Legislating how much we can drink...or eat

Wednesday, September 13, 2013

I’ve seen stories about the new legislation passed in New York City to ban over-sized containers of sugary drinks, but I hadn’t given it too much thought until I saw the story published in the Plain Dealer a couple of days ago.

With the legislation ready to go into effect, a state Supreme Court decision overturned it as “arbitrary and capricious”, which is another way of saying it doesn’t make any f*#@*ing sense.

The judge felt the rule, which doesn’t include all sugary drinks or limit the establishments that can sell them, is unfair.  Apparently, fast-food restaurants can’t sell the over-sized portions, but convenience stores can.  The law also does nothing to keep someone from refilling a 16-ounce cup as often as they like, which doesn’t make any sense if you’re trying to have a law that will have an impact.

The Chief Counsel for the Bloomberg administration is pissed and states that “we believe the Board of Health has the legal authority and responsibility to tackle the cause of obesity.”  I don’t know if he’s right, but the state Supreme Court sure didn’t think so.

And how do I feel about legislating how much of something I can eat or drink?  Personally, I don’t like it and I’m not really sure that it can have any impact on obesity.  If they aren’t going to legislate my complete caloric consumption, they’re fighting a losing battle.  At that same restaurant where I can’t order 32 ounces of Pepsi, I can get three Big Macs, a super large order of fries and refill my 16-ounce cup five times…and what’s to stop me?  And if I do…trust me…I’ll be obese.  You might say it’s a start, but a start to what?  When you cross the ‘how much’ line of what a person can eat or drink, you’ve fallen into an abyss. 

For the second night in a row, I was unable to ride the trainer due to the pain from the weekend rides in my right calf and hamstring.  I could have pushed it, but opted for a more complete healing, which means I’ll do it tomorrow.