Chocolate Milk Is Not A Performance Enhancing Drug

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Chocolate Milk Is Not A Performance Enhancing Drug

You’ve heard about the amazingness of chocolate milk as a post-workout recovery drink. Can you trust the hype? Find out what science has to say about it.

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Matt

In cow's milk, approximately 82% of milk protein is casein and the remaining 18% is serum, or whey protein. Doesn't whey get absorbed (broken down) faster than casein?
#nomilk

twig05

So do you have a recommended recovery regimen? White milk? Bowl of Cheerios? Surf and Turf? Or does it not really matter what you put in your body after a workout in terms of promoting recovery as long as you are not poisoning it?

A_drizzle

@twig05 No one-size-fits-all, but you probably already knew that. What's "best" will vary w/, among many things, what kind of workout you just did, when your next workout is, are you trying to lose/maintain/gain weight, are you working on metabolic efficiency, etc.

The basic physiology: post-workout, you're more insulin-sensitive. When you eat something with carbs and/or protein, your pancreas releases insulin. Insulin is a signaling molecule for your body to store things. So, eating/drinking spikes your insulin, and drives whatever nutrients you're taking in intracellularly. Boom, recovery (sort of).

A couple of the basic questions for determining what/if you need to eat: first, did you do enough to actually deplete glycogen? If not, you probably don't need to "refuel" outside of normal eating behavior. At the other end of the spectrum, if you're lifting & trying to "gain", you want to spike your insulin ASAP. Then the time window factor that everyone gets crazy about...the popularized idea that you have a narrow refueling time window is only partially true, per recent research. Yes, you're more insulin-sensitive for about 20-30 minutes immediately after you exercise. But getting fuel within that time window is only crucial IF you have another session soon. You're not going to necessarily replenish more/less muscle glycogen if you wait longer, you're just not going to replenish it as immediately.

For most people doing a decently stressful in-season training session, just eating enough real food afterwards is fine. Carbs and protein is generally better than protein alone. Complex carbs generally better than simple sugars (slow insulin release vs big bang insulin release) for long-term metabolic health. Getting in enough calories and some protein (at a minimum) also help mitigate the immunosuppressive effects of those long workouts. My sum-up rule of thumb: "don't eat like an asshole".

A_drizzle

@Matt You are correct, sir. If you observe body builders in their natural environments, you'll see that they often do casein before bed (slow digest/release) and whey during/after workouts (insulin spike!).

Matt

Used to work in a gym, so it was common knowledge there.
Back when I used to eat 6 times a day to try and gain weight on my 130lb 17 yer old self.

twig05

@Adrienne Taren Thanks for the great response!