The national news today has an article about a family that claim £22,000 of benefits because they are too fat to work. And they want more because it is insufficient to live on.
This really grabbed my attention as it is an extreme (I hope) but represent a lot of the problems across the world likelack of knowledge, lack of accountability, increasing costs of health care caused by obesity (in fact it’s sickcare rather than health care which would be doing something to look after health)
Here are some of the headlines with extra comments…
The family lay the blame in their genes stating that their weight is a hereditary condition.
This is something that only genetic scientists could answer comprehensively but I have come across articles and programs with contributions from said scientists and while there does appear to be a “fat gene” that can predispose you to being overweight, it does not make it a guarantee and that you will always be obese. I have a lot of respect for these scientists as while their work is very important they unanimously agreed that it was the over abundance of the wrong foods and the lack of any activity that made people obese and not genes. The genes only gave an extra probability.
Generally speaking (as I don’t want to single out this family if they have been misquoted) this is a total lack of taking responsibility and being accountable for your own actions. It’s never too late to own up and identify the real cause of the problem - you. Is it written in stone that this is the way it should be - No
The family claim to spend £50 a week on food and consume 3,000 calories each a day
“We have cereal for breakfast, bacon butties for lunch and microwave pies with mashed potato or chips for dinner”
All the junk/processed food they are eating is adding no nutritional value to write home about and adds t over consumption of calories. In their case I’d guess it’s more than 3000 calories.
All that healthy food, like fruit and veg, is too expensive
Partly true, a lot of processed food is really cheap these days because it’s so full of crap. But even that will put your food bill up because it never actually satisfies your system for the amount of calories being driven in. That leads to more consumption whereas healthy fruit and vegetables are going to provide more nutrition and keep you fuller for longer leading to less consumption overall. The reason is more to do with mindset and not wanting to eat fruit and veg.
The wife is paid an extra £330-a-month disability allowance for epilepsy and asthma, both a result of being overweight.
The husband gets £71 a month after developing Type 2 diabetes because of his size
Why not invest some money into treating the conditions rather than just the symptoms and help the family lose weight. Some of these conditions can be eradicated.
One of the daughters - “I’m a student and don’t have time to exercise”
Unfortunately a lack of knowledge and understanding into what sort of time is required to exercise effectively means a practice of not to try at all. While exercise is important for long term health and success in weight loss, initial gains could be well received by changing eating habits but you have to be skeptical about what the real problem is here.
Sounds like to me that their overall quality of life could be significantly improved by investing into weight loss instead of throwing more money at a problem that will remain if allowed to.
What do you think?
Mike
One last comment - All my comments made
3 Comments
I agree that this must be an extreme case, and we must do more to educate the public. I believe Obesity is a disease and that genetics play a major role in it, but lifestyle is the ultimate predictor. You have to diligently watch what you eat and what you do in order to overcome these so called “Fat-genes”. As you correctly stated, they do not “Garuantee” Obesity. Your lifestyle is what makes or breaks you on that front. Keep up the GREAT posts!!
Tim C
http://www.Twitter.com/TCusack247
Hey Tim
Absolutely. I was pleasently surprised when the scientists attributed it to lifestyle factors. As obvious as it sounds to me and you, the cycnic in me suggested they would want to make a name for themselves by attributing it 100% to genes and they had the answer.
Instead it was use a simple solution to a simple problem. Doesn’t mean it’s easy but with you, me and the rest we can change attitudes, beliefs and perceptions on what it takes.
Governments would also save money in the process but that’s a different topic altogether.
I totally agree!! Being predisposed to a certain condition is not a life sentence. It means you have to work harder to overcome that predisposition. Unfortunately, in our society today most people just accept the “fact” that they are doomed to be whatever they have been pre-diagnosed with. It’s sad!!