What the hell do we have to do to change the health of our nation????

I am so peeved and frustrated!

Today the following came out from the ABS – as if I wouldn’t blog about this!

· Over the past 12 years the number of children who are obese has increased from 5.2 per cent to 7.8 per cent.

· 17% of children are overweight.

· 68% of Aussie men were overweight or obese, an increase of 4 per cent since 1995.

· 55% of Aussie women now overweight or obese, rising 6 per cent.

· The heaviest age group were people in their 60s and 70s, with a staggering 79 per cent of men in that age group overweight.

The challenge is what can we do about it? How do we change the weight of our nation?

Here is JT’s 3 Step Plan:

1. I would love every Australian to be able to claim their gym membership as a tax deduction but this is probably pie in the sky stuff! So allow people to claim their health club memberships on Medicare, if they use the club 100 times in a year. Maybe $100 for 100 visits! There is an incentive then for people to work out in a structure environment where their performances can be monitored to ensure no risk of injury or something worse – especially if they are moving from a sedentary lifestyle.

2. Bring back physical education for primary aged children. This must be a compulsory subject and must be about activity not about sport. Having the children move and increase the heart rates in a fun environment. Easy implementation and something that could be done ASAP!

3. Stop Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) on anything that promotes exercise in the work place. If a business owner wants to buy gym memberships or supply a personal trainer for their staff, this should be FBT exempt. They are improving the nation’s health and productivity and are then being punished by the current tax laws – ludicrous!

By no means are these the only solutions but we have to do something!

Did anything come out of the 2020 Summit for solving the overweight issues of the country or what happens if the majority of the country has Diabetes Type II by 2020!

If we had more than 50% of the Aussie population exercising regularly we’d save our country over $2B in health care by 2027!

Tell me your plans to change the health of our nation?

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