I was going to wash my hands of it.

I originally was going to stop posting about the Rudd center who kept claiming they were so against weight bias and swear that they don't pressure people to lose weight nor do they go on assumptions.  Then I was sent from the Rudd Center this great assumption, I mean Op ed piece about how New York MUST pass the tax on soda.  For the sake of the children, the diabetics and the fatties.  

On a personal level this tax will almost never affect me.  I don't drink soda.  I buy organic root beer maybe 2-3 times a year and I buy soda for a yearly holiday party. 

My problem is the assumptions from both the state of New York and the Rudd Center.  Fat people must be fat because they can't stop drinking soda.  If only they would just stop drinking it.  I don't drink it, haven't for about 10 years or so. So can I get a tax exemption for the $20 of soda I buy per year for thin and fat friends at my party?  

Now let's talk about diet soda, shall we?  Studies are showing that your body reacts to diet soda worse than sugar.  Not to mention nutrasweet and splenda aren't exactly proven to be healthy and natural.

You want a healthy state, try this: free health care for all.  Every single person who needs health care should get it.  No one should have to choose between seeing the doctor and rent.

And we can pay for it with a tax on diet soda.  

Comments

[Arwen]

Doesn't that study just show correlation?

I have noted that people around me who've dieted and started using "diet" soda during those times have tended to stay with diet stuff after: in fact, of all of those I know who drink diet on a diet, none have gone back - it's sort of a different drink. Which is not to say that my anecdata is any better than their study, but it raises at least a correlation is not causation flag around me. Because it is those of us most likely to be diagnosed as metabolic who will have been on and off diets. (Other diet hangovers like low fat sour cream can be taken out by Atkins/low-carb diets, although that horrible "Lite" Beer seems to stick around.)

Anyway I'd imagine those with metabolic syndrome are often those who might drink diet soda as a hangover from dieting, if their diets aren't currently constrained, or in a current attempt for weight control; so I'd think there might be strong correlative but not causative reasons for metabolic syndrome to be linked to diet soda consumption in particular, with a lesser effect on other diet products.

'Course, I haven't managed to access the actual study, but I also haven't heard the proposed mechanism.

[librarychair]

But free health care for all would move away from blaming individuals for society's problems, and their own! We can't just go on without scapegoats!

[Meowser]

I thought we were all fat because of fruit juice, and if we'd just be good girls and drink wine instead, we'd all be skinny.

[Crys T]

What, Meowser, didn't you hear? If you're a woman and you drink wine, you're setting yourself up for the Big C!!!!

As this is my first time posting here (followed a link from Alas), maybe I'd better clarify that I am being sarcastic.

My thing with diet soda is the whole issue with Aspartame. Is the controversy surrounding it based on urban myth or is there (a germ at least) of truth? I've been suffering from symptoms of fatigue for the past several years and I used to be a major Diet Coke junkie. I quit buying it for home about 5 years ago, but have been occasionally having one when I go out to eat, and though I may feel a bit better than I did a couple of years back, I'm still nowhere near "normal" (for me). I just wonder if there is a link.

But even if there were, I do agree with the point of the post: taxing soda (or pop, as we say round these parts) is certainly not the way to go. Some open, honest information, unfiltered by corporate interests, would be much more useful to me personally.

[Julanar]

Yes, the supposed danger of aspartame is an urban myth. Check out this link:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

One principle of HAES is that we should not categorize foods as "good" and "bad." Therefore, I think we should come to our senses and not tax ANY kind of soda.