How Healthy Body Image Changed Through History

We’re living at a weird time. There’s 24-hour gyms, personal trainers, millions of various fitness classes available not only in nearby fitness studios but also online. There are video games that are aimed at making you exercise more. But there are also more snacks and fast food places and convenient food deliveries available than ever before. We keep hearing in the media about obesity rates skyrocketing but we’re also all obsessed with looking fit. But what is fit? What’s a healthy body? Is there one ideal for all? Let’s take a walk down memory lane and see what was considered healthy throughout history.

Strong Is Healthy

During the Middle Ages being strong and muscular was definitely a bonus for both men and women. Most people had hard physical jobs be it working in the field, chopping down trees or doing household chores. There were no electrical appliances so everything was done using human strength. Interestingly people were shorter on average than they are now. And that was healthy then.

Dental Hygiene

We think of dental hygiene as something relatively new yet it’s a part of our everyday regime to stay healthy. We want good teeth and use lots of products to keep them strong and white and shiny. Everyone wants a Hollywood smile. So owning a bunch of dental hygiene products and spending hundreds of dollars on whitening your teeth is considered healthy. In ancient Rome, dental hygiene wasn’t exactly something they fussed about too much, yet according to historians, archaeologists and recent excavations from Pompei, Romans used to have very healthy teeth and no cavities. How did they do that without flossing and whitening? They ate a healthy diet that had almost no sugar in it. There’s more than one way of having healthy teeth as you see.

Posture

Most of us have bad posture because we keep sitting at our computer or staring at our phones all the time. In the 18th century, Victorian women wore corsets to correct their posture or just to encourage their bodies to get accustomed to good posture. Another reason for wearing corsets back then was to keep your organs in the correct places and therefore have a healthy body. Today we find the idea of corsets to be ridiculous, but then it was healthy.

The Gibson Girl

From the beginning of the 20th century, the meaning of “a healthy body” shifted and became more about beauty standards than actual health. It’s something we still do even in the modern-day. We associate beauty with health. Back then the picture of health was a Gibson Girl – tall, poised and with a perfect hourglass figure.