Steve Doocy & Dr. Marc Siegel Pimp Nutritional "Benefits" Of Chocolate Milk
Reported by Priscilla - April 28, 2011 -
One of the major memes of the right wing and its mouthpiece, Fox "News," is that any attempt to curtail consumption of high calorie foods and beverages is an attempt to impose an evil, librul nanny state. In their world, Americans should have the freedom to stuff an unlimited amount of Crispy Cremes and Big Macs down their gullets regardless of the escalating health care costs incurred in dealing with the health consequences of ingesting this crap. And while obesity among American children is at an alarming rate, these same folks resent any attempts by school departments to improve nutrition for taxpayer supported food programs. (No taxpayer $ for Planned Parenthood but spare no expense for greasy French Fries!) In addition to other school departments which have taken chocolate milk off the menu, the Los Angeles school department will be eliminating flavored milk from its school menu; so it comes as no surprise that Fox & Friends is attempting to address this evil incursion into the freedom of our nation's chubby children. This morning, Steve Doocy and Fox partisan right wing medical misinformer and fearmongerer, Dr. Mark Siegel, actually presented their case for the benefits of sugary, flavored drinks which included some shameless product placement. But we do love our fat kids. As the SNL "Gretchen Carlson" character, who "loves fatties," said, "When there are NO fat kids, who's gonna play the comic relief in Disney movies?" Art reflects life?
Steve Doocy began by proclaiming that when he was a kid, he thought "chocolate milk was milk made better." Conspicuously arrayed on a table, in front of Doocy and Siegel, were containers of chocolate milk. Siegel cited a study done by the School Nutrition Association that found that if schools provided only non flavored milk, milk consumption would decrease and that would cause a concurrent decrease in consumption of necessary calcium and vitamin D. Siegel did not mention that this study was commissioned by the dairy industry. He did reference how the sugar content in chocolate milk is very high; but if they decreased the amount of sugar, kids might not drink it. (Oh, so if kids don't like blueberries, we should feed them blueberry pie or ice cream?) He said that his son told him that if he can't get chocolate milk at school, he won't drink the white milk. (So, there, take that nanny staters!) The Cavuto marked chyron provided the Fox message for the day: "Going too far? Some Schools Ban Flavored Milk, Say Unhealthy."
MENSA member Doocy asked "would it be better to have kids drink the chocolate milk with all the calories than not get the good nutrients..." A close up of the flavored milk containers was shown: Yahoo, Bisquick, and another name that I couldn't quite discern. Siegel agreed and asked why the government is "limiting our choices" (Cuz kids choose sweets over nutrition and they grow up to be fat diabetics with bad teeth?). He said - are ya ready for it - "There's a political issue here." When he suggested that soy milk be available as a choice, Doocy said "kids don't like soy milk." Dr. Siegel said that kids can be introduced to healthy eating "when they get older," but in the meantime he wants them to have protein and calcium. He repeated the agitprop - "If they don't have chocolate milk, they won't drink milk." After endorsing chocolate milk, he joked about whether Doocy's kid, Peter Doocy, was drinking chocolate milk in Washington DC because "he cannot go to his past school and drink chocolate milk." (WTF?)
Comment: Flavored milk is very high in calories. Thus, if a child has chocolate milk they've already ingested the majority of calories recommended for a meal. It also has artificial coloring. So, it's really not a healthy choice despite what Siegel and the dairy interests say. What he didn't say is that the majority of kids in pre-school programs drink non flavored milk. Thus, there's no reason why their drinking patterns can't continue in elementary school. But in addition to being scared of government mandated death panels, we now have to be scared of government attempts to improve the health of our children. Gotta love Fox & Friends - keeping America's kids fat and happy!
If there's any reason for a "Nanny State" vis-a-vis our school children this is it.
