Last night, while noting that I was not indulging in fudge pops at our annual ice cream social, a colleague asked me what I drink. I began to run down my fairly short list, feeling quite puritanical: water, tea, wine, coffee, fresh vegetable juice, water mixed with recovery drinks/ powders and electrolyte replacements (HEED, Recharge, Nuun) milk, chocolate milk. "That's it?" he exclaimed, "no whiskey, no bourbon???". No, I prefer wine anyway, and since I got serious about training, my wine cellar has been growing awfully dusty.
So, I'll admit, there's nothing sexy about my beverage menu but I'm happy with it. I particularly like the license I've been given to drink chocolate milk--it is my recovery drink of choice after long runs and races. It is easily available, affordable, and great tasting--what's not to like (provided you don't have a lactose issue)? I was feeling all good and happy about my beverage situation when I received a tweet linking to this video.
Now, I really like Ann Cooper and I get what she's trying to say but the "chocolate milk is like soda in drag" comment was a bit much. I don't drink soda--haven't on a regular basis for over 20 years--so these are like fighting words. But the point Cooper really makes me think about is how often we believe our food habits are lifetime sentences. What is healthy and good for a person in heavy training is not necessarily good for an elementary school kid who doesn't even get a period for recess. I need all the calories, fat, and even some of the sugar that a serving of low-fat chocolate milk can give me. Not every day, and only as an immediate recovery drink.
Cooper is right--chocolate milk should be a treat for kids too--not an every day affair, which apparently it has become in schools where the only milk served is chocolate. But I think we get into trouble when we put chocolate milk in the evil category when what should be labeled as evil is the practice of drinking it to the exclusion of all else. Hopefully those kids will grow up to be active, healthy adults and they'll remember that chocolate milk can have an appropriate role to play in a healthy diet.
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