Gulp! NYC Mayor Proposes Super-Sized Soda Ban.

[geni]

Really? So you think its a productivity issue, fat people dont produce enough?

Lost time due to a greater propensity to illness is indeed a problem.

And all those costs in making larger subway seats is killing us?

It is clearly a no optimum use of transport floorspace. Once you factor in all the things that have to be ajusted there is a significant total cost.

 

[LTC8K6]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/n...lan-to-change-marijuana-arrest-policy.html?hp

This will make up for it.

 

[SezMe]

Diet soda is horrible.

Nail. Head.

 

[Beerina]

The city of Chicago did this many years ago and the soft drink manufacturers pulled their annual convention from McCormick Place. Brilliant.

And you're actually not talking about sugar in American soft drinks, you're talking about high fructose corn syrup, which is artificially cheap due to bad agricultural policies driven by midwestern states. It's crazy; we subsidize the growth of corn to make HFCS, give agribusiness all these breaks to make it, keep the price of real sugar artificially high to appease the sugar barons in Florida, and now local governments are going to tax corn syrup at the consumer level. Can't someone draw this into a simple diagram and show it to a politician somewhere?

High-fructose corn syrup may itself be a bogeyman. It's just 55% fructose as opposed to 50% for "normal" sugar. It's fruit sugar.

 

[mikeyx]

I think that I hate the term "nanny state," but this proposal fits that bill. I further believe that unless the measure affects all establishments selling big tubs of soda (such as convenience stores - not affected by the proposed "ban"), it's unfair and very suspect right from the start. Are 7-11's Big Gulps more healthy than a similar-sized soda at a movie theater?

The bottom line is that anyone with even half a brain knows that sugary soda is an unhealthy drink. They also know that drinking more of it worse than drinking a little of it. If, knowing that, they decide to drink 32 ounces of it on a regular basis, that's their business and not that of the Mayor of New York or even the Department of Health. They can force businesses to use warning labels on large cups (I'm very cool with this), they can probably levy extra "sin" taxes on them (I can't think of a reason to be against this, though I do drink soda), but banning them seems way out of line to me.

all forms of smoking should be banned, the soda ban, meh.....

 

[NewtonTrino]

This kind of stuff undermines respect for the law in the same way as a drug / alcohol prohibition. It's very counter productive IMHO.

What authority does the state derive the power to ban certain sizes of soda?

 

[JJM 777]

Diet soda is horrible.

Coke Zero rules. Its taste is absolutely perfect.

 

[Segnosaur]

You can always buy two smaller instead of one big bottle, so I don´t see how this law helps or bothers anyone.

Its a bother because buying 2 smaller drinks is usually more expensive than buying a single large drink. (And some of us do sometimes share drinks with our significant other when at a movie. So if our city enacted the same ban it would cost us more money, even if we didn't drink any more than we were.)

 

[Xulld]

Lost time due to a greater propensity to illness is indeed a problem.



It is clearly a no optimum use of transport floorspace. Once you factor in all the things that have to be ajusted there is a significant total cost.

Productivity should only be the concern of the business paying the wage of the worker. If government did not restrict businesses hiring and firing decisions this artificial problem would not exist. If businesses fired all of the fat people they would lose overall production. In a perfect world lots of things are more efficient, we do not live in that world.

 

[Psi Baba]

And you're actually not talking about sugar in American soft drinks, you're talking about high fructose corn syrup, which is artificially cheap due to bad agricultural policies driven by midwestern states. It's crazy; we subsidize the growth of corn to make HFCS, give agribusiness all these breaks to make it, keep the price of real sugar artificially high to appease the sugar barons in Florida, and now local governments are going to tax corn syrup at the consumer level. Can't someone draw this into a simple diagram and show it to a politician somewhere?

This is the crux of the whole problem right here in a nutshell.

High-fructose corn syrup may itself be a bogeyman. It's just 55% fructose as opposed to 50% for "normal" sugar. It's fruit sugar.

The difference is more complicated than that, but the larger part of the problem is that corn is so cheap it's practically free, and food manufacturers load HFCS into everything, more as a bulk filler than as a sweetener. Sugar was actually once used that way when it was cheap, but to a lesser degree. So even if the idea that HFCS may be worse for your health than sugar has not been disproven, the real issue is the quantity being used in foods. But no one wants to address that issue since corn subsidies are apparently sacrosanct. Telling Americans to use less corn has about the same effect as telling us to use less gasoline.

 

[kookbreaker]

Coke Zero rules. Its taste is absolutely perfect.

No, it isn't. It tastes closer to real Coke when you have it with food, but on its own it tastes pretty diet-y. better than Diet Coke, but nowhere near Regular Coke.

 

[LTC8K6]

http://michellemalkin.com/2012/06/05/bloomberg-soda-health/

It’s starting to make sense now: Michael Bloomberg doesn’t really mind if New Yorkers drink more than 16 ounces of soda, he’s just trying to move some cups.

Is purchasing two 16 oz sodas too much of an inconvenience to help reverse a national health catastrophe?

If all you wanted in the first place was a banned 24 ouncer, Bloomberg just encouraged you to drink eight ounces more than you originally wanted — but anything we can do to help reverse a national health catastrophe, right?

 

[sadhatter]

The serving sizes sometimes listed are absurd and I doubt are intended to be the actual amount eaten in one go. Like the six packs of small yoghurt cups. On the one of these I looked at, one cup is two servings. They don't seriously intend somebody to make that last two servings or to share it between two people. Put the plastic cover back on and put it back in the fridge for the next day! Find somebody else who wants to eat it to share with!

And therin lies the problem, people like to think that what they want is what the serving size should be. You don't think the yogurt serving is enough so you have 2. This might work out well for you, but to someone who is intending on losing weight, this attitude is the killer of a proper diet.

A serving of food is not something designed to fill you, and that is one huge hurdle people have with food. When a good portion of people reach for that bag of chips their intent is not to taste chips but to feel full.

What satisfies you has very little to do with what is a healthy serving, if there was one bit of diet related information that could help many lose weight, this would be it.

 

[sadhatter]

You can always buy two smaller instead of one big bottle, so I don´t see how this law helps or bothers anyone.

If I had power, I would consider banning all sugared sodas altogether, in all sizes. Diet versions taste perfectly good nowadays.

YOu know i am not a soda guy , but this comment kinda bugs me.

Because you now feel diet soda has an acceptable flavor ( the only soda i drink btw.) , now it would be okay to you to ban the others? Isn't that a little you-centric? I know many people who dislike the flavor of diet soda for some reason, so they should just be ignored because someone else doesn't mind it?

At what point do we realize that we should simply mind our own business? People have a right to use their body as they please, whether that be an abortion, tattoo, risky sex, or being a pac-man shaped mass of flesh. Don't like the fact these people cost the health care system money? Fight against the health care system existing. Because saying you should be able to get a broken arm fixed after a boating accident ( or any other activity that could cause injury, that was just an example.), but them getting treatment for weight related issues is wrong, has the same kind of "I do the reasonable thing, everyone else doesn't." egocentric vibe as " They should ban sugary sodas because i don't mind non sugary ones.", and as has been said before we are all in this together.

 

[sadhatter]

Coke Zero rules. Its taste is absolutely perfect.

I'd say the same thing about spam ( in all seriousness, not playing devil's advocate, i love that ****), so would it be acceptable to ban other kinds of meat because i do?

You really think that certain people's tastes should be used as a yardstick for if something is appropriate to ban? You really better hope that person isn't me unless you really enjoy white castle, energy drinks ( zero calorie, so i am sure you could deal.), pepperoni, s'mores, and spinach as the only sources of food.

You realize your advocating the Demolition man distopia, right?

 

[Toontown]

At supermarkets, you will encounter numerous morbidly fat people. The contents of their carts will almost invariably include large quantities of sugared soda water. Many require motorized carts to lumber about pitifully.

Put two and two together, and you get four. As in four hundred pounds. Which makes you a non-prod and then kills you.

And the pitiful part is, once you get accustomed to artificial sweetener, the diet sodas taste just as good, besides being totally fear and guilt free.

 

[sadhatter]

No, it isn't. It tastes closer to real Coke when you have it with food, but on its own it tastes pretty diet-y. better than Diet Coke, but nowhere near Regular Coke.

Here, right here.

I don't even agree with this statement, but it outlines the problem in saying "What, diet soda isn't good enough for you?" and trying to use that as a yardstick of if the ban should be enacted.

Who gets to decide what tastes good enough? And what percentage of people, is it acceptable to ignore?

You can have your opinion all you want, hell, i hold the opinion that liquor objectively 100% of the time tastes worse than non liquor , and any attempt to state otherwise is inbred by societies view that enjoying liquor's taste versus effect makes someone more mature , or manly ( depending on the situation.). But the difference is i would never consider trying to use this as a point in a debate. Once we get past just talking bollocks and get into actual debate, one's opinion on taste goes out the window.

 

[sadhatter]

At supermarkets, you will encounter numerous morbidly fat people. The contents of their carts will almost invariably include large quantities of sugared soda water. Many require motorized carts to lumber about pitifully.

Put two and two together, and you get four. As in four hundred pounds. Which makes you a non-prod and then kills you.

And the pitiful part is, once you get accustomed to artificial sweetener, the diet sodas taste just as good, besides being totally fear and guilt free.

And if you go into any serial killer's house, you will find some knives. Does that mean knives cause serial killers, or that serial killers tend to abuse knives?

 

[LTC8K6]

Just take Bloomberg's advice and drink two 16 ounce sodas instead of one 24 ounce soda.

Or just have a milkshake instead. They apparently aren't banned. Or a big old Wendy's Frosty.

 

[Toontown]

And if you go into any serial killer's house, you will find some knives. Does that mean knives cause serial killers, or that serial killers tend to abuse knives?

Is there anything you won't argue with?

Fattie + cart full of sugar water = fattie abusing sugar water

That was the original observation. It continues to be the original observation.