Thursday Morning Coffee Talk!

[Deleted User]

Morning all! Been busy being awesome and getting my dream job....thanks to @thefinder for picking up the coffee talk slack!

I need my ~O) this morning so let's have a nice chat!

Topic on the table: NYC soda control

Question on the table: Do you think it's right for NYC to ban sodas larger than 16oz in a restaurant setting? Will it have any effect? Should the government decide how much soda and what size glass you can have?

~O) ~O) ~O)

mommydelirious

So pop's gonna become a controlled substance? What next? Butter Police raids at supper time? Captain Crunch Busts under the cover of darkness? Secret Covert Ops to smuggle Chips over the boarder?
May sound harsh, but if people drink enough soda to endanger their lives and possibly die early/have heath problems than maybe we should let them. Of course there is the option to have some kind of clause insurance wise to protect companies for having to pay for our bad food choices but that seems sorta...well... live or let die.

PurpleFlowers

^^^ this, exactly

Ophelia

Being a reformed Pepsi addict, I can kinda see where they're coming from. I was drinking 4-6 cans a day. I was way overweight When I stopped drinking it, almost 30lbs just fell off. My knees don't hurt now, I hardly ever feel sick.. imo making it so they can't sell more than 16oz is kinda doing people a favor. I mean, really, those big gulp things from 7-11 are like buckets! No one needs to drink a bucket of soda!

Ps those fuckers better leave butter alone!

ImWendy

So... What about refills?

This is ridiculous. I wouldn't have a problem with the soda industry having regulations for less sugar and more natural ingredients, though.

shadylane

I think its fucking ridiculous, its just one step closer to the government controlling every aspect of our lives. This is no longer a free country. One by one over the years they take away our freedoms and its so gradual we don't even notice it. They say its for our own good and we blindly follow along. This a waste of time and money, if someone wants more soda they're going to buy it. Is there going to be a limit on how many they can buy too? If not, its redundant. U can only buy up to certain size, but u can buy as many as u want. Stupid. If its so bad for us did they ever think of regulating the soda companies themselves? If its so awful why does the FDA allow them to sell it? That should be where they start, not trying to control the amount the customers consume. That would be like trying to tell people they can only take so much of a bad prescription drug instead of taking it off the market.

tothemoonandback

I think there's a whole lot of other things worth regulating than that.. take it off the consumers and start forcing restaurants/product manufacturers to abide by stronger health codes. As a non soda drinker, I have never understood having more than a few swallows of it during a meal, but that's ridiculous (regulation).. personal responsibility is being lost.

shadylane

Lol it took me 10 minutes to write that and @ImWendy says it in 2 before I can get it out

scotiamama

Mornin' all.

If people want to drink 32oz of pop.... They are just going to buy 2 16oz pops. Not going to solve anything imo.

MarySunshine

I think it's stupid. Survival of the fittest! This coming from someone who drinks at least one 16oz cup of soda a day. It used to be more, but DS can reach shit and he likes to dump cups...

I'm with everyone else on the "What's next?" bandwagon. Speak out against it now ladies, before they come for our chocolate!

ImWendy

Lol. Sorry @shadylane

kmetz44

Personal responsibility is almost gone. Between people suing Mcdonalds because THEY spilled hot coffee on their crotch and this pretty soon we will all have to wear bubble wrap to step out of the door. I'll go a step further, the only role the gov should play in the food areas is enforcing the labeling laws so peoplecan read the ingredients and decide for themselves if they want to eat it. I also think helmet/ seat belt laws are dumb to, but I don't want to derail the convo

[Deleted User]

Regulate the industry, not the individual...

Katescrazymom

Stupid. People who want more will get more. I could see the point more here in Canada where we have public healthcare, but it's still stupid. If something shouldn't be consumed, then don't allow it to be sold as food. There's a regulation for them. What's next, a required daily vitamin?

Demanda

Oh my God. Lol. Of all the thing wrong with American society...let's regulate soda pop.

I'd have to agree with @imwendy and @shadylane - regulate the manufacturers instead.

BookMum

Its bullshit. America is slowly turning into Nazi Germany. As a whole, we are not a "fat, sick and nearly dead" country because of soda. America is a "fat" country because the healthy foods are expensive, period. Minumim wage is too low, taxes too high and the cheap foods, which are all some people can afford, are almost always shit foods. The system is fucked.

chaosmom

I don't see where regulating the biggest size drink would help anything. You can't buy a 20 oz but you can buy a 2 liter? How does that make sense??

If they want to regulate something, they should start with high fructose corn syrup.

iamslowlygoingcrazy

I agree with all of you ladies, it's absurd! Regulate the industry, not the consumer. Besides, I think the problems with obesity are far more complex than drinking soda!

BellaBefana

It's ridiculous...I feel like "big brother" watching...yes, we have an obesity problem in this country, but attempting to control what I eat and drink is just plain wrong...

CanadianMama

I'm going to be the opposing voice here;
American fast food companies have larger portion sizes than Canadian ones. I was SHOCKED at the size of a medium pop, the medium was our large, the large? Unnecessarily large! Why shouldn't a government tell major fast food companies to stop selling the gigantic sizes? In Canada we have laws about trans fats, and sodium contents, I don't understand why limiting the amount of gigantic pops people get at fast food restaurants is a big deal, at all. The obesity rates alone warrant the government to do something. This isn't a freedom question, this is a health question.

And I want to add; 2L bottles are family size, these cups are for individual consumption.

Also if the US is a less free country, it isn't because of this; it's because of things like citizens united, and the patriot act.

Lol final note; they are regulating the industry. They're telling McDonalds to cut down a size, they aren't saying you can't buy five pops and drink them yourself.

MarySunshine

I agree with @BookMum
If healthy food was far more affordable half of the obesity problem would be taken care of. When you have to stretch a $100 of course hamburger helper and ramen are going to be staples. They were for us our first year of marriage. Cheap ground beef and a box of HH....we ate that shit at least twice a week.

Pigeon

I have to agree with @CanadianMama but I also agree with @BookMum the government should be acting to downsize the portions AND making healthy food choices more affordable. This is a double edged sword and no matter what you do, there will be unhappy people.

CanadianMama

This is a city bylaw though, so I'm not sure what they could do to make healthy food more affordable. That is a federal, lobbyist, corporate personhood issue.

PhDMommy

I'm with @CanadianMama on this one.
It seems to me like a regulation on the fast-food (and other restaurant) business not on individuals. Many places offer free refills and as far as I'm aware there is nothing stopping you from buying more than one.

momofdbb

I usally get the small anyway. I will admit I get refils and drink way to much soda. Xh always gets the largest dink he can, at one of the palces he normally stops ( I am not there to cook so he just eats out 95% of th time and can not figure out why he has gained close to 50 ponds. ) he gets the 44oz. Oddly enough he always drinks diet , he is diabetic.

unforgiven

Is this for real?! Lol. Wouldn't they just order 3 - 16oz drinks? Who thinks of this stuff? Is the government really that bored that they want a say in how much pop I drink? Wow.

canadamom

I don't think this comes from a "take away my freedom" place but from a fiscally responsible place. Government is having to pay for some of the costs associated with obesity, so they must take steps to try and curb obesity before it banckrupts the states. Dealing with this epidemic, seems to be going down the same road as the smoking cessation lobby went - making it increasingly difficult to get the product, limiting the places you can consume the product. I can even see regulations eventually coming on advertising the product or allowing those under a certain age to be able to purchase the product.

The food industry must be reorganized to eliminate high fructose corn syrup and to grow real food and you can bet that industry will fight just as hard as big tobacco did. Look at the influence they had when Obama wanted to limit french frie consumption and increase veg components of school lunches. Lobbyists in Congress, got the congress to water down his changes to include fries every day and pizza as a vegetable. Even though those people voting knew to water down that Act would negatively affect millions of school aged kids - what kind of morals do these people have that they would not do the best for the children of a nation and instead do what was best for themselves.

Nutritional education will be as an important component as smoking edcuation was. Societal pressures and education campaigns turned the smoking rates from 70% of adults to 30% of adults, and I expect anti-obesity campaigns will do the same. Government needs healthy people to have a healthy society and a healthy country.

CanadianMama

@unforgiven they aren't telling you how much pop you are allowed to drink, the NYC government is controlling the maximum size of cup a fast food restaurant can sell you.

Totally agree @canadamom

Sammie

@canadamom and @canadianmama said everything I planned on saying and they said it very well :) On the surface, I can totally see the "What the hell? Get out of my business reactions?" but the reasons for taking such steps go far deeper than wanting to control a specific individual's soda consumption.

scotiamama

momofdbb said:
I usally get the small anyway. I will admit I get refils and drink way to much soda. Xh always gets the largest dink he can, at one of the palces he normally stops ( I am not there to cook so he just eats out 95% of th time and can not figure out why he has gained close to 50 ponds. ) he gets the 44oz. Oddly enough he always drinks diet , he is diabetic.

Can you really buy a 44oz drink?! :O when I said 32oz in the last post, I thought I was being a smartass, cause I didn't even think 32oz was sold.

PhDMommy

scotiamama said:

Can you really buy a 44oz drink?! :O when I said 32oz in the last post, I thought I was being a smartass, cause I didn't even think 32oz was sold.

I don't know if they still sell it or not but at one point KFC sold a 64 oz size...

Sammie

Yes @phdmommy. I've seen the 64oz as well. I always see guys at the gas station going in to fill them up. They are HUGE cups. They are usually the plastic ones meant for refills, so it's probably a regular/daily thing for a lot of them. That's a LOT of freaking soda!!!!

BellaBefana

I personally feel that selling this size is ridiculous...first of all they're mostly ice so by the time you finish it, it's water, but if you want to waste your money on a 32+ oz cup of pop, it's up to you. These huge size drinks are ways for ff companies to make a boatload of profit, even if they do offer free refills...most people only get one, I mean, geez, how long can you sit at McD's?

scotiamama

I'm speechless... really. 64oz?!

Maybe that ban is a good idea

CanadianMama

@scotiamama I was really stunned at the beverage sizes they offer at US fast food restaurants, they are MUCH larger than what we have here.

I want to stress again that this is a municipal by law (much like the law in San Fran eliminating happy meal toys). This isn't the federal government, this is a city. Also, no one is telling YOU how much pop you can drink, they're telling restaurants what sizes they can sell. That's a HUGE difference.

momnipotent

kmetz44 said:
Personal responsibility is almost gone. Between people suing Mcdonalds because THEY spilled hot coffee on their crotch and this pretty soon we will all have to wear bubble wrap to step out of the door. I'll go a step further, the only role the gov should play in the food areas is enforcing the labeling laws so peoplecan read the ingredients and decide for themselves if they want to eat it. I also think helmet/ seat belt laws are dumb to, but I don't want to derail the convo

about the mcdonalds thing.. there was a documentary on that. I advise checking it out, or at least looking at the pictures of what that tea did to that poor womans legs. mcdonalds is 95% at fault there. there is no need for liquid to be THAT hott. the burns they put on her were greusome.
@kmetz44

fantasticalmama

Mayor Bloomberg must be really bored in NYC right now to start a nationwide debate on soda/pop. All it will do is increase the cost of consumption with little effect to the amount being consumed. People seem to be more concerned about the big brother aspect of the law then the actual smaller drinks. I wonder if it will also effect starbucks 800 calorie white chocolate mocha's or jamba juices 1500 cal in a 24 oz.

wtfwit

I can drink a 32oz of dr pepper in an hour or 2.. It takes me all day to drink 32 oz of water :( lol I think it is a good idea. When you go to places that only sell the 20 oz cup, you may drink it and get a refill, it is way less soda consumed than downing a 32 or 44 oz & getting a refill of that to go.

jacigirl6354

No, I think this reeks of personal responsibility. Yes, obesity rates are skyrocketing causing healthcare costs to climb, however, I KNOW drinking 64 ounces of water is better than ordering even a 12 ounce pop, BUT, it's my choice as to what I order. McDonalds is not pouring coca-cola down my gullet...I am. If I want to order a chicken bucket full of pop, it should be my decision to do so. If I want to smoke a pack of Camel non-filters on my back porch, while downing a 40 ounce bottle of beer, I should be able to do so without the government giving a rats ass. Let's eliminate donuts, candy bars, ice cream, french fries, potato chips and the like while we are at it...there is SOOO much more to worry about in the world than whether or not my pop is too large.

unforgiven

CanadianMama said:
@unforgiven they aren't telling you how much pop you are allowed to drink, the NYC government is controlling the maximum size of cup a fast food restaurant can sell you.

Totally agree @canadamom

I still think that's a bit too much. If someone wants to spend their money on a 64oz of pop water (whether I agree with it or not) they should be able to.

How does that big ass cup not fall out of the cup holder though? yikes.

scotiamama

unforgiven said:

How does that big ass cup not fall out of the cup holder though? yikes.

I was talking to bf about this earlier, I said how would u even get it home, you'd have to strap that 64oz bastard in a seatbelt!
I'm still in awe about it and I can agree with what @canadianmama says but I still don't think the ban is actually going to solve anything, and there is bigger issues to worry about

unforgiven

scotiamama said:

unforgiven said:
you'd have to strap that 64oz bastard in a seatbelt!

=))

kmetz44

momnipotent said:

kmetz44 said:
Personal responsibility is almost gone. Between people suing Mcdonalds because THEY spilled hot coffee on their crotch and this pretty soon we will all have to wear bubble wrap to step out of the door. I'll go a step further, the only role the gov should play in the food areas is enforcing the labeling laws so peoplecan read the ingredients and decide for themselves if they want to eat it. I also think helmet/ seat belt laws are dumb to, but I don't want to derail the convo

about the mcdonalds thing.. there was a documentary on that. I advise checking it out, or at least looking at the pictures of what that tea did to that poor womans legs. mcdonalds is 95% at fault there. there is no need for liquid to be THAT hott. the burns they put on her were greusome.
@kmetz44

I do get that it was a bad injury... but what happened was an accident. This society is so sue happy it's sad. I mean they have to put warnings on hair dryers to warn people to not use them in the bath tub... where is the line of safety concern and no shit? Call me callous but if someone actually tried to dry their hair while in the tub and got fried....Darwin at work
Ad for the coffee thing, coffee is hot,i don't care if it's 100 degrees or 500.... coffee is supposed to be hot.. don't want to be burned don't spill on yourself, and if you do spill on yourself, lesson learned

Zidasha

BookMum said:
Its bullshit. America is slowly turning into Nazi Germany. As a whole, we are not a "fat, sick and nearly dead" country because of soda. America is a "fat" country because the healthy foods are expensive, period. Minumim wage is too low, taxes too high and the cheap foods, which are all some people can afford, are almost always shit foods. The system is fucked.

I was just talking about this the other day with a friend. The government wants us to be healthier yet it's damn near impossible to get the fresh fruits and veggies. I LOVE fruits and veggies and spend a good 100 every two weeks or so(When I have the cash) on the stuff.

When I was with my Xh we were broke all the time. The only things we could afford was hamburger helper crap, anything fatty and fast food only cause it lasted longer and I could make it stretch.

If they want us to be healthier they need to turn it around. I understand it takes more man power to harvest the fruits and veggies but please, from my understanding most of those places that do that hire migrant workers who literally work for pennies while the company makes all the money.

BookMum

As a nurse i dont believe the govenment wants us to be healthier at all. See all the pharmaceutical ads on TV? And the high cost of healthcare? A healthy person dosent earn the system any money. But an obese, diabetic with high blood pressure and for wounds...cha ching! I believe america is fat and sick and i believe they like it that way. This is the same reason euthanasia will never be legalized....because Uncle Sam dosent make any money off a dead man.
Our grocery bill is outrageous...over 130.00 every week. We dont buy organic, but we do buy clean foods. Still its tragic how expensive it is.

BookMum

FOOT wounds, not for wounds...i dont even know what that means :)

irishlass

Nazi germany? Really?! lol!

I dont get the big deal about this. It seems like a weird thing to focus on. American portions and drinks are toootally unnecessarily huge, but whats the big deal?

Also, I disagree that the healthy food is more expensive. organic? Yes, much more expensive, but healthy stuff just involves a lot more prep. A whole bag of carrots, mince, potatoes, onions, parsnips and stock costs, for example, $15. A microwavable meal of stew/cottage pie might cost $3. But thats one portion. That $15 basket might make 10 servings. So it works out cheaper. I think alot of people have forgotten how to cook frugally maybe?

Also... 64oz!??????????????????? What!????????????????????????

Thats insane!! Even 32oz is insane!!!!! That amount of fizzy drink is just crazy. A large mcd's here is 18oz, and i could never get through that. God Americans must be really farty! lol!

PhDMommy

Actually @irishlass produce (at least where I live) is pretty pricey. There's only one store that I could get all those (or similar) veggies and meat for around $15 and it's nearly an hour drive away from my home. I was amazed how cheap fruit and veg was when we lived in the UK - it was awesome! But now that we're back we do eat a lot more crap just because we can't afford it. I do see your point and I agree that it can be cheaper if you can find the right sort of places to shop (like farmers markets) and try to use ingredients that are in season but in general I've noticed that fresh produce is a lot more expensive here than it was in the UK.

BookMum

Its more expensive here too. I agree sizes are way too big...but my point is, solving Americas sugar, obesiy problems has nothing to do with soda sizes.

irishlass

@phdmommy $15 was a total wild stab in the dark! I have no idea how much it would cost for that stuff!

In the UK things are different, yeah. but, A punnet of strawberries atm is on offer, its £2.00. Thats like $3.50 (i think?) Its normally at least £3.00. Which is almost $5.00. I buy really carefully. Like the cheapest produce that I can get and make it work. I never get big oranges, i verrry rarely get berries, pineapple or melon cause they are always expensive. There are ways and means!