16 oz. Soda Ban Approved By NYC Board of Health

You kinda are pal.

But super senses are cool.

edited 12th Mar '13 7:14:30 PM by TheStarshipMaxima

Yeah, I think that one is all on you DG. I don't know anyone else who can do that.

Eh, I guess it's all my experience from working in food service. I'd come home coated in the stuff.

I've turned into a sort of Diet Coke connoisseur at this point. If you blindfolded me and had me drink from several fast food cups from places in a 10 mile radius of my house, I could tell you where they are all from.

I think it's a combination of differing levels of syrup-carbonation, how much ice is in them, and how skinny the straw is. Yes, skinny straws make it different.

Chipotle and Subway diet coke don't taste much different, nor do Taco Bell and KFC diet pepsi. The big gulps from my local gas station, however, have buttloads of carbonation in them and a low ratio of syrup, so they've got a bit of tang to the taste.

Though I don't actually drink the ridiculous amounts of soda I used to. At work, like now, I only drink tea and water.

DG: I doubt there are enough people like that to justify banning soda. Yeah food services have a way of ruining appetite or tolerance for any number of foods. My wife has issues with certain Greek foods my Ex-couldn't stand popcorn. Both worked alot with those foods all day at work.

DG isn't the only one with a strong sense of smell. I know what she is talking about.

To be more on topic. If Bloomberg really wanted to improve the health of his city in general and not just make some bs show out of it he could have taken other options along side this "soda initiative".

For example helping people get healthier food for starters. Find a way to get people up and off their butts for at least 30 minutes a day. Get more kids in PE actually doing some sort of exercise even if it is just walking for the whole period. Find a way to get adults moving or doing some thing for 30 minutes.

If you want to talk contents of foods. Soda is hardly the only food responsible. How many of you have actually paid attention to you're food labels? The amount of High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, and sugars in our food is staggering. It is in our bread, sauces, even in our meats and sometimes veggies. There are also other factors like a poor education about food in general and poor portion control. These individual issues pile up pretty quickly.

To focus so narrowly on just a single factor is pointless and ignoring so many other factors. It is nothing more then political theatre and nothing else.

edited 12th Mar '13 8:03:55 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Exactly. It's the principle of the thing. There's a reason the poor people in this country eat the worse food and portion sizes are a tiny factor. The real reason is that the government subsidizes corn so much that it's really cheap to put corn syrup in everything that's sweet even though it tastes worse and is less healthy than real sugar. But rather than adressing it by giving advantages for buying healthy food Bloomberg's response is to punish people that consume unhealthy food. No one needs soda but it's cheap and the people on a budget want to buy cheap things so they have enough money to buy other things they need.

I'm of the opinion that exercise is much more helpful than dieting. I mean everyone is different, but people live lives that are way too sedentary now. A lot of folks decry how they are getting fat, when they don't really do anything for fitness these days. Just a half hour every day of hitting the weights or taking a jog/walk does miracles for your health and state of mind.

I turn into an extremely nasty individual if I don't run for 2-3 days or find some way to get my heart racing so I can get some cardio exercise. I just start to feel all lethargic and grumpy.

One thing I'd like to see is more healthy options for people who don't like to/don't know how/don't have time to cook. I've got a horrible diet more or less. When I'm trapped at work I purposely only leave healthy foods around(I've found that greek style yogurt is tasty as fuck and very good for you) and eat tons of that. But really, give me some sort of goddamn nutrient paste, something that can be considered a healthy and balanced diet to indefinitely subsist on and is affordable, and I'll buy it in droves and just eat that. I'm just way too busy/lazy to plan out my meals, so usually it's "I'm hungry.. Ok, jack in the box time."

I eat out way more than I should to be honest, though when I don't I eat rather healthy. Especially fresh game when I hunt(I've got 3 and a half rabbits in my freezer atm, that's good eating right there)

Give me a line of healthy and affordable idiot-proof foods that I can just buy two weeks worth of and be done with it. And none of this healthy choice TV dinner shit, those things are gone in a couple of bites, how about some portions that could be considered actual meals and not a fucking snack?

edited 12th Mar '13 7:38:11 PM by Barkey

DG: I'm like that with alcohol. The scent gets my AMG to base +4.

AMG?

Antennae Mast Group. PATRIOT talk. Unless you are a 14E you won't get the ref.

But on topic, I don't think the govt should dictate what the fuck I eat or drink.

edited 12th Mar '13 7:46:08 PM by MarkVonLewis

"Give me a line of healthy and affordable idiot-proof foods that I can just buy two weeks worth of and be done with it."

(Healthy) Meal Replacement Powders (just add water and chug it down). Of course. Don't expect it to taste good at all. They also come in cans, pre-mixed.

On cost... maybe about a dollar per 200-250 calories. So... 8-10 USD per day per person.

About banning unhealthy foods - If I think about my family and friends (and myself), I'm for it. Let's face it. The food conglomerates has been fine-tuning their products to get us addicted to them. I ain't saying we should be suing them, but I definitely have to agree that they do NOT have their customers' best interest in mind.

However, for strangers - I guess I really don't care. Especially strangers who insist it's their right or something like that. At least we won't get second hand smoke from people who overeat.

Then again, over here - people can't rely on the government for health insurance (and other things). If my country's health safety net was better, I'd probably be NOT happy about people eating themselves sick, despite all the warnings not to.

I've heard subsisting on those meal replacement powders really isn't all that healthy, as a liquid diet isn't good for your organs.

So... pretty much put the populace on MR Es? People would revolt. I know I would.

General hypocrisy and outrage directed at things that don't concern them.

Fighting corn subsidies would do better, but is unlikely to actually get anything done, seeing as those Reps will never touch them.

Although, the equivalent of fast food that's at least relatively healthy would definitely combat it quite a bit. The closest thing I can think of is cafeteria style restaurants where they keep a lot of general food stuffs that are actually vegetable based on hand. Most fast food places focus on either a small set of foods (burgers, tacos) or focus on things they can make really fast. The only thing I can see done with them is to have the stuff ready and just keep it warm. That tends to lead to soggy mush though.

The only other thing I can really think of is frozen dinners. $2 for a moderately sized meal, ready in five minutes. That's probably the best of most options. Problem being that there's only like five decent flavors for any given brand. Dunno, maybe they could make them modular packages?

Not talking about Slimfast or those muscle-building (mostly protein) powders.

I'm talking about the medical ones which doctors would recommend. Proper amounts of carbo, fat, protein and all the req. vitamins. Just add water.

Once again, please don't expect them to taste good at all. But if you don't care about the taste, don't have time to shop, cook, clean OR worry about getting too much sugar, oil, salt, etc. - that's what I'd rec.

edited 12th Mar '13 8:34:08 PM by probablyinsane

MR Es are actually pretty tasty. Depending on the meal.

Yeah the chili, chili mac, or spaghetti with meat sauce ones are pretty good.

No thank you to "food bans" and I will kindly thank you to spend all that money on an educational campaign to tell people about how the preprocessed stuff affects you and your health, rather than simply nannying the choice away from people.

Because 'Secondhand Soda-Drinking' isn't a thing.

And on that same note, no one has gotten into a car accident because they were under the influence of Root Beer.

Seriously comparing Soda to Cigarettes and Alcohol is silly.

edited 12th Mar '13 9:57:56 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Good luck getting that to pass. it'd hit the same wall of "how dare they tell me what to eat"

Midget - Totally disagreed. Self-preservation is a powerful thing.

DG made an excellent point about cigarettes, one a day has barely any serious impact on overall health, and I believe the research shows one every other day is a zero cancer risk.

Meanwhile three sodas a day increases your chances for osteoporosis by at least 30%. I wager not a ton of folks know that. I sure as hell didn't.

I'd like to believe people want to make the decisions that'll prolong their lives. Everyone wants to look like Helen Mirren in their old age. But how many people even know where to begin?

want to? sure.

Most of the poor have long since given up on it even being possible, though.

Food educational campaigns have always been in progress. Though now, it does seem like media is cashing in on (correctly) scaring the general populace about how bad junk food is and happily painting Food CE Os as greedy bastards.

NY Times recently had a very illuminating piece on how food conglomerates trick you into buying junk food that will never satiate you, but you'll still keep on craving for it. Even back then (in the 90's I think), some scientists were telling the CE Os - Dudes, seriously, what you are doing is wrong.

In any case, with regards to junk food and the NYC mayor - I'd have to say that I admire that he's even daring to go up against the giant soda companies and public opinion.

I do think there's other "less divisive" ways he could be doing to tackle the issue, but at least - he's doing something.

Edit: Decided to include link to NY Times article "The Extraordinary Science of Junk Food".

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all

edited 12th Mar '13 10:11:32 PM by probablyinsane

[To clarify my comments. Most poor peple have had "healthy" food out of their price range for so long that they now view it as "rich people food" not "real food"

"real Food" to them is stuff like mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy (which while all fine food choices, probably shouldnt be the cornerstones of a weeekly diet)

There are some good ideas and some ideas I personally disagree with, but as usual, much of this boils down deeply embedded lifestyle choices we are making as a country. Similar to gun control laws, education reform, transportation laws and other regulations, this sounds like a cause of addressing the issue as a temporary solution to a seemingly permanent problem. Of course, it isn't permanent, but the prevalence of obesity and poor eating habits gives one the feeling that it is permanent. That is, we have come to accept obesity and poor eating as normal, so many Americans find it difficult to find long-term motivation to do anything about it. More noticeably, people invent reasons for why they can't eat healthy foods (it's too far away, it's too expensive, it's not tasty, it takes too long to cook) when it seems like several people aren't actually doing their research and attempting to improve their diet.

To be blunt and somewhat curt, many of the comments made in this thread indicate to me that we have a serious problem with discipline, self-motivation, proper budgeting and education. Healthy meals can be cooked quickly, efficiently, and at a low cost, but knowing and understanding this requires a person to really brace themselves for some hard facts about their eating habits and exercise. This is the reason why I say it's a lifestyle problem, not a legislative problem. I'm fairly fond of Michelle Obama's proposal for healthier foods in public schools, and I don't mind some regulation and oversight into soft drinks and other food products. Then again, you bring up irrational gun control proposals, and I do a 180. Americans are funny like that, defending what's personally important to them. I get defensive about some gun control laws because I'm a gun owner, but I tend to be enthusiastic toward food regulation because I'm a strong advocate of fitness and healthy eating and I work out almost everyday. I've also lost a few friends due to obesity-related ailments. Personal experiences make us more biased than we sometimes realize.

We currently live in a society where regular, balanced, healthy meals are perceived as a luxury. We also live in a country where over 61 percent of Americans are overweight, and sedentary living is increasingly regarded as perfectly normal. As someone who grew up very physically playful and extremely active despite also playing lots of video games, this worries me. A big chunk of the issues we're facing in this country (women in combat, guns, smoking, drinking, fast food, education, commerce) can be attributed to our attitude toward them.

I like to drink sodas on rare occasions, and I do mean rare. Not trying to impose on anyone, but it strikes me as pretty crazy when people tell me they can't just drink water all day when your body basically runs on it. Tuefel covered some of my thoughts on the subject. The general public has an abysmally poor understanding of health and fitness.

edited 12th Mar '13 10:20:58 PM by Aprilla