Non-dairy recovery drink?

wookiemouse

I had been using a cup of chocolate milk as a recovery drink after my strength workouts, which are about an hour long 3x a week. But lately I haven't felt well after drinking it - a little sick and bloated. I don't have a ton of dairy, so I was thinking it might be the culprit. My question is - if doing heavy lifting for an hour, do you really even need a recovery drink? And if so, has anyone found a good one that isn't chocolate milk? I know soy, almond and coconut don't have the same ratio as cow's milk.

ATLMel

I always use a protein shake. 45 mins after a workout is the optimal time to refuel correctly. Why don't you just use water instead of milk if you don't want dairy?

theesfield

I am a big fan of Dark Chocolate almond milk by silk. I don't have any negative effects that I suffer from with Dairy milk and you get 35% more calcium plus a whole lot more vitamins en each serving.

ChardaeRenee

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LittleButMightyOne

I also always use a post-workout recovery shake. I use unsweetened almond milk instead of regular because it has very few calories, plus a banana and a scoop of whey protein powder and ice (and sometimes water, if I'm trying to cut down on the almond milk to reduce cals). I also take creatine/glutamine at this time to aid in recovery.

msgremmy

I use a plant-based (no soy) protein shake with almond milk. Admittedly, it took a week or so to get used to the taste, but now it really hits the spot.

trail_rnr

The biggest difference between almond, soy, and some others (hemp, egg) is the type of protein. The reason milk is a good recovery drink is because of the whey protein. Lots of debate on the subject, but whey seems to be the preferred protein for recovery. Do a google search on protein and recovery and you'll get all kinds of hits for bodybuilding sites (and find that most of them talk about whey protein).

I'm very lactose intolerant but am able to tolerate the Hammer Nutrition whey protein isolate because most of the lactose is removed. I'm sure there are lots of other whey proteins out there that are also isolate, but my understanding is that the isolate is costlier than the whey concentrate. If you aren't super lactose intolerant, the concentrate might be a good compromise.

I personally wouldn't use almond milk for recovery; look at the ingredient list and what they have to add to make it nutritious.It also does not have much glutamine in it (unless it's added), an important amino acid for recovery. A while back I had a few consults with a sports nutritionist and she confirmed my feeling about almond milk; tastes good, but kind of nutritionally zero unless it has lots of additives (but it's not necessarily bad for you). That said, I'd think the processed almond milk would still be better than water since it has some protein. But research the ration of protein: carbs and presence of glutamine.