Sugary Drinks Banned in San Francisco

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Who here has bought anything from a vending machine inside a city building within the last 6 months?

I don't think I have been in a city building in the last ten years.

ETA: Take that back. This year I did some work for the Sebastopol Police Department, and I stepped into the lobby two or three times. That's about it

Edited July 9, 2010 by ##########

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Me. I bought a cliff bar this morning.

Ever read the label on those things? They can't be good for you! Too many carbs!

[Obama 2012 1,714]

are you serious?

Absolutely. While as pointed out earlier by another individual in this thread, there was some resistance, the vast majority went willingly. Ultimately no one believes that people would unilaterally kill them because they are of a particular race and/or religion.

The United States did the same thing with the Japanese in rounding them up during WWII. Only difference is, we didn't kill them...

If the government gave you an order to evacuate an area for whatever reason they came up with at the time, would you believe that you were being sent to your death?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

It's the paranoid delusional libertarians that give the political ideology a bad name. There are good ideas, but then people like yourself, with visions of paranoia destroy any credibility they have. Take your Haldol and get back to reality paul.

it's not paranoia at all. It's called having a watchful eye.

Too many people take their liberty for granted and it's easy for that liberty to disappear over time, especially in a democracy. The majority focuses on what they want and tend to ignore the other side of an argument because they 'believe' they are benefiting everyone ultimately. so therefore, any opposition is just "paranoid" or "delusional."

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Absolutely. While as pointed out earlier by another individual in this thread, there was some resistance, the vast majority went willingly. Ultimately no one believes that people would unilaterally kill them because they are of a particular race and/or religion.

The United States did the same thing with the Japanese in rounding them up during WWII. Only difference is, we didn't kill them...

If the government gave you an order to evacuate an area for whatever reason they came up with at the time, would you believe that you were being sent to your death?

Hey, you! Get off of my thread!

[The_Dude 1,142]

it's not paranoia at all. It's called having a watchful eye.

Too many people take their liberty for granted and it's easy for that liberty to disappear over time, especially in a democracy. The majority focuses on what they want and tend to ignore the other side of an argument because they 'believe' they are benefiting everyone ultimately. so therefore, any opposition is just "paranoid" or "delusional."

You're nazi reference was complete BS. You are a paranoid delusional libertarian of the John Stossel variety. Just because a city decides that it isn't going to carry your favorite brand of candy, that doesn't mean that your civil rights are being infringed upon. You need to take a step back and actually read this. You are still able to buy it at any store. This isn't some nefarious slippery slope scenario.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Reading some of the comments here you'd think that

Vending machines were being banned. Hysteria much?

Who says that you need to fill vending machines with HFCS loaded ####### anyway? Here's a hint - it has very little, in fact almost nothing to do with consumer choice.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

When smoking bans started it had nothing to do with overall health to others....

As I've said before to people like you, Hitler didn't have to force the jews to do anything. Most of them went willingly because they did not believe in the atrocities their government was about to commit.

It's pretty insane to try to connect dots between the holocaust and what products are served in vending machines. I'd laugh ordinarily but it isn't anything to laugh at. You should know better really.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

It's OT; hyperbole is merely par for the course. I

[Fandango 1,439]

I really don't think that most people fully comprehend that anything that comes in a vending machine, or any junk food is bad for you. The concept that varying degrees of bad is lost on some and quite often confused.

It's not the gov'ts place to nanny people. They have a right to be ignorant. And going on your premise here, the gov't is going to stock its machines with 'healthy' alternatives, including diet sodas. So does that mean they are good for you????

As an aside:

http://www.huffingto...e_b_630549.html

Dr. Joseph Mercola

Physician and author

America's Deadliest Sweetener Betrays Millions, Then Hoodwinks You With Name Change

Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history, and its approval for use in food was the most contested in FDA history. In the end, the artificial sweetener was approved, not on scientific grounds, but rather because of strong political and financial pressure. After all, aspartame was previously listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical warfare agent!

It's hard to believe such a chemical would be allowed into the food supply, but it was, and it has been wreaking silent havoc with people's health for the past 30 years.

The truth is, it should never have been released onto the market, and allowing it to remain in the food chain is seriously hurting people -- no matter how many times you rebrand it under fancy new names.

The Deceptive Marketing of Aspartame

Sold commercially under names like NutraSweet, Canderel and now AminoSweet, aspartame can be found in more than 6,000 foods, including soft drinks, chewing gum, table-top sweeteners, diet and diabetic foods, breakfast cereals, jams, sweets, vitamins, prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

Aspartame producer Ajinomoto chose to rebrand it under the name AminoSweet, to "remind the industry that aspartame tastes just like sugar, and that it's made from amino acids -- the building blocks of protein that are abundant in our diet."

This is deception at its finest: begin with a shred of truth, and then spin it to fit your own agenda.

In this case, the agenda is to make you believe that aspartame is somehow a harmless, natural sweetener made with two amino acids that are essential for health and present in your diet already.

They want you to believe aspartame delivers all the benefits of sugar and none of its drawbacks. But nothing could be further from the truth.

How Aspartame Wreaks Havoc on Your Health

Did you know there have been more reports to the FDA for aspartame reactions than for all other food additives combined?

In fact, there are over 10,000 official complaints, but by the FDA's own admission, less than 1 percent of those who experience a reaction to a product ever report it. So in all likelihood, the toxic effects of aspartame may have affected roughly a million people already.

While a variety of symptoms have been reported, almost two-thirds of them fall into the neurological and behavioral category consisting mostly of headaches, mood alterations, and hallucinations. The remaining third is mostly gastrointestinal symptoms.

This chart will familiarize you with some of the terrifying side-effects and health problems you could encounter if you consume products containing this chemical.

Unfortunately, aspartame toxicity is not well-known by doctors, despite its frequency. Diagnosis is also hampered by the fact that it mimics several other common health conditions, such as:

How Diet Foods and Drinks CAUSE Weight Problems

In recent years, food manufacturers have increasingly focused on developing low-calorie foods and drinks to help you maintain a healthy weight and avoid obesity. Unfortunately, the science behind these products is so flawed, most of these products can actually lead to increased weight gain!

For example, researchers have discovered that drinking diet soda increases your risk of metabolic syndrome, and may double your risk of obesity -- the complete opposite of the stated intention behind these "zero calorie" drinks.

The sad truth is that diet foods and drinks ruin your body's ability to count calories, and in fact stimulate your appetite, thus boosting your inclination to overindulge.

Unfortunately, most public health agencies and nutritionists in the United States recommend these toxic artificial sweeteners as an acceptable alternative to sugar, which is at best confusing and at worst harming the health of those who take their misguided advice.

Even More Toxic Dangers of Aspartame

Truly, there is enough evidence showing the dangers of consuming artificial sweeteners to fill an entire book -- which is exactly why I wrote Sweet Deception. If you or your loved ones drink diet beverages or eat diet foods, this book will explain how you've been deceived about the truth behind artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose -- for greed, for profits, and at the expense of your health.

As mentioned earlier, almost two-thirds of all documented side effects of aspartame consumption are neurological.

One of the reasons for this side effect, researchers have discovered, is because the phenylalanine in aspartame dissociates from the ester bond. While these amino acids are indeed completely natural and safe, they were never designed to be ingested as isolated amino acids in massive quantities, which in and of itself will cause complications.

Additionally this will also increase dopamine levels in your brain. This can lead to symptoms of depression because it distorts your serotonin/dopamine balance. It can also lead to migraine headaches and brain tumors through a similar mechanism.

The aspartic acid in aspartame is a well-documented excitotoxin. Excitotoxins are usually amino acids, such as glutamate and aspartate. These special amino acids cause particular brain cells to become excessively excited, to the point that they die.

Excitotoxins can also cause a loss of brain synapses and connecting fibers. A review conducted in 2008 by scientists from the University of Pretoria and the University of Limpopo found that consuming a lot of aspartame may inhibit the ability of enzymes in your brain to function normally, and may lead to neurodegeneration.

According to the researchers, consuming a lot of aspartame can disturb:

• The metabolism of amino acids

• Protein structure and metabolism

• The integrity of nucleic acids

• Neuronal function

• Endocrine balances

Furthermore, the ester bond in aspartame breaks down to formaldehyde and methanol, which are also toxic in their own right. So it is not surprising that this popular artificial sweetener has also been found to cause cancer.

One truly compelling case study that shows this all too well was done by a private citizen named Victoria Inness-Brown. She decided to perform her own aspartame experiment on 108 rats over a period of 2 years and 8 months.

Daily, she fed some of the rats the equivalent (for their body weight) of two-thirds the aspartame contained in 8-oz of diet soda. Thirty-seven percent of the females fed aspartame developed tumors, some of massive size.

How to Ditch Artificial Sweeteners, and Satiate Your Sweet Tooth

If you suffer from sweet cravings, it's easy to convince yourself you're doing the right thing by opting for a zero-calorie sweetener like aspartame. Please understand that you will do more harm than good to your body this way.

First, it's important to realize that your body craves sweets when you're not giving it the proper fuel it needs.

Finding out your nutritional type will tell you exactly which foods you need to eat to feel full and satisfied. It may sound hard to believe right now, but once you start eating right for your nutritional type, your sweet cravings will significantly lessen and may even disappear.

Meanwhile, be sure you address the emotional component to your food cravings using a tool such as the Meridian Tapping Technique (MTT). More than any traditional or alternative method I have used or researched, MTT works to overcome food cravings and helps you reach dietary success.

And, if diet soda is the culprit for you, be sure to check out Turbo Tapping, which is an extremely effective and simple tool to get rid of your soda addiction in a short period of time.

Non-Acceptable Alternative Sweeteners

I have written a few articles on fructose earlier this year, and I will be writing many more, so please be aware that I am absolutely convinced that fructose ingestion is at the core of our obesity epidemic.

And I'm not only talking about high fructose corn syrup, which is virtually identical to table sugar. The only major difference between the two is HFCS is much cheaper so it has contributed to massive increase in fructose ingestion, far beyond safe or healthy.

Please understand you need to keep your fructose levels BELOW 25 grams per day. The best way to do that is to avoid these "natural" sweeteners as they are loaded with a much higher percentage of fructose than HFCS.

• Fruit Juice

• Agave

• Honey

Please note that avoiding these beyond 25 grams per day is crucial, even if the source is fresh, raw, and organic. It just doesn't matter, fructose is fructose is fructose ...

Acceptable Alternative Sweeteners

For those times when you just want a taste of something sweet, your healthiest alternative is Stevia. It's a natural plant and, unlike aspartame and other artificial sweeteners that have been cited for dangerous toxicities, it is a safe, natural alternative that's ideal if you're watching your weight, or if you're maintaining your health by avoiding sugar.

It is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar and truly has virtually no calories.

I must tell you that I am biased; I prefer Stevia as my sweetener of choice, and I frequently use it. However, like most choices, especially sweeteners, I recommend using Stevia in moderation, just like sugar. In excess it is still far less likely to cause metabolic problems than sugar or any of the artificial sweeteners.

I want to emphasize, that if you have insulin issues, I suggest that you avoid sweeteners altogether, including Stevia, as they all can decrease your sensitivity to insulin.

Lo han is another sweetener like Stevia. It's an African sweet herb that can also be used, but it's a bit more expensive and harder to find.

So if you struggle with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or extra weight, then you have insulin sensitivity issues and would benefit from avoiding ALL sweeteners.

But for everyone else, if you are going to sweeten your foods and beverages anyway, I strongly encourage you to consider using regular Stevia or Lo han, and toss out all artificial sweeteners and any products that contain them.

If you have experienced an adverse reaction to any aspartame product, call the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator in your area.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Suggesting that the city of San Francisco is trying to "outlaw" sugary drinks is hyperbole.

Suggesting that the city of San Francisco is trying to "outlaw" sugary drinks and that this amounts to an affront to liberty comparable to the buildup to the Holocaust isn't hyperbole - it's completely insane.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It's not the gov'ts place to nanny people. They have a right to be ignorant. And going on your premise here, the gov't is going to stock its machines with 'healthy' alternatives, including diet sodas. So does that mean they are good for you????

Nothing is 100% healthy for you, but we can all accept surely that too much salt, fat and sugar is bad for people and is a leading cause of the most common causes of premature death.

Regardless I don't really think that's the point. As I said earlier, what people seem to be ignoring here is how those "unhealthy" products get into the vending machines in the first place - it's not because of consumer choice, its because the drinks companies pay to have them stocked in vending machines.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Oh, all right. I'll give you that. It's insane

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Oh, all right. I'll give you that. It's insane

Paul's profile says he is 27, that seems way young to be as cynical and "world weary" as he appears to be. Most people are a little cynical and it's natural to some degree - but to try to turn the most mundane things into "shocking assaults on liberty" is a bit Citizen Smith.

[Fandango 1,439]

Nothing is 100% healthy for you, but we can all accept surely that too much salt, fat and sugar is bad for people and is a leading cause of the most common causes of premature death.

Regardless I don't really think that's the point. As I said earlier, what people seem to be ignoring here is how those "unhealthy" products get into the vending machines in the first place - it's not because of consumer choice, its because the drinks companies pay to have them stocked in vending machines.

If the premise was, we're going with other choices because they won the bid, that's one thing.

To make the criteria being 'better health alternatives' is too big brother-esque, and actually false based on the article I just posted. Nutrasweet is v bad for you, I bet HFCS 'toxicity' doesn't mimic one of those diseases on that chart in the article.