The message is simple.
Kids love CHOCOLATE MILK. Who doesn't? Unfortunately, when your child chooses chocolate instead of white milk (at school lunch for example), he or she is actually choosing white milk PLUS lots of added sugar (13g)!
This sugar adds and extra 60 CALORIES or so!
That amount of sugar (13g) equals any of the following:
A TABLESPOON of sugar (12g)
13 Skittles (1g each)
Nearly half a cup of chocolate ice cream (15g) Ben and Jerry's is transitioning ALL of their products to be used by fair trade ingredients by the end of 2013
2 rolls of Smarties (6g each)
2 or 3 small Laffy Taffy bars ~ the 2 inch kind (5g each)
1 and a half or so small boxes of Nerds! (9g each)
9 Gobstoppers (14g)
1 Fruit Roll-Up (14g)
4 Hershey's Bliss Dark Chocolate squares (13g) OR Divine Dark Chocolates!
7 Dark Chocolate-Covered pretzel Crisps (13g)
Similarly, it takes up to four oranges to make one cup of orange juice. The whole fruit (or whole candy even!) are much more satisfying! So you can eat less, a square or two of dark chocolate, and get more satisfaction! SAVOR YOUR SWEETS
I am not recommending your child eat a box of Nerds every day. When he or she chooses chocolate milk, that child is in fact having the extra sugar of more than a small box of Nerds!
Show and explain this to your kids! What do they think?
It makes my kids lick their lips and know why they love chocolate milk! Since my oldest started kindergarten, we've had a "chocolate milk on Fridays" plan. Often she has given in to the yumminess, AND peer pressure ("My friend was having it, and wanted me to have it too!), having chocolate milk lots of other days! Now I have another kindergartener, I am actually showing both of them that if they have chocolate milk it's like having that candy. They know that candy is a treat, not something we always have every day. I'm giving them a square of dark chocolate or some other piece of candy more often than I have in the past, and they are coming home telling me "I had white milk today!". That chocolate ice cream comparison is pretty wild, eh? I served them a scoop one afternoon last week after school! SO much more satisfying and fun!
UPDATE: NO ONE IN MY HOUSE even drinks WHITE COW'S MILK NOW, and the kids have been drinking almond milk INSTEAD for the last few years, and my husband has been drinking almond milk instead for the past year (since Feb 2016). This message comparing white and chocolate ALMOND milk still applies. Chocolate Almond Milk is a treat!! Enjoy :)
If we are honest with our kids and teach them about how different foods may help and harm us, they can learn to make better decisions ON THEIR OWN that can last a lifetime!
