Get to the gym or lose benefits!

[Cyclone 10]

as a lot of obese people have mental issues this is a non idea before we start and half of the so called healthy foods are not that healthy ie low fat marge full of chemicals, diet foods that are low fat full of sugar special comes to mind just half of my head

 

low fat is not the same as healthy.

 

The so called healthy foods like fresh fruit and veg, things that aren't deep fried, heavily processed and/or coated with breadcrumbs, these are healthy and also happen to be lower calorie, lower salt, etc... than the alternatives.

[maxmaximus 10]

Been fat or obese isnt just about lack of excercise but the food people eat. Pay for them to go t the gym but unless they drop the calorie intake as well . . . It would be a waste of time.

 

 

So what we need is workhouses . . . . Anyone on benefit that is ovese or fat . . . Mandate them to six mobths in a workhousr wherr the food is provided and excercise in the form of WORK is provided and. 2 hours gym or someform of cardio exercise is on the agenda . . Problem sorted. . . . Also the thin unempkoyed people could apply for the jobs created in these workhouse such as catering team, cleaning team, carers team and gym team. Maintaince team handyman, loads of jobs . . . . Double whammy . . . . BTW. Im joking.

 

Society cannot dictate to individuals about there weight and well being. There could be many reasons why a person is fat or obese starting with their mental state of health, circumstances at home, mobility and up bringing, sending them packing to a gym would be like painting over cracks . . . Pyscological issues run deep and these need addessing first

Aerobic exercise has mental health benefits and cuts depression and being depressed means you are less likely to want to exercise, force depressed people to exercise and many will thank you for it in the long term.

[sheffsal 10]

This for me is the key point. Lots of people live their lives in ways that I disapprove of, but in a free(ish) society people cannot be compelled to exercise - no matter how good it is for them.

 

If the issue is obesity, then why not extend this scheme to all overweight people, or tax foods that are high in saturated fats.

 

I think the issue is more to do with stigmatising working age people on benefits: most of whom are already in work; and the majority of people who are unemployed do get jobs. This proposal would have been thought ludicrous 30 years ago, people would not have tolerated this level of bullying where people who are poor are humiliated on television (on the likes of the Jeremy Kyle Show)

 

And it does seem rather odd that a council that is headed by a political party that talks of a 'smaller state' is trying to run people's lives in this manner

 

People apply to go on jeremy kyle . . . . They totally know what is going to happen for some people in society going on the JK show is like having an ASBO . . . . A trophey. Be under no illusion about the draw this programme has on the most 'vunerable' people in society.

[Cyclone 10]

This for me is the key point. Lots of people live their lives in ways that I disapprove of, but in a free(ish) society people cannot be compelled to exercise - no matter how good it is for them.

 

If the issue is obesity, then why not extend this scheme to all overweight people, or tax foods that are high in saturated fats.

 

I think the issue is more to do with stigmatising working age people on benefits: most of whom are already in work; and the majority of people who are unemployed do get jobs. This proposal would have been thought ludicrous 30 years ago, people would not have tolerated this level of bullying where people who are poor are humiliated on television (on the likes of the Jeremy Kyle Show)

 

And it does seem rather odd that a council that is headed by a political party that talks of a 'smaller state' is trying to run people's lives in this manner

 

The freedom is not being removed though, they are free to not exercise, not claim benefits and find some other way to feed and house themselves.

 

It's not unreasonable to impose conditions on being given money, it's exactly how employment works. The council has a responsibility to try to improve health within it's area, this is one attempt to tackle that.

[gnvqsos 10]

Been fat or obese isnt just about lack of excercise but the food people eat. Pay for them to go t the gym but unless they drop the calorie intake as well . . . It would be a waste of time.

 

 

So what we need is workhouses . . . . Anyone on benefit that is ovese or fat . . . Mandate them to six mobths in a workhousr wherr the food is provided and excercise in the form of WORK is provided and. 2 hours gym or someform of cardio exercise is on the agenda . . Problem sorted. . . . Also the thin unempkoyed people could apply for the jobs created in these workhouse such as catering team, cleaning team, carers team and gym team. Maintaince team handyman, loads of jobs . . . . Double whammy . . . . BTW. Im joking.

 

Society cannot dictate to individuals about there weight and well being. There could be many reasons why a person is fat or obese starting with their mental state of health, circumstances at home, mobility and up bringing, sending them packing to a gym would be like painting over cracks . . . Pyscological issues run deep and these need addessing first

 

Unfortunately society does dictate or at least manipulate body size indirectly by allowing the proliferation of fast food outlets,persistent poverty and inequality,poor education etc.What you suggest would be too complex for the state to pioneer.It needs a set of whipping boys to target,a set of victims for the smug and complacent to denigrate,while they retain a more comfortable life-style and the elevated sanctuary of the moral high-ground.

[maxmaximus 10]

Really? A high percentage of claimants are working now.

 

Quite possibly but those figure aren't going to be available because the benefits office doesn’t know about them and many of the people in the never worked figures could well be people that have worked but illegally.

[Funky_Gibbon 42]

The freedom is not being removed though, they are free to not exercise, not claim benefits and find some other way to feed and house themselves.

 

So starvation and homelessness are now a choice? We really have regressed back to Victorian social attitudes.

[Cyclone 10]

I don't think you follow my argument. My employers don't pay me if I don't work, that's the deal we make when we take employment.

So why is it deemed unreasonable for the state to wish to make a deal before it gives people money? Is there some sort of human right to be given money without having to do anything for it (be that search for jobs or go to the gym twice a week)?

 

---------- Post added 05-01-2013 at 09:09 ----------

 

Unfortunately society does dictate or at least manipulate body size indirectly by allowing the proliferation of fast food outlets,persistent poverty and inequality,poor education etc.What you suggest would be too complex for the state to pioneer.It needs a set of whipping boys to target,a set of victims for the smug and complacent to denigrate,while they retain a more comfortable life-style and the elevated sanctuary of the moral high-ground.

 

There is no poverty in the UK.

 

Fast food outlets (and the food industry in general) are heavily regulated and constantly being asked (and forced) to make the food they sell more healthy.

 

Good quality education is available (and mandated) for everyone in the UK.

[gnvqsos 10]

I don't think you follow my argument. My employers don't pay me if I don't work, that's the deal we make when we take employment.

So why is it deemed unreasonable for the state to wish to make a deal before it gives people money? Is there some sort of human right to be given money without having to do anything for it (be that search for jobs or go to the gym twice a week)?

 

The deal is called insurance with compensation forthcoming ie when unemployed hence the term NI contributions.The payment is an entitlement,and you qualify by being unemployed.It is a situation benefit.

[juniee 10]

cyclone does not get it, people have worked nearly all their lives paid NI tax and due to circumstances beyond their control lose their jobs, reduancy, ill health, accidents from work, industrial diseases caused again by work, but in his perfect world none of this happens, he probably believes they myth of the three generation family that have never worked which the Joseph Rowntree foundation proved just a lie to whip more hatred against the unemployed and anyone can lose their job at any time

and just because you are slim does not mean you are healthy as i know from when I was slim, never actually exerisced or ate a healthy diet just genes that made me slim

in fact would have liked when I was younger to have gained a stone but never could now wish sometimes that I could shift that extra half a stone

[gym_rat 10]

Assuming that you keep your calorie intake the same, an increase in activity levels will mean you burn more (more than you consume hopefully) and you'll loose weight.

 

you wont, really you wont.

 

And before you go off on one - do some research pal, this is right there in my field.

[gnvqsos 10]

I don't think you follow my argument. My employers don't pay me if I don't work, that's the deal we make when we take employment.

So why is it deemed unreasonable for the state to wish to make a deal before it gives people money? Is there some sort of human right to be given money without having to do anything for it (be that search for jobs or go to the gym twice a week)?

 

---------- Post added 05-01-2013 at 09:09 ----------

 

 

There is no poverty in the UK.

 

Fast food outlets (and the food industry in general) are heavily regulated and constantly being asked (and forced) to make the food they sell more healthy.

 

Good quality education is available (and mandated) for everyone in the UK.

 

The above message was paid for and sponsored by the following

 

1.War on want

2.Macdonalds

3.Michael Gove MP

 

It will be repeated and satirised on next weeks HIGNFY!