Banning sugary drinks assumes that someone ASSUMES the problem is the sugar in the drinks. However, there is sugar in a million other areas of our daily lives, including fruit, and ALL of it adds to a sugar problem. It is stupid to believe banning foods will change something because it will require the banning of lots of foods and drinks! Besides it's just stupid to even consider banning; like banning beer...or wine...or spirits...or cigarettes...or gambling...or candy...or anything government feels the need to meddle with...political stupidity is rampant in the USA...
Haha, yeah. It's rampant everywhere unfortunately It's stupid to consider banning anything at all. Let individuals create their own obligations through contract.
I wonder if sugar subsidies will increase to offset the losses due to laws / regulations that try to reduce sugar consumption. Sugar is added to an awful lot of processed food. Soda contains about one teaspoon per ounce, a 12 oz can of Pepsi, 11 teaspoons (makes you wonder what it tastes like without that much sugar). Soda also contains salt, to make you thirsty so you drink more.
If we think about this obesity issue in it's simplest form, the root of obesity (excluding those with medical conditions) is controlled 100% by the individuals. Doesn't make any difference why, but people have adopted certain lifestyles and certain diets, and depending on each individual's decisions, they either do a great job paying attention to health issues or they don't. So IMO the real root issue here is our individual decision making. Taxing sugary drinks, or banning something in a school, won't change these personal decisions...
I always say there is no such thing as bad foods...including sugar...our problem is how we eat. If we drink 5 sugar drinks a day...well then we consume according to your numbers above 55 teaspoons of sugar. Life would be better for this person if they consumed 1 sugar drink per day but how do we get them to consider this...through taxation? A school bans sugar soda but in the cafeteria they provide pizza and macaroni and cheese and French fries and other high-calorie foods...where is the gain? The FDA says we should limit our sugar intake to 40 grams per day for a male. My 10 oz. glass of 100% fruit juice each morning for breakfast has 40 grams of sugar. Obviously, IMO, the sugar guidelines from the FDA are meaningless to the average person...
Exactly! And furthermore, people should be able to make these decisions for themselves regardless of what society thinks. It's your body. Obesity taxes and prohibitions seem to me to be the most obvious sign of tyranny. Once you're into choosing what I can and cannot eat you've gone up the wall. Not even a slim remembrance of the rights of the individual remains.
One of the problems with sugar is it kick up insulin, which stores extra sugar as fat. Blood sugar crashes, and you get hungry again (where the obesity comes from). Sugar free sweeteners cause the same insulin reaction, depleating blood sugar, without the benefit of increased sugar. Fruit juice, despite the sugar content, doesn't cause that insulin reaction.
We can solve the unemployment problem with this one; Let the government hire a personal exercise trainer and nutritional consultant for all Americans who lack the will-power to exercise and eat properly. All of these poor people, wondering aimlessly through life, getting larger and lazier every single day, and they are clueless why this is happening to them...BUT...as Americans are learning to do quite well...just call 1-800-Obama or 1-800-Government and their problems will be solved for them! Taxing and/or banning food products because Americans are too fat and lazy is really laughable...
I'm under the impression that sugar is sugar...period...no matter if it's in fruit, fruit juice or processed sugar in our foods and drinks...
I agree with your post entirely, although I think it's a bit odd to single Obama out in all this. Don't get me wrong, he's horrible - but there is a trend towards protecting the individual from himself (by force of course) in all levels of government and in all major parties. It's a systemic problem relating to the incentives provided by Democracy (or at least the form of representative Democracy practiced by the modern world). It can't be overcome by voting out the Democrats. It can't be solved by voting out the Republicans. It has no solution other than the abandonment of the system we all live under. Some would like to move this toward more authoritarian crap in the form of Fabian socialism, prohibitions on political donations, restrictions on speech and the like. I figure we should change to to get coercion of the individual out of the system, not patch up the inherent flaws. Government power only ever goes up. Governments never decline a power or relinquish one after its necessity. Government coercion only goes in one direction, and unless you break the cycle you'll be left no better off than under King George.
Well...Obama is president and in charge of the Government...both of which just spend, spend, spend instead of attacking the issues with fiscally responsible and effective actions. It is the responsibility of People to question and control presidents and government and this is done with their votes and their voices. But instead of People getting more and more government without paying their way, and not caring about deficits and debt, the so-called leaders need to present the best possible solutions to Americans and have a public dialogue which encourages People to support decisions that might require sacrifice instead of continued self-serving behavior. Government needs to worry about things other than obesity and taxing sugary drinks, etc...
