010 - Health Body Shape and Aesthetics

Humans have a tendency to associate aesthetics with good health, but Mother Nature explains that our looks are a result of our body type mix and lifestyle, not a measure of our health. She discusses the three main body types and how they emerged based on different environmental challenges. She emphasizes that health is about how we feel, not how we look. Following nature's guidelines and living according to our own values is key to achieving true well-being. If aesthetics is a core value for us and brings us joy, then pursuing it can be helpful. But if it's not, we should focus on feeling good rather than striving for a specific appearance. Our natural aesthetic will emerge when we align with our values. Ultimately, Mother Nature intended for us to thrive in all aspects of life, and our looks are just a by-product of that. Now this week, we're going to be talking about the relationship between health and aesthetics. And it's an interesting topic, because modern media would have us believe that aesthetics is a sign of good health. Now the problem with this view of well-being is that people, understandably, struggle to meet aesthetic ideals. Our body shape, our commitments, our lifestyle, even our values, all influence the way we look. And let's face it, keeping a certain aesthetic as we go through all the various stages of our life is a task that very few are able to master. So let's see what Mother Nature has to say about the subject, so we can gain some clarity, and maybe a little bit of self-confidence too. I hope you enjoy the show. Welcome back to the show, Mother Nature. It's great to be here, Chris. So this week, I'd like to speak about where aesthetics comes into health and well-being. Now it's rare for a client to come to me and ask if I can help them feel more energetic. Even the ones that are clearly burnt out, they focus their attention on losing weight and gaining fitness, rather than balancing their energy. So I wonder, Mother Nature, what are your thoughts on aesthetic goals? Well, this question comes down to two separate areas of interest for me. The first is one of values, and the second being the relationship health has to aesthetics. Where would you like to start? Why don't we start with the latter, and discuss the relationship that health has to aesthetics? Then we could tackle values after that. Okay, great. First, let's make some clear definitions about health and aesthetics, so we're talking the same language. Okay, that sounds good. How would you define them? I would define them as aesthetics is all about how you look, and health is all about how you feel. This is a very important distinction that nature has. I'm not concerned about how things look. I've never made a creature with its looks in mind. Instead, I think about its function, how it can fulfill a niche, and that it will thrive when doing so. Its looks simply emerge naturally from this process. So you don't focus on aesthetics at all, then. So why are humans so varied in how they look? Humans, over the millennia, evolved to thrive in many different environments. Therefore, how a person looked tended to reflect the challenges of that environment. Interesting. Can you explain a little bit more about how that relates to people today? Of course. There are three broad body types of which everyone today is a mix of. These body types are the mesomorph, the ectomorph, and the endomorph. Are you aware of these classifications? Yes, you mean the somatotypes. Mesomorphs tend to be broad-shouldered and quite muscular. They put on muscle quite easily, and they lose excess body fat quickly, too. So because of their athletic build, they tend to be what modern culture asks men to aspire to. Ectomorphs tend to be tall and slender. They don't put on muscle or fat very easily, so they can eat a lot and never seem to put on any weight. Modern culture idealises this body type for women. Then finally, the endomorphs tend to be shorter and stockier. They can put on muscle and or fat very easily, finding it super hard to lose the latter. And this body type tends to be villainised by modern culture, with people passing the most judgement over this body shape as unhealthy. That's correct, Chris. These are the three main body shapes that are mixed together to make every person you see around you. Now, you say the endomorph is judged for being unhealthy in modern culture, but that wasn't always the case. In fact, your wild ancestors often held this body shape in great esteem. If a woman, for example, was able to maintain muscle, to be strong and at the same time store body fat easily, then they were much more likely to survive childbirth and feed that child through lean times. So cultures that valued the resilience of a woman like this naturally became more dominant in that body shape, as her genes were more likely to survive than those of her more slender sisters. And I guess conversely, in areas of the world where food was more abundant year-round, but great distances were travelled regularly to gather it, then the more slender women may have been better able to survive. Precisely, Chris. How a person looked emerged out of the demands of their environment. Short, tall, muscular, slender or heavier set, it didn't matter to your wild ancestors. What mattered was that you could thrive. That's really interesting. So we're a mixing pot of all sorts of body types these days. So what does that mean for us in terms of aesthetics? Excellent question, Chris. Your environment has become one that is relatively equal across cultures. Survival is less about your physical makeup now. This brings us back to our definitions around health and aesthetics. If aesthetics is about how we look and how we look emerges as a result of our body type mix and our lifestyle, then aesthetics is partially predetermined by our body type mix and partially manipulatable through lifestyle. Okay, that's interesting. Someone with a shorter, stockier build that tends to put on weight easily is never going to look like a tall, slender ectomorph. But through lifestyle changes, there's a lot that can be done to change how they look. With hard work and dedication, they can often get pretty close in slenderness, in fact. But I wonder, does that actually equate to being healthy? Chris, this is why I enjoy talking to you. That's exactly the right question. Well, of course it is, but why? Well, how you look is only a small part of how healthy you feel. The bigger part is linked to your values. The person you describe that is determined to have the aesthetic of an ectomorph needs to work much, much harder than the naturally slim body type person. So if she doesn't really value that aesthetic deep in her core, then the sacrifices she will have to make are likely to lead her far from what is truly healthy for her. Oh, I'm getting it. Reaching a specific aesthetic goal should be something that you truly value, something that brings you joy to pursue. If that's the case, then chasing aesthetics can be very helpful for you. But if you're doing it because you feel you have to, or you have social pressure, or simply because you think you're supposed to do it, then the sacrifices that you make are likely to be the ones that would have brought you true joy in the first place in your life. Exactly. If how you look is a deep core value to you, then chasing an aesthetic goal can be very rewarding. Any of the body shape combinations can look slim or athletic if you eat, sleep, and exercise in a way that promotes this shape to emerge. This may well meet your modern culture's expectations of a man or a woman, but it is only healthy to achieve an aesthetic goal if doing so is a deep core value of yours. You can be very healthy following my five guidelines of living slowly and sleeping deeply, eating from nature's plate, exercising as if living in nature, socializing in the physical company of others, and being kind to yourself, yet never needing to achieve aesthetic perfection. If you follow my guidelines within your personal values, a healthy body shape will emerge, and you'll feel great too. So I guess we really need to be asking the question, do we truly value chasing aesthetics? And the answer may well be no for some people. That's correct, Tris. When humans learn to follow their own values, rather than adhering to the values of others, you'll finally learn to be healthy. You're so right, Mother Nature. Physical and mental well-being require us to trust in ourselves and do what makes us feel good. OK, thanks for your insight again today, Mother Nature. I think it's time for me to do a quick recap. Sure, let's see what you have today. So we started by asking Mother Nature what her thoughts were on aesthetic goals, and, as usual, we didn't get a superficial answer. She said that nature doesn't really care about aesthetics. Only humans do. How anything looks in nature is simply a by-product that emerges from thriving in an environment. Our ancestors thrived in many environments. Many of them favoured people that could easily store excess calories as fat. In fact, if that's your body type, then you could consider yourself from a lineage of people that revered your genetics, so we should celebrate that. Now, these ancestors were healthy regardless, not because being overweight is healthy, but because they followed nature's five rules and they each focused on how they felt, not how they looked. Today, the same is true. Health is about how you feel, not how you look. If you want to feel good, then following nature's five rules is a great starting point. But living your life by your values, which is all about being kind to yourself, is the key component. So if you truly value how you look, and working on your aesthetics only makes you feel great about yourself, then I'd encourage you to keep on doing so. But if vibrant physical and mental health is all you really seek, and how you look is not a joy-filled value of yours, then follow nature's five rules and allow your natural aesthetic to emerge, because that's what Mother Nature intended for you. Very nice, Chris, and you make an excellent point. How you look is a by-product of how you feel. I made you so that you could thrive physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, environmentally, and spiritually. If you live by what you value in each of these domains, then that is your true nature. Your aesthetic will simply be whatever mirrors those values. That is what I intended for you. Amazing. Thank you so much for this conversation today, Mother Nature. Yet again, I've enjoyed listening to your perspective. I look forward to speaking to you again soon. Me too. Bye for now. So there you have it. What I hope you get from this conversation is a sense that however you look is just perfect in Mother Nature's eyes. If you've become overweight and your health is suffering, you don't have to focus on the aesthetics or try to look like anyone else. All nature asks of you for better health to emerge is that you follow her five simple rules. Live slowly and sleep deeply. Eat from nature's plate. Exercise as if living in nature. Socialise in the physical company of others. And most importantly, be kind to yourself. If you're new to the show, then we've delved into each of these guidelines one by one in previous episodes. I'd encourage you to go back and listen to Mother Nature explaining each of them. The episodes are about 15 to 20 minutes long, so it won't take long to catch up. If you want to learn more about developing your own health and wellbeing, we have free resources available on our website. We also have one-to-one and group coaching services if you're looking for something a bit more personal touch. Have a great week ahead, and until next time, remember, health emerges quite naturally when you allow Mother Nature to guide you. www.mooji.org