Jackie Jarvis writes

The celebrity culture of the image-conscious age in which we live has a lot to answer for.
Self-indulgent media stars with their unnaturally stick-thin bodies are placing us mere mortals under so much pressure to conform to a pre-ordained shape that many women are sacrificing their health  and sanity at the altar of size zero.

Fact: The majority of ‘normal’ women have curves. That’s what nature intended. Our female form is what differentiates us from the opposite sex and, let’s face it, it’s what most men find attractive about us, isn’t it?

A recent nationwide poll has reiterated this point. Super-thin skinnies like Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham might well be in demand by the designers of haute couture as ideal ‘clothes horses’ but the average man in the street would apparently prefer larger, curvier ladies, given the choice, or so I’ve read.

It is beyond my comprehension why any woman in her right mind would choose to transform herself into an androgynous being, banishing all traces of femininity into the bargain.

Add into this dangerous mix a growing obsession with plastic surgery as the quick fix to a whole host of body hang-ups, insecurities and low self-esteem, and you end up on the slippery slope to spiralling body dysmorphia where one procedure is just not enough in the insatiable quest to attain ‘perfection’. Shockingly, British women are borrowing around £1.4 billion a year to finance surgery as they desperately strive to keep themselves looking young, fit and healthy.

Research has unveiled a growing culture whereby body-obsessed women are prepared, even in this time of growing recession, to put themselves in the red for the sake of a nip and tuck or two. The danger lies in the influence these superstars are having on us by manufacturing an unrealistic and often unattainable image, achieved by fair means or foul, to which many aspire and attempt to emulate.

The newest must-have celebrity tool in the battle against the bulge is the ‘miracle drug’ Clenbuterol, which although illegal in this country can still be bought from overseas suppliers. That this particular medication was originally developed to alleviate asthma symptoms in horses is of no consequence, it seems, to the rich and famous in their desperation to look thin on the red carpet.

They are happy to carry on popping pills without a passing thought about how they could be adversely affecting their health. That this particular ‘poison’ could do exactly that or even cause palpitations and arrhythmia, is a risk they are just willing to take in a bid to burn off all that unwanted fat without the inconvenience of having to set foot inside the gym or expending any unnecessary energy on picking up a stick of celery.

And the glamorous ‘yummy mummy’ image created by the stars is worryingly filtering down to us humble human beings too, with the likes of celebrity mothers like Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman placing ordinary mums under pressure to banish their baby bumps within a totally unrealistic time after the birth.

Out of the three thousand new mothers questioned in a survey, 90% said they felt inadequate in comparison to their famous counterparts who had managed to magically return to their pre-birth figure with the wave of a wand.

We should all be aware of weight issues, especially with obesity levels in this country shamefully at an all-time high, but being thin is not necessarily an indicator of good health. 

The only way to shed those excess pounds is a well-balanced diet and regular exercise. Women come in all shapes and sizes. We can’t all have the body of a catwalk model so why not be proud and celebrate those curves!