Christmas And Body Image: Why do they go together like tinsel to a Christmas tree?

Christmas seems to bring out not just crazy consumerists but also copious amounts of self-awareness about our bodies.

Walking into work the other day I literally walked into a crowd of dieting women. Almost every staff member was on some new fancy diet (name cannot be disclosed but know that it involves taking copious amounts of appetite suppressing tablets).

It seems Christmas makes people say ‘Oh sweet Jesus I need to lose weight because Christmas day I’m going to eat my weight in food…and then some.’

In Europe Christmas is celebrated with hot sugary drinks and freezing snowy days that allow you to cover the Christmas bulge with layers of clothes. But here in Australia, our Christmas is spent on the beach in a bikini eating an ice-block.

Christmas in Australia means one thing: diets. Instead of being happy and healthy, it’s about what size dress you can fit into and whether or not you have to wear shape-wear under your cocktail dress.

By Taylor-Jayne Wilkshire