NYC soda ban hits restaurants Tuesday [UPDATE]

[UPDATE]: A judge invalidated New York City's ban on big sugary drinks on Monday, a day before it was set to go into effect. The decision by justice Milton A. Tingling Jr. of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan blocked the city from imposing the ban, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.” via New York Times.

[ORIGINAL STORY]

The people of New York are one day closer, but none the happier, to the premiere of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on sodas larger than 16 ounces, which is set to go into effect Tuesday.

New York's restaurants, coffee shops and nightclubs have been preparing for the soda ban in different ways, CS Monitor reported. Some locations have switched to smaller glasses, chain coffee shops have told customers they'll need to sweeten their own drinks and big soda companies have pasted ads explaining the changes all over the city.

Others are simply holding off on taking action expecting the legal challenge pending in the Supreme Court, which allows for a three month grace period before infringers are fined. The legal action may either strike down the ban or delay it.

It's no secret that Bloomberg's soda ban, which is supposedly a measure to fight obesity, has been unpopular among New York citizens, as many wonder if this is truly the right way to fight the country's obesity epidemic.

With more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7 percent) and approximately 17 percent (12.5 million) of children and adolescents suffering from some degree of obesity, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, it's expected that government officials will look for solutions. But as USA Today points out, how government intervenes is crucial.

According to Mayor Bloomberg the law is not a ban, but a push in the right direction when it comes to portion control.

“We’re not banning anything. It’s called portion control,” Bloomberg said on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday. “We’ve just got to do something. And all we’re doing in New York is reminding you that it’s not in your interest to have too many empty calories.”