According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”The most common complain I hear from women in the office is that they want to lose weight. They may have presented with multiple sclerosis, headaches, PMS, or a wide variety of other symptoms, but when I ask if there is anything else I could help them regarding their health, difficulty losing weight is nearly always the answer.

Our physical appearance, and the way we perceive how others see us, can affect a variety of decisions through out the day. Going somewhere nice and don’t want to be seen “slumming it in yoga pants?” Starting a diet for the 6th time this year to get ready for a high school reunion? Anxious or depressed and seeing medications to change how you feel?

The Dove® research team reports the following statistics regarding how girls and women view themselves:

•Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful (up from 2% in 2004)
• Only 11% of girls globally are comfortable using the word beautiful to describe themselves
• 72% of girls feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful
• 80% of women agree that every woman has something about her that is beautiful but do not see their own beauty
• More than half (54%) of women globally agree that when it comes to how they look, they are their own worst beauty critic

This is a great video from Dove, that illustrates how others really see you. Check it out and let me know what you think.