The soda ban — not a fan

So it has actually happened — the ban on super-sized soda sales in New York.  As an exercise physiologist for over 15 years many of my clients have been surprised to hear that I don’t support the law.

Here’s the long and short of it: This will not have any effect on obesity in this country. It is a lazy and irresponsible approach to a great challenge we face as human beings, one that should be taken far more seriously than this.

What is to stop someone from purchasing two or more sodas and downing them in one shot, which will actually create more calorie consumption than the supersize option? This will probably make matters worse and it does not take a fitness pro to figure that out!

When you remove an American’s freedom of choice, it violates our culture and the very principle on which this country was established. This approach has not had a very good track record.  Does anyone remember the Prohibition era?  This kind of act effects each of us on a very visceral level, and we all feel the big patriotic “screw you” to the powers that be boiling up from our cores. 

This ban can likely lead to excessive soda consumption.  Logically, it does not make sense to harm one’s self with bad choices just to make a political statement —but being the child of hippie parents, logic plays no part in these decisions.

This is just not a sensible solution. A significant decrease in the incidence of obesity requires getting sweaty in every sense! The ban on soda does not even get the heart rate up and may even cause more weight gain in folks in the long run.

Here’s one thought.  Why not spend the money placing warning labels on products?  “If you consume too much of this product you will die a long slow painful death from obesity causing total organ failure … side effects include diabetes, heart disease, complete loss of mobility, musculoskeletal pain …”

Dianne Sykes Scope is the CEO and head exercise physiologist for Achieve Fitness in East Rockaway.