By now, I’m sure everyone has heard that Mayor Bloomberg of New York City is trying to ban all sodas over 16 fluid ounces. If you haven’t heard…… Basically all regular sodas in restaurants, fast food spots, movie theaters and convenient stores would NOT be available for purchase in anything larger than this amount. Diet sodas, juices, and milk-based drinks would not be affected by this. You could still buy the larger amounts in grocery stores or just double up on the 16-oz portions, if you really wanted.
After talking to some friends and reading up on it I have realized…….people are freaking out!! They do not like this one bit. And it’s not because they want a giant portion of coke but because they don’t like the government to limit their choices.
I can honestly understand this side of things and why people would be annoyed. They want to be able to make their own choices about what, when and where to consume things. But in case you haven’t noticed…. The US population does not know how to make choices, especially in terms of nutrition. Why on earth would you need more than 16 oz of soda at one time? I can think of one legitimate reason….You are having a party and need lots of mixers. Right?
Portion sizes have gotten out of control! When McDonald’s first opened, the only size of soda available was 7 ounces. When Burger King first opened their small was 12 oz and their large was 16 oz. Now, the small is 22 oz and the large is 42 oz!!!! And don’t even get me started on Big Gulps! Apparently there is something now called a ‘Double Gulp’ …. it is 64 ounces….and. contains.800. calories. (That is about half the days calories for a small framed woman) From a consumer’s point of view, it has become hard to make good decisions when the larger portion is almost always the better value. Obviously beverage companies do this on purpose and it’s not right in my opinion.
Now, while I would much rather push for nutrition education and community outreach than just straight up banning something,this is a start! (not to mention, nutrition education alone affects very few peoples’ food choices) Americans need to eat less and need to be more responsible about their portion size choices! Whether we like it or not, banning sodas over 16 oz could be really helpful in re-shaping our health as a nation. I support this act 100% and think it should be a nationwide change, not just in NYC.
Where do you stand on this?
Keep Austin Well 