New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has taken a lot of heat for his crusade against obesity, most recently for his proposal to ban large-sized soft drinks throughout the city.

In an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show on Friday — a day celebrated by Bloomberg as National Doughnut Day — he was challenged by host Matt Lauer on how effective the ban might be.

Lauer reminded Bloomberg that his administration came out in support of National Doughnut Day, which Lauer said “sounds ridiculous” in the wake of his attempts to ban large-sized sodas.

“It doesn’t sound ridiculous,” Bloomberg replied. “One doughnut is not going to hurt you. In moderation most things are OK. Number two, just think about what National Doughnut Day is. National Doughnut Day celebrates a lot of young ladies during World War I called ‘doughnut lassies’ who went and gave doughnuts to our soldiers while they were fighting to protect democracy.”

Lauer asked why Bloomberg’s moderation philosophy for doughnuts doesn’t apply to soft drinks.

“If anything in moderation works for doughnuts — why not with soft drinks?” Lauer asked, interrupting.

“That is exactly what we’re trying to do with soft drinks — is get you to drink in moderation,” Bloomberg replied. “Instead of the big 32-ounce, get two 16-ounces if you want. But history shows, all the tests show, what you’ll do is you’ll probably only drink one.” (SEE ALSO: NYC ban on unhealthy food at homeless shelters irks volunteers)

Bloomberg’s administration has not yet proposed a ban on multi-doughnut purchases to enforce eating them in moderation.

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