In all honesty, I am not really fond of the idea of banning or taxing unhealthy foods to combat obesity, although I am not a medical professional or in training to be one, nor am a nutritionist, so I’m open to new information. To my untrained eyes, it appears that the root of obesity in the U.S. most likely resides in widespread issues with pricing and availability of healthy foods.
The first question to ask is “would a soda ban be actually effective?” and with only very cursory research the answer appears to be “not really.” It may have an effect, but it’s too small to actually make a difference (Fletcher). Although a small improvement is still an improvement, and soda is by no means essential to living, I still think such a ban reinforces the idea that fighting obesity in the U.S. can be done with bans and taxes alone, and am therefore against it.
I worry that banning or taxing unhealthy food makes it unavailable for people unable to afford or access healthy food, who will suffer as a result. Fast food is easily accessible for someone working most of the time, so there is no need to cook a meal, which might be a daunting task for parents who are dead tired and arriving home late. It’s also something easy to grab on a short lunch break or to eat on the train to work. It also may be cheaper than buying healthy food that may only be affordable in bulk, which isn’t an option with perishables. It may be hard to find healthy food in bulk without putting in effort a person may not have after a long work day, or a person may not have the means to store it. I’m reluctant to support putting any kind of financial strain on people already struggling to make a living. I think a better solution would be to encourage healthy eating instead of discouraging unhealthy eating, which requires an entirely different path of legislation.

Fletcher, Jason M., David Frisvold, and Nathan Tefft. “Can Soft Drink Taxes Reduce Population Weight?” Contemporary economic policy 28.1 (2010): 23–35. PMC. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.