I'm not a big fan of the taste of milk, but I drink it because I think it's good for you. Add some chocolate syrup to it, and of course I like it even more. But at that point, is the milk becoming more like a dessert? A new campaign is trying to keep chocolate milk as a choice in school cafeterias, saying that taking it away will do more harm than good. Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk is the campaign designed to show support for chocolate milk as an important part of a healthy diet. The website uses celebrity testimonials and asks people to show support for keeping chocolate milk in schools by signing a petition on Facebook. Recently, I purchased a kid's meal for my daughter at a restaurant known for their soup and sandwiches. She had a grilled cheese that came with organic yogurt and her choice of white or chocolate milk. Although we picked white, when we got home we realized that we'd gotten chocolate by mistake. My husband opened it up to give it to her, and I asked to look at the label first. This small carton of chocolate milk had 27 grams of sugar in it. She'd be just as well-off to eat a Hershey bar (strictly comparing how much sugar was in each item.) So we ditched the chocolate milk and I found some white milk for her instead. I guess I'm lucky that my child likes white milk. Maybe I'd be more tempted to give her chocolate milk if that's the only way I could get her to drink it. But I'd like to think that I'd find a different way to make white milk exciting, rather than adding a bunch of sugar to it. Many times I think it all comes down to what kids are used to. If they are used to eating a lot of sweets and refined sugar, they develop a taste for it and it can be tough to get them to eat and drink things that taste more "plain". But if sugar isn't a staple in their diet, they don't miss what they aren't getting. Should they remove chocolate milk as an option from the school lunch line? I'm not sure. But I do feel strongly that no one should be marketing chocolate milk as a "healthy" choice for kids. What do you think? |
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