Self mutilation

The people of Basingstoke, Reading, Southampton, Portsmouth… will scare you. When you think about it, these people should terrify you.

There is a growing class of people who are currently numb. And they are mutilating themselves with food, alcohol and subscription services. They’ve left GOD and have replaced him with consumerism, so now they consume mindlessly. Doesn’t matter if it is good, bad or indifferent for them. They consume mindlessly. And if you are genetically blessed, no matter what you shove down your throat, you will not gain weight. However if you aren’t genetically blessed, which is 95% of any given population... well my dears you are screwed. The Obesity crisis in this country is wholly avoidable. Walking is free. We aren’t the USA with food deserts nor is cooking more expensive than takeaway, so it doesn’t make economic sense for us to eat this way (I include myself) either. We just consume, thinking it will make things better, but it won’t. The next snack isn’t going to do anything for you. Nor is the next tattoo. You are still empty because you aren’t living on purpose. People are just drifting. The reason I say obesity is self mutilation is that your circulatory system (the system that pumps blood around the body) does not expand when you gain weight. It simply stretches. There are people stretching their circulatory systems to the brink just to get them up in the morning. It’s a feat of biological engineering. And then you have those who obesity has brought on a whole plague of co-morbidities. Gout, gall stones, diabetes, heart and chest problems, liver and kidney failure. The NHS is paying for the lot. Its awful. They’re abusing their bodies in a horrendous way and it hurts to see it. The reason people should be scared of people who so abuse themselves, is that if they can abuse their own bodies, to the point where they can’t breathe, can’t get up the stairs, can’t run for a bus… if someone can destroy themselves and deliberately break apart the one body they good Lord gave them, what will they do to you? They will be 100x more savage, because they feel the pressure on their knees when they walk to the shops…and buy Doritos anyway. If they can’t feel you’re pain. They’ll knife you straight in your heart for the same Doritos if it was scarce, because food is an addiction, same as alcohol and cigarettes.

The same bodies that they treat so badly to make function, if they treated well I am certain they’d do miraculous things. The body is starved of nutrients, exercise, proper sleep and low stress which is why it does most things wrong. But we stress the hell out of ourselves and eat and sleep badly, then glamourise it as “hustle culture” and they wonder why stress kills 750,000 people globally, annually. Then lets talk about obesity and the cancers it brings with it. Then lets talk about lack of sleep and what that does to you. If we treated our bodies with respect, I guarantee you would be 100% more productive. Its because we treat people who treat themselves well as “snooty” so we get to look down on them and feel superior for our own poor choices, and low standards… meanwhile they’ll bury us all. Do you see the Queen scoffing 50 takeaways a month? She doesn’t cook for herself, but she eats a balanced diet, avoids stress and regularly exercises even when she has mobility problems. That’s why she’s 96 and you wont be.

I don’t subscribe to the lazy assumption that all people on benefits are lazy and fat and have 9 kid by 8 fathers and have a cigarette addiction and a wide screen TV. Its cruel, and useless. However what I will say is that the state is to blame for this. In the UK, we have what some people call a “nanny state.” Where the state looms large. For the most part, I like it. Need emergency care? The NHS is there. Need to return a product/service ? There are consumer laws protecting you. Robbed? The state will get you justice. However the benefits system has been sending mixed signals for years and I recognise that it is really hard to get this kind of thing right.

People who are unable to work due to sickness, are on incapacity benefits. You get statutory sick pay if you are in work, and if you aren’t you get universal credits. There is nothing wrong with this. Only wicked people game the system.

If you work and you can’t afford to live, you get housing benefit, and universal credit. This is where it doesn’t make sense. If you can’t afford to live in a free market economy, that is not the place of the state to lift you out of poverty. It is the place of the employer to pay a competitive wage. I believe that the correct wage for the UK is if 2 parents work, full time, on even the minimum wage each they should be able to support 2 kids and run a car and pay rent/mortgage. Anything below that and you aren’t realistic on the cost of living in the UK, and that is before the state comes in.  If you are a single parent, unless the other parent is deceased, then they need to be pulling their weight for the child. Single mothers shouldn’t be going to food banks because the dad has walked out. That needs to be legislated for. There is no point running up the national debt because a man wants to father a nation.

The attitude of those on minimum wage needs to be reviewed too. I hate the “Blame the poor” narrative, but we live in the UK, one of the wealthiest places in the world and you get some people (not all) with an attitude that SUCKS. My ex used to attract them. It drove me mad. All his friends earnt minimum wage or there abouts. Their attitude to life sucked. Anything happened to them, they’d blame the government. We’ve had 12 years of Conservative party rule in the UK. So all my adult life, there has been a Conservative Prime Minister. These people are Conservative leaning but they blame the Tories for cutting their benefits to solve the problem of the national debt. (that’s what happens when you go down the “blame the poor” route) But they can give you in detail their cuts to their benefits. They also blame the Government for not raising the minimum wage enough. Why not ask the question “why are you on the minimum wage?” they’re standard of living does not improve and they are constantly blaming the government for it. Why are these people not elevating themselves? Retraining? Starting businesses? Are you telling me the entirety of “the poor” have 0 talents? Its not true! Lord Sugar came from a poor background. My dad came from a poor background. I came from a poor background. And yet here we all are, we made it. I’m also not a fan of the “the poor are lazy” argument. But the lack of self belief is shocking, the attitude is wrong, there's an apathy, a “life is being done to me not for me” about a lot of people and a lot of externalising what is wrong with their lives. Own your life, it’s the only thing you DO own.

Poor white children do the worst in this country. There was an article today about 13- and 14-year-old boys robbing Claridge’s in London.

Why? The same thing that happened to black kids in the 80’s is happening to white kids in the 2020’s. No one is protecting them. They’re not an ethnic minority or part of the LGBTQ+ community so no one thinks they’ll get sued if they are negligent towards them. Therefore, they’re getting the short end of the stick in their own country.

When I was a kid, there was a kid called Mandy. (not her real name) she was, what I can now see, abused. Neglected. Uniform always dirty, only one never in proper uniform, below average development because parents didn’t value education. It was a subtle neglect, covert, not overt. No bruises, as far as I could tell she ate everyday, but she was definitely by modern standards neglected. She now has 4 kids. She started really young. How much of a life do you really think she’s providing for those kids? This is what brings about the “life is being done to me not for me” so people do dumb things to feel empowered. Tattoos, smoking, kids. Its all because we haven’t been protecting everyone. She wasn’t protected. Someone should have stepped in to “assist” the family with maintaining her in a clean environment or one on one tuition to compensate for the fact that the parents didn’t value education. That’s not an aspersion on the parents, everyone values different things. My parents didn’t value wealth, otherwise they’re good people. Everyone has flaws and no one is the perfect parent.  If protecting black kids must come at the expense of protecting white kids then I’m against it. All kids deserve protection. Not just the ones you are afraid will file a lawsuit. This isn’t the USA.

In the UK we need some “get up and go” we need to make re-training with a university degree free. We all benefit when people take up a second career and £9k per year is one hell of a barrier to entry. The better paying the job, the more likely its remote working which allows you more control over your lifestyle which is a luxury in itself.

We also need free childcare, people need to be more flexible and if you don’t have parents who are willing to look after your kids you are screwed. £1,100-£1,600 a month, and that isn’t even top quality childcare, its just standard… that’s more than most people earn in a month? Where are people getting the ability to work if working costs more than their salary? Someone is picking up the tab and its UK PLC. People don’t have time to cook because they’re in such a rush to get their kids from childcare or be fined. Stress is bad for you too.

Next the obesity crisis. Public transport needs to be a lot cheaper. And we need to start taxing the estates of people who have eaten themselves to death. £100,000 charge on those who have obesity listed as part of their cause of death, and Dr’s will be mandated to put it so if they have a BMI over 30 and aren’t obviously a rugby player or something like that.

Our attitude needs to change. Too many 30 year olds embracing atrophy? WHY???? Are you dying? My dad was fitter at 71 than some friends of mine. It’s a cultural thing of “settling into our 30’s” means having the same levels of bodily decay as an Egyptian mummy. People talk about all the aches and pains, dude its going to get worse if you do nothing about it. If you are in pain in your 30s you will be in agony by 50. Why live life like that? You will die anyway, but you won’t get to live first. Me? I plan to live before I die. Fuck aching knees. I reject you, Satan. Me on a good day has knees like Meghan (thee Stallion) and on a bad day, I am cognisant that I need to improve and therefore get my knees back to Meghan (thee Stallion) level. She’s only 3-4 years younger than me so it isn’t that much of a feat. I’m also a lot slimmer than her. So it balances out.

Exercise only gets you so far. Diet is important. Lets stop giving so much airtime to Justeat, Ubereats, and American TV shows. Every time you see American TV they are eating take out. Big bang theory, is about a load of 30 year olds without a dining room table. Eat mindfully. Stop eating and watching TV. Cook, batch cook (in this economy) and avoid take out. Take-outs are expensive and you aren’t in control over what you put in your mouth. there’s 0% VAT on fruit and veg. let’s glamourise bringing food into work. Its not just the cheap option, it reduces food wastage, means you eat more nutritious meals and also if you are a good cook you get to eat something delicious. I’m a good cook when I put effort in and I know my food tastes amazing every time I put effort into it. Lets make this the new norm. Plenty of fresh fruit, (which might even need government subsidy to make it cheaper) and veg, so people have NO EXCUSE not to eat it. Also people can go vegan/use cheaper cuts of meat/less meat. I eat less meat now which cuts on cost but also means I cut down on portions. Why? You don’t need so much food. You are creating a calorie surplus. Also, Annetta, you don’t need 5 potatoes on your plate, you probably only need 2-3. Again calorie surplus.

Next, we need therapy. All of us. There is something we’re all numbing and if we don’t learn to feel that pain, and unravel it, we, the United Kingdom, will never heal. Whatever is hurting us, we’re using cheap products and consumerism to help with the pain and the medicine is killing the patient. Heal, then you can fully embrace life, otherwise you are just zombie walking through it without any real control over yourself. Which for me is terrifying because I’m not used to relying on other people.

Walking is free, if we’re going to do a nanny state, then it needs to be mandated that we all do 150 minutes of intensive exercise per week. Or if we’re a free market economy, then we tax the hell out of takeaways, sugary and salty drinks, and any processed food. Add a 100% tax on it to account for the negative externalities. Electric scooters are banned. Fucking walk/cycle. Everyone with a BMI of overweight gets 12 months to get into the healthy range or we’ll start taking 5% extra of your income to fund the NHS, everyone with a BMI of obese gets 2 years, morbidly obese gets 3. Get it down. Also, we’re far too “Permissive” as a society. Before there was less obesity because people would be ashamed of “letting themselves go” because people are so “In their feelings” they don’t feel the shame that is healthy, that would keep them healthy” Obesity isn’t a choice of 1 cake, it’s the  choice of roughly 50,000 cakes, pies and takeaways. Fizzy drinks over water as a lifestyle, no/little exercise. It’s a calorie surplus over several years. Its not 1 choice, but several thousand little ones. And that is what we should care about. Prevention is 100% cheaper than cure. Its not even the cancers that scare me, it’s the diabetes which can make you lose a foot which means you can’t exercise, or that the fat gets so bad you can’t walk up the stairs, play football with grandkids, that’s not life??? I’m joining a gym in September and I plan for them to haul my 150 year old ass out of there in a body bag. I’m never to old to exercise until I die.

 I am more conscious about making meals these days because I know that eating the right thing is important, direction is better than speed, so first I’ve gone back to water, then I’m making meals, then I’m back on fruit and before you know it I’m a healthy individual with a good weight. I’ve lost a lot of weight to stress and I plan to lose more and maintain the loss. That’s important to me. Avoiding stress is another one (for me) as is fighting loneliness (which is as bad for you as cigarettes and I’m recently bereaved) but ultimately. I don’t want a “treat” to become an addiction which then becomes a self-harm.

That’s the difference between healthy and not.

Grace and Courage.

Annetta Mother Smith.