(CNN) – New York City officials are proposing banning the sale of large-size sodas and other sugary beverages at restaurants and food carts.
“More than half of NYC adults (58%) are overweight or obese,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg tweeted Thursday. “We’re doing something about it.”
Read full story: New York City seeks to ban big sodas from restaurants, food carts – CNN.com.
This is another one of those feel good regulations that accomplishes almost nothing. Mayor Bloomberg has already led the charge helping banning most transfats and lowering sodium. Is anyone thinner? Not to mention, all of these regulations appear to be aimed squarely at fast food places.
Don’t get me wrong, people in this country need to eat healthier and lose weight, but is it the government’s place to regulate people into eating healthy? Not in my book, We all see how much banning substances has helped in the past; Just look at prohibition or the war on drugs.
We need much better nutritional education starting in grade school. The scare tactic commercials are a great start but no substitute for starting on nutrition education early!
Just watch this:
How much do you want that soda now?
As a kid who grew up in the 90s and had soda every day, no one told me how bad soda is for you. Heck, I doubt my mother realized the negative health effects of soda. My nutrition education was very basic at best. In the 7th grade, we took health class and spent maybe one class period (45 mins) on the food pyramid. Has that changed yet? We need to start teaching kids proper nutrition in the 1st and 2nd grades and pound it into their heads all the way through high school if want to nip the obesity epidemic in the bud. At best it will take a generation or two to stem the tide.
Only when people have all the facts can they make educated decisions.
I applaud Mayor Bloomberg for doing something but more regulation doesn’t help anyone.
When I was a kid and a teen, I was also drinking sugared sodas, and never worried about it — it’s probably responsible for me gaining 30 kg of overweight right back in my teens that still persist. We also didn’t have education about this. In my early 20ies, I began to prefer mineral water and black coffee (without sugar or milk). It made me feel much better overall and prevented gain additional overweight. Since I’m a software developer, my brain needs a lot of sugar, so I have to be careful with the sugar intake. I usually keep some sweets on the ready when I can’t concentrate.