Is there added sugar in regular milk? No.

People have asked me why sugar is in milk, because when you look at the label, there it is: Sugar 11g in whole, 2%, and skim.

Check out my Kroger milks:

Great news!

There is no added sugar in regular milk.

Sugar in unflavored milk is natural sugar called lactose.  It's like how the sugar in fruit is fructose.

It's not added in processing or anything - it's just a natural component of milk.  Some might say that lactose is what gives milk its delicious, sweet flavor.  (That's me saying it.  I love milk.)  

If you're talking about flavored milk like chocolate milk, there is added sugar.  Depending on who makes it, chocolate milk has 8-12 grams of sugar added per serving.  

The makeup of chocolate milk makes it the perfect refueling drink for athletes, because it blends carbs and proteins you need to recover.  See the science on all of it here. (Some might say it's the best thing to drink after a race.  That's me, a member of Team Chocolate Milk.  I love hearing people yell 'I love chocolate milk!' at me when I race!) 

After Chicago Marathon last year ... believe me, I needed that milk:

One serving of milk - regular or flavored - provides you with nine essential nutrients. Here they are:

Protein - THERE ARE 8 GRAMS OF PROTEIN in one serving of milk.  That's a ton.  EIGHT.

Calcium - We all know this one.  30% of your daily value in one glass!

Vitamin D - Everyone's talking about Vitamin D now. Yay, milk!  25%.

Phosphorus - Strong bones plus energy. 20% of it.

Vitamin A - Everyone loves healthy skin! And good vision! 10%.

Riboflavin - Converts food to energy - 24%.

Vitamin B12 - Build red blood cells - 13%.

Potassium - Regulates fluids, blood pressure, and needed for muscle activity.  11%.

Niacin - Used in energy metabolism. 10%.   

Some people avoid sugar, some people embrace it, but no matter what you want, the information is right there on the label.  All natural, full of good vitamins, and ... delicious.  (Okay, that's not on the label.  That's me again.)

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Chicago Marathon and Chocolate Milk

Well, THAT was an exciting race!



I ran the Chicago Marathon yesterday, representing Team Chocolate Milk!  It was a great race, I got a PR, and I never got tired of people yelling, "I LOVE CHOCOLATE MILK!  GO TEAM CHOCOLATE MILK!"

Since it says it on the back, too, runners said to me, "There's never a bad time for chocolate milk!" and "I love your shirt!" 

Not only did I refuel afterward ... but at mile 20, my kids shared a couple of quick bites of their ice cream with me.  Creamy vanilla and Oreos.  It was much appreciated!

Thanks to all the volunteers, our relatives Tom, Melissa, and Amanda for hosting us, my family for cheering me on in person and on the phone, and Chicago an all-around great race.  That city is great fun.  We even took our kids to where we went on our first date - the top of the John Hancock building.  And look where all of this has led!

We're back on the farm today, and heading out for another dairy event tomorrow.  Enjoy whatever is refueling you today!  I ate a GIANT bowl of ice cream.  Two bites is good, twenty is even better.

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Dairy lesson

Today I had the pleasure of teaching at St Joseph ... first, their begindergarten class.  (This is a class for young 5 year olds, and I was excited to be there, because I love words smashed together to make new words.)

I read to them from my favorites Extra Cheese Please, Mozzarella's Journey from Cow to Pizza, Milk: From Cow to Carton,and How Did That Get in My Lunchbox? The Story of Food. 

I quizzed them individually after and gave them a 'Got Chocolate Milk' slap bracelet when they got it right.  They drank chocolate milk, got their milk coloring book and crayons, and were generally adorable.

I walked into the kindergarten class and heard, "You're my soccer teacher!"  A different boy said, "You're my swimming teacher!"  The class teacher said, "You teach a lot of things."  (You live in the same town long enough, and you'll have taught everyone something!)

In this lesson, I got one of my favorite things about this age.  When I ask for questions, everyone has one ... but it's never actually a question.  It's a really long story about the time they went to a farm.  I love it - it makes me laugh.  We had a great discussion.

After we were done, the teacher said, "Well, even I learned something today!  I didn't know a cow had FOUR stomachs!"  

A student said, "There's a monkey that has four stomachs, too."  (I looked it up later.  Proboscis monkeys have a four-chambered stomach.  What an odd-looking creature ... so I learned something too.)

And we filled all of the kids' stomachs with chocolate milk.  Only one person spilled, and it wasn't a student.  Sorry!  

Meanwhile, back on the farm ... the story is, IT'S COLD!  16 degrees tonight when I came in.  So it's all the regular farm work as usual, just with tons of layers, cold faces, and even colder hands.  It's snowing, too, which slows everything down as usual.  Buckle down!  We're in for another cold winter, I guess ... seeing as how right now it's still fall!

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Chocolate milk, please

Our co-op - Michigan Milk Producers Association - donated chocolate milk to give out at the end of the Farm to Fork 5k today.

The race put on by Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers, which is a St Johns-based company - it started near our house, and now has an international presence.  The Bancroft family donates a lot to the community, and the money from this race went to the Greater Lansing Food Bank.

The race went through corn fields, peanut fields, and even a field of sunflowers.  They had a great turnout! Tons of our neighbors were there and ... lots of them were farmers!  Farm family after farm family, lots of farmer age group winners, a dairy farmer team running ... people we rent land from to farm because their parents farmed ... it was a good showing by farmers today.

The boys and I handed out chocolate milk at the end, along with another dairy farm family neighbor.  I love seeing people drinking down nature's recovery drink!  (I drank mine in 2.5 seconds.)

Thanks to Liquid, Alex from MMPA, and all the volunteers!  Nothing like a run through the fields - and chocolate milk - to start off a morning.

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Chocolate milk and racing

Today we ran a race that had a chocolate milk station at the end!

It was sponsored by United Dairy Industry of Michigan.  They're giving out milk at a series of races around the state.  You can find out more at the Choose Chocolate Milk site.

I came home and saw this article:

Chocolate milk? At the Olympic pool, it's the drink of champions.

It reads in part:

"Jessica Hardy emerged from the Olympic pool on Friday, clutching the drink that would aid her in recovering from her performance.

Not water. Not Gatorade. Not some special sports drink.

Hardy was chugging chocolate milk.

"I won't do energy drinks, with my supplement history," Hardy said. "Chocolate milk is as good as it gets."

Whether they're on land or water, athletes love the taste of chocolate milk, the proven science behind it, and ... yes, the taste again.

Let's talk

Annual Dairy Communicator conference today! The speakers, the people, the facts presented - it was all very interesting!

Just a couple of notes:

There's a lot of milk in the US right now. I wrote notes like: "708 million more pounds than last year in the US. Hope for blazing hot summer ... in a different state." (Just kidding, southern states!)

United Dairy Industry of Michigan is promoting chocolate milk as a refueling drink at 18 races this year! The first two marathons were really successful, and we heard lots of testimonies about how great chocolate milk is for runners - from runners. I like the site: RunHardDrinkSmart.com.

Mitch Smith from UDIM said that for all Happy Meal orders, McDonald's workers are now being trained to say, "Do you want white milk or chocolate milk with that?"  (Maybe supersizing the milk will also be an option someday.) 

As always, talking to the people was a lot of fun. You know ... communicating with communicators. It's what we do best. That, and writing about it online afterward.

Drinking

I was in the grocery store tonight by Michigan State University. Two college girls were near me by the milk.

One girl took out a gallon of chocolate milk and said to her friend, "They say that when you work out, chocolate milk is the best drink for you."

"How come?" her friend asked.

"I think because it's lowfat and has a lot of protein," she answered.

I felt like I was in a commercial. That chocolate milk news has really gotten a good amount of publicity. It's regular dairy aisle talk!

I turned to them and said, "I'm a dairy farmer, and I just wanted to tell you that your conversation really warmed my heart."

They both laughed, and the chocolate milk proponent said, "I love dairy!"

I normally dread going to the grocery store, but maybe I should just hang out by the milk. Best trip in awhile.

****

The first calf - still the only one - is doing well! She went to the bathroom and tonight Kris taught her to drink from a bucket. Hooray! Our calves have a bottle for two or three feedings, and then he moves them to drinking out of a bucket. He teaches them by letting them suck on his two fingers and then gradually putting his fingers in the milk bucket. Some of them catch on quickly, some of them take a long time, but they all get it eventually.

Today we sold all 25 of our one-year-old steers. Now the calf barn is empty and we can completely scour it with some heavy duty sanitizer before more calves are born. It's like getting a nursery ready ... minus the cute decorations, plus manure residue.

Ah, youth

Today I ran the dairy booth at our town's middle school health fair. The 800 kids came to my booth - and the 14 other booths - for their PE class.

It was so much fun! I don't often see kids this age. They were giggly and excitable. I had chocolate milk and white milk to give them, milk moustache stickers (a big hit), Got Milk? pencils, good handouts ... but to get these items, they had to answer a quiz question.

Why is milk good for you?

They all knew the answer to this one. It must have been drilled into their heads forever - they mentioned calcuim, strong muscles, stong bones. It was good to hear.

Name one dairy product other than milk.

75% of the kids knew this one, but 25% answered ... eggs. Then the other kids would say, "EGGS?!" (How did eggs get on the dairy list? I really don't know.) Several other kids answered, "orange juice." One student answered "steak." (This was closer!) One student told me, after much thought, that her favorite dairy product other than milk was "cookies."

How do you milk a cow?

Most students knew about the udder squeezing, though three of them called it the "gutter." They had the idea, anyway.

One girl said she didn't know. I told her to guess ... think about the olden days. She said, "I don't know! I was born in 1997!" I said, "But you're aware that things did happen before then?" Ah, youth!

How do you milk on modern day farms?

Everyone pretty much answered "machines."

Is chocolate milk good for you?

Their answers allowed me to tell them about chocolate milk's health benefits, especially following a workout.

How many teats does a cow's udder have?

I originally asked this because I thought it would be a super easy, jokey question. But, this one was answered wrong the most. 90% of the students said six or twelve. Even numbers, anyway! Cows have four teats.

It was fun answering their questions and promoting dairy nutrition. And did I mention the milk moustache stickers?

This boy put his on his forehead, and I said, "Like Anthony Davis?" He was surprised I knew what he was getting at and said, "Yes!"

I wasn't born in 1997. But milk moustache humor is timeless.

First day of spring

We spent the last week in Texas, visiting Kris' family.  His sister and brother-in-law live in Houston, where we went to the rodeo! 

The rodeo is HUGE.  Huge as in there were 74,900 people there, watching bull riding, barrel racing, and mutton busting.  Have you ever seen this?  Five-year-old kids rode on sheep.  The kids were clinging to the sheep, faces buried in them.  The sheep were ambling across the arena.  Slowly, the kids would fall off.  I laughed so hard.  Then they had indoor fireworks, a concert ... and everyone was dressed like cowboys!  The boots!  The hats!  The rhinestones!  It was so fun and so different than what I normally see.

We went to a country dancing bar that weekend.  We were waiting in line.  A woman working there was trying to move the line along quicker and said, "Do y'all have your ids?"  Yes, we did.  "Are any of y'all wearing spurs?"

Spurs?!  Spurs!  I've never been asked that in my life, that's for sure.  We were not. 

Inside, everyone was also in costume.  (I realize it's not, but when you're not from cowboy country ...)  Often a song would start and everyone would stop two-stepping and start THE SAME line dance.  They all knew which songs went with which dances.  It was like stumbling into a musical!

When we go to Farm Bureau events, the ranchers often wear cowboy boots.  Kris' grandma (who is incredibly stylish) left some boots at Kris' parents' house that didn't fit her.  I wore them out one night, pretending I was a rancher instead of a farmer.

On the plane I talked to the guy sitting next to me, also from Michigan.  When I said I was a dairy farmer, he said, "Well, now I have to ask THE question.  ... Which cow gives the chocolate milk?"  We laughed together, and then he said, "Really.  Where do they put it in?  How does that work?"  I was happy to explain it.  You never know unless you ask!   

Everything was different when I returned.  It's the first day of spring!  It's been in the 80s all week, today too.  The barn roof was recoated.  It's a little different color and looks fresh.  The road commission cut down the dead tree.  And the daffodils are all in bloom.

Goodbye, Texas.  Hello, Michigan!  I left my boots there for next time. Here, I go barefoot.

Chocolate milk

Check out this ad:

It's world champion triathlete Mirinda Carfrae. The copy reads, "My training doesn't stop when my workout ends. After a run, I refuel with lowfat chocolate milk for high-quality protein and what I need to help me stay toned. Because it's not over until I say it is."

It directs you to gotchocolatemilk.com. On the site, it talks about the science behind chocolate milk and why it's so good for you.

I'm a runner. I love chocolate milk - who doesn't? My whole family loves it. Though something (her expression, body ... lifestyle) tells me that Mirinda is doing a bit of a harder workout. Good thing. It probably just means she drinks more!

Drink chocolate milk

Kris and I were at the MSU basketball game yesterday. Suddenly the announcer said, "... Please stay for our halftime show, which is sponsored by the United Dairy Industry of Michigan."

I immediately stood and gave a round of applause. (Yes, it was a lone ovation, but deserving.) Nice placement, UDIM!

UDIM is a non-profit that provides "dairy product promotion and nutrition education services on behalf of funding members." All Michigan dairy farmers give a portion of every milk check to them.

The halftime show was The Skyriders: High Flying Trampoline Show. It was really fun to watch, especially the last trick. Ken Kovach does what he calls a 'neck breaker'. He goes up super high and pretends like he's going to land horribly. Like his head is literally going to snap off. Like anyone who's jumped on a trampoline for any extended period of time has done or seen and never wants to do either again. Then, at the last second he tucks his head and avoids injury. There was a collective gasp from the crowd.

And they also had this!

You can see the UDIM logo on the big screen and the 'Choose chocolate milk' plug everywhere.

Combining dairy, an exciting show, MSU basketball ... and chocolate? Hard to go wrong.

Hockey and milk

We attended our first Grand Rapids Griffins game last night!  They're a hockey team.  We also had the chance to go out on the ice during intermission and hit a puck into the goal to win jewelry ... there were three spots.  I hit it in the easiest spot to win a chamilia bead!  One of the spots to hit in won you a diamond.  Oh, you've heard of diamonds and not chamilia beads?  This did not diminish my excitement one bit, seeing as it was the first time I'd ever hit a hockey puck.

Two farming notes that piqued my interest:

The zamboni had a buddy seat, just like tractors.  Buddy seats - really called training seats, Kris told me - are for someone to ride along when you're in a tractor, chopper, or some other farm machinery.  Why?  To train.  To have your kid come along.  To have some company.  Because big machines are cool.

A girl was riding on the zamboni and she waved when they announced her name.  It was cute.  Maybe next time we go she'll have training enough to drive it!

During the last period they changed the advertising behind the goal:

Chocolate milk is the drink of athletes!  The word is out.

My friend we went with is from a huge hockey family.  I asked her, "What are hockey players typically like?"  She answered, "Toothless."

Yet another reason hockey players can enjoy chocolate milk.  No chewing required.