So, Mayor Bloomberg has declared a war against sugary drinks, mostly soda. His goal is to ban such beverages that come in sizes of more than 16 oz.
I understand the rationale behind the move... I really do. The obesity rate in this country is skyrocketing. Kids (as well as adults) are getting fatter and fatter, and lazier and lazier. Whereas visits to McDonald's were a periodic treat when I was a kid, they are daily (sometimes multiple times per day) occurrences in most families. Even Happy Meals have changed. When I was a child, a Happy Meal consisted of a hamburger (or cheeseburger), a small fries, cookies and a small soda. Now, there's not only a Happy Meal but a Big Kid's Meal, which has a DOUBLE cheeseburger, more fries, a bigger soda. Probably cookies or a sundae too. The thing is... children that are 4, 5 and 6 years old are eating Big Kid's Meals.
What does this have to do with sugary drinks? It's all part of the same problem. We can supersize everything. Instead of a 12 or 16 oz soda, we can get a 32 oz soda. Used to be that we could stop at the gas station or convenience store for a 12 oz can of Coke or Pepsi. That morphed into a 20 oz bottle... which morphed into a liter bottle (you know, for a family). Now we can get 1.5 liter bottles for ourselves (because the 1 liter bottle is too small) or a 3 liter bottle.
Every week, at least once a week, there's an article in the newspaper or on TV news about weight and health issues. There's how many "reality" TV shows now about weight loss? The Biggest Loser is (to the best of my knowledge) the grandfather of them all. The thing is, these shows expose many of the ways that society contributes to this plague on humanity. We see how many calories are in the beverages we choose, whether it's sugar-filled Kool Aid, soda, beer, wine, alcohol, fruit juices... whatever. The number of calories we DRINK, on top of the calories we eat??? Shocking to say the least.
To that end... here in NYC, if you go to chain restarants, calorie counts are, by law, printed on the menus. And trust me when I tell you it was quite the rude awakening... at least to me, and just about everyone I've talked to about this. Call it wishful thinking, but I terribly underestimated the number of calories in... well... everything. Everyone thinks salads, for example, are healthy... yet many of the salads that are offered up as a healthy alternative have more calories than some burgers, chicken and/or fish dishes. But i digress....
So, we have calories printed on the menu. And yes, to some degree, that has resulted in behavior changes. Maybe people choose to get a small or medium fries instead of a large fries. Maybe they leave the cheese off their sandwich. Some still order that double quarter pounder with cheese value meal, super size, with a Diet Coke. Each person who places their food order, whether at a fast food joint or a sit down restaurant, makes their own personal choices. Personal choices.
Which brings me to another point... Diet Coke. Diet Pepsi. Sugar free Kool Aid. Crystal Light. Diet Snapple. All of these have something in common... NO sugar. So these beverage options will be exempt from Bloomy's wrath. Right?
EXCEPT that dieticians, doctors, health enthusiasts alike all condemn these diet/sugar free drinks. ALL of them. They are no healthier, and in many ways worse choices, than their sugary counterparts. So why not ban these as well?
In fact, most doctors and health professionals agree that unprocessed foods and drinks are the only GOOD choices for people to make. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables instead of canned or frozen. Lean cuts of meat (IF you feel the need to eat meat at all). Drink lots and lots of water. Maybe some milk if you must (and did you realize MILK has sugar in it??), but almond or coconut milk, or soy milk, would be better. Even though those are, I think, processed alternatives... and the more processed something is the worse it is for us health-wise....
Geez, I have really talked myself into a circle here, haven't I? But isn't that the point? Everything that's good for us, if you look long and hard enough, isn't always going to be good for us. But that mean that stuff that's bad for us really is bad? Maybe. Kind of.
Sugar, I believe, is bad for us. It really is. But what's the difference between the sugar that's found in Coke or Pepsi or Sprite or Dr. Pepper or Gatorade or Red Bull or Kool Aid or some of those "energy" drinks, and the sugar that's found in alcohol? or candy? or hot chocolate? or cookies? or cake? or cupcakes? or brownies? or ice cream? or frozen yogurt?
Super sizing at McDonald's is bad. It IS bad! And does anyone really need a liter, or 2, or 3, of Coke? Probably not. But do we need the King Size Hershey's? Pints, quarts, half gallons or gallons of ice cream? Look at the size of cupcakes from Crumb! Are we still going to have the freedom to buy a bottle of booze or wine? They are, after all, more than 16 oz, and FULL of sugar!
Although it may appear that I've kind of digressed a bunch and talked in circles, at the end of the day, I have to concur that I understand that obesity is killing us. How can I not concur when I have struggled with my weight my e n t i r e life? But I don't know that this ban on soda or sugary beverages is or can be effective. For the sake of arguments, let's say that ALL non-plain-water beverages are banned and no one ever drinks a drop of them again. We still get to buy burgers and pizza and fries and cake and cookies and ice cream and a whole host of other sugary, evil, fattening, fried foods. We are still a lazy lot of people, overall. We still spend the majority of our time on our butts at work, sitting in a car or on a train or on a bus, at the movies, sleeping, etc. We are under-active overall. So, how is banning the purchase of a 20 oz bottle of Coke going to solve the problem of obesity? It simply will not.
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