If you choose to follow the Food and Drug Administration's recommendations, use the pyramid method. If you find that method too complicated, then just remember balance. By encouraging your children to eat a variety of foods and to limit their intake of fast foods, you could be making a difference in their diets not only for today, but for their lifetime. It's become quite the advertising tool. Many popular celebrities appear in magazines and television wearing the milk mustache.
Milk contains calcium, which helps strengthen bones.
Osteoporosis causes the bones to become brittle and fracture in nearly 40 percent of adult women. Since osteoporosis occurs more frequently in women than in men, young girls need to learn the importance of calcium during adolescence, when the bones are at their strongest. The National Academy of Sciences recommends a daily calcium intake of 1,300 milligrams for ages nine to 18. This requires about five servings of calcium per day. An extra couple of glasses of milk a day or an extra serving of yogurt or cheese may pay off in the long run.