Even tough-as-nails fitness trainer Jillian Michaels of TV’s “The Biggest Loser” thinks Mayor Bloomberg’s ban on big sodas falls flat.
“People don’t like to be controlled,” Michaels tells The Post’s Sean Daly. “You can’t really force people into decisions. It’s about freedom of choice.”
The trainer and mother of two is returning to the hit weight loss series after two seasons away. But even though her job is helping the series’ obese contestants get healthy, Michaels thinks outlawing sugary drinks over 16-ounces is bound to fizzle.
“I would rather educate [people] about healthier options… this is probably not a tactic I would have taken in his position,” she says. “I think [the policy] has great intentions, but I feel like American people don’t like to be controlled. I think they like to be supported.”
New York’s restrictions on oversize sodas go into effect March 13.
But Michaels says that she has her own ideas about fighting fat. “We need to decentralize the food system, utilize food stamps for farmers markets, offer grants to towns who bring in farmers markets, require government organizations to buy a certain amount of food from small local farmers,” she suggests. “There are a million things we could do, but we don’t do them. But what I believe would be more effective as policy, I don’t see happening.”
NBC’s kicking off its 14th season of the show this week.