NY Soft Drink Limitations Approved – An Important First Step

Not only is this a bad idea, it will push us in the wrong direction. Many diet and health experts believe that soda is a “weight-hazard”. Without question, sugar-sweetened beverages are not good for our health or waist-line.

However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Americans are on, what I call, The Main Street Diet. The next time you drive down your Main Street observe. Here’s what you will find an overabundance of: fast-food, convenience stores that sell only junk food, ice-cream and yogurt parlors, cupcake stores, and upon checkout at many stores a rich array of candy and yes, over-sized soda. The next time you visit your drug store on Main Street (I have three), pay attention to the amount of candy it sells. Candidly, I’m not sure if I walked into a drug store or a candy store.

So, while we want to demonize that one enemy, it does not exist. If weight-loss and better health is your goal, I recommend you leave The Main Street Diet. As Michael Pollan so eloquently states: You can leave the Western diet without leaving civilization. Try it, your waist-line will thank you.

Ken Leebow
Author
101 Incredible Diet, Health, and Lifestyle Tips

I dont think the government telling people what they can drink is the right way to go. I think we need to make smaller servings available for an affordable price. The public has a skewed perception of what a single serving should be. They know they can get more for their money when they buy the extra large for a dollar. The government should be working to make fresh produce and healthy choices affordable for everyone. It’s a shame that low income citizens can eat cheaply from the dollar menu and can’t afford the healthy choices.

Agree with Fooducate on this one – banning oversized soft drinks is just plain common sense. Erosion of liberties? Well, you can’t have an advanced, generously publicly-funded healthcare system (Medicare, Medicaid, non-refusal of emergency room visits regardless of insurance or ability to pay) without reasonable laws protecting and enhancing public health. Want 24 oz soft drinks? Fine, first argue to abolish all spending on public health. Ask Grandma how she’ll cope buying all her Medicare Part D blood pressure drugs _completely_ from her own purse. You can’t come to expect handouts from the government without allowing it to curb your worst impulses for the betterment of all. You argue for one, you argue for the other.

Three things:

I generally agree with George on this issue and that this is not a role the government should get involved in. One would think that if we’re so darned worried about health, we’d restrict cigarette use. After sugary drinks, why not fatty ice cream? High fat and high sugar… a lot worse than a soda in many eyes.

Second, does anyone have any EVIDENCE that this policy will have the intended effect of reducing overweight and obesity? (I’ll answer my own question — “no, there is no evidence”) The obesity epidemic is COMPLEX, and this one policy is not very likely to have a measurable effect.

Third, the problem is complicated by corn subsidies. Soda used to be kind of expensive. Now it is cheaper than milk. The whole conversation about cola companies trying to sell us products is skewed when we take into account that we are underwriting the cost of their most expensive ingredient. Instead of restricting access to the product, end the subsidy and let the customer decide if he/she wants to buy a cola.

I feel that this step is an overall healthier one! People on here have been saying that our liberties are being taken away, and in some aspect that is true. If you want to have the liberty to drink tons of soda in one container then yes, that is being taken away. They are doing it for the publics greater good, and like they said if you want to have more, get more cups of the soda. If you are so worried about the trash that this makes, then don’t have more than one cup. This fight for a better lifestyle is what we are wanting as consumers, but when our “freedoms” are infringed to create steps toward this better lifestyle then we get angry. We want to be healthy, but we don’t want to have to work for it. This is partly what they are doing by enacting this limit on soft drinks, they are helping to create an environment where it is easier to be healthy. We got bigger as companies made it easier to be less healthy, so to reverse that we must get smaller as companies (or limits/legislations) make it easier to be healthy. Sometimes it isn’t just the fact that people are stupid or not educated, but it is the fact that companies make it so easy to choose wrongly. This psychology is exactly what companies want you to buy into, even if it is sub-conscious. This is a step towards a healthier world, nothing more. We are not creating a dystopia in the future because we are regulating sugary drinks that are a luxury and not necessary for daily life. People need to calm down and look at the bigger picture. Sometimes we need a push in the right direction, and this is one of those pushes. Seat belts, that was a push. Cigarette taxing, that was a push. Decrease in the size of soda consumption, that is a push! Calm down people. This is good.