WebMD Community Talk Show

I remember growing up and fast food was a treat, maybe once a week. Unfortunately soda was not, it was always around the house and i drank enough of it to fill a swimming pool. Thankfully i was a very active child, I was always outside and involved with sports. I played my fair share of video games but those were on rainy days and at night after i wore myself out, playing ball. Over the years i have become a bit more health conscious and i have almost cut out soda completely, ill have a can every couple of weeks or so. After drinking it, i feel horrible, im bloated and my stomach feels like its going to burst. Now i typically drink only water, coffee and the occasional beer(responsibly). I know that the world has changed and it has gotten more hectic, when i was growing up both my mother and father worked. My mom also helped take care of her mother and her aunt, both of which were sick. So if there is anyone with an excuse to pick up fast food it was her...oh and she was also studying for her Master's Degree. But we had a home cooked meal almost every night and as i said, fast food/pizza was seen as a treat.

As for the governments involvement in preventing restaurants from selling "large" drinks, i think is a little bit over the top. But to all the patriots out there who are tired of losing our civil liberties and our rights, you do realize that we have been getting our civil liberties taken from us for quite some time now...You should be outraged, but over sodas? What happened to a Government by the people, of the people and for the people. In a democracy the voters should have all the control and the power, we lost that control as soon as big business and corporations started to fund campaigns, they gained all the power. Im willing to bet that when Gloomberg runs for reelection, Coca Cola and McD's will give one heck of a donation to his opposition, under one condition, repeal this law.

Back to the portion size and soda thing, if you look at many european nations, and compare a snickers bar (or mars, etc) to the euro version, their version is practically half the size. Soda's the same way. Maybe its the fact that they arent worked to death and get almost 5 weeks of vacation a year, i know id be a heck of a lot more relaxed knowing that every 2 months i could go away for a week to unwind. Stress is a big part of obesity, many americans eat when they are hungry or upset...i bet alot of those stresses come from work. Dont get me wrong, this country was built on hard work, dedication and on the backs of the men and women who defend her. But if we stepped back and looked at ourselves, work is a main cause of obesity in this country, its what leads to no time to cook, exercise and even relax. But because of the big companies looking to raise their stock prices and out perform last year, they will cut staff and one person will now have to do the work of two. That single parent wont have the time to make a home cooked meal or get to the gym. Or evenworse, they work two jobs to make ends meet. Companies are turning out Billion dollar profits, yet they are cutting worker, hours and pay. So those under-employed and unemployed submit to the junk food that is passed thru a drive-up window, because it is cheap and affordable.

I apologize for the rant...

Whenever my husband and I go to a movie or out driving, we'll get a 44 oz. Diet Coke and split it, it's cheaper that way. I think banning large size drinks is asinine! Don't want fat people? Here's a clue: Mcdouble $.99, Salad $4.99... do the math!

and that is an individuals choice, if they want to get so obese they cannot work. its up to them not the government. maybe instead of attachking "big sodas" they need to regulate whats being put into our food instead of choosing the fast, cheap, easy way out. if you put food in front of my face and im hungry, im going to eat it. so yea lets fill our streets with sode, fast food, grease, then blame "lazy americans" for the obesity epidemic. its not US its them. we are are only human. most of our food is filled with so much fatening crap, i mean as a full time working mother i know i need time with my child, work time, sleep time, time to cook....so usually im stuffing my face with crap instead of worrying about what a 32oz soda is going to do with me. this is ridiculous really. there are bigger issues, but lets all conceentrate on soda. thats the real enemy here apparently

You want to see this country lose weight? Make a twinkie 20 bucks and an apple 25 cents. Make two liters of soda 4.00 and make bottled water and 100% juices 1.20 for the same size. The moment we can't afford Junk food but the cost of veggies and fresh produce goes down you'll automatically see a drop in weight across the entire country. As a mother of 4 with a sedentary 8 hour workday, and a very limited schedule, I live on a budget and have very little free time for working out. I have to make my dollar stretch and so do many other people in this current economy. It's still more expensive to eat healthy. Make the junk expensive and make our healthy foods more affordable and you'll see changes. Everyone is affected by the almighty dollar so hit 'em where it hurts. The pocket book.

Yes, it is right to ban businesses from selling super size sugary drinks. Usually a person only takes a single drink, so if they don't have option of super size drinks then probably they will go for smaller size drinks. These limitations will definitely help cut down obesity, diabetes, and chronic heart disease.

Where's a like button when you need it.. Seriously, this is so true.. I work 50 plus hours a week and have stayed up at night, crying, because I'm terrified I won't be able to afford to feed my child nutritious meals. When are those in control going to stop villianizing the obese and start doing something about the real issue! Banning supersized soda is not going to do anything as long as you can still buy 5 bottles of soda for the same price as one gallon of milk!!!

While people could order multiple drinks, limiting their size would work like a pre-measured 100 calorie snack. Many people would only want one and realize that that amount fulfilled their craving or thirst.

Just another way our government is trying to control what we can and can not do.They are trying to be a dictator type government.

WOW, who elected this guy? i can't believe he even proposed this!!! this is taking away our constitutional right as americans to choose as we want. if i want a drink that is 32oz or better yet 64oz then i have the right to get it! if i want to be obese or thin that is my choice and my choice alone. cause after all on a hot summer day there is nothing better than an ice cold pepsi.

"there are bigger issues..."

Here are a few facts mentioned in the recently aired HBO special, "The Weight of the Nation"

• "Obesity is driving the epidemic of diabetes."
• "57% of the kids in Philadelphia are overweight or obese."
• "A Child born in 2000 has a 1 in 3 lifetime chance of having diabetes...If that child is African American or Latino, its 1 in 2. "
• "Being overweight or obese increases a child's risk of developing asthma by 52%."
• "Obesity is such that this generation of children could be the first basically in the history of the United States to live shorter lives than their parents."

Its becoming common place: Parents attending their child's funeral.



Tell me, AmandaDanielleBrown...What "bigger issues" are bigger than that?

Agree!

like i said a big soda is probably the least of our worries. Taco Bell, Wendys, McDonalds, JAck n the Box, all of those fast food restaraunts the governent puts on the streets and they want to complain about sodas? they need to reavaluate some things and if they want to make a change as it was said before...they need to make healthier food cheaper during this money crisis and probably close down some of the fast food restaurants. its not just soda, its not just parents, its the government as well. a 32 oz soda compared to a mcdonalds cheeseburger PLEASE tell me whats worse. and maybe if those parents did not want to attend any funerals, they would limit their childs intake on these items. its responsibility as well. i have no real sympathy for a parents who enables an obese child with fatty foods and such...sorry i dont but its just how i feel. it is horrible we are experiencing this epidemic but i mean like ive BEEN saying its not just soda, theres bigger issues than that if we want to get through this "epidemic"

I thik it's all very well to complain about having your rights infringed but if you're not doing anything about being too fat by yourself what should happen? Should the govt sit back and let it all happen or should they step in. Seems to me like it's a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation.

Other countries have dealt with this by imposing a "sin tax" (and there are places in the US that have too...) on foods that are have too high a sugar or fat content. Is that the solution? Denmark taxes food that is in excess of 2.3% saturated fat. France has a soda tax. It's all money into the bank but in countries where they have real medical cover, every little helps. It really IS important to prevent obesity for them. Should they make fast, fatty and/or sugary processed food more expensive to buy or cut back on portion size ... or simply do nothing?

When does personal responsibility come into play? No one is forcing people to indulge in these things that cause weight problems and are taxing on the body. When people get into a self caused crisis the blame is quickly shifted to another source.

FCL, I can see why most comments express outrage and view Bloomberg's legislation as an atrocious abuse of power. Its not an unreasonable view, at all...


At the same time, though, I think the time has come where the War against Avoidable Disease...Obesity, Diabetes, Arthritis, Alzheimer's, Heart Disease...has reached a watershed. It's fish or cut bait...It's f*kin' "GO" time.

imo, the War against "Avoidable" Disease is a war we can not win unless freedoms we've enjoyed since the founding of this country are violated. We've eaten our right to be free.
Consider the problem from this perspective..

• What kind of war is win-able where we openly encourage the sale and dissemination the very weapons (processed food) that threaten to bankrupt us?
• What kind of war is win-able when our government, whom we've entrusted to protect our freedom, is subsidizing the production of weapons (meat and dairy) we hope to defeat?
• What kind a war is win-able where we not only encourage the enemy, but spend billions of dollars to treat and heal so they may return, at a later date, to re-deplete our resources, further?

There once was a time when war was fought fair, when war was "civil"...The only way we can defeat avoidable disease is get nasty...gut their food supply. We have to declare uncivil war.

Think Bloomberg's law is not fair? Just wait a bit more...

You aint seen nothin' yet.