Imagine you are 6 years old again. You are in the school lunch line and have all your favorite foods on your plate and just need your favorite chocolate milk. Then you are informed that white milk is the only option but you do not even like milk unless its the chocolate kind. You know your mom wants you to drink your milk but why bother even get the white milk if your just going to throw it away anyway. Ultimately you decide on just water because milk just is not the same without the chocolate in it.
The 2012-2013 school year will bring a change to the reimbursable meal plan in schools. The US Department of Agriculture has published regulations that will eliminate low fat flavored milk from being reimbursed in the meal plans at schools across the country. The milk will be available for purchase separately.
Michelle Obama is supporting This decision as part of The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act but may not realize the effect this could have on children's calcium intake. If children do not like milk, they are left with water or juice as beverage options. This could mean that children will end up consuming more sugar with the juice option. Eliminating the chocolate milk will not cause children to choose white milk instead.
In high schools, milk is not the preferred beverage although chocolate milk is more popular than white. If the chocolate option is taken away from them, they are more likely to choose soda. This makes it more difficult for adolescents to meet their calcium needs. Cheese and yogurt are the other options but the consistency of yogurt is a turnoff to many children. The good news is that the flavored milk will still be available, just not in the reimbursement meal plan.
I appreciate you bringing this subject to our attention! I was one of those kids raised on chocolate milk and by the time I started school, it was virtually impossible for me to drink white milk. They didn't have a chocolate milk option back then, so I went without. I drank nothing. Thanks for also pointing out that chocolate milk nutrient density far outweighs the value of fruit juice. Yes, chocolate milk for everyone, including the reimbursement meal plan recipients!
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe this happening. I am all for chocolate milk, even though it has chocolate in it. I hate drinking plain milk and I usually will drink chocolate milk to get some extra calcium. Drinking chocolate milk is better than children drinking fruit juice, water, or even nothing. Milk has a lot of nutrients, such as calcium, that is important for children to get. I think taking this option out of the reimbursement meal plan is not helping kids to choose the "healthy" drink at lunchtime, but will make kids drink fruit juice and miss out on the option of getting a good amount of calcium and protein that comes from chocolate milk.
ReplyDeleteI too cannot believe this is happening. Just because chocolate milk has chocolate in it does not mean that it is completely unhealthy for the children. I'm very big into exercise and being healthy and research shows that chocolate milk is one of the best things to drink after a workout. So if we adults can drink chocolate milk (even though our purpose is different) then why can't the kids drink it at school because they are going out to the playground after anyways. So wouldn't the chocolate milk have the same kind of effect on them as it does adults who use it after their activities? Thanks for the post!
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