Just about during every grocery run I find myself tweeting or facebooking my shock after what I read on ingredients lists when looking for healthier alternatives for my family. And I know it’s something that you’re interested in knowing more about based on the amount of emails, messages and comments about what brands I buy since I (mostly) don’t eat or feed our children anything with artificial flavors, dyes or chemicals like EDTA and BHA. There’s more, but that’s a whole other post 😉 Short of opening up my fridge and pantry and detailing every single brand that we buy, why we buy it and which brands not to buy that contain petroleum based products, I thought I’d start sharing some alternatives to the traditional brands that I make a point to look for when I grocery shop or that I unexpectedly come across (like the one below).
Chocolate milk is a treat in our house and until recently I’ve been making the kids their own from scratch or I’d use Camino free-trade organic hot chocolate mix. Regular chocolate milk is full of ingredients that I don’t allow the children to have and the sugar content is the least of my worries. In a short list of 8 ingredients two of them were petroleum based, chemically made products: artificial flavor and color.
So I happened to come across a product at the grocery store that I was thrilled to find because now the kids can look for it on those special days and not feel like they’re missing out on something fun that all the other kids get to have. Chocolate milk! But the good kind. Free of artificial flavors and dyes. It was in the milk cooler above all the regular milk and creamers on the top shelf in a 1litre carton:
The ingredients list surprised me. No chemicals. Nothing artificial.
Regular chocolate milk contains all the same ingredients but with the addition of gluclose-fructose, color and artificial flavor.
Since there’s no color added to this dye-free option, you’d think it’d be slightly lighter in color than regular chocolate milk but actually the regular version is lighter brown than this dye-free option which means they’re not coloring chocolate milk to make it look more chocolaty…they’re actually adding color to lighten it up a bit. Kind of like when they add color to certain brands of mayonnaise…what color was it before?!
So unnecessary!
Taste-wise, yes, it’s a little different if you’re used to the artificial flavor version. It tastes like real chocolate milk. Not synthetic.
Mamas, if you have any questions comment below or drop me an email! amanda at naturalmommie dot com and remember to read your ingredients lists!
Regular chocolate milk is full of ingredients that I don't allow the children to have and the sugar content is the least of my worries. In a short list of 8 ingredients two of them were petroleum based, chemically made products: artificial flavor and color. The ingredients list surprised me.
If you want to enjoy chocolate milk without all the sugar, you can opt for low-sugar and nut-milk options that often have much less sugar than their dairy counterparts or make your own chocolate milk at home.
As one of the most widely used color additives, Red Dye 40 is found in a variety of foods and beverages, including: Dairy products: flavored milk, yogurt, puddings, ice cream, and popsicles. Sweets and baked goods: cakes, pastries, candy, and chewing gum.
Compared to regular milk, chocolate milk does contain added sugars and added calories, both of which can contribute to obesity, which contributes to many different medical issues. So it's not the best choice if you're trying to keep your sugar and calories in-check.
Chocolate milk is healthier than some other sweet treats because milk itself offers health benefits. Research suggests the nutrients in chocolate milk can help with exercise performance and post-exercise recovery. Dairy-free milk can be a healthy alternative for some people.
This beverage may offer some benefits to your muscles and bones — but may also promote conditions like heart disease in adults and obesity in children due to its sugar content. Therefore, chocolate milk is best enjoyed in moderation as an occasional treat rather than consumed on a daily basis.
If you want to avoid carrageenan in your chocolate milk, Kitchen Instincts recommends several brands that do not contain this ingredient including Greenwise, Horizon, and Organic Valley.
Their chocolate milk has similar nutrition stats to their regular milk and only 6 grams of added sugar per cup of chocolate milk, which is impressively lower than most chocolate milk. It's not uncommon for regular chocolate milk to have well over 10 grams of added sugar per cup.
The use of Red Dye 40 is concerning because it has been linked to a host of physical and mental health issues, including ADD/ADHD, allergies, immune disorders, mind storms (which are issues with the brain's wiring or electrical activity), and even inflammatory bowel diseases.
If you want to avoid all dyes in your diet, always read the label before you eat a food. Some seemingly healthy foods contain artificial food dyes. Bottom Line: Most whole foods are highly nutritious and naturally free of artificial dyes.
As critics often point out, it contains nearly as much sugar as soda: 1 cup of low-fat chocolate milk has 25 grams of sugar, whereas the same amount of Coca-Cola has 26 grams. But, for chocolate milk, only about half of those sugars are added sugars, the ones people generally need to be concerned about.
Chocolate milk with reduced sugar is available for a healthier (but is still full of chocolatey deliciousness) option. According to Dairy Goodness, chocolate milk contains no more sugar than unsweetened apple juice and only a very small amount of caffeine found naturally in cocoa.
Doctors recommend eating milk and white chocolate - no more than 20 grams per day. You can eat chocolate at any time, the main thing is not to eat a kilogram at a time. Spread the bar over multiple meals, serving as a healthy dessert.
Chocolate milk gets its color and flavor from cacao beans. Cacao beans are seeds from cocoa trees. After farmers harvest the beans from cocoa trees, the cocoa beans are roasted, ground up and processed into a powder or syrup. By itself, cocoa tastes bitter, so sugar is added to make the cocoa sweet.
Milk chocolate is the same as dark chocolate, but with milk solids and fat replacing some of the cocoa liquor. Legislation is very strict about how much cocoa liquor and milk must be present.
Introduction: My name is Terence Hammes MD, I am a inexpensive, energetic, jolly, faithful, cheerful, proud, rich person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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