Nanny Bloomberg Plans a Ban on Large Soft Drinks

Nanny Bloomberg Plans a Ban on Large Soft Drinks

"The sale of any cup or bottle of sweetened drink larger than 16 fluid ounces — about the size of a medium coffee, and smaller than a common soda bottle — would be prohibited."

Strangely enough:

(1) The ban would not include milkshakes, which have a monumental amount of fat and calories. A typical 16-oz milk shake would have about 400 calories, and about 275 of those come from fat. Some milkshakes contain as many as 2000 calories.

(2) Coffee/chocolate drinks at Starbucks can pack more calories in 16 oz than found in a much larger soft drink. Starbucks' grande (16-oz) Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with whole milk, which would be allowed in the Bloomberg plan, contains 470 calories. In comparison, you can buy a banned 40-oz cup full of Coke, fill it up to the top using no ice, and it would still be a hair short of the calories in that permissible Starbucks' concoction.

(3) The ban does not include convenience stores, so you can still mosey over to 7-Eleven and get that 40-oz drink. It's called a Super Big Gulp. (It may even be 44-oz if your local store still has the old cups.)

(4) If there's no 7-Eleven on your radar, fast-food joints will be permitted to offer unlimited refills. In other words, you can't order a 20-oz drink, but they can hand you a 16-oz cup which can be refilled ten times.

Oh, Bloomberg, you tricky, inconsistent little rapscallion!