Girls should stop despairing about their dress size, says Nigella Lawson, as skinny women "probably have a miserable sex life".

The curvy celebrity chef has said that women who are uncomfortable with their shape or always on a diet cannot relax and enjoy sex.

She told the Times: "I think that women who spend all their lives on a diet probably have a miserable sex life. If your body is the enemy, how can you relax and take pleasure?

"Everything is about control, rather than relaxing, about holding everything in."

She added that many were obsessed with being "skinny", and that there was "a fear of flesh".

"People are so critical, everything must be sacrificed to the great god of skinny. I think it is a fear of flesh. You must say no to everything.

"Life has to be pretty fabulous if you can afford to turn down the occasions of pleasure. Women act like it is a moral failing to have hips."

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