Healthy Chocolate Milk {marmy's tips & tricks}

Chocolate milk.  One of the best snacks known to man.  Fill a glass about a quarter the way up with thick, chocolatey goo, fill the rest with milk from that plastic jug and then give that delicious concoction a whir.

So easy, a child can do it.  {Well, the chocolate syrup to milk ratio may be slightly incredibly off.}

But the point is, chocolate milk is delicious.  And I missed it.

You see, when Marmy decided to healthify {it's a word, google it! ;} the kitchen, one of the first things to go missing from the fridge was the beloved chocolate syrup bottle.

"But, Marmyyyyyy..."  came the chorus of whines.

"No.  Absolutely not.  That stuff will kill you, and I'm not any kind of a good mom if I keep buying it."

Of course, occasionally we'd figure out how to smuggle a bottle in every once in a while when Daddy took us grocery shopping.

But, for the most part, I've been suffering from chocolate milk deprivation for a very long time.

Well, that is until this morning, when Marmy introduced her new and healthified version of chocolate milk.

This is ridiculously easy.  It's not from scratch, so it doesn't take a nanosecond longer than using syrup or powder.

In between the times when we have access to raw milk {our favorite option} we budget for Horizon Organic Whole Milk.  Although pasteurized, it's horomone-free, drug-free and pesticide-free.  

But hopefully soon we'll have our own milk cow.  Yay!  :)

But back to the chocolate milk.  Marmy came up with this awesome idea to add Silk PureAlmond Dark Chocolate to our milk.

Hesitantly, I tried it.  See, I don't prefer the taste of almond milk.  But a glass of 1 part dark chocolate almond milk and 3 parts whole cow milk tastes just like good ol' chocolate milk!  Of course, you'll have to experiment with the ratios.  Marmy and I prefer our chocolate milk light.

Costs

Unlike most healthified alternatives, this one actually doesn't cost more.  It costs less.  {Unless you factor in the price of organic or raw milk... but you can add chocolate almond milk to whatever your family uses.}

According to local store prices...

Silk PureAlmond Dark Chocolate Milk costs around $3.18 for 64 oz {half gallon}.

Hershey's Chocolate Syrup costs around $3.88 for 48 oz.

How about that?!

Healthified Specs

So, how exactly is it more healthy?

An uneducated glance at both nutrition labels and, astonishingly, one might conclude that the chocolate syrup is actually healthier than the chocolate almond milk!

Per serving, Hershey's Chocolate Syrup has fewer calories and no fat.  So those that skim the surface of true nutrition with their fat-free-calorie-counting-diets may choose this product over the one we prefer.

But that would be the unhealthy choice.

Just take a gander at these ingredients:

Typically, the longer the ingredient list the worse the health score will {usually} be.  This is an exception to that rule.

It should be noted that many of the ingredients in the Silk are added nutrients.  It also looks longer because in a few they actually describe how some of the ingredients were processed.

Let's look closer.

Sugar High vs. Substance

The ingredients list is ordered according to volume.

Health for Godly Generations
by Renee DeGroot

The Hershey's Chocolate Syrup is basically chocolate-flavored high fructose corn syrup.  {Have you heard the research on high fructose corn syrup?  Now I know why Marmy always says that stuff will kill you!}  It turns a perfectly healthy glass of milk filled with good fats and calcium into a flood of man-made sugars that our bodies were not created to properly assimilate.

The Silk PureAlmond Dark Chocolate is primarily almond milk that has been sweetened with cane juice and flavored with cocoa.  Almond milk naturally has a high concentration of vitamins and minerals (such as magnesium, zinc, potassium, calcium, iron, copper phosphorus and selenium) and is high in antioxidants (especially Vitamin E).  It also has 50% more calcium than dairy milk, so it's a nice boost.  Silk also infuses the milk with added nutrients.  So, while it does have more calories per serving - those calories actually serve a purpose: they fuel the body with nutrient-rich substance.

Hershey's Chocolate Syrup is primarily high fructose corn syrup, but obviously that wasn't quite enough sugar to rot children's teeth curb the American's sweet tooth.  Therefore, corn syrup and refined white sugar is included as well.  Granted, this is a dessert and advertised as such.  However, many American moms use it to help their children drink more milk, and see the resulting drink as a healthy snack.  There's nothing healthy about a glass of milk that's been loaded down with this much sugar.


Moderation is Key


Silk PureAlmond Dark Chocolate was created to be a healthy snack in and of itself - but it does contain sugar.  Where does the ingredients list show this?  Well, that's what "all natural evaporated cane juice" is - a less refined version of sugar.  The difference is that all of the color and nutrients have not been processed out of the evaporate cane juice, like it has out of the refined white table sugar we're used to seeing.  Evaporated cane juice still contains riboflavins, vitamin B, amino acids and fiber.  However, it also still contains sucrose, which is what makes it sweet.  Therefore, even less-refined evaporated cane juice should always be consumed in moderation.

Silk PureAlmond Dark Chocolate also uses Dutch-Process Cocoa, which is cocoa that has basically been alkalinized to make it less bitter.  The process reduces the natural antioxidants that make dark chocolate healthy.  :(  I suppose they use it so that less sugar must be added to take off the bitter edge of the cocoa.  However, the Silk is still a better alternative to the Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (which, by the way, does not indicate whether their cocoa is all-natural or Dutch processed).


Chocolatey Recharge


What do the best athletes drink to recharge?  Gatorade, right?  Not Michael Phelps.

It looks like there are a lot of athletes and coaches switching to chocolate milk to refuel after the game.  Chocolate milk is great option after a work out because it offers the right amount of sugar and carbs needed to recover tired muscles.  You can cut sugar, food coloring and chemical additive intake by switching from Gatorade to chocolate milk to replenish your active kiddos' electrolytes.

Learn more about the benefits of drinking chocolate milk after a work out.

Give your children chocolate milk only after a long romp outside in order to moderate their sugar intake and get maximum health benefits from this wonderful snack.


Tally Up

Marmy's version of healthified chocolate milk contains the following nutrients:

• Calcium
• Phosphorous 
• Magnesium
• Protein
• Potassium
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin B12
• Vitamin C (antioxidant)
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin E (antioxidant) 
• Folate
• Thiamin
• Riboflavin
• Iron
• Fiber
• Zinc
• Copper
• Manganese 
• DHA Omega-3 (if you use the Horizon milk we do)

Just imagine what your chocolate milk would be like if you used raw milk!  :)

What's your favorite healthified snack?