What are body types?

Keep an open mind…

Ok, so you might be pretty sceptical about body types if you’ve not come across the idea before. Well, the principle is not any different to personality types or blood types. We’re all people but we’re all different – and there are some common building blocks that make us that way.

Body types are thought to be first used over 5000 years ago in the Ayurvedic system of medicine in India. Traditional medicine systems since then have all used body types in their application, including Chinese, Greek, Japanese, Persian-Arabic and Tibetan. 

Today’s doctors take the Hippocratic Oath but may not be aware that Hippocrates based his approach on ‘four humours’. Beyond his famous quote “let food be your medicine”, lies the principle that not any food can be used for any cure. One person’s cure may be another person’s cause!

One size doesn’t fit all

That’s one reason why we don’t all like the same foods or benefit from the same diet. We’re now in the age of the gut biome, epigenetics and heading towards personalised drugs. The ‘one-size fits all’ approach to wellbeing is starting to look out of date now.

‘Body typing’ is a simplistic tool in isolation but as a foundation for wellbeing (especially self-care) it’s a really useful start.

Superfied uses body types as a foundation for wellbeing and then adds other dimensions to this. We match you to one of 10 body types as a first step to personalised self-care. They are all based on three primary body type groups (the ‘Reds’, ‘Blues’ and ‘Greens’) which correlate with various holistic (whole-person) health approaches, both ancient and modern.

Body typing allows for personalised self-care to prevent illness. When illness has already appeared and detailed personal intervention is needed, progressive healthcare practitioners are a good go-to.

Superfied Body Types Translated

Body Types and Elements

Ancient medical systems all work on the principle that basic elements combine to create energy. Whilst different systems have different names and interpretations of biological energy, they all draw on the same handful of elements that are the building blocks for everything. 

Our modern periodic table currently consists of 118 elements (five blocks). In the old days, they were rationalised into five elements. If you’re going to look after yourself, it’s easier to get your head around five than 118.

Putting some energy into the equation

All the original medical systems work on the basis that disruptions in ‘biological energy’ cause illness (dis-ease). It feels modern medicine is starting to head that way too – it could be back to the future in terms of energy harmonisation to stay well.

To modern ears it might sounds like nonsense but martial arts work on the principle of energy manipulation and modern physics also suggests that everything in the universe is energy. The biological impact of these energies in modern parlance can help connect old and new.

Blue Energy >> Kinetic energy (e.g. in biological operations like the movement of electrical signals in nerve impulses)
Red Energy >> Thermal energy (e.g. in metabolic processes like the action of enzymes in breaking down food)
Green Energy >> Potential energy (e.g. in maintaining muscle, fat and tissues)

Body types are just a way of expressing when a particular combination of elements (and the resulting energy) is more dominant in our physical and mental makeup (our genotype and phenotype respectively).

Different systems have different ways of approaching this and different labels for each. In Superfied, the Blue, Red and Green body type groups directly correspond with the respective Blue, Red and Green energies.

Superfied Energies Translated

Sound ok for self-care?

Well, hopefully that helps you get a bit more familiar with body types, where they come from and how they can be used to health yourself. 

Hopefully you can also see that old thinking and new thinking is actually more aligned than you may have expected. After all, modern medicine and healthcare is a series of progressive steps from way back and we haven’t evolved that much since then! Both have their place in today’s world. 

The advantage of knowing your body type it that it can help you get a bit more personal with your self-care. Being self-sufficient and staying well is in your hands!

Read more about body types in this Superfied guide

Find out your body type with the Superfied assessment