Tax the Fizz!

[Workingman]

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges wants the government to put a hefty tax on fizzy drinks (20% increase in cost), banish adverts for junk food till after 9pm, reduce fast food outlets near schools and leisure centres, have food labels with calorie information for children, and reduce sugar, salt and fat in processed foods.

Why? To get rid of obesity.

What planet are these idiots on? When did taxing everything become the cure-all for society's ills? What is junk food anyway? Who defines it?

I am sick to death of being preached at by these self-elected puritanical bodies with too much time on their hands.

I'm off for a pint (fizzy lager) and a deep fried Mars bar, just to pi55 them off.

[Kaz]

Idiotic, isn't it?

[Oojamaflip]

Oh, phew! I thought you were on about my Dom Perignon.

[Workingman]

Of course I am!

Dom P is fizzy. The fizz is cause by the reaction of sugar and yeast. We all know that yeart is bad, it can cause fungal infections, and sugar is addictive. Champers, by definition, is junk food. A 20% price increase is a small price to pay to stop people partaking of such muck.

Tequila. Now there's a bad drink. Think of the salt intake! And Bailey's. The fat alone, from the cream, will kill you.

20% increase, on top of the minimum price per unit, is a must. You know it makes sense.... to idiots.

[cromwell]

I am sick to death of being preached at by these self-elected puritanical bodies with too much time on their hands.

You and me both. Pop has been around for decades but the "obesity crisis" is recent. So.... tax pop? How does that work?

There aren't as many hard physical jobs around these days, people mostly drive instead of walking, we have MacDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Express, Dominos, KFC etc etc, we have 24/7 TV and couch potato-ism, we have fat laden ready meals and some people who eat them all the time; in the face of all this, taxing pop is going to do precisely nothing.

It is part of an ongoing movement called sin taxing; to tax high fat food, alcohol and sugary food. The common denominator being "tax".

[Oojamaflip]

It's a well known fact, amongst those who know, that it's the diet drinks which make you fat. Watch, and see: the fatties drink diet pop. Tis, it's true that is.

[Workingman]

It's a well known fact, amongst those who know, that it's the diet drinks which make you fat. Watch, and see: the fatties drink diet pop. Tis, it's true that is.

I can vouch for that!

My sister was a blimp, but she drank gallons of diet pop to soothe her conscience. She would eat processed glop every day, but diet pop was her way of convincing herself that she was eating a balanced diet.

[Suff]

My sister was a blimp, but she drank gallons of diet pop to soothe her conscience. She would eat processed glop every day, but diet pop was her way of convincing herself that she was eating a balanced diet.

Drinking diet drinks is my way of controlling my sugar intake. Without it I'd be like my brother or I'd have to drink water or coffee (of which I drink far too much). Of course I could drink loads of my other favourite.... Lager..... Then instead of having a food belly I'd have a beer belly to end all beer bellies.....

It has long been known that Sugar in the system produces Insulin, which breaks down the glucose and stores it.

What is not so clearly know is:

Insulin stops the use of fat as an energy source by inhibiting the release of glucagon
a low insulin level is the trigger for entering or leaving ketosis (the fat-burning metabolic phase).

In short, if the body is bombarded with sugar, then it will do two things

1. Every ounce of fat entering the system will be stored
2. Every ounce of excess sugar will be stored and then converted to fat

The biggest disaster you can have is a pizza and chips with a half litre bottle of coke..... Every ounce of fat will be stored and you would have to exercise heavily for hours just to burn off the sugar so that you could start burning the fat off.

Of course the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges couldn't just say "Atkins was right" could they? No they have to say "ban the fizzy drinks, fast food and all the sweets".

In the end it all comes down to sugar management. Unfortunately sugar is also addictive. Almost as addictive as some drugs like nicotene, the body craves it.

Who's seen "Super Size Me"? Who actually watched the complete lack of understanding in the doctors, dieticians and everyone else as to the impact that uncontrolled sugar intake has on the human body? To say the "Experts" were "Shocked" is an understatement. Yet they all go back to the good old standards. Low Fat, 5 a day. All great slogans. All useless.

I prefer a different slogan. An unbalanced medical condition needs an unbalanced cure. Overweight or obesity is a medical condition which is out of balance. It was one of Atkins most revealing statements and one which is never repeated.

This whole stuff wearies me.

The reason they are trying to do the wrong thing is because they would have to admit they were wrong to do the right thing.....

Why am I still fat? Knowing this? Because I eat too much and I have a very unhealthy lifestyle. Some time I'll get 2 years at home, not working and I'll lose most of the weight I have gained over the last 2 decades.

I'm not fat because I drink diet drinks. I'm fat because I'm addicted to caffeine and sugary foods....

[Workingman]

I'm not fat because I drink diet drinks. I'm fat because I'm addicted to caffeine and sugary foods....

No you are not, you said it yourself..

Why am I still fat? Knowing this? Because I eat too much and I have a very unhealthy lifestyle.

Nail on head. You eat too much and don't burn it off. It's simple. That is what most, if not all, obese people do. Slapping a super tax on ill defined 'junk food' will not change that, all it will do is create income for the government to waste in other areas.

Food intake is not the problem, it's lifestyle... and the persuasive influence of advertising. £$ millions is spent telling us that this is good, that is bad.... and we buy in, mugs that most of us are.

[Suff]

If you take in 75% of your required energy intake in one can of fizzy drink, even as a child who burns a lot.

You are going to get FAT unless you spend every day starving....

Cutting out the Fizz reduced the impact significantly.