City planning to ban sale of oversized sweetened drinks

It's a proposal, not a confirmed plan. It's a limited restriction on the sale of super-sized drinks, not a ban. Here's an excellent opinion piece by a New York Times columnist with lots of comments.

My view: It's sad that it's had to come to this, I personally have plenty of "individual responsibility" in the weight area, but the obesity problem has gotten completely out of hand, it affects children, and it is costly for everyone. This is one small suggestion that may make people think, just as listing the calorie content for foods in many restaurants has caused some folks to think about how much they're eating.

More than 1 in 3 Americans is classified as obese.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/opinion/sunday/bruni-trimming-a-fat-city.html?_r=1&hp

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Mayor B may think he's helping, but he's just furthering the big brother prediction. Washington state already has a good handle on it. They have the second highest tobacco tax (next to NY) and they just put new taxes on convenience store items like candy bars, sodas, bottled water and 6-packs of beer. In the past 3 years the cigarette tax has gone up several times at $1.00, $1.50 at a time. The only place cigarettes cost more is NYC. If you are poor, don't move to WA unless you want the state to run your life. You may want to make an advance trip to pick your overpass bridge, because they are ALL crowded. WA has a multi-billion dollar tourism industry and do you think they would tax that instead of burdening their residents? Heck no!

If people keep okaying the sin taxes, what you can purchase will be based on income level. Like.. oh, you want to buy a bakery cake for your kid's birthday? Well, let's see... you make $30,000 per year so you don't qualify for a bakery cake. Go home and bake your own cake.

Recently, our state government threw out the voter's requirement that the state legislature needs a 2/3 majority to raise taxes and changed it to a simple majority, (over 50%). There's a new petition to vote the old method back in. Our state legislators just change anything to their liking without regard to the voter's wishes. Just like the vote several times to quit supporting a pro basketball team (Sonics) in Seattle (which all county residents pay taxes to support). Finally the Sonics moved out and now, without regard for voter's wishes, they are finagling to get another pro team in Seattle. It seems pro ball clubs can't afford to support themselves AND make hundreds of millions of $$$. So, we pay for the stadiums, pay through the nose to attend and THEY collect the profits. The team owners don't even consider running a team like a business anymore. They don't have to, because people just lay down and let big business trample all over them.

If I were younger, I would be out there protesting these issues. If we all just sit on our a$$es, we will no longer have ANY choices as the state or feds will decide for us with the slant being toward what works best for rich people and corporations.

Ahhh.. if feel a *little* better. Pardon my manners, I got off subject a little.

The government should not be involved in anyones individual choice. They are banning soda over 16oz but not milkshakes, or juices which can be just as caloric. Ridiculous. The government has more important things to do than becoming food police in what I drink or do.

The fact of the matter is, if someone wants to drink 32 oz of soda, they are still going to drink 32 oz of soda, they will just get two. Stupid. Bloomberg also wanted to ban salt.

I could care less. I don't drink Soda much at all. I surely don't want my son to drink a Large Coke.

I see what he is trying to do..

This is what I think should happen. If your over 10-15% over weight. You should have higher insurance. If you smoke or Chew you pay more.. Even if you buy Life Insurance you have to take a swab test to see if you are a tobacco user. Then if you are they charge you a higher rate. I also think Food Stamps should be limited to only Healthy. Just my 2 cents.

No one complained when they gradually went up, so... Bring them down. The corporations that sell this sugar are now making cups that are 52 ounces. For 99 cents at gas stations, full of Mountain Dew.

Remember when a bag of chips used to be fun sized? Now they are 99 cents and contain 5 servings and people eat the whole bag because it looks like a normal bag now.

Because they choose too, nobody looks at the bag and says "Oh this is a normal size bag so I can eat the whole thing" They should be intelligent enough to turn the bag over and read the nutritional label. You have personal responsibility in what you put in your body, if you want to eat 5 servings of potato chips that's your prerogative. Just because someone is dumb and lazy to read nutritional labels shouldn't require government intervention.

I love it!

I could not care less about how many oversized sweetened drinks adults drink, or frankly, anything else the do as long as it does not affect me.

The problem is that I see kids drinking these things more than adults these days. Oversized sweet drinks and fire cracker cheetos in the morning.

That is a problem. I am a Junior Achievement volunteer and the size of kids in middle school is astonishing compared to when I was in school.

But when you were in school did you sit on the computer when you got home or play video games all day? Because I didn't, I was outside playing until the street lights came on and my parents never gave me money to carry to school, I got hot lunch or I got cold lunch (bring your own).

FOR. I think America needs to do it as a whole, we need to start educating ourselves about what a real serving size is and how much we really should be eating

I was just reading an article about how America needs to get rid of the idea of "personal responsibility" when it comes to health choices because pretty much no one is smart enough to make them for themselves. I feel like this is pretty much the same thing.