Chocolate milk

Chocolate milk has gotten a lot of hype in recent years as an ideal post-workout recovery beverage. This is awesome and I totally love drinking chocolate milk . . . except the study that promotes this finding specifically found that men benefited from consuming protein shortly after a work out.

"The effects of consumption of MILK after endurance exercise . . . suggest unique benefits of milk compared with a CHO-only beverage" like sugar-salt-water sports drinks, which are very specifically designed only to rehydrate and replenish your sodium balance.

Aaaand subsequent studies have failed to replicate the milk results in women:

"The women showed no clear benefit from protein during recovery. They couldn’t ride harder or longer. In fact, the women who received protein said that their legs felt more tired and sore during the intervals than did women who downed only carbohydrates."

And a single glass of chocolate milk has as much fat as it does protein and as much sugar as soda. And when a thirsty athlete needs to recover, who's going to chug only 8 ounces?

But that's OK for me because fats actually boost brain power, beauty, and vitamin absorption. Yay!

So after a brutal 6-mile trail run up and down hills and hills and hills and hills yesterday, I stopped off for a quart of thick chocolate milk on my way home and enjoyed it straight from the jug. And I gotta say, I'm feeling much better today than I should after such exertion. Sure, it could be due to my extra attention to stretching or my new calf compression sleeves, but the chocolatey milk probably contributed, too.