We all know refueling after a workout is essential to hydration and recovering spent muscles. But new research suggests chocolate milk is as good as - or better - than the leading sports drink in performing this vital recovery.
During the 2004 Summer Olympics, top American swimmer, Michael Phelps, was seen time and time again drinking Carnation Instant Breakfast between races rather than sports drinks such as Gatorade or Powerade. Since then, studies have abound on the topic...
In 2006, The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism published results from studies performed by Joel Stager, and exercise physiologist at Indiana University, Bloomington and the director of the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming. Stager fed his high school swimmers chocolate milk after twice-daily workouts with dramatic results. Even the parents noticed improvements in their children... After seeing this astonishing result, Stager took chocolate milk into the controlled setting of his IU laboratory and tested the effect on cyclists. Chocolate milk performed as well as Gatorade and almost twice as well as Endurox.
Here's how the study went.... Nine endurance trained cyclists performed multiple interval workouts followed by 4 hours of recovery and a endurance trial to 70% exhaustion on 3 separate days. Immediately following the exercise bout and 2 hours of recovery, subjects drank chocolate milk, fluid replacement drink, or carbohydrate replacement drink. The carbohydrate content was equivalent for chocolate milk and the carbohydrate replacement drink. Time to exhaustion, average heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, and total work for the endurance exercise were compared between trials. Total time to exhaustion and total work were significantly greater for chocolate milk and fluid replacement trials as compared to the carbohydrate replacement trial. The results suggest chocolate milk is an effective aid between exercise bouts.
So what's in chocolate milk that makes it so great? Oh not much... only natural protein, calcium, vitamins, fat, water, carbohydrates.... Chocolate milk contains all this without fake chemicals or harsh "frankenfoods" for the body to process; chocolate milk adheres to beneficial nutrients that are naturally occurring and your body can process quickly and it was found to have the optimal ratio of carbohydrates to protein to help refuel tired muscles. Plus, it's insanely cheap.. The high amount of water contained in chocolate milk is one of the main reasons it's chosen over regular water...it hydrates and provides extra vitamins and protein contained in the milk to replenish the body's lost water supply.
Energy drinks are effective at replenishing water to the body after a workout and even providing electrolytes and synthetic proteins. But many sports drinks contain large amounts of sugar that are not good for the body post workout.
Don't like milk (like me...) chug it down! (like me) or use a substitute of soy, almond, rice or whatever other kind of milk you can find. They all have their benefits, however studies have not tested them against sports drinks yet to my knowledge... So next time you're at the store stocking up on your post-workout drink, stock up on low-fat milk and chocolate syrup instead...save some money, and save you body from harsh chemicals of fake foods! Besides, for YEARS we've been told anything chocolate is "bad" this is just the newest healthy way to have your chocolate and eat it too!
Enjoy!
KDH.
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i can't remember the last time i had chocolate milk. as soon as i'm off this no-chocolate thing (worst idea ever), i'm having some, with soy. remind me. k?? loves.
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