Food, Drink & Dining Out NYC bans soft drinks over 473ml

[Bunk Moreland]

... in movies, cafes and fast-food joints. You can still get the pre-packaged bottles in stores etc.

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/supersized-debate-on-how-much-soft-drink-is-too-much-20120914-25wkj.html

I must admit my first reaction was “NANNY STATE!!!!!”

But as I think about it... I’m not sure it’s such a bad thing. Apparently some fast food joints are offering them between 1 and 2 litres... is that just taking advantage of children and the weak? Seeing as though over-eating can often be linked to mental health etc.

I mean... if someone really wants extra, they can just buy two. Nobody’s stopping you from doing that.

But I also think, let be people responsible for their own decisions... bit torn on this one. Thoughts?

 

[Quivorir]

I think if places want people to eat healthy, make the heathy option ****ing cheaper than the junk option. Shits me how if I want to eat something nice I pay 2 times (or more) as much than a packet of chips.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

You get what you pay for I guess... quality wise.

Guess there’s a case to be made for taxing shit food higher, and cutting taxes on healthier stuff. Always hard to draw the line and police though.

 

[hawkaz1]

Thread needs more litreacola.


But seriously, if people want diabetes then let them have it, the last thing the world needs is more unnecessary legislation.

 

[Miqar_Baqfhied]

Great move. Hopefully this is the start cos America obesity problem is way out of hand, and whatever America does the rest of the world does.

Did you know: Amercans make up 1/3 of the entire world's human fat mass yet 7% of the worlds population.

 

[PP34]

Thread needs more litreacola.


But seriously, if people want diabetes then let them have it, the last thing the world needs is more unnecessary legislation.

This. You can't tell people what to eat and drink. If they choose to eat way too much junk and bad food then let them.

 

[Tulip]

Just another excuse to reel in the proceeds from people buying 2 drinks. Regulating what people drink to 473m? Ridiculous! Let people drink what they want with their ****ing lunch. I might drink soft-drink once during the week and a few times on the weekend, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to be told how much I can have by someone who knows sweet **** all about me. The loophole that you can buy multiple drinks and put double the money in the hands of the manufacturers and therefore the government: How convenient!

 

[PP34]

Just another excuse to reel in the proceeds from people buying 2 drinks. Regulating what people drink to 473m? Ridiculous! Let people drink what they want with their ******* lunch. I might drink soft-drink once during the week and a few times on the weekend, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to be told how much I can have by someone who knows sweet **** all about me. The loophole that you can buy multiple drinks and put double the money in the hands of the manufacturers and therefore the government: How convenient!

Exactly, governments have far too much control over stuff that they shouldn't. Like you said desperate people will just buy another drink.

 

[zimma]

I think if places want people to eat healthy, make the heathy option ******* cheaper than the junk option. Shits me how if I want to eat something nice I pay 2 times (or more) as much than a packet of chips.

This shits me in food courts and the like, mcdonalds or kfc meal = $6, a roll with toppings and no drink $8... Wish somebody would open up a cheap but healthy chain, I mean some of these places charge $6 for a Cheese toastie, let alone saw one place charging $5 for a plain sandwich with vegemite. No freaking way that should be more than a happy meal.

 

[zimma]

Also just occurred to me 473ml is rather small, less than what you even get with many meals here. Very rarely finish a 600ml bottle in one sitting though. Also american versions of the same soft drinks tend to be worse for you as well I guess, loaded with corn syrup.

 

[Northern_Swan]

473 ml is approximately equal to a Medium coke at McDonald's. While I can see what they are trying to achieve, having been to the states and experienced the whole litre o cola thing, 473ml is overkill

 

[HappyChappy35]

I fail to see what doing this will ultimately achieve, and I honestly don't understand why governments are trying to regulate things like this in order to tackle obesity. Are human beings really that lazy and stupid that we need the government to encourage us to eat healthily?
There's not much they can do as far as I'm concerned, at the end of the day the onus is on the general public to make healthy choices when it comes to food. The government shouldn't be deciding what we can/can't eat, people should actually make the decision themselves to eat healthily. Simple as that.

 

[The Passenger]

i'm in a real bind here.... i'm a massive advocate for people deciding what they should put into their bodies.

the difference between drugs, alcohol etc,. is that its 95% of the time an adult making that decision to drink/smoke/inject/ do whatever with it..... but when it comes to soft drinks and lollies and shit food like that, it's specifically targeted at kids who aren't capable of making proper informed decisions....

i'm a bit pissed now so not to be honest i'm not sure how i feel about it.

and before someone goes how can you compare soft drink to drugs, i'm gonna very happily state soft drink ain't much better for you than drugs.

 

[THRILLHO]

I'm not totally against limiting the sale of soft drinks. I've done some work with people from low socio-economic areas and they are completely oblivious as to how toxic Coke is. And of course this filters down to their kids who grow up thinking that this is normal behaviour and are caught in the obesity trap before they even have a chance.

I'd probably prefer governments to put a warning label (just a small indicator of the level of sugar in each bottle - doesn't need to stand out against the packaging) but I'm not sure that will really achieve anything. It's sad that we allow such government control but there are so many morons out there who have no idea and need government intervention.

I'd personally be all over a restriction on the sale of energy drinks to kids under the age of 16. They are dreadful and deliberately target advertising at children who willingly oblige and walk to school draining a Red Bull on the way. To me, that's a bigger issue than soft drink.

 

[matt_897]

Wait this actually went through. i remember Jon Stewart going on about this on the daily show a couple of months back. Geez, I'm looking forward to in 50 years time where we all become the same, drive at 20 km/h and eat carrots for breakfest, lunch and dinner.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I kind of support this. Probably slows down the cultural element of it, y'know. If kids are brought up with larger portions, they'll see it as the norm, and make it a normal part of their lifestyle/diet.

Plus less health issues results in less hospital bills, obviously. That's good for the individual and the state.

 

[courtjester]

No one should ever drink soft drink, ever. End of story.

It's basically toxic. If you make the decision, right now, to stop drinking it, your health will improve remarkably. And amazingly, you can get a far better option for free from your tap.

http://www.sugarstacks.com/beverages.htm

 

[courtjester]

 

[matt_897]

No one should ever drink soft drink, ever. End of story.

Ok, sir....

 

[courtjester]

Ok, sir....

What's the sir shit? Seriously, why would anyone put that crap in their body regularly?

I'm amazed at people who whinge that they can't lose weight, but they drink 1 or 2 litres of Coke a day. It amuses me no end to see people who get out of breath pushing a supermarket trolley around Coles then fill it up with 10 two litre bottles of Coke.

 

[matt_897]

Seriously, why would anyone put that crap in their body regularly?

The same reason why anyone wants to do anything, because they enjoy it. People should have their own right to choose what they want to do your bodies. We should be encouraging kids to try and eat healthy and all that stuff, of course but adults have a right to choose. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean other people don't enjoy it.

By the way, considering your display picture has a guy with a ciggy in it you should know that...

 

[courtjester]

Everything is good in moderation. And I'm all for people's right to choose.

But a lot of soft drink is one of the worst things you can do to your body.

I never inhaled....

 

[Keys]

No one should ever drink soft drink, ever. End of story.

It's basically toxic. If you make the decision, right now, to stop drinking it, your health will improve remarkably. And amazingly, you can get a far better option for free from your tap.

http://www.sugarstacks.com/beverages.htm

Says the bloke posting with an avatar showing someone smoking

 

[courtjester]

Cool story, but it's been said already...

 

[Mooster7]

If you want to be the champion for health, Jester, stop advocating having marshamallows with Coke. The Coke is quite enough.

The obesity problem is caused by lack of exercise. Studies have shown that Americans aren't really eating all that more than they were 30 years ago, but that getting off your ass doing something has become a lost art. When I was a kid we went out and played every single day. The outdoors was our amusement. We played sport, went swiiming, hunting, fishing, riding bikes, hiking - you name it. At night we played hide and seek. We hated getting called in for supper. We came in, wolfed our dinner down so we could back outside. We hated getting called in for bed. We wanted to stay out and play. We were outside being active rain, shine or snow. That carried over into our adult lives....most of us.

Today I see all kinds of fat kids and I know they aren't eating any more than I did. I also know they aren't being active. Their idea of being active is having one hand on a TV remote and the other hand in a bag of chips. The most activity they have in a given day is jacking off. Well, we did that too on top of everything else.

This New York bullshit is definitely nanny state nonsense. No two ways about it. I'm not surprised at all and it's almost entirely NYC. SoCal will follow up soon. As for the rest of the country, we'd just as soon saw off NYC, Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Fracisco and let them them float off into their respective oceans so they can have their own little islands of ****wittery and leave the rest of us alone with their godam lefty socialist nanny agendas.

Relatively speaking, there are no truly "bad" foods when taken in moderation. There is only way to maintain an ideal body weight and that is to have balance between energy intake and energy output. Every fad diet, every claim of a miracle super food and every evil food witch hunt invariably falls flat in the face of science. You lose weight by doing more. You gain weight by a combination of eating more and doing more. Inarguable.

Peace & pass the marshmallows