Is Chocolate Milk REALLY A Good Post Workout Drink?
I must tell you that I’m biased towards ALL milk products. I’m honestly not a fan of milk and I’m of the mindset that only calves should be drinking their mom’s milk. For me, I’ve just read of too many allergies and possible health implications stemming from consuming milk and along with my own personal experience, it’s led me to believe that for most people cow’s milk is just not necessary.
Now before you jump up and attack me, let me first say we all have our own thoughts and choices and this just happens to be my point of view. And yes, I’ve looked into raw and organic varieties BUT, by a landslide, my diet is mostly milk free. If you tolerate milk well (many don’t) and have no stomach or intestinal issues than more power to you.
Okay, so why is chocolate milk being pushed as a sports supplement drink? It’s simple really. Plain milk has a good amount of protein and some natural sugars in it. But when you add some chocolate along with the additional sugar it requires to make chocolate milk, you basically have a high sugar / moderate protein drink on your hands. It’s cheap, tastes good and honestly who doesn’t like chocolate milk?
But is it healthy? No of course not. However if consumed right after a hard workout chocolate milk may be beneficial for your recovery. When you exercise you burn up precious muscle glycogen and tear down muscle tissue. Immediately following exercise for about 30–45 minutes, you have what’s called ‘heightened insulin sensitivity’. Which means your body is ready to go, it wants and needs sugar to start refilling those used up sugar stores and could use a good dose of protein to get the recovery process started. So in this instance a serving of chocolate milk actually isn’t so bad. But to draw the conclusion that chocolate milk itself is ‘healthy’ is a bit misleading in my opinion.
For instance, I’ve often suggested a sugary snack or cheat meal following an intense workout. Heck, I used to eat ice cream in my post workout shakes for the sugar content and to jack up the calories. Should we then assume that ice cream and cookies are healthy? I think the answer is clear. While I don’t think it hurts to chug a chocolate milk post workout, I would much rather see you take in a quality protein shake that also has a decent serving of fast acting sugars and a vitamin and mineral content more geared towards exercising individuals. Plus many post workout shakes will also be fortified with amino acids, creatine and many other beneficial compounds. Chocolate milk, while it does contain sugars and protein certainly can’t match precision engineered foods. So personally I’ll stick with my whey and casein protein shakes! You can bet you won’t catch me drinking chocolate milk anytime soon.
Fitness Fact Or Fiction? — Is chocolate milk really healthy? I’d have to say FICTION, using it post-workout has its benefits — but you can do better!
Galini