I cannot fault the industry per se, for wanting to promote their products. That’s what industry trade groups are all about, after all. And this isn’t a difficult thing for some professionals to rationalize: after all, chocolate milk IS better than soda, juice drinks and/or Gatorade. And – while they’re professionals – they’re also human beings… and as the popularity of reality TV shows proves, human beings like a) money; and b) standing in front of TV cameras.

So this is why I framed my argument the way I did. It’s not about the merits/demerits of any one food…there are certainly some pluses to chocolate milk, after all. It’s about the larger pattern of taste preferences that the food contributes to. There’s a difference between liking chocolate milk… and liking it so much, that you can’t/won’t drink plain milk at all, and will substitute other (worse) sweetened drinks for it.

So the “credible professionals” here have talked themselves into taking the short view. But it’s really a sort of “appeasement” strategy that fails to address the long-term problem.

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff has a great post about this here!

Well worth the read!

All parents should understand that!!!

The deal is, nothing is really “bad”, when looked at in isolation. As noted in the discussion about cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory: there’s nothing wrong with the occasional indulgence.

But it’s problematic when you look at these things from a “big picture” perspective. If a kid arbitrarily skips drinking something because it isn’t sweetened, a line has definitely been crossed. And once these habits are carried over into adulthood, the consequences can be enormous (pun intended).

One of my best friends is a perfect example of the phenomenon. When we were kids, Linda was always one of those girls who never seemed to put on weight, despite what she ate (fast food, convenience food, sodas, etc.). She even used to tease me for eating slowly, and – as a teenager – for “always” being on a diet (this wasn’t strictly true in an absolute sense, but relative to her, it was, since she NEVER dieted).

That changed – big time – in adulthood. We were the same height (a skosh under 5′ 4″), but as teens, she weighed maybe 105 lbs. to my 115 – 118. But she wore a size 9 dress on her wedding day (compared to my size 5). And two pregnancies later, she outweighed me by a good 70 pounds. Among other things, she was a soda junkie, and admitted that she “couldn’t” drink water – too plain.

Last time we exchanged messages, she lamented that she’d probably never see 180 pounds again.

So chocolate milk itself? to reiterate – it’s not “bad”. But the fact that the kids have to have sweetened milk to drink it at all, IS disturbing – and could turn out to be bad, as the habit becomes entrenched.

You are correct with the observation that this should start at home with good parental guideance. The problem is most times the parents are just as bad as the children.

When I was a kid, there was very seldom pop or other sugary drinks in the house. When I wanted a drink I had either white milk or water, those were the choices offered by my mother. If I did’nt want those I went without.

Today is so different. My nephew has three children. In his fridge is soda pop, juice boxes, and Gatorade. Not even a hint of milk, white or chocolate.

It’s a sad thing. It’s also sad when the milk producers hire all these “experts” to jump on the chocolate milk bandwagon. Just to promote their product, not really caring about the children.

Like anything, good nutrtional habits start at home. Scary is’nt it!!!!