The Dairy Council should tweak their "Got Milk?" mustache campaign to "Got Chocolate Milk?" That's the flavor most prized by kids in school, yet despised by many nutritional advocates concerned about the alarming rise of childhood obesity. One cup of low-fat chocolate milk has about 6 teaspoons of sugar versus 3 teaspoons in one cup of white skim milk.

The dairy industry has launched its high-priced Milk Processor Education Program, or MilkPEP, marketing campaign to save the brown stuff from villainous nutritional advocates who'd rather wipe off those chocolate mustaches. Their fight-back slogan in the video above? "Raise your hand for chocolate milk." The campaign says when you strip sugared-up milk from schools, kids won't drink white milk, losing out on critical nutrients they're already deficient in -- calcium and vitamin D. The campaign is sending the message chocolate milk isn't in the same nutritional poorhouse as soda and candy. Parents are happy their kids are drinking it, taking it away does more harm than good.

Is this ad campaign more about shoring up kids' bone density or a scare tactic to fatten sales (and kids in the process)? Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University and author of Food Politics, points out this new ad campaign is really about milk sales. Schools represent more than 7 percent of total milk sales, and more than half of that is flavored milk. She even jokes MilkPEP's chocolate milk offensive is great material for a little Colbert satire.

Yet some nutritionists do defend chocolate milk. "It's better to get the milk in with a little bit of sugary flavoring than have them pick almost any alternative," Connie Weaver, head of the department of Food and nutrition at Purdue University, told the Associated Press. But don't forget about all that extra sugar. Renegade lunch lady Ann Cooper estimates the extra calories in chocolate milk can add up to 5 pounds of weight gain over a typical school year.

We know portion sizes have grown. They've grown a lot -- and many of us have grown right along with them. But DietBlog is providing some fairly shocking comparisons of portions now compared to 20 or so years ago.

Consider these four items -- take-away coffees, potato chips, chocolate milk, and soft drinks. A standard bottle of pop used to be 12 oz, containing about 160 calories, but now, a dollar (or more, depending on where you are) in a vending machine will get you 20 oz and 245 calories. Chocolate milk is worse, having doubled in size and calories.

That's not the worst of it, though -- coffee, which once was only available in convenience stores (do you remember the days before Starbucks?), generally came in a 7 oz cup, so even with sugar, you were just getting around 85 calories. Now, a large coffee is more than double the size and with all the extras you can order, you can take in just shy of 500 calories. But chips are the icing on the big, fatty cake -- snack bags used to have just about 150 calories, and now, some snack bags that come with sandwiches have 500 calories!

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Someone new to resistance training recently asked me what they should eat after a workout. I was actually quite impressed that the question was even asked, for it demonstrated that there was at least a basic understanding of the significant role food plays in the 20 to 30 minutes right after you've lifted your last weight.

The post-workout meal is actually quite specific in terms of its contents. To help begin the muscle repair process, you need to consume food high in protein and fast-digesting carbohydrates. In fact, this post-resistance training workout meal is just about the only time you actually want to consume any food or drink that is high in simple sugars.

Something else to keep in mind about the post-resistance training meal is this: Stay away from fats. Whereas eating healthy sources of fat is something you should be doing at other parts of the day, try to avoid fats of all kinds right after your workout. This is due to the fact that fat will slow digestion. And, since we want that protein and those carbs to get back into our system as quickly as possible, eating fat during this meal becomes counterproductive.

Personally, I feel that one of the best ways to get a proper post-resistance training meal is to down a protein or meal replacement shake. However, not every has money to spend on -- or cares to spend money on -- nutritional supplements. Fortunately, a much simpler solution can be found at your local grocery store for about three bucks. Low-fat chocolate milk will satisfy both your need for protein and simple carbohydrates (sourced from the sugar contained in the milk and its chocolate syrup).

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I recently saw this article from eDiets on the best alternatives to soda. Their choices? Vegetable juice, fruit juice, teas and coffees, enhanced waters and spring waters. These are all great choices, but if I was a soda addict, I don't know that they'd cut the mustard. So I decided to come up with my own list of my favourite soda alternatives:

1. Club Soda and Cranberry Juice. I drink this pretty much every day. It's basically just half club soda and half low-cal cranberry juice. It's refreshing, fizzy and very low in calories.
   
2. Italian Sodas: Italian sodas are kind of like the previous drink, but with flavoured syrup. I buy low-sugar vanilla-flavoured syrup, add some club soda or carbonated water, stir and enjoy! And the Olive Garden has delicious Italian sodas if you're out for a meal.
   
3. Homemade Lemonade: I make my lemonade the old-fashioned way -- with lemons and Splenda. It's quite a treat!
4. Homemade Iced Tea: Here's how you do it -- take your favourite flavour of tea, brew it with boiling water in a jug, ad some ice and and a squeeze of lemon, and let it cool in the fridge for a while. You can also add Splenda if you like it sweet, but I like mine au naturel. My favourite tea flavours to use are peppermint and Rooibos.
   
5. Chocolate milk: If I am really craving something chocolaty, I'll have a half-glass of chocolate soy milk. Or I'll use skim milk with some reduced-sugar nestle quick. It leaves me feeling quite full and satisfied!

Of course, I'm also a water fiend--I drink at least 64oz a day--so enjoy these but please make sure you're getting you share of good ole' water too.

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