Soft Drink Ban: A Small Step Forward; Gluttony Award--Verizon Arena

KUDOS ON SOFT DRINK REMOVAL

Earlier this week, three major soft drink makers (Coke, Pepsi and Cadbury-Schweppes) announced a deal to remove high calorie soft drinks from schools, prodded by a group led by former President Clinton and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

YEA!

It's a small step forward--there's a long way left to go.

Here's a modest proposal as a next step with schools: regulate the portion size of all drinks. Even so-called "healthy" drinks like milk and OJ have a lot of calories. They are fine in moderation--no more than 12 ounces (preferably 8) at a sitting. This would also help school age children understand the value of portion control in preventing obesity.

GLUTTONY AWARD: VERIZON ARENA

While we're on the subject of obesity, this week's Gluttony (the Curmudgeon's weekly award to a company that has promoted obesity--past winners include Southland for the Big Gulp, Starbucks for putting calories in coffee, and the Cheesecake Factory for its outrageous portions) goes to the Verizon Arena, in Washington, DC (and probably by extension, similar sports venues in most other major cities).

I frequently take my kids to the Verizon Arena (formerly MCI Arena) for college and professional basketball games and an occasional hockey game or concert.

They have ONE SIZE of popcorn--an enormous bucket. My whole family can't eat an entire one of these mammoth servings, even if we're starving (we've tried!).

Of course, the reason for having only one size of popcorn--gi-normous--is greed: the Arena's food vendor (I think it's ARA Services) can charge $5.00 for a bucket containing maybe 40 cents worth of porpcorn (profit: $4.60). If they had a small size, they'd at best be able to charge $3.00 for a bag containing maybe 15 cents worth of popcorn (profit: $2.85)--a much lower profit margin.

Whatever the reason, it's ridiculous that you can't buy an individual sized popcorn.

The same goes for soda at the Arena--the smallest soda is either 20 ounces or 24 ounces. My kids sure don't need that (NO ONE does). (You CAN buy a smaller soda with what's known as a "Kid's Pack"--a hot dog, chips and soda bundled into a mere $6.00 package; but you can't just buy the small soda--I've tried!)

Just about everything else (except the hotdogs--my food of choice) is oversized and overpriced as well.

Cities should start requiring the sports and entertainment arenas in their jurisdictions--most of which are heavily subsidized by local taxpayers--to provide their patrons with reasonable food options when it comes to portion size.

I fully expect to get completely ripped off on concessions when I go to a sporting event; still, I'd like the option of getting out of their without also ruining my kids' health.