your mate instead of a plate.

But before you get carried away in your marital display of affection, you’d better have your heart checked. While kissing may be good for physical and emotional well-being, erotic kissing and that which follows can be detrimental to health if one has recently had a heart attack or has one coming on. If your heart is in good shape, kiss away and don't worry.

In their book “Fifty Ways to Stay Fit”  the editors of Executive Fitness Newsletter report, “Studies have shown that sex is about as strenuous as briskly climbing a flight of stairs.”

The newsletter notes the work of Joseph A. Alpert, MD, author of “The Heart Attack Handbook.” Following a heart attack, Dr. Alpert recommends that a married person avoids having sexual relationships:

·         Immediately after a large meal

·         For three hours after drinking alcohol

·         In extremely hot or cold temperatures

·         Before or after strenuous activity

·         If feeling anger or resentment

·         If one is fatigued

In most cases, Dr. Alpert observed that relations with a spouse may be resumed usually within three to eight weeks after a heart attack. And by way of encouragement he notes, “The rate of total sexual recovery from most heart attacks is very good.”

The Bible teaches, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven . . . a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). Now, hundreds of years later, medical science confirms this observation.