Fat or Obese

[LovelyLadyLux]

I didn't copy and paste the entire article which is on MSN News online - BUT the headlines read that 2 billion people in the world are obese:

Researchers found more than 2 billion people worldwide are now overweight or obese. The highest rates were in the Middle East and North Africa, where nearly 60 percent of men and 65 percent of women are heavy. The U.S. has about 13 percent of the world's fat population, a greater percentage than any other country. China and India combined have about 15 percent.

It does seem that everybody everywhere is getting larger and larger and health issues are more and more common. I think we in the west are getting heavier as our exercise is decreasing and the amount of food we're eating is increasing. I would think that in North Africa and the Middle East people may be gaining weight because the actually food they are eating is not high quality. It is instead the consumption of cheap food with high calories and the introduction of food items like soda pop that have no nutritional value but are all sugar.

I'm always appalled in the grocery stores when I see people buying, for example, huge boxes of sugar cereals, cases of soda pop and fast prepared food. Nobody has any GREEN vegetable and food stuffs that you actually have to cook. And it is all going straight to the waist.

WHY do you think we do this (gain weight) to ourselves?

[Horus]

I reckon the biggest offenders are the food industries who add all sorts of crap into the food chain from sugars to saturated fats. There is very little left over during any type of food production whether from animal or vegetable, they will use everything in some product or another and in doing so they have to make it palatable by adding lots of sugars, salts & fats, they will even add sugars to canned vegetables to make them sweeter or huge amounts of salt for taste and preservation. The second thing is cost and time, it is usually poorer families who have to buy the over processed foods like pies and cereals because they are cheap and take less time to prepare especially if they are holding down a job that probably involves unsocial hours and after working full time and caring for a home there is little time left for food preparation.

[Choccy]

i think the biggest offenders are those that seem to have open mouths all day long. i saw on Sky yesterday that the NHS is going to spend a fortune on paying for these people to attend fit clubs and diet clubs, surely the cheapest way would be to sew their mouths up so only liquids can pass.

The NHS are Taxpayer funded, if they can afford this then they can afford to let ex pats return home for hospital treatment.

[Horus]

Choccy do you actually know any expats who have returned home and been refused hospital treatment?
The NHS like anything else in this country is funded by the taxes paid in today, not yesterday or tomorrow, lots of people make this mistake. It is not an insurance fund that once you have paid into it you get to use it for all times in the future. It’s no different to pensions, what is paid into the system today goes to support today’s pensioners, it is not saved up or invested on your behalf. So I would have supported your parents or grandparents when they were drawing their pensions, in the same way that my children and grandchildren will pay out mine and your pension now and in the future. It is no different to your car insurance or road tax, once that current tax or insurance year has expired it has gone forever whether you used your car to drive a million miles or kept it parked on your drive, buying your car tax or insurance once does not entitle you to get it for free from then on.

Now you may think that this is unfair and so it may be, but the rest of us live with the same system of basically if you live here and spend your money here then you are contributing into the system both directly and indirectly so are entitled to benefit from it. However if you stop contributing to the system then you no longer benefit from it, many expats are happy to tell us that they have nothing more to do with the UK and how they pay little or no tax into our system, so why should they expect to get anything out? Why should you live in Egypt paying little or nothing into the UK tax system and expect that I who continue to contribute through the many taxes I pay from VAT to road tax, from taxes on my fuel bills to local council taxes should also pay your share? All these various taxes contribute indirectly to every other service we have in the UK and as I said it’s on a rolling basis, what is raised today is spent today, so your contributions are long gone, the fact that you did or did not use it when it was available to you does not count anymore, there are no refunds or credits against your name. If you once paid for an ‘all inclusive’ holiday and took little advantage of all the food and drinks on offer, then you cannot book another holiday on a bed & breakfast only basis at the same hotel and expect to get the ‘All inclusive’ deal because you didn’t use it last time you stayed there.

That is the reason that pensions are frozen for overseas pensioners, basically you get what you were entitled to at the time you contributed, once you leave the system by not contributing via indirect taxation you are considered to be out of the current system that will be based on current contributors and their contributions. Having income tax stopped on any income from the UK does not count either, income tax is exactly that, a tax on your income. All governments levy this tax and most have a reciprocal arrangement with other countries, so you will pay it to someone unless you are prepared to move your assets into a tax haven if you can find one. You can also move all your assets to Egypt and pay into the Egyptian tax system and pay nothing in the UK, the UK government won’t mind. What is true though is that provided you actually have an entitlement to free NHS treatment then you will receive it, (a little to easily in my opinion) but if you have no entitlement to free NHS treatment then why should you get it for free? Other countries don’t do it.

[Grandad]

Everyone else comes here for hospital treatment and childbirth Choccy so why not you? Hospital treatment, that is

It is obviously the preponderance of processed food, high fats, high sugars, and low vegetable intake that are the main culprits for obesity and overweight. Lack of exercise has a bearing on younger people but if you simply reduced your intake and sat on the sofa all day you would lose weight. Not that I am recommending that.

At our ages, Mrs G and I have relatively small food intake BUT we do not eat any 'junk' food and have some vegetables at almost every evening meal. I am overweight at 108 kilo (I am just over 6 foot) but my weight has been at that level for many years and I would have to reduce my intake considerably to reduce that weight.

In my opinion it is the availability of convenience and prepacked food, and comfort eating that is responsible for the increase in obesity. Many people simply don't prepare and cook healthy meals any more and resort to quick microwave options.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I believe that most tinned food and/or packaged food is not healthy at all and who know what all those preservatives and additives are doing to our bodies. I'm by no means a health food nut but I grew up eating 'plain food' and by that I mean an egg came out of a shell, lettuce, chives, onions came out of the garden and bread was often home made but if not it was a heavy course bread (fibre/seeds/nuts/whole grains).....my point is that food was 'au natural' but it was real and healthy. Now almost everything is prepared and packaged which bring a whole range of chemicals along with mega sugar & salt. I think all of this throws off our body balance and created cravings and we end up eating less healthy and more. This leads to weight gain which leads to less exercise for a host of reasons. Vicious cycle. Throw in what Horus described - poverty, working conditions and there is a real social problem.

I never eat prepared meals out of a tin or frozen. Am not a picky eater but I'd have to be darn hungry to go that route.

Personally as for heal insurance I think if you leave a country then you're not entitled to "FREE" medical. If you return and start paying back into the program then you're entitled to benefits.

Bit hypocritical to abandon your own country go to live in Egypt and shout the glories and then head for home soon as you need a doctor. If you're moving permanently to another country you have to be prepared to accept EVERYTHING there and adapt to the same lifestyle as locals. You can't have it all ways.

[Grandad]

Everyone else comes here for hospital treatment and childbirth Choccy so why not you? Hospital treatment, that is

My comment was a 'tongue in cheek' dig at all the 'visitors' from all points North, South, East and West who come here for medical treatment and even childbirth. Just another aspect of the immigrant problem. Which of course is very relevant to Horus's comments above......If you don't subscribe, don't expect to draw on the benefits.

@Choccy.....you are very quiet?

[Choccy]

I do not know of any Horus that live in Egypt and go home for treatment, the only people I know are those that claim to live here and have an address in the UK for the purpose of medical treatment and other benefits. (A bold statement to make I know but all so true)

Last year I paid over 4000 sterling into the UK coffers and I got nothing back, mind you I have never tried either. The years before that 5200, 5105 and 4740 respectively. So in doing this, I just personally feel I should get a little back.

Every time my pensions are paid I also pay tax into the UK system, so really I am getting a raw deal, maybe I should not have informed my GP, Tax Office, and other Government Dept's, when I moved here, maybe I should have just used a UK relatives address, but that's not me , I will not give people the opportunity of giving me a bad name, and start accusations going, remember I live in Luxor and that's what others are looking for everyday, scouring the internet to find out other peoples business. when I am sick or need medical treatment I use the Luxor Medical Centre its has good as any and spotless.

[Horus]

I am sure if you pay in that amount of tax then you would still be entitled to something from the UK, but as I said in my earlier post you would have to pay income tax to some government or other regardless of where in the world you live, where you choose to register for tax is entirely up to you. So if for example you wish to pay tax in the Seychelles that is your choice, but do not expect that they will also include free medical treatment as a bonus because they won't, we all pay taxes we dont want to just the same as you do, but the NHS & Pensions contributions are a seperate issue.
I admire your honesty in not making up stories in order to 'defraud' the rest of us still living here and paying into the system for that is what those people you mention are doing, they are defrauding the UK government and the rest of us are having to stump up for their crime, because it is a crime and eventually they will be caught out. The UK government is now clamping down on this type of fraud especially claiming benefits you are not entitled to and none too soon either, they are just defrauding the rest of us who live here. I would have no problem in shopping anyone who was making false claims because to me they are nothing more than thieves, so if at any time you want to send me a list of names feel free, I will happily pass them on to the relevant authorities.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Just a bit of trivia but when I worked in the USA I had to pay income tax to the US, had to also file in Canada and then Canada has some sort of agreement with the USA whereby they could claim any tax $$ I paid to the US. Can't explain the hows, whys or wherefores but they must have a reciprocal agreement to do this.

I had to maintain health insurance in the US via a US company and was dropped by Canada for the years I was away. Couldn't just zip home and get treatment then go about my happy way living elsewhere.

As for reporting others who are frauding - well I would in a heartbeat and wouldn't have any qualms about it or lose sleep either. Can't understand those who anguish about reporting and who probably ultimately don't. IMO if you're aware of fraud which is a crime and do NOT report you're just a guilty as those committing the crime. Complicity comes to mind.

[Horus]

All these tax rules have some basis and reasoning behind them and we are all subjected to them, just because you don't understand them or don't agree with them does not give you permission to commit an offence in order to avoid paying them, or to tell lies in order to claim them. I am sure that all the relevant rules and laws applicable to living abroad are available for any expats to read and if not then HM tax collectors will be willing to explain the rules to anyone who asks.