www.thelookingspoon.com

Mayor Mike Bloomberg's ban on big-boy cups for non-diet sodas at New York City restaurants, theaters, and sports venues has yet to take effect. However, the new Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn already is voluntarily adhering to the new guidelines, which limit cup sizes for "sugary drinks" to 16 ounces.

But don't worry, fatsos -- while you can't get a 20-ounce Pepsi, you can still get a 1,200-calorie burger.

So much for combating obesity.

Barclays has been lauded for its wide variety of Brooklyn-based gourmet cuisine. Included on the list of restaurants the venue hosts is Nathan's Hot Dogs, Fatty 'Cue barbeque, Brooklyn Cupcake, Blue Marble Ice Cream, and several other high-end/high-fat food vendors.

Just for reference, a 20-ounce Pepsi has 200 calories.

Further reading on Bloomberg's soda ban:

-I Just Drank 100 Ounces of Mountain Dew In 90 Minutes. Screw You, Mike Bloomberg

-Harlem Walking Tour Reveals Why Mike Bloomberg Is An "Idiot" And His Big-Gulp Ban Will Only Hurt Businesses

More »

Hospital food, in general, sucks -- and thanks to Mayor Mike Bloomberg and his incessant war on flab, it's about to suck a lot more.

Hizzoner announced today that several private hospitals in New York City have agreed to follow the mayor's dietary guidelines used for city-run hospitals. In other words, hospital food at several private hospitals is about to be just as awful as the food at city-run hospitals.

"If there's any place that should not allow smoking and try make you eat healthy, you would think it would be the hospitals. We're doing what we should do, and you'll see most of the private hospitals go along with that," the mayor said this morning.

More »

Attention, Mike Bloomberg: you're not the boss of me!

Mayor Mike Bloomberg's dopey "Big-Gulp Ban" was approved by a city health council this morning -- which means one thing: a sophomoric, unhealthy and immature gesture needs to be made on someone's part.

That said, I have just finished my 100th ounce of Mt. Dew in roughly 90 minutes. I'm pretty sure my heart's about to explode and I'm fairly certain I've given myself diabetes -- all in the spirit of civil rights, of course.

Some people (read: no people) might consider my stand against soda-bullying heroic -- certainly Gandhi and Dr. King took similar stands against ruthless oppression. But my intention is not be lauded as a hero, it's simply to point out that Bloomberg's ban is a stupid idea that will do nothing to prevent obesity, which is the mayor's intention.

First and foremost, I don't even like Mt. Dew. Hate it, actually -- it's a color that doesn't appear anywhere in nature and tastes like citrus-y cat piss. But as far health risks go, it's about as bad as it gets.

For further reading on Bloomberg's ban, visit our Nanny-State of Mind Archives.

More »

If you drink this much soda you're an idiot. If you need Mike Bloomberg to tell you to not drink this much soda, you're a bigger idiot.

*Update: in an act of civil disobedience, we just drank 100 ounces of Mt. Dew in 90 minutes.

As expected, Mayor Mike Bloomberg's proposed "Big-Gulp Ban" has been approved by a city health council, but opponents of the new ban say the fight to not let Hizzonor treat us like children isn't over.

"This is not the end," says Eliot Hoff, spokesman for New Yorkers for Beverage Choices. "We are exploring legal options, and all other avenues available to us. We will continue to voice our opposition to this ban and fight for the right of New Yorkers to make their own choices. And we will stand with the business owners who will be hurt by these arbitrary limitations."

The plan, as we've chronicled, makes no sense -- it prohibits restaurants, sports venues and movie theaters from selling soda in containers larger than 16 ounces. However, there is nothing to stop a person from simply buying two sodas, or purchasing whatever size soda they want from a business like a bodega or grocery store, which aren't subject to the ban.

For further reading on Bloomberg's ban, visit our Nanny-State of Mind Archives.

More »

UPDATE: The Big-Gulp Ban has passed. Soda fans say they're "exploring legal options."

We'd like to advise readers to try and get a nap in at work today -- we wouldn't want any fussy-ness when Mayor Mike Bloomberg's latest attempt to treat you like babies gets approved this afternoon -- which it likely will.

That's right -- today is the day a city health panel is scheduled to vote on Bloomberg's proposed "Big-Gulp Ban," which would prevent restaurants, sports venues and movie theaters from serving soda in containers larger than 16 ounces.

The plan is an attempt by the mayor to curb obesity. The downside is it will do literally nothing to curb obesity.

Aside from the fact that it's not the mayor's job to tell us what we can and can't eat -- again, because we're fucking adults -- the plan is more annoying than it is life changing; you can still drink as much soda as you want, you'd just have to drink it out of two separate containers, which takes stupid to an entirely different level.

More »

There's good news and bad news regarding Mayor Mike Bloomberg's proposed "Big-Gulp" ban. First the good news: a new poll shows that even fewer New Yorkers support Hizzonor's idiotic plan now than they did when it initially was proposed.

The bad news: it's no skin off Bloomberg's ass -- he's not running for re-election and can now essentially do whatever he wants without having to worry about public opinion.

According to the recently released New York Times poll, six out of 10 New Yorkers disapprove Bloomberg's proposed ban, while only 36 percent think it's a "good idea." That's compared to a NY1 poll conducted earlier this month that found 42 percent of New Yorkers supported the ban -- and we can compare that to a June poll that showed the mayor was only losing his war on soda by a 51-46 percent margin.

More »

Of all the things for Mayor Mike Bloomberg to oppose, we didn't think breakfast for hungry kids would be one of them. But it is.

In fairness, it's not the mayor's desire to keep hungry kids from eating breakfast that's led to his opposition to a City Council-backed plan to provide "the most important meal of the day" for kids in New York's public schools, it's his perpetual war on obesity that has him nervous the plan could lead to fat kids eating two breakfasts, thus making them even fatter.

More »

www.vizfact.com

A few months ago, we told you about how Mayor Mike Bloomberg's office was enforcing a ban on donating food to homeless shelters because the city wouldn't be able to monitor the sodium content of the food -- hungry homeless people (who don't care how much sodium is in their food) be damned.

At the time, we thought it was one of the dumber decisions Bloomberg's made. Then breakfast happened.

The mayor's office is now opposing a City Council-backed plan to provide breakfast to kids in New York City public schools because there is a risk that fat kids who already ate breakfast at home might sneak a second breakfast at school.

More »

www.thelookingspoon.com

Mayor Mike Bloomberg's nanny-state has taken a turn for the absurd with his plans to limit how much soda New Yorkers are allowed to drink and to hide baby formula from new mothers -- and voters seem to think it's just as ridiculous as we do.

A new poll shows that the vast majority of New York voters disagree with Bloomberg's "Big-Gulp" ban, and even fewer support his plan to "encourage" new mothers to breast feed by hiding baby formula at City hospitals.

According to the poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University, Bloomberg's baby-formula bullying has the support of 24 percent of voters. That's compared to 56 percent who oppose the plan.

As for the soda ban, Bloomberg's bossiness continues to lose support.

The poll shows that 54 percent of voters oppose Bloomberg's soda bullying, while 42 percent support it. That's compared to a June poll that showed the mayor was losing his war on soda 51-46 percent.

More »

www.fark.com

Mayor Mike Bloomberg has declared war on sodium, baby formula, sugar and, most recently, soda. But if Hizzoner is so concerned with your health, where's the war on Wheaties?

Wheat is actually pretty horrible in terms of its ability to turn people into unhealthy fatsos. And unlike soda, it apparently has crack-like addictive properties that can turn the average person into a wheat-aholic.

The problem with wheat isn't just the gluten it contains -- wheat apparently has "hidden" qualities that make it "a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression and so many other modern ills."

More »