MCPS will stop serving strawberry-flavored milk on January 1!

"Real Food for Kids - Montgomery (RFKM) is pleased to announce that after our advocacy work over the last year, MCPS has decided to stop serving strawberry milk as of January 1, 2014. With 25 grams of sugar and red dye #40, this was not a healthy food product, so we're very happy to see it go. They have also indicated a willingness to discuss lowering the amount of sugar in the chocolate milk with their current dairy provider. If you support RFKM's mission of bringing healthy, fresh and delicious food to MCPS, please send us an e-mail at members"at"realfoodforkidsmontgomery.org with your name and school name and we'll add you to our e-mail list."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No what you need to do is have a seat before you end up a member of the communist tyrant club. Save your advocacy for what is going on in your own home.

If parents let their kids eat chocolate dipped sugar bars that is their
business not yours. I am sure you make plenty of choices that others disagree with.

It's so odd how people want rules and regulations on personal choices until the choice is one that they make.

So, why can't the chocolate dipped sugar bar people pack THEIR kids' lunches? Why does that crap have to be served in school?

I find it strange and sad that people are so invested in defending something that is completely indefensible.

This is my thinking.

If it is SO important to you that your kid gets chocolate/strawberry milk at school, just send your own. Why would you expect that to be served at school? Let the schools serve the healthier options and you can happily send whatever crap you want from home!

I think the idea is that you don't knock off one thing, you want to present a healthy meal plan for young kids. Gee, I remember squandering all my lunch money on ice cream sandwitches and sides of tater tots when I was in E-school. Kind of gross, no?

Anyway, I don't see anything wrong with presenting limited, healthy options. Fruit, yeah. Veg, yeah. Minimum to no foods with no other redeemable nutritional value, sure. Kids will eat if they're hungry. Or else they'll beg mama and papa for cheetos or cookies and other stuff they can't get at school.

Anonymous wrote:I don't want my kid to eat bread. Who do I talk to in order to have it outlawed?

Whole wheat's good enough for me... Down with white.

I don't want my kid to eat bread. Who do I talk to in order to have it outlawed?

Some people like strawberry milk. Tell your kid he is not allowed to have it,

Maybe it's best if children bring a parent permission slip. E.g., "I permit Joey to purchace strawberry milk."

There.

Show your permission slip if you want sugary milk. Not old enough to remember your slip? No deal.

Anonymous wrote: Strawberry milk contains 28 grams of sugar (6.5 teaspoons).

I'm sitting here eating Craisins and they have 27g of sugar. I would bet most folks think they are healthier option than some snacks.

My kids drink flavored milk - vanilla. It is not that big of a deal to me.

Alright people -- here's an alternative view. I agree flavored milks suck, but when they are in the lunchroom, the kids are in control of what they will put in their bodies. Here's what my daughter would do when faced with white milk and a lunch that she didn't like: she would maybe drink a little water and pick around whatever the meal was to eat something that most resembled carbs. That's what she does when I'm with her, and that's what I CONSTANTLY have to work with her to stop.

If she were a FARMS kid, and I couldn't afford to feed her much at home, I'd be praying that the school was enticing her to get protein, calcium and whatever nutrients they could to get into her body. Healthy habits are important, but when you're doing a bulk business with a tough crowd, sometimes you have to take short cuts.

I can barely get the child to eat breakfast. Sometimes chocolate milk, with its calcium, protein, and calories, is all I can get her to take in the morning. At least she's got something to get her through to lunch.

Anonymous wrote:The NY Times ran an article about this. The nutritionist the interviewed said banning flavored milks just got everyone riled up.

It's so hard to imagine why this would be the case. Is it a matter of "freedom of choice?" If so, why not offer milkshakes? That stuff is pretty much melted milkshake...

The NY Times ran an article about this. The nutritionist the interviewed said banning flavored milks just got everyone riled up. Moving flavored milks behind the regular milk made a bid dent in the sales of flavored milk. Pretty basic marketing stuff--people usually go for what's first available. So just ask your school to rearrange the milks.

Water. My kids drink water at school. That's what the school provides. A big ol' water cooler for free water. When she goes to camp, water's what I pack in her thermos.

That's what I'd advocate for.

(Water is so undervalued!)

Tell your kid not to buy the milk.
I do!
Seriously...if kids don't BUY the milk...at some point they will stop selling it...they are not goign to purchase products that don't sell!

don't get angry at the rest of society who isn't pre-disposed to becoming fat asses like your bad genes.