 Hi everyone. This topic of flavored milk in schools seems to come up in many districts. My thoughts are that children can be so deficient in calcium and vitamin D that it is ok if they get these nutrients from chocolate milk. Lowfat chocolate milk can provide children with the protein, calcium and vitamin D they need. What happens when you take the flavored milk away? Some kids eschew milk altogether. I would rather see a child drink a flavored lowfat milk than no milk at all. Also, yogurts contain sugar but no one talks about taking away yogurt and making children eat plain yogurt- why? Because it doesn't taste good. One of my kids will not drink regular milk- I am ok with having her drink chocolate milk since I know there are some good ingredients in the chocolate milk. I would hate for those nutrients to be taken away. What am I not ok with? Sodas and sugary fruit drinks. I believe those contribute to our problems in this obesity crisis. Those drinks do not give your child ANY nutritional value at all. So what to do? For meals, it's best to offer your child regular lowfat or skim milk. If they don't like it plain it is ok to offer them a lowfat flavored milk. If they choose neither of these options, water is a great choice. Actually it is ok to have water offered at every meal anyway. |
