In case New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wonders why I don’t visit his city in the future, it’s because of his push to keep me from drinking a Big Gulp.*

I read about this idea this morning in The New York Times, which quoted the mayor saying health departments across the nation are fretting about tackling the obesity epidemic:

“New York City is not about wringing your hands; it’s about doing something,” he said. “I think that’s what the public wants the mayor to do.”

 Guess what, Mr. Bloomberg?  I asked the public.  Granted, it was a survey of only one New Yorker, but she does not support this plan.

“Bloomberg is an idiot,” my friend Mindy told me.  “He thinks he can solve people’s health issues.  Next ban will probably be on fast food.  I think I need to move out of New York.”

Here’s the thing.  I agree with his overall push — we consume way too much sugar and many people are completely ignorant about what they put into their body.  I’m not exactly a healthy eating nut, but at least I’m aware.  I can make my own decisions about when to drink a soda, and when to opt for water, juice or tea instead.

I once spent an entire summer in which I drank a 2-liter bottle of soda every single work day.  But I was young and stupid then.  That’s why I’m perfectly fine with bans on soda machines in schools.  Kids don’t necessarily know better, but adults should.

The real problem I have with Mr. Bloomberg’s plan is the seemingly arbitrary nature of its guidelines.  What he wants to ban is the sale of sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.  But as the Times article says, if you’re at a restaurant, go ahead and get all the refills you want.  If you’re at 7-Eleven, you can’t get the 32-ounce Big Gulp, but there’s nothing that says you can’t just buy two 16-ounce drinks.

Maybe there is a reason, but in some quick searching I haven’t found any information as to how they arrived at 16 ounces as the limit.  The sugar content in a 16-ounce drink can vary so widely depending the product.  Why not 20 ounces?  Or 12?

I’m not in public health, nor do I claim to have any expertise in this area, but there has to be a better way to do this.  He’s not telling bars to limit the size of beers they can sell, and that’s a product that can have an immediate dangerous effect on people around the drinker.  Those who overdo it on sugar are hurting themselves over a long period.  That’s the message that needs to get across — not that nobody can ever have more than 16 ounces of a sugary drink in one container.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends we eat healthy food, but even its guidelines say a male of my age can have 330 “empty calories” a day.  I think I can rock a large soda at Taco Bell once a week and make good decisions about the rest of my beverages.

*This is a totally empty threat.  I’m not the type to launch a boycott over such things.
**I would never call soda “pop” either — I’m not from Ohio.  I just needed to make the syllables work in the headline.
***Yes, I did originally plan to rewrite the lyrics to “Empire State of Mind” with a soda theme.