One of the perks of living in a "free" society, is having choices.
Well, it appears that the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, doesn't feel the same way.
It has taken some time, but Bloomberg's commandment: "Thou shall not drink too much soda," has finally materialized.
Starting Tuesday, New Yorkers won't be able to buy a 20-ounce soda in Central Park, party seekers won't be able to buy more than 16 ounces of sweet mixers with their alcoholic beverage and families won't be able to order a 2-liter soda with their pizza.
To brace for the change, some restaurants, according to csmonitor.com, are ordering smaller glasses. Dunkin' Donuts shops are telling customers they'll have to sweeten and flavor their own coffee. Coca-Cola has printed posters explaining the new rules, and a bowling lounge is squeezing carrot and beet juice as a potential substitute for pitchers of soda at family parties - all in preparation for the nation's first limit on the size of sugar-laden beverages, set to take effect Tuesday.
However, other businesses, as csmonitor.com added, are holding off, hoping a court challenge nixes or at least delays the restriction. But many are getting ready for tasks including reprinting menus and changing movie theaters' super-sized soda-and-popcorn deals.
One of those businesses preparing themselves for the ban is Brother Jimmy's BBQ.
Though, customers still will be able to order margaritas by the pitcher, cocktails in jumbo Mason jars and heaping plates of ribs. But they'll no longer get 24-ounce (720-milliliter) tumblers of soda, since the new rule bars selling non-diet cola in cups, bottles or pitchers bigger than 16 ounces (480 milliliters).
"Everything we do is big, so serving it in quaint little 16-ounce soda cups is going to look kind of odd," owner Josh Lebowitz said. Nonetheless, he's ordered 1,000 of them for the North Carolina-themed restaurant's five Manhattan locations, rather than take on a fight that carries the threat of $200 fines, according to csmonitor.com.
The ironic part in all of this--the restriction doesn't apply to alcoholic beverages, among other exemptions for various reasons. But it does cover such beverages as energy drinks and sweetened fruit smoothies.
City officials say it's a pioneering, practical step to staunch an obesity rate that has risen from 18 to 24 percent in a decade among adult New Yorkers. Health officials say sugar-filled drinks bear much of the blame because they carry hundreds of calories - a 32-ounce (960-milliliter) soda has more than a typical fast-food cheeseburger - without making people feel full, according to csmonitor.com.
The city "has the ability to do this and the obligation to try to help," said ,Mayor Bloomberg last month, according to Associated Press.
Critics against the ban feel that the regulation won't make a big difference in fighting obesity or diets, but will harm businesses.
New Yorkers are divided on the restriction. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found 51 percent opposed it, while 46 percent approved.
"I don't know if the state should be our surrogate parent," Peter Sarfaty, 71, said as he drank a diet cola with lunch in Manhattan this week. "You get the information out there, but to tell people what they can or can't do? As if it's going to stop them," reported csmonitor.com.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
