So, as you all know, I am in High School. Being in High School I am sadly subject to school lunches (okay, i’ll admit that sometimes they aren’t half bad…). There is one thing that is really starting to piss me off though. There are now these huge Got Milk posters hanging up in the lunch line. And what do the posters say? Something along the lines of “studies have shown drinking more milk will make you leaner” blah blah blah.

Then, last night I turn on my TV (because I am such a lazy fattie who just watches TV all the time!) and what commercial do I find myself seeing? A Got Milk commercial raving on and on about how drinking low fat or non fat milk will help you lose weight. WTF? Now there is even a Milk Diet- oh boy oh boy!

Seriously? Do they have to go so far as to say milk will help you lose weight to get people to drink it? Fuck, all I drink is Skim Milk! I actually prefer skim milk to whole milk- and not because it is ‘better’ for me, but because i like the taste better. Regular milk just seems to thick for me and I just don’t like it anymore. Not a moral matter, I just prefer one over the other. I don’t drink it because it’ll help me become ‘leaner’ (which, btw, it obviously havn’t even though I’ve been drinking it for a few years now).

Here’s an article I found from USAToday about this while looking some of this stuff up.

Notice the picture I have at the begging of the post? Well, if you can’t read the text, this is what it says:

Hot Mama.

Even in my role as mom, I want to look great. So I drink milk. Studies suggest that people who drink milk regularly tend to weigh less and have less body fat than those who don’t. So raise a glass and let milk play its part.

Milk your Diet. Lose Weight!

First off, that first sentence needs to go and fuck itself. Even in my role as mom, I want to look great, WTH? Immediately any sane person can associate that this ad is selling you apperance, not ‘health’. Undermining mothers while we are at it to. You might have brought life into this world, but you better damn well look good too. You can be the best mom ever, but you still want to look good! Because THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, right???? You better be a ‘Hot Mama’ because that’s what all women’s bodies are meant to be no matter what.

And look! Here’s another!

Recent studies suggest that including 24 ounces of lowfat or fat free milk a day in a reduced calorie diet may help you burn more fat and lose more weight than cutting calories alone.

Something to watch. Your weight, that is. Between  taping a live show and keeping an eye on the kids, it’s hard to find time to do anything else. But always make time for milk. So drink to your health. And to your waistline.

Here is an interesting take on this ad (which is where I found the pic in the first place)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Don’t just drink milk because it’s good for your body and has calcium- Do it because it will make your waistline FUCKING AMAZINGLY PERFECT! Just like that fucked up cup she is drinking out of! Because health APPEARANCE is IMPORTANT PEOPLE!! CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND? WE NEED MILK TO BE BEAUTIFUL!!

I then skiddadled over to this “2424milk” website, and what I found is just… ughh. “Take the Campaign for Healthy Weight Pledge!” “Weighing in on the American diet” “Weighing Your Drink Decisions” “Meet Bill Germanakos- Winner of NBC’s The Biggest Loser” “Get tips and tools” “A Family Dinner Comparison” “Making Good Beverage Choices” (notice the Good in there, because obviously what you drink is an excellant indication of moral value!)

I went on over to the Health and Nutrition section, where the was a subsection “Healthy Weight” I then went to the teens (being one myself) and looked at some of their little studies.

Teen Milk Drinkers are Slimmer
(08/2004)

A study published in the Journal of Nutrition suggests one of the most powerful changes teens can make to control their weight is to switch what’s in their glass. Researchers looked at the diet patterns of 323 girls aged 9-14 and found that those who consumed more milk and milk products have a slimmer middle and lower weight. If they consumed the recommended four 8-oz. glasses of milk a day, their waistline was one-eighth inch slimmer than their peers who drank soda. Conversely, the girls who drank an extra can of soda per day were nearly four pounds heavier.

I guess I have a “slimmer middle”, as in I have a relatively small waist. But, um, I am not thinner, leaner, smaller, or lighter in any way. I bet I drink a LOT more milk than some of the “leaner” girls in my grade, and it hasn’t helped me lose any fucking weight. And they talk about how awful sodas are for you and how they make you a fattie and blah blah blah…. Sorry, milk advertisers, I do not drink soda. I don’t get “half my sugars” from sodas. So this point seems a little stupid (for me).

New Research Shows Beverage Choice Significantly Impacts Weight And Nutrient Intakes Of Adolescent Girls
Teen girls are trading milk for soda and sugary fruit drinks at a make-or-break time for bone health
(02/2006)

Young girls tripled their intake of sugary sodas as they entered adolescence, making sodas the number one beverage consumed by older girls – a trend that is being blamed for an increase in weight (BMI) and a severe shortage of calcium, according to a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics. While milk consumption declined 25 percent during the same time period, drinking milk was linked to a lower BMI and a higher intake of calcium.

Researchers studied the beverage choices of more than 2,000 adolescent girls who participated in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study. The 10-year study collected food diaries for girls beginning at ages 9 or 10 years until age 19 years.

Of all beverages, increasing soda consumption predicted the greatest increase of BMI and the lowest increase in calcium intake. The researchers suggest that decreased calcium intake may contribute to the risk of obesity through the effects of calcium on fat absorption or the regulation of fat metabolism.

They conclude that “public health efforts are needed to help adolescents gain access to and choose healthful beverages and decrease intake of beverages of minimal nutritional value.”

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. William H. Dietz, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adds that this research is cause for action. He suggests that “reduced consumption of high-calorie, nutrient-poor beverages may help reduce or prevent childhood obesity.” He also states that “because milk provides an important source of calcium in the diets of children and adolescents, the decline in girls’ milk consumption at a time when bone mineral deposition may predispose to eventual osteoporosis is a major concern.”

Lower BMI – um, No, sorry.

This whole thing kinda pisses me off. Why? Because I like milk, I do. I think milk is a good thing. But when I see stuff like this it makes me feel like I am participating in their ‘Non fat milk diet’ and, um, I don’t want to, thanks.

Whatever happened to “keeps bones strong and helps prevent osteoporosis”?