A Primal Take on Body Image
Even with the close of the Primal Challenge and its final week of reader content, I still have all those great successes on my mind. Whether in photos, videos, or description, it’s incredible to see people enjoying health and feeling great in their own skin. This got me thinking about body image. It’s a loaded subject in our society. Occasionally, it’s a loaded subject even on MDA’s comment boards or forum. As much as we’d like to edit out the less complimentary, even judgmental threads of discussion, to tuck away the uncomfortable conversations, I’m not sure that’s entirely right. This blog encompasses everything about pursuing vitality and living healthily in this world. That includes the sometimes thorny topic of body image – both as personal experience and cultural backdrop.
Like anything in our world, no issue is immune from controversy, tension, or just plain difference of opinion. My one hope of course – and I know many of you share this – is that we speak with respect to one another, owning our opinions as solely our own, recognizing that we all come to our Primal pursuits with varying experiences and interests. We start from different places. We meet our own challenges along the way. We work toward individually determined goals that – while commonly embracing ideals of good health and vitality – may diverge from there.
These goals of course reflect what we want for our lives but also for our bodies. We may begin the journey wanting to lose weight. We want to get strong. We want to be able to spend a full afternoon hiking with our dog or run our community 10K. We want to be able to chop this winter’s firewood and still have enough energy for a bike ride later. We want to gain entry into the world of competitive body building or other sports. (Maybe we’re part of it already.) We want to kick a lifestyle disease to the curb. We want to show off a six-pack or rock a new bikini.
A couple of years ago I wrote a post on vanity – a response to a cheering reader onslaught (who knew?) after I casually listed LGN (“looking good naked”) as one more reason to go Primal. Since then the phrase has kind of taken on a life of its own. I stand by that rationale. Nonetheless, I want to go on the record saying that this isn’t some interest in promoting artistry- and computer-enhanced magazine type representations. (Guess what – we all look better backlit. Keep that in mind next time you’re redecorating the bedroom.) Besides, has anyone looked at a J.Crew catalog lately? (No, I don’t shop there.) Someone please give these young men and women a t-bone steak.
A couple of weeks ago, The New York Times ran a feature about Gym Jones called “The Cult of Physicality.”
Some of you may have heard of the club. As the article reveals, Gym Jones has been the makeover mecca to many a Hollywood star, including Gerard Butler, Henry Cavill, Jude Law, and an undisclosed number of Navy Seals. The manager, Robert MacDonald (a.k.a. Maximus) runs a tight ship and makes no bones about the awesome demands of the program. Any of us who have even seen his clients in a passing commercial or magazine ad can believe the results. The fact is, with massively rigorous training, people can do pretty astounding things with their physiques. (Of course it helps when they’re getting paid millions of dollars to do it.)
While a lucky few of us can achieve looks like those without entirely super human efforts, most of us would find ourselves giving up unreasonable amounts of time, energy, and focus to achieve and continually maintain them. The result would be too costly without serious passion for the form itself – whether it be for athletic or aesthetic interest.
The beauty of going Primal for most people is the great return on time investment – the incredible results they get with relatively modest effort but also the extra energy they gain, the better sleep they get – all of which makes their lives easier and in some ways more efficient. They have more time and energy for what they enjoy doing and the people they enjoy doing it with. Flipping the logic on that proposition isn’t a deal most people are interested in. And they don’t need to be. But if they are, that’s cool too.
For me, a Primal take on body image naturally revolves less around appearances and more around utility. From an ancestral point of view, utility was the originally intended source for selection interests. Certain appearances, yes, suggested a level of health or “fitness,” but they weren’t the final arbiter: function itself was. There’s nothing more real than picking up a tree stump, hunting down your meal, hurling a rock, carrying a child, building a home. Want body love? How about loving what your body has accomplished and what you can do today?
I think people who have been through serious illnesses or other life changing physical events may get this in a exceptionally poignant way. I know, for example, plenty of women who have had children and said it entirely changed their thinking. It makes you stand in awe of your body in a new way, I believe. You recognize your body as a force of its own rather than just a canvas for your own inclinations. Whether it’s licking diabetes, bearing and caring for children, recovering from severe injury, or working off major weight, these accomplishments should absolutely help define one’s body image.
Body image isn’t some static declaration about what you see in the mirror any more than a body is a two-dimensional still representation. Bodies move and do. They work. They lift, run, build, have sex, nurture, toil, and create. Body image, then, should encompass our full relationship with our bodies. Everything we do and accomplish with our bodies should enrich our image of them. Some of us add steps to pursue demanding sports or fitness standards because – well, we love it. No further justification needed.
That’s what I love about the ancestral framework of the Primal Blueprint. It’s all about a rich, vigorous, and genuine life. It’s about respect for action – for true, useful, and pleasurable utility. Here’s my endpoint. Primal takes back body image from the modern precipice of insubstantiality and unapologetically re-roots it in the world of authentic vitality and dynamic living. I say work it.
What’s your Primal take on body image? Let me know your thoughts, and thanks for reading, everybody.
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
I do agree with the functionality part – but I suppose the great thing about PB also is you have most control, aesthetically. You could go for a really sporty look, like Paula from one of the success stories; or you could go for a more subtle look.
one of the reasons I went Primal was because I wanted to be able to defend myself and, even, save my own life if needed; to be fit and strong. However, as a model, the aesthetic consideration was also a main factor – I am quite skinny naturally – you could say, an ectomorph? – and I wanted to add more definition.
I think the important thing is that a healthy, fit body is beautiful! You don’t need to think about both – one comes of the other!
Grok On!!
Beautiful post.
Love this! And I agree it was perfectly timed.
After just finishing your book & the 30-day challenge, I am new the the PB/Paleo lifestyle, but loving it so far. I’ve struggled with a few health issues since having my son 2 years ago & I’m already seeing changes in that respect (positive ones).
One thing that has struck me about some of the forum posts is that some people seem (to me) a bit obsessed with appearance. I guess that is America in general, though. And I guess it makes sense that eating this way can help body-builder types achieve their goals… which would attract those types of folks to this way of eating. Just not something I’m used to.
Yes of course we all want to look good naked, but clearly that’s not the most important thing in life… nothing worth obsessing over.
I have a history of *really* crappy body image and disordered eating (bulimia). Thank you so much for this post.
I now have two small children and have a little extra pudge on my belly as a result, but am so much happier with my body now than I was when I wore a size 2. I can deadlift 225 lbs now and wear a size 6-8 at ~20% body fat. I’m not “skinny,” but I am happy. And I’m HEALTHY, which is far more than I can say of days past. And that makes for great body image. I don’t need to be 15% BF. It would stress me out far more to aim for that than to aim to be stronger.
And for the record, I *feel* a lot better naked now than I did at a size 2, even if I have a c-section scar and a little extra skin.
Oh, I dunno. Yes, all the physical benefits are great, but many people start on the PB perfectly capable of movement. I like it because I have tons of energy and it makes my gains easier and YES, because I look better – not because I’m marveling at the fact I can walk up stairs. I get that those things are taken for granted by those who can easily do them, and might be appreciated a lot more by people who come to this having weighed 300 lbs their entire life, but all this kind of reads as is more “don’t be so vain” proselytizing. I was shocked and awed at the negative reaction Paula’s amaaaaazing body got in the comments section of success story. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being concerned with your appearance as long as you are healthy, and not everybody has to overcome cancers or regenerate an arm through PB to be considered a “success.” It’s the only thing that has ever gotten me below 8% bodyfat, and I still consider that a great accomplishment, even if my body worked perfectly fine before.
Bailey, I don’t think Mark is talking about celebrating every flight of stairs. It’s about the physical “doing” kind of goals we each have – lifting a certain amount, running a certain distance, but also being able to as he says chop the season’s firewood, or carry a child while taking care of other children (not always easy in those later months). Utility is meaningful for everyone – from the newbie to the body builder.
I’m just ready for the outside to look as good as the inside feels!!
There are cultural differences to be considered. There is a certain Southern California vanity that suffuses much of this world (primal/paleo/P90X etc…etc) which is fine. If I lived there enjoying the fine year round weather I’d probably buy into it.
As it is I only wish to be healthy, I frankly couldn’t care less about how I look. (A&F ain’t gonna be calling me to pose in the spring catalog no matter what) If I thought I could be fat and healthy I’d be fine w/ that but that’s not possible.
Looking better naked is a side effect for me, not a primary goal.
Great article and good message. I will say though, it’s much easier to say that feeling good is not all about how you look, when you look good.
Due to health issues (lyme, co-infections, more) I have gone from being an active person, working full time, flat stomach, 16% body fat, and muscle definition, to sitting around most of the time due to lack of energy, working part time from home when I can, about 24% body fat, very little muscle definition, and a constantly distended stomach. I am finding it difficult to feel good about myself right now although I am doing the best I can – in everything.
Hang in there. At age 61 I just found out two months ago that I have been battling a mold/fungus/yeast infection in my sinus and probably my whole body for many years.
The minute I started addressing this issue, the flabby tire around my middle disappeared in less than two weeks. 10+ pounds lost. My clothes fit sooo much better, no overhang and LGN, while not like someone in their 20,30,40s, is pretty amazing now.
I have been living the LowCarb lifestyle for over 15 years and PB lifestyle for over 2 years, and while feeling great and performing well, I couldn’t get rid of that flab around my abdomen. Shock when just cleaning my sinuses with Nasosympatico let me be rid of my flab. Thank goodness!
Now pray I can gain control over the Menieres symptoms that caused me to address my sinus issues.
LGN is a bit like the peacock’s tail. We call it “vanity” because it seems to serve no purpose. But really, it does.
To grow a proper peacock tail, the peacock has to be healthy, fit, nutritionally complete, and free of parasites and disease. That is why peahens are attracted to a fine tail. It’s not because the peahens are shallow or because the peacocks are vain, though it might seem that way at first.
Same with human body aesthetics. Having lots of muscle mass and low body fat (but not too low) is a good thing because it correlates with health, fertility, strength, survivability, and all those factors that determine reproductive fitness. When we achieve LGN status, it’s because we’re very healthy indeed, even if it was only “vanity” that motivated us to get there.
A little vanity can be a good thing, and perhaps that’s why it’s almost universal. Embrace it as part of your genetic legacy and make it work for you, rather than trying to stamp it out or letting it control you.
Agreed! It really annoys me when people judge you for looking after your appearance.
Jeez, what a great response! While I appreciate Mark’s post for the Kumbaya, it’s all-good aspect of it, I feel a little patronized by it as well. The pursuit of a nice body is the pursuit of a healthier body. Some of us are closer to it than others that’s all.
Wow, yes! I’ll admit, while I love reading the success stories here, I feel a little sub-par because I didn’t come to the Primal Blueprint to overcome disease. I was already really freaking healthy. I wanted to look good — I came across a fitness website that mentioned this kind of diet as a good way to lose fat. Turns out this is a great way for me to maintain my weight over the long-term without feeling deprived. The fact that I feel great was a secondary perk, but honestly, I came to this 2 1/2 years ago out of vanity, pure and simple. I feel less like a heathen now knowing I’m not alone.
This article hits home Mark!
I’ve ridden the the CW rollercoaster in the past, dropping 125lbs only to gain half of it back. While I have changed my lifestyle to primal, many of those CW idioms stick in my head. I’ve been increasing upset on dating sites as of late. As a bigger girl with much to loose (and actually working on it) I constantly feel out numbered by the skinny college girls that have been that way there whole life and the boys that chase them.
It’s dawned on me that I really have to get back to loving myself and body, no matter what my size.
lower! Lower! Lower!
I think with age comes wisdom and as we age the goal becomes more health oriented than looks; not that LGN isn’t a good thing it just becomes less important.
The PB lifestyle change has been the best thing that has happened to me and my health. Finally, I can eat the food I love to eat without guilt (I was starving on WW)and my body is changing, the fat around the middle is slowly going away and the scale is showing weight loss. I am stronger and for the first time in my adult life (age 55, female) I can do 10 men’s pushups. For me the change is for my health, I am not going to be another overweight American taking prescription medications because I’m too lazy to make the changes that need to be made. I love PB and am happy looking ok in a one piece.
After being an undiagnosed celiac for 38 years, and having a long hard recovery, I cannot say that my body is svelte…or even lean – autoimmune diseases are the devil, and tend to run together – thyroid issues have prevented me from losing as much weight as I would like, however, I am pretty sure that the primal blueprint diet is responsible for me still being alive and able to type this comment – I am still very much a work in progress and hopefully will continue to get better
Being 51 I can definitely say that LGN is achievable, possible, inevitable…just take the time to retrain the body and the mind will appreciate the change, incidentally LGN is all in your own mind. For that I think you need to take the time to notice how this Primal lifestyle affects a lot more than how you look. How does it feel to be able to do 100 push ups, pull ups, cycle that 100ks…awesome….look yourself in the eye and appreciate what you see..not focus on the wrinkle or grey…
“That’s what I love about the ancestral framework of the Primal Blueprint. It’s all about a rich, vigorous, and genuine life. It’s about respect for action – for true, useful, and pleasurable utility.”
Wonderful!
Right up my alley. If it weren’t for vanity, I can’t imagine how unhealthy I’d be! hahahahahah!!
Thank you vanity.
Love this post today. I was just noticing some changes in my body (abdominal area specifically) today. I’ve a long way to go to LGN, but it will eventually come!
I am not so obsessed with body image anymore at all.
I am obsessed with Nutrition!
Everything I buy I inspect with a microscope before making the final purchase.
I don’t waste good money on crap anymore, things I don’t need and foods that literally kill.
I rather carry around 5-10 extra pounds that I know is pure nutrition storage, because of what I ate, than weighing in 5lbs under with 5% body fat knowing that if I do intermittent fasting I will lose bone because there is nothing to fall back on.
Screw this ideal image obsession, I’ve said good-bye to it the day I discovered the Primal Blueprint.
(p.s. lost 20 lbs though not even trying
)
God didn’t create us to be skinny – He created us to be healthy.
Most women lose their period at too low of a weight – points to the fact that our bodies know what’s healthy.
Health = Beauty
Mark, This isn’t really about body image, but the images you post of yourself have a common feature that bothers me.
I’m a physical therapist, an expert in human movement and posture. Each of your photos shows well developed and contracted abs. This has the effect of depressing your rib cage and pulling your shoulders forward.
I don’t know if the camera just catches you this way, or if you walk around like this. If the latter, it’s not optimal and could potentially lead the various chronic pain conditions.
Just wanted to let you know,
Chris Johnson DPT
Looking Good Naked is much more about feeling confident and healthy in one’s own skin than the cultural definition of “sexy” or “healthy”. Maybe you should modify it to be FEELING Good Naked. A lot of your readers are young, but those of us marking a half century can feel great about being naked even if we don’t have Sisson abs!
Frankly, I believe age is far more attractive than youth only because youth is all about young, taut, tight skin (all looking so much the same to me) where maturity brings wrinkles, ridges, and unique character of looks, expressions and ,more importantly, personality and humor. I always think of Ernest Borgnine – not a true beauty, but MAN – what character! Beauty IS skin deep.
How discriminatory is the world? How discriminatory can the “paleo” world be? If you see an overweight person, do you pre-judge them? Are they eating the wrong food? Are they lazy and morally inferior? How do you know if they aren’t on the down side of their peak and have lost the kind of weight you couldn’t even imagine! They fight tooth and nail DAILY to lose weight that those of us more genetically dispositioned for find so much easier?
Some of us are endowed with a thin gene – some are not. Women are naturally supposed to have more fat. Knock out a few babies and see how that affects your body.
I happen to like curves on a woman. I am so proud of my wife because she FEELS better since we changed our lifestyle. She has lost a ton of weight, but more importantly she FEELS better naked if for no more of a reason than she has the energy to be naked (and enjoy it). But still – we walk down the road (on a healthy walk) and idiots stick their heads out of the window of passing cars to heckler her for being fat. They don’t know how far she has come to be out having a long walk to be 40 pounds less than she was 15 months ago.
But really, is our paleo community more or less accepting of those that are overweight? Are we asking the right questions or jumping to conclusions like everyone else.
Good post!
Function. Today I accompanied someone in house hunting. One house had very low beds in the bedrooms and the conversation turned to how hard it is to get into or out of bed. I sat on the side of one of the beds and showed the others that I used to “have to use my arms to push myself up high enough for my knees to be able to pick me the rest of the way up.” The realtor watched and asked if I could get up easier now. I kneeled down on the floor and sat back on my feet then raised my hands over my head and stood up effortlessly. She was amazed that I could do that and started asking questions about how I’d accomplished the change. I was happy to tell her.
“How about loving what your body has accomplished and what you can do today?”
Inspiring words right there. Makes me remember swimming in the deep end as a little kid and being amazed at what my body could do, just by asking it. So maybe we should all revel in the little things more often to really appreciate what our bodies do on a daily basis. They truly are amazing.
Great post!
Just a thought: maybe our general community motivation to LGN as a prime motivator for many is not just our cultural stress on the value of appearance. Maybe it is in part that it is one of the only real remaining vestiges of our evolutionary selves to be sexually attractive. It is great to be able to run, jump, lift and climb in our modern lives, but it isn’t really necessary for survival anymore. What’s left? Look as sexy as somebody who could hunt a boar, carry it home, save your family from attack and carry children across the mountainside.
Thank You Mark!!
All to often we get wrapped up in what we think we should look like, and stop focusing on who were are, how we feel and what we do!
Personally I love my body, its amazing what it does, pregnant for the third time it never ceases to amaze me! I kicked gestational diabetes out the door and feel great!!
I look forward to getting my “body” back later and being able to keep up with my soon to be three kids! And really my major goal being Primal is about being the best I can be for them. I want to set a good example for them!
So whether we look thin and trim, big and muscular or whatever in between, if we are happy and healthy and loving life!!! I say Grok On!
Good article!! Alot of people dont understand that the “fit” images of today are airbrushed photoshop magazine photos. Its good to be a healthy weight and not rail skinny. I have been fighting and parkouring in combination for a while now and utility is all I focus on. Faster, stronger, longer, and the good looking mirror image follows. I keep this in mind every day when I look in the mirror: I can defend myself, I can get away, and I enjoy it.
Amen to this one, too! A REAL life, never mind an image. Sure, I want to look better, but more importantly I want to be able to DO more! And enjoy it…
I love this site because it gets your thinking adjusted. In this case I was just thinking this morning that I want that skinny high school volleyball player body. You know, the guys that are as skinny as greyhounds. Well I’m down from 190 to 165 lbs since getting serious with PB and thinking, “yeah it can be done”. But this article gave me the right outlook. Let your body define it’s ideal. Why should I cram it into a 150 lb body if that’s not it’s ideal? So along with eating right, I am trying to also eat the right amounts for my level of activity each day.
As the PB motto goes, let you genes express themselves. It’ll be exciting to see what the body will finally morph into
One of the sexiest men I know is my partner. He’s not a sculpted model; he’s a man who works hard in his own business every day, lifting and carrying and moving things, who also takes joy in playing, running with his dog, and hitting the gym because it’s fun to see how much iron you can haul off the floor. Has eating primal helped his body composition? Absolutely. But what it’s really allowed him to do is function better and get rid of the aches and fatigue that he was chalking up to getting older. He’s in better shape now and has more energy than a lot of guys 20 years younger. That energy, far more than his muscles, is what makes him so attractive.
As for growing back limbs, not quite, but he did cut off the end of his finger with a saw a while ago. His doctor says that the post-reattachment healing went amazingly quickly and attributes that to a high level of overall health and the nutritional quality of the foods we eat. Primal might not regrow body parts, but it definitely helps when you mess them up really badly and need to recover from a serious injury.