crystal**flake wrote:
am*3 wrote:
I can't believe you wrote that. Govt benefits are intended to cover basic necessities ( food, electricity & a roof over ones head). That is what people on benefits are struggling to pay now, cut their pension by 10-18% what do they cut out??????
If you think a person can live a 'livestyle' on $250 a week (Newstart/dole) please tell us how.
Well some do don't they? Thats why they are complaining now, cause its not going to so easy to get?
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6 months without an income
how long can people survive without food
Medically speaking, most doctors agree that healthy humans can go up to eight weeks without food as long as they have water. People have gone longer and been fine, and people have starved to death in less time. Being strong and in good physical shape can help you survive longer, but so does having extra body fat. The body stores energy needed to live in the form of fat, carbohydrates and proteins. The carbs are the first thing to be used up without more food coming in. The fat goes next, which explains why people with more of it can survive longer. Then the proteins go. If you get to the point that your body is using up proteins, basically the body itself, then you're in bad shape.
Your metabolism also plays a role. Metabolism is what converts food into energy. If you have a slow metabolism, you'll burn your food intake slower and be able to go longer without replacing the food energy. If you go without food, your metabolism will adjust accordingly and slow down on its own -- basically doing what it can to pitch in for survival's sake.
Climate is a major factor too. The bad news is that both cold and hot weather are no good if you have no food. The good news is that extreme heat and cold will kill you in other ways before you have a chance at starvation. But in terms of living without food, heat means faster dehydration -- cold means more energy is burned to keep the body's temperature at a cozy 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). If you're lucky enough to be in mild temperatures, you'll be able to live a little longer without food.
Some symptoms you may see if you go more than a couple of days without food are:
- Weakness
- Confusion
- Chronic diarrhea
- Irritability
- Bad decision making
- Decreased sex drive
- Immune deficiency
Advanced starvation will cause your organs to shut down one by one. People in the throes of severe starvation might experience the following:
- Hallucinations
- Convulsions
- Muscle spasms
- Irregular heartbeat
THE TREATMENT OF SOVIET POWS: STARVATION, DISEASE, AND SHOOTINGS, JUNE 1941–JANUARY 1942At left, a column of Soviet prisoners of war, under German guard, marches away from the front. Place uncertain, July 1, 1941.
— Archiwum Dokumentocji Mechanizney
GERMANS REJECT GENEVA CONVENTION
POLICY OF MASS STARVATION IN THE EAST
Soviet prisoners of war were the first victims of the Nazi policy of mass starvation in the east. In August 1941, the German army set a ration of just 2,200 calories per day for working Soviet prisoners of war. Even this was not enough to sustain life for long, but in practice the POWs received much less than the official ration. Many Soviet prisoners of war received at most a ration of only 700 calories a day. Within a few weeks the result of this "subsistence" ration, as the German army termed it, was death by starvation. The POWs were often provided, for example, only special "Russian" bread made from sugar beet husks and straw flour. Suffering from malnutrition and nearing starvation, numerous reports from the late summer and fall of 1941 show that in many camps the desperate POWs tried to ease their hunger by eating grass and leaves.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007183
