The Dreaded Pansa

My hubby is getting a panza, a little belly, and it bugs me. He joking calls me his flaca vacita, skinny little cow, which I do not take to heart as I am not fat. But my formerly flat stomached man is approaching 30 and I am afraid is on his way to getting the dreaded panza. 

Ever since I first started interacting with Latinos I have noticed that males over 30 years are afflicted with a terrible condition. THE DREADED PANSA. Not that it seems to bother them. But by the time they turn 30 they have a belly, not necessarily big, but enough to stick out over the waist line. Noel grabs his little panza, saying "Where did this come from? I eat healthy!" to which I respond "Chelas (Honduran for beer), it's a panza de chela," and launch into telling him about how many calories a beer has, how many calories a day the body needs, and that a panza is what happens when you drink beer and go straight to bed. I am sure the fact that we eat late at night plays a role as well, but I can't help it as I am always hungry when I get home from work at 12:30 at night and when I eat he does too. But primarily I blame the panza on chelas.

Me: "If you drink 3 beers before bed that is roughly 600 calories, which is at least 1/3rd of the caloriesyou need for the whole day. To gain one pound you have to consume 3500 too many calories (blah blah blah)"
Noel: "Ehhh (nonchalant grunt with shrug), no me importa, no me molesta la panza (takes drink of beer)."
But I know it bugs him, as he grabs it weekly while looking in the mirror. Unfortunately, there is no energy left for working out when you work 6 days a week. Thank goodness he walks alot at work! Clearly my years of nursing training and daily on the job patient education on how to eat a heart healthy diet to minimize risk factors do not apply to him. No way I am an expert or anything. In one ear, out the other.

Does anyone else have this experience with their Latino? Does the dreaded Latino panza just show up at age 30? If so Noel has two more years of full ability to see his toes. The one exception I know of in Noel's family is his brother, who turned 30 last year. But he is incredibly superficial about looks, does not have a girlfriend, does not drink and doesn't like to cook, so his panza inducing factors are pretty well minimized.

Spanish words for belly: panza, panozona, timbon, timburiaco/a, barriga 
How to use them:
"Jose es muy timbon" ---- Jose is big bellied
"Amanda es timburiaca" ---- Amanda has a little belly
"Que panza tiene Manuel" ---- What a belly Manuel has!
"A los 6 mese Elena tiene barriga pequena" ----- At 6 months Elena has a little pregnant belly