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CNN Live Today

Paging Dr. Gupta: Getting Fab Abs Like Janet

Aired March 14, 2002 - 11:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Everyone wants them. Most people don't have them. We're talking about those fab abs. Janet Jackson has them right there. But is it possible for all of us to get them? We continue our paging Dr. Gupta segment this morning with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

We've been taking in your e-mail questions all morning, and hopefully you've got answers for us. And also we've got Tony Perrone, who is a nutritionist for Janet Jackson. He us in L.A. He is going to be joining us on the phone. He's stuck in traffic. He was going to...

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: L.A., imagine that.

WHITFIELD: Yes, imagine that, you know.

Hey, Tony, can you hear us OK? All right, well, we'll get him in a moment. So we've got some e-mail questions that have come our way, Sanjay, so let's get right to them.

Our first one is, "I have had four lower abdominal operations, c- sections. How do I tone the muscle and lose the extra fat without resorting to surgery?"

GUPTA: Well, that's a good question. And a question on a lot of people's minds actually looking through some of the e-mails, and a lot of the people are asking something along those lines.

First of all, it can be done. There's a couple of things to think about. Whenever you have an operation on your abdominal area, you're going to weaken your abdominal muscles.

It is important in some ways to think about whether the incision goes crosswise or up and down. The crosswise incisions are less stressful to your abdominal musculature, and it will be easier for you to rebuild those muscles on the up and down sort of incision. But sort of the basics still again, Fredricka, cardiovascular exercise, in addition to building the abdominal muscles, all of that has to be combined with good diet, getting that body fat percentage down to about 10-12 percent for women. Unless, you get the abdominal muscles that down, you may have the abdominal musculature, but you're not going to see it.

WHITFIELD: And when we talk about dieting, people have to recognize, we're not talking about fad diets, right? We are really talking about changing our eating habits.

GUPTA: Absolutely, and you see so many different fad diets out there, and everyday you turn on the TV or the Internet and you hear about another one. The good old-fashioned stuff seems to work the best still.

WHITFIELD: All right, Iman from Richmond, Virginia has an e-mail question here. "I'm trying desperately to get my abs in shape. I work out five days a week and use the ab machine at the gym. What else can I do to get rock hard abs?"

GUPTA: Well, again, it sounds like she is probably sort of 1/3 of the way there. You're getting the abs, you're getting the abdominal musculature defined underneath. Now you've got to be able to see it. You got to get rid of some of the body fat on top. Again, for men, about 8 percent. You get that measurement done, we were just talking about that, through caliper measurements, you may have heard about that, or actually immersing yourself in a tub of water to see how much water you displace. Some fitness places will do that for to you what your body fat percentage is. For a man, about 8 percent. So in addition to those ab exercises, get that body fat down, and maybe you'll see the abs.

WHITFIELD: OK, so here's another e-mail for us, this from Thomas of Phoenix, Arizona, who says, "I'm a guy, and yes, I have a belly. So how do I get rid of it?"

GUPTA: Still sort of the basic sort of things. I am a guy, I have a belly. A lot of guys out there have that same problem. We have guys who run marathons, all sort of things, but just aren't able to get the fab abs, get the six pack, sort of the holy grail of physique as we have been talking about.

But the key again is sort of a three-part thing. You have to go ahead and build the abdominal musculature, you have to make sure you do the cardiovascular exercise, and you have to maintain the diet. It takes a lot of dedication to do that. When do you the abdominal exercises, make sure you check with the trainer, make sure you are targeting the right muscles within the abdomen, and the same thing with cardiovascular, really measure that, give yourself some goals as far as your body percentage fat is and how to get that down.

WHITFIELD: OK, now Tony Perrone is with us now. He is a nutritionist who works closely with Janet Jackson.

And you are in part responsible for those fab abs that she has there, Tory.

Can you hear us OK?

TONY PERRONE, NUTRITIONIST: Yes, I can.

WHITFIELD: OK, you're on the phone and you're joining us from L.A., got a little caught up on traffic, so hopefully you've pulled.

So we've got a lot of e-mail questions for you. This being from Tiffany from Boston. She says, "Honestly, how strict is Janet Jackson's eating regimen? Does she eat today's "no-no's," like bread and sugary deserts. Would one be able to enjoy eating if they longed for a body as lean and defined as Janet's. I don't count egg whites and salad every day as enjoying food."

PERRONI: I'm with her on that one. And anybody that would tell you you have to eat these things to be healthy and lean really doesn't know what they are talking about. It doesn't have to be difficult. It doesn't have to be rocket science. You have to figure out what works for you, and consistently eat. That's a very important thing. You have to consistently eat. Your metabolism is like a motor that requires fuel. And as you put the fuel in, the motor continues to go. If you let off the fuel, the motor stops.

But the food we eat doesn't have to be perfect food -- egg whites, chicken breasts, greens. Of course, it is good to eat those things, but, no, she didn't stress, and none of my patients stress. It shouldn't be that way in dieting in general. You should be able to go off of your plan, 20 percent of the time; 80/20 should be good enough. And if 08/20 isn't working for you, then you haven't found the right plan.

WHITFIELD: We're all in search for the perfect plan.

Thank you very much, Tony Perrone for joining us from L.A. and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. We're all going to be working on our abs now.

GUPTA: Thank you. So will I.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I wonder how many sit-ups you'd really have to do a day, though. That's the trick, trying to figure out that formula.

GUPTA: Exactly. Thank for having me.

WHITFIELD: Thanks a lot.

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