I lost a couple of stones very quickly,living on a couple of sliced loaves a week. It really was bread and water for me this wasn't the dark ages,it was 1988
Obesity is usually bad diet and usually bad diet is due to ignorance and ignorance is due inadequate education. Boxes are ticked ,OFSTEd inspection passed. Children leave school without knowing how to cook a basic meal from scratch, how to stay out of debt, or how to read and write. There have been a number of celebrities who banged their heads against the wall. Rashford and Oliver are two that spring to mind but I'm sure there were others
I had ration books I think bread was rationed till 1953, historians said the ration diet was the most healthy, just enough,no junk food. My parents didn't have much my dad had arthritis in his 20,s and a crumbling spine,no benefits then,he fished, bloke next door supplied pigeons and rabbit, we had chicken for eggs and meat
If you define poverty as a % of the average, then you will always have poverty, even if the average wage was 100K , then anyone less than 60k is in poverty. I know many people who earn less than 17k , but they would not think of themselves as in poverty, because they have a budget and manage it carefully. There is a lot of shouting to keep the extra money given to benefit claimants(for covid period), and give them more, but if you have inadequate parents who blow the money on non essential things before feeding the family, then just giving them more money does not help. Its a strange world when someone in full time work gets less than someone on full time benefits, yet the worker does not think themselves in poverty, but the benefit claimant does.
If the limit is a bit more than 17k we are definitely in poverty,we only have my pension,my old man is only just 64 and he's had to stop working because he damaged his rotator cuff,as long as we eat well,pay the bills,I don't consider we have a problem,if money made you happy,Bill Gates wouldn't be getting divorced
If you can eat well and pay your bills I wouldn’t describe that as poverty. Many in poverty are working and those without children are given very little help.
Whatever you think about the exact definition of poverty and how you experience it, it remains true that the gap between rich and poor is currently widening, so there are more and more families in the "poor" end whilst the richest become richer. The undoubted fact that some people manage to cope with very little doesn't make it right that they should have to.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
You can get loads of free or cheap second hand stuff these days... as long as you have internet access and can pay the monthly bills for that and can pay for the fuel to go any collect it. You can buy cheap food and necessities... as long as you have a car and time to shop around, and the money and space to buy in bulk when needed. Poverty is a trap people get stuck in and modern life is basically geared towards those who have money in the first place. Food banks always miss the point in my opinion. It isn't the free food people need so much as the help from the community to increase access to a better way of living.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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There have been a number of celebrities who banged their heads against the wall. Rashford and Oliver are two that spring to mind but I'm sure there were others
Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime
This still holds true to a certain extent but if the person who has learnt to fish still can't feed their family, there is something terribly wrong.