Did you know two out of five women and one out of five men would trade three to five years of their life to achieve their weight goals?

Did you know young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing their parents?

So many people have unhealthy and dangerous perceptions about their weight. The goals people set to achieve a so called “perfect” body are more often than not unattainable and simply ridiculous. Such a huge number of people think they are fat and it has been shown that a teenager with weight issues, even if they are of a healthy weight, is at a far higher risk of committing suicide than someone who is fine with their weight. This is appalling.

A little known fact is that in countries such as India, they often Photoshop some of our British or American celebrities to look fatter to fit the ideal image of the public there. As such a huge number of people suffer from famine, the look of a well-fed person is much more appealing than of someone who has all the food in the world available to them yet chooses to starve themself.

It’s worrying that some of the main concerns we face in Britain are about looks when other people are dying from hunger and disease. The extent to which some people go to try and look better is crazy. People harm themselves, create mental problems, develop eating disorders, and make themselves be sick after meals. These people are definitely determined but undeniably unhealthy.

Roughly 1 in 50 people suffer from body dysmorphic disorder. This is a serious issue and the people who have it are constantly comparing themselves to those around them and can’t help looking in mirrors, creating flaws that do not exist. In some cases, people resort to seeking surgery, treatment or even amputation to try and get rid of problems that only they can see.

Others with less serious cases just pile on the makeup to try and cover their faces or they try and avert attention away from their perceived problems areas. Many people use makeup and clothes to disguise themselves and hide behind because of the pain it causes them for someone to see the real them. You see people in the streets with crazy makeup, an inch thick, or the weirdest outfits which although might attract attention to them, stop people seeing their bingo wings or muffin tops.

The degree of unhappiness with body image in Britain is disturbing. The classic “it’s what’s on the inside that counts” is overused but people need to learn to not spend their lives worried about how they look. It really isn’t the most important thing in life. You don’t need to be thin to have fun. You don’t need to be pretty to have friends. You don’t need body perfection to be happy.