Too Fat To Work - Need More Benefit Money

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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You can't build a garden box and fill with pro mix? One bail and 4 2X10 gives you 64 square feet of premium garden. What's stopping you?
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
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In the bush near Sudbury
You can't build a garden box and fill with pro mix? One bail and 4 2X10 gives you 64 square feet of premium garden. What's stopping you?

Nothing stopping me. I'm telling you "I'm better than you" solutions may work for you but you aren't the yardstick this world is measured by. Where do you put a garden box in a small basement apartment?
 

gerryh

Time Out
Nov 21, 2004
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There are also many condominiums that do not allow gardens..... window box or other.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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That is why there are community gardens.If your community doesn't have one, start one. If you have time to drive around and shop for food you have time to drive to your garden and tend it. It's not like there it is hard to find a friend or relative with empty or potential garden space.
 
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Twila

Nanah Potato
Mar 26, 2003
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don't see why not? Those who make the effort to stay healthy and tread lightly on our health care system should be rewarded with a tax credit or a cash rebate.

I think incentive towards healthy living should be paramount! and taxing unhealthy cheap junk food would be sensible. They teach healthy choices for food in most schools. Remember the food pyramid? it's elementary school stuff.

There is nothing wrong with not being skinny. Having a few extra pounds is ok. It's only a problem when it impacts your quality of life, as it's doing to these people. The parents are making excuses for why they can't work...yet millions of people are overweight and hold down jobs.
 
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VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
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Nothing stopping me. I'm telling you "I'm better than you" solutions may work for you but you aren't the yardstick this world is measured by. Where do you put a garden box in a small basement apartment?
This would not be much of a garden and I don't know if you are allowed to use them or not but, I saw an ad the other day for "up-side down tomato plants". You just hang them on a hook like a hanging basket and the tomatoes grow out the top (bottom) of the container. I think the ad (local ad) said you could grow them inside or outside and have tomatoes all year round. I meant to take note and go buy some and now I cannot even remember where they were being sold. Should be able to Google such a thing.
 

VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
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I think incentive towards healthy living should be paramount! and taxing unhealthy cheap junk food would be sensible. They teach healthy choices for food in most schools. Remember the food pyramid? it's elementary school stuff.

There is nothing wrong with not being skinny. Having a few extra pounds is ok. It's only a problem when it impacts your quality of life, as it's doing to these people. The parents are making excuses for why they can't work...yet millions of people are overweight and hold down jobs.
If by taxing un-healthy cheap junk food means things like potato chips and the like, they do tax it. Candy is taxed also (all GST). Any bulk food items in the way of candy or nuts mixed with fruit etc. are classified as "junk food" (even nuts mixed with fruit in large amts. is bad for you)and they are taxed. Obviously not enough to make people stop buying them. Buy 6 cupcakes/muffins/donuts etc. and you won't get taxed but buy 5 and you will. Most people don't even notice. Self scan tills are waking the public up. People are even starting to complain about bottle deposit and enviro fees on items like soda pop. Self scans are making people very very aware of what they are spending. Maybe there is hope yet that the junk food list will decrease.
 

VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
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The main reason that people are overweight is because they don't try to not be overweight. Sure, some people need help to overcome it, but it's a decision to make.

I just don't have much sympathy for people who eat 3000 calories a day, and then complain because they're overweight. What did you think, the weight fairy comes by at night and sticks fat on your body? Join the dots, you can figure it out.

Whine snivel, I'm a victim. Sure, but you don't have to keep being one. We're all victims of one thing or another. Don't let it rule your life, and stop looking for someone else to blame for everything.
Obviously you don't have a weight problem. Some of us do. Some people don't consider 30 or 40 pounds a weight problem. I do. Therefore, I have a weight problem. Now, if I was 4 - 5 inches taller, I probably would weigh just about the right amount for my height. I'm 5 feet tall. I can even get by with an extra 20 pounds without anyone really "seeing" it. But after that, it really stands out. If you think dieting or just watching your food is easy - think again. The only people who think that are people who have never had a weight problem. In other words, you probably have a fast metabolism. Not all of us have. I haven't always been over-weight and I often forget that I am (sounds odd but it's true) until I go to buy something nice to wear. 99% of the time the clothes stay at the store. I never try on anything that feels like it looks good anymore. It's not an especially happy way to live. Neither is a "forever" diet. I've seen people who used to exercise a lot and then quit. They seem to gain weight rapidly. Bodies change. One day you look good, feel good and then while you are not noticing, that weight gradually creeps on and before you know it - you are over where you shouldn't be. Looking for clothes several sizes larger than the tiny ones you wore. If you are thin or "just right" - enjoy it. Just don't criticize those of us who struggle and wish the pounds would disappear over-night. There are some days I just get sick and tired of eating everything "good".
 

Twila

Nanah Potato
Mar 26, 2003
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The thing with diets is that you can't simply go on a diet. In order for it to be permanent and good for you it has got to be a life style change. Many people get that wrong. They think they'll change their eatings habits but just until they loose the weight they want then go back.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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There are some days I just get sick and tired of eating everything "good".
Eat less of what you like. If you suddenly go from eating good to eating greens all of sudden you body figures it's not going to see meat and fat for a while and starts to hang on to what it stored up before switching to the reserves. Don't expect quick results. It can take months for the body to decide to let go of it's precious cargo.
 

Unforgiven

Force majeure
May 28, 2007
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A hydroponic garden uses the same space and energy and costs the same to set up as a TV and cheaper than cable to buy nutrients monthly and seeds but would supply all your fresh veg needs.

LED lighting is super cheap to run and very reasonable to purchase. 90 Watts of energy will feed a family of 4. There is no excuse for not growing your own food saving ****loads of money on energy and food costs.

You don't need to drive to the store to buy veg from 2000 miles away and you don't need a fridge to store your fresh foods either when harvesting daily.


Cheap and simple on paper but not so much when it comes to reality.
Also not too practicle when it comes to the winter months here in Canada.

A quick fix in this case is neither quick nor a fix.
 

Unforgiven

Force majeure
May 28, 2007
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The thing with diets is that you can't simply go on a diet. In order for it to be permanent and good for you it has got to be a life style change. Many people get that wrong. They think they'll change their eatings habits but just until they loose the weight they want then go back.

Exactly! What's more when there isn't anything after that sharp quick drop of weight at the onset of a diet, the loss of energy as the body begins to adjust, and a huge chemical change in the body, depression can set in, which feeds the little voice in the head saying what's the point.
 

Twila

Nanah Potato
Mar 26, 2003
14,698
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Exactly! What's more when there isn't anything after that sharp quick drop of weight at the onset of a diet, the loss of energy as the body begins to adjust, and a huge chemical change in the body, depression can set in, which feeds the little voice in the head saying what's the point.

I wonder too about toxins that are stored in the fat. Once the fat is burned and the toxins are released into the body again, some toxins are doubled by re-consumption (there's a technical name for it, I just can't remember it). Ex. fish eating vegetation or smaller fish that are contaminated are then eaten by humans/polar bears/seals etc and the toxin levels increase. Would these toxins be doubled again after having been stored and then re-absorbed?

The effects of this on the body and the brain could be horrific. Mood altering. Make a dieter feel physically ill. I wonder if any studies have been done on this...
 

tracy

House Member
Nov 10, 2005
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California
So what's the solution?

Teach them a work ethic? Cut their assistance and let them work or starve?

It's nice to blame, but that alone is worth nothing without offering solutions.

Those kids have both been through school (one of them is still in school, learning to be a hairdresser). The parents presumably worked before going on the dole. You are making this more complicated than it really is. Some people need education. Some people are just lazy and need a kick in the butt. This is an example of the latter. How much you want to bet that they'd suddenly have the ability to work if unemployment benefits were limited to 2 years? They'd figure it out really fast on their own if they had to.
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
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In the bush near Sudbury
School? Good Lord, how many professional students are there out in the world? A great number will go as long as the student loans are available and then claim bankruptcy on a staggering debt. You can generally tell them with a glance at attendance records.
 

tracy

House Member
Nov 10, 2005
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California
School? Good Lord, how many professional students are there out in the world? A great number will go as long as the student loans are available and then claim bankruptcy on a staggering debt. You can generally tell them with a glance at attendance records.

Student loans in the US don't get wiped out with bankruptcy anymore. At the very least, having been through school proves someone can get out of the house and learn. They aren't completely helpless victims.
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
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In the bush near Sudbury
They've caught on to the bankruptcy scam here in Ontario too ... and entrusted collection to persons with all the brilliance of bureaucrats. I love being harassed every six or seven years for collection of a student loan that was forgiven by reason of disability in 1994.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Vernon, B.C.
Those kids have both been through school (one of them is still in school, learning to be a hairdresser). The parents presumably worked before going on the dole. You are making this more complicated than it really is. Some people need education. Some people are just lazy and need a kick in the butt. This is an example of the latter. How much you want to bet that they'd suddenly have the ability to work if unemployment benefits were limited to 2 years? They'd figure it out really fast on their own if they had to.

I think two years is too long, people can develop bad habits in less than two years. There's an old say that the people who really want jobs have them and I have found that to be largely true. I know there are exceptions to every rule but the exceptions need not reach epidemic proportions.
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
32,493
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In the bush near Sudbury
From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 25 (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Ottawa, ON
I don't see why not? Those who make the effort to stay healthy and tread lightly on our health care system should be rewarded with a tax credit or a cash rebate.

I'm also all for heavy regs or taxing the snot out of garbage foods. If it doesn't benefit the body it is a toxin and there is no reason for toxins being sold to our kids on the street corner.

Face it sugar is one of those toxins and that god awful aspartame is a neural toxin. Did you know aspartame turns to methyl alcohol in your body once insulin gets a hold of it and further reduces it to formaldehyde? Don't forget folks, alcohol in any form is very addictive and is a depressant.

There is no love in this world when Little Debbie becomes mortally obese Debbie, loses a foot to diabetes and is an alcoholic at age 7 and not by choice or lack of parental care.

To make matter's worse if Debbie drinks enough Diet Coke to go blind she will be rewarded with an iPod from all her iCoke points.

At least she'll still have tunes.

If Coke is sponsoring the Olympics it must be healthy!

A simple solution could be to reduce income taxes and introduce taxes on undesirables. Remove the wide-seeping GST and target it to specific things like tobacco, alcohol, meat, eggs, milk. But leave the veggies alone of course!:smile:

The drop in income taxes would give people more spending money. but the tax increae on desirables would make people buy more healthy foods.