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France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

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Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#52
post #28
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

when were we capable?

Beat me to it. Before we were obese, we were already smokers, alcoholics, gambling addicts, sex fiends, violent thugs, opium lovers... if there is anything we can abuse, we will. Animals don't know when they're having too much of a good thing, evolutionary instincts are honed on getting as much as you can today because you could get none tomorrow.

And modern psychological research have shown the corporations just how to game those instincts for profits...

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#53

I remember my vacation in the states (in the South). I got served a absolutely massive glass of coca-cola with my dinner. When I had finally managed to finish it a waiter came and refilled the bloody thing when I wasn't paying attention. How can you enjoy your meal with that much to drink?

>I remember my vacation in the states (in the South). I got served a absolutely massive glass of coca-cola with my dinner. When I had finally managed to finish it a waiter came and refilled the bloody thing when I wasn't paying attention. How can you enjoy your meal with that much to drink? Are you from a place where there is a cultural taboo against only drinking part of the beverage a restaurant serves you? Saying…

> Are you from a place where there is a cultural taboo against only drinking part of the beverage a restaurant serves you?

Not a specific culture, it is only abouy not waisting food and drinks. Remember many people still don't have enough of both to live.

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#55

The depths of socialist / collectivist depravity that the French are willing to descend to are mind-staggering. And to think that, from time to time, one sees in HN some random joke of a post portraying France as a plausible startup location. Quelle décadence!

socialist = banning unlimited soda refills ? seriously ?

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#57

It seems like a Soda tax would be a less heavy handed approach. If you make the price high enough restaurants will stop offering refills all on their own.

Chicago is working on adopting such a tax, but for the moment only on bottled/prepackaged drinks.

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2016/11/10/cook-county-approv...

They're trying to offset the increased cost of diabetes and other health issues linked to high-calorie drinks. It's meeting heavy resistance from lobbying groups at the moment.

But

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#58
post #21
post #14

Is it just me who's thinking that individuals in modern societies are not capable anymore of making meaningful decisions, including how much to drink? We're sacrificing freedom here because we became incapable. That scares me.

Is there evidence that lack of capability is the culprit? Is it possible that people are perfectly capable, but make informed unhealthy choices because it's what they want to do? I can't stand even 8oz of sugary soda, but I also can't imagine judging or restraining someone (let alone with the violence of the state) who wants to.

You're asking for evidence of cognitive biases ? There's a WHOLE discipline that documented it in several thousands of articles. If you still believe humans are perfectly free of their choices, I have bad news for you : they are not.

Also, sugar is addictive.

Re: France bans unlimited sugary drink refills

#60

I remember my vacation in the states (in the South). I got served a absolutely massive glass of coca-cola with my dinner. When I had finally managed to finish it a waiter came and refilled the bloody thing when I wasn't paying attention. How can you enjoy your meal with that much to drink?

>I remember my vacation in the states (in the South). I got served a absolutely massive glass of coca-cola with my dinner. When I had finally managed to finish it a waiter came and refilled the bloody thing when I wasn't paying attention. How can you enjoy your meal with that much to drink? Are you from a place where there is a cultural taboo against only drinking part of the beverage a restaurant serves you? Saying…

For me, and probably many Europeans: yes, that is how we are raised. It's not su much of being taboo, more like a sense that it makes no sense to waste anything (not just food/water) and is bad for the planet in general. (well, there is truth in that). My parents even had a picture of a bunch of underfed kids from Ethiopia (or so) on the wall in the kitchen. If we didn't eat our plate, they'd point to it and say something like 'You see that? They would go nuts for that bit of food that is still on your plate. Eat it.' Thinking of it now I can see that might not be regarded as best practices in education, but they meant it well.
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