that's right because people must be forced to live the way i want them to live

When they pay for their own health care, I don't care what they eat. They can be as stupid as they want.

So I guess that's a good reason to get rid of Obamacare, right?

I'm sure if I watch your posts, I'll find you wanting to deny someone their liberties for whatever you think is a good reason somewhere along the line.

Who is going to determine what goes on the list of "junk food"? And who is going to find a way (aside from additional taxes) to make nutritional foods more available and affordable than junk and convenience foods for the average to low income family?

I know it's about choices, but that's easier said than done. It's so much easier for me now that I'm buying only for myself, even though I'm on a limited budget.

I'm not sure who would make that determination or what to put the money into. I don't think it's cheaper to eat junk food though.

Water is free as opposed to soda, let's see a small bag of chips is a dollar.

It's not the price, it's the convenience of junk food along with advertising.

It's also the lack of grocery stores selling real food in our poor neighborhoods.

Maybe just restrict advertising of these foods like they've done with ciggerettes.

Of course that's restricting corporations "free speech" and they will whine about that.

I wouldn't trust our government agencies in determining what "junk food" is. They give huge subsidies to companies that grow genetically-modified crops that are used to produce "food." If we had to tax everything with high-fructose corn syrup or that was grown from genetically-modified seeds, for example, nearly everything in the supermarket would be taxed. Government agencies have a way of making nearly every "healthy" food unhealthy.

taxpayer-1523202

When they pay for their own health care, I don't care what they eat. They can be as stupid as they want.

So I guess that's a good reason to get rid of Obamacare, right?

I'm sure if I watch your posts, I'll find you wanting to deny someone their liberties for whatever you think is a good reason somewhere along the line.

You're barking up the wrong tree. You're beef is with the government not the individual citizens. By adding a tax to junk food is tantamount to denying someone the liberty to pick and choose whatever they want to eat by limiting their choices based on cost. Besides, if you're truly for liberties, then you should be advocating for less government regulation not more.

taxpayer-1523202

It's not the price, it's the convenience of junk food along with advertising.

It's both cheap and convenient.

Oh please, you are the same person that wants everyone to wear seat-belts because it might make your insurance go up if they don't. You are the same person that wants everyone to wear bicycle helmets for the same reason; the same person that wants all forms of restrictions on liberty because you are so freaking worried about your D insurance going up. Tax everyone and everything, restrict everyone and everything, because you have 1/1000000 of a cent involved. I believe in a right to die state and the freedom to do as I damn well please without you or the government meddling. I do hope you are the same person that takes a flying leap... without the helmet, I will gladly bear the expense of your care even though natural selection would be a better choice.

You are a complete idiot. People like you is what's wrong with this country. This is a FREE country you nimrod. If people want to drink sugary till they puke, that's their right. You authorize the govt. to tax a consumer good that is legal because YOU think that people should consume less of it? Who the hell are you? Soda is not illegal, matter of fact, neither are cigarettes and alcohol, so the same argument applies there as well. I'll drink soda, smoke cigs and eat trans fat until I'm blue in the face and there's nothing you can do about because it's my God given right under this constitution to do so.

Hey, to each their own.

I find it no coincidence that the people in my office that drink soda regularly are the same ones whose belly hangs over their belts and are always complaining how tired they are.

And with all the studies that have come out recently, it looks like diet soda, after all, is actually even worse for you than the normal stuff. Go figure.

None for me, thanks.

You might call me a recovering libertarian at this point, and since the media avoids any discussion of libertarian ideal's, ( let alone any libertarian presidental candidate running as republican since it is cheaper! )

I have to keep myself sane sometimes just expressing different points of view still within myself and that, most likely, will stay statuos quo in politics.

I guess I'm wishing for smart government as opposed to bigger government on an ego trip.

Well, we got a lively discussion going at least!

I take it none of you work for the CDC.

Shocked does have a point, somewhat.

The point he's missing is that consuming these things, smoking, etc. is destroying people's health, and we as a country could very well go bankrupt providing health care for these people.

This, though, is comedy gold:

"I'll drink soda, smoke cigs and eat trans fat until I'm blue in the face and there's nothing you can do about because it's my God given right under this constitution to do so." - Shocked

Tell you what. You go right ahead - and before you do so, sign off your future claims and rights to all forms of subsidized/publicly funded/socialized medicine/healthcare that doesn't come from YOUR OWN POCKET and you can bloat yourself to an early grave.

I just don't want to, and shouldn't be forced to, pay for your health care.

peteMT...Thank You! I don't care about the fact that the fatty sitting in the next cube over wants to eat pizza and fast food every day. That's her chocie. What I do care about is the fact that under Obamacare, i will have to pay for her to get the health care she needs while I work out and eat healty and pay for my own care.

Taxes do not deter unhealthy habits. This is funny because I was just talking about the tax on cigarrettes in another post. The taxes are as much as 75% in some counties and yet people still buy them.

All true. You can't legislate behavior, or effectively control it through taxation.

But what we CAN do is deny health care related to such things. That ought to get people's attention.

And consider this: we've become unhealthy in just the last few decades. Why? What changed?

Rampant consumerism, fueled by advertising, aimed at children.

That's right.

Far more than half don't actually know what "healthy" eating is.
Most fruits have been crossed to become sweeter and sweeter over the years.
Way too much fructose in most. Plus juices are worse.
Instead of a glass of orange juice try eating 6 or 7 actual oranges.
At least you'll get the fiber as well as spiking the s#i! out of your glucose levels.
Fats are your friend and carbs kill. Bring out the parrots!
Cholesterol, cholesterol, cholesterol.....
There is NO CONNECTION with saturated fats and heart disease.
The moron responsible for this is Ancel Keys and an ignorant US government of the 70's.
Pyramid my ass! Basically upside down except much of it was never fit for human consumption.

Sure a surtax on junk food. ..don't stop there.. make people get a prescription for sugar... that's right just make sugar a controlled substances...Keep the soda in a locked display case..... While we're at it, let's form a group of special agents that go door to door and measure ea. family member's BMI.. the ones with too much girth can be shipped off to a reform camp or tasered until they're skinny..

It's also the lack of grocery stores selling real food in our poor neighborhoods.

Its the grocery stores arent the problem, the problem is they go to the gas stations and pick up 3 to 6 bags filled with junk food.. Who in their right mind would do their grocery shipping at a gas station?!!

The only reason why I care what someone else eats or drinks is because my tax dollars and health insurance premiums are going to pay to fix the natural consequences of a poor diet. The cost for all those heart bypass surgeries, cancer treatments (up to half of all cancer cases are related to poor diet), diabetes testing supplies, and prescription medications for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and so on really adds up!

People like Tom don't apparently understand the exorbitant costs to the rest of us to subsidize the health care for the herds of obese people eating/drinking garbage disguised as food. I for one want people to take responsibility for their own actions for a change.

yeah by god these ignorant fat, stupid lazy people cost me money by god so they must be forced to change their lifestyle because changing the way the system works would be to difficult and then how could we justify our hatred. now that crack head is a different story, i will gladly give the evil rich peoples money to support them because they don't know any better

A responsible government should warn its citizens about health hazards. To some degree, obesity and anti-smoking warnings are national security issues affecting both our ability to defend our nation and an expensive toll of current and future health care costs. Diabetes is now the fastest growing disease in our country and that's a serious concern for a country who has in its constitution the requirement to provide for the general well being of its citizens.

Are people still free to ignore the warnings? Of course, but they won't have any grounds to complain about not being warned or bring lawsuits against food companies when it does become a personal health issue.

Enjoy your treats, but there's a lot to be said for doing so "in moderation".

The only reason why I care what someone else eats or drinks is because my tax dollars and health insurance premiums are going to pay to fix the natural consequences of a poor diet.

Welcome to humanity. We all have to deal with each other's perceived shortcomings in some way or another. However, this does not give any of us the right to force lifestyle choices upon each other. The sooner whiners like you come to terms with this fact and move on with your lives, the happier we will all be.

@ sickandtired- why should those of us who work our tails off to eat right and exercise have to pick up the bill for the fat & lazy majority? Life insurance policies charge different premiums to people who are fit vs. those who are fat- why not health insurance policies? Maybe having the obese pay more out of their pocket for health insurance would actually motivate people to stop killing themselves with a knife and a fork...

To hell with government and every person that has no wish for individual freedoms, they are mindless and are falling for authoritarian governments' phony excuses in their quest to control every second of our lives!

To hell with government and every person that has no wish for individual freedoms, they are mindless and are falling for authoritarian governments' phony excuses in their quest to control every second of our lives!

Generally speaking, I agree but would remind you that governments do not fall out of the sky. As a society, we are becoming less and less tolerant of behavior that we do not specifically approve of. This trend is merely being reflected in our government... which is made up of the same people from our society.

Soda is yummy, as is beer and wine!

And beer and wine don't count as sugary drinks!

Tap water can taste bad. Instead of paying for expensive bottled water, you could just invest in a Brita or Pur filter. You have to replace the filter every two to three months, but the cost is very small compared to the cost of buying bottles of water, soda, or juice.

I agree -- I don't care for a lot of tap water, but adding tea to it makes it fine, and I don't like sugar in it.

I'm lucky that I don't care for sugared sodas, that makes it easy to avoid them. My "Sweet" weakness is my 2 cups of coffee and 2 tsp of sugar every morning! LOL

Yeah...not seeing that connection either! Hmmmm. Maybe more research on that is necessary?

Here is another thought. I grew up, drank my fair share of Kool-aid and whatever else, but I also ran around outside from sun up to sun down! (And I am a child of the late 80's, so video games already existed!) As I became an athlete I transitioned from garbage to water. Today, kids sit in front of an x-box, ps3, or just watch stupid programs on the idiot box while drinking garbage and eating junk food. Their parents sit next to them, play the same games (and buy them), eat the same junk (and buy it), watch the same shows, and they all get fat together. On second hand...never mind that study...I think I have completed it and saved a lot of tax payer money.

Obesity is a form of child abuse...perhaps that should be looked into.

so? just because you don't drink soda everyone else should not drink it? i never drink beer and i'm happy therefore no one else should ever drink it

What every other "mammal" drank for millions of years.... You mean breast milk?

Drink all the soda you want, just don't expect me to cover your health care bills when you get sick!

mike-464493,

props on that, I just spit water all over my screen :D

@Mike, cool, I'll suck on that one.

there was a great movie a few years ago called demolition man about compete government control over what people ate, drank and said

definitely a "must see" movie

sickandtired,

Muffin Man is also about control. In fact it parodies the "health nuts" of today who are pushing all this legislation to control what you can eat, drink, or smoke by calling them "Body Nazis".

Yes - but in Demolition Man everyone was thin (except the bad guys assitant )

Also, Sandra Bullock was at her hottest so it is a must see!

I am white and not Hispanic so I guess that means me ???? maybe .....

could someone please tell me what the hell a non hispanic white is?

Certainly! "Hispanic" is a culture, not a race or ethnicity. The whites in Central and South America are "Hispanic whites" whereas a European white is a "non-Hispanic white."

@sick.. wtf? Someone from, for example, England. Go back to third grade.

I know it sounds baffling, but there are white people outside of the United States. Some are even born in Latin America. So....white hispanics.

Get real... If people are not educated about ways to keep healthy (not lose their lives), they won't have to worry about losing their homes and jobs!

yadumonde,

your statement is a false one... Your connection between how educated someone is and their job status is not directly proportional any more. My wife has a bachelors in social and behavioral sciences and has been working for 1/10th the going rate for her degree type and skill set as an assistant in a school district.

Oh yeah! Stay away from artificial sweeteners as well. Many of them are toxic!

Or vodka.

The "big" problem is well-defined abs are no match for well-defined ADs.

Never liked sodas, I drink water, unsweetened tea and an occasional glass of wine. Still fighting battle of the bulge. :(

Or just excercise to burn the extra calories off like I do.

Well, unless you intend on voting for the original libertarian Ron Paul, I think you'll end up with more of the same.

I see them everywhere.

Kindly stay on-topic... Thank you.

Most of those beverages and processed foods contain not cane sugar but high-fructose corn syrup which food companies find cheaper to use to sweeten-up their products and give them more taste-appeal. Yeah, sugar is still out there, but hfc is more pervasive in food.

It is hard to get away from the stuff. I've noticed that some companies are now producing things WITHOUT added sugars and I try to buy them when possible. I also like to cook, so I can make a lot without added salt and sugar.

And so-called "healthy" people shouldn't just assume lazy people are fat. There are lazy and unhealthy thin people, too. Just as there are plus sized people with healthy levels of blood sugar, blood pressure, cholestoral and other factors that would rule them as generally healthy.

I fall in the latter category. While my thinner co-workers have more medical problems than me, I stay relatively healthy for a man of my age/size. Of course at my annual exam they say I should lose weight but there's nothing alarming in any of my numbers. And I work fairly hard...about 50-60 hours a week...and I manage to get a fair level of physical activity too outside of work.

And, just for the record, I avergage about 1 12 can of pop a day. Rarely more and sometimes less.

I don't know... Have you ever been behind somebody buying food with their EBT cards? They tend to buy higher quality foods than I could ever think of buying. I think it's just a prejudice to assume all they buy is Coke and boxed processed foods.

The bottom line is pop is cheap. It's often on sale and easy to find. A 12 ounce bottle of Naked Juice, on the other hand, costs as much as one twelve pack of pop. For a family trying to make ends meet which is easier and quicker and cheaper to buy?

Instead of making pop more expensive (and putting more of a burden on people in the grocery store) how about making what's healthier cheaper? Our government is subsidizing corn that we could never eat by itself. It has to be turned into HFCS just to be consumed, which has lead to cheaper processed food. Maybe it's time to stop subsidizing a crop that cannot be eaten by itself and it's time to start subsidizing crops we can eat and enjoy which would bring the cost of healthier food down. Other countries ban HFCS so why can't we?

(And I, for one, also drink my share of Naked Juice. No added sugar and it tastes wonderful!)

Both of these are good ideas, ones I've supported for a long time.

Here's my take:

Government subsidies AWAY from sugar, tobacco and corn (the highest!) and TOWARD fruits and vegetables. That would make healthy food cheaper and still help the farmers.

Restricting what can be bought with "food stamps". For example, currently one can buy chips and soda, but not a roasted chicken. That's nuts! It's not that hard to program into a computer what can, and cannot, be purchased using the food stamps cards. Also requiring ID to be shown that matches the card, cutting down on selling them.

Encouraging grocery stores to move into inner cities AND small rural towns. Maybe a tax break or two if they do ... especially if they offered a certain percentage of healthy as opposed to junk food AND increased employment in the area. We look at inner cities as being devoid of grocery stories, but small rural towns often are as well.

Encourage farmers markets, gardening AND educate people how to cook and enjoy healthier foods. This is key -- if people can't cook it and enjoy it, they won't eat it.

If you go inside, you can get water for the same price as soda from the fountain.

You might even be able to get fountain water from the drive-thru as well.

Even fast food restaurants offer free water. Just ask for the cup! Don't buy the bottled water.

I prefer to think of it as half of Americans don't know what they're missing out on!

Lets bring it to 100%! Lets be the first nation in the world to have full soda consumption!

#1!

Now you're talking!

I really don't think pop is the monster in the room here. There are so many other factors to the obesity "epidemic." One of them is so many people just have jobs that require them to sit most of the day. They could eat tofu and spinach for lunch with water and still be fat.

Abnormal thirst is one of diabetis symptoms.

Not sugar. Corn syrup. I buy the Mt. Dew throwback made with sugar. I find I drink less of it than the Mt. Dew made with corn syrup. With the corn syrup I always craved more. That doesn't happen with real sugar.

Sure I ought to not drink soda at all but at least I am drinking less of it.

That doesn't happen with real sugar.

It's a blend of cane and beet sugar. For "real" cane sugar, you'll need the Mexican sodas.

What I find interesting in that is 1 in 20 equals half of Americans to MSNBC. Some fuzzy math there....

Half of Americans drink at least one sugary drink daily.

But some people drink more than one sugary drink daily.

One in twenty Americans drink four cans daily.

It makes sense when you break it down.

Sipping one of those unsweetened Liptons right now. Good stuff.

and do you really want to pay a dollar for water?

i dont

stick to filtered tap water its safer id hope

and maybe a glass of milk a day

i have a friend and his wife drink pop on an hourly basis

terrible body shape for both of them

and guess what same age as me but not a tooth in their heads