to think that people in this country shouldn't be so poor?

[WitchOfAlba]

It's the 21st century and we still have people who can't afford to heat their houses, who can't afford to eat and can't afford clothes.

Charity shops are too expensive for people on the lowest incomes, food banks are inaccessible to people who work, council tax benefit is not available to people who have saved for their children's future, people are sitting in dark and unheated houses because they can't risk a big electricity or gas bill.

I'm not talking people who are unemployed, though heaven knows it's wrong that they are poor and can't afford things like the above but now it's people who are at work who are also forced into poverty.

i actually had/have a nutrition qualification. It wasnt lack of education It was lack of money when i was signing on back in the late 1990s. Workfare which i had to pay to attend and so couldnt afford to eat healthily. It was do workfare or be sanctioned. So the money went on paying to travel to a job with no wage.

It was only when i found a job working nights in a sex chatline office which paid enough so i could afford to go to Slimming World and do their plan. I lost 10 stone. Husband had a heart attack in 2006 and now has ischemic heart disease and emphesema. (he smoked for 48 years) i gained 4 stone back when i became his carer. Because we were living on 40 pounds a week which had to pay for hospital appointments food, heating etc.

In the last 2 years i have lost that 4 stone i put back on. Im still DHs carer but hes now pension age so gets more financial help.

Every time i gained a lot of weight lack of money was a big factor. So you get judged for being poor AND being overweight which really fucks up your self esteem And having self esteem and confidence is something you need to tackle a task like this.

PoppyBlossom, I agree with your posts here and with Pounding's too.