To drink or not to drink

vegaschick82
vegaschick82 Posts: 22 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
They say it's good to drink chocolate milk post workout. I prefer chocolate almond milk but people I know who are into fitness say to stay away from both. Who is right?

Replies

  • terenceadavenport4265
    terenceadavenport4265 Posts: 146 Member
    If you would of been talking about alcohol I would have told you about my struggles. Lol
  • Habiteer
    Habiteer Posts: 190 Member
    Protein + carbs are good for your muscles right after a strenuous workout. Helps retain/build muscle if you use it after a hard workout.

    What you're drinking is mostly just sugar and fat with no protein. If you added some protein, then it *might* be beneficial to you. Many people do either protein alone or protein + carbs, but they usually don't do carbs + fat for their post workout drink.
  • vegaschick82
    vegaschick82 Posts: 22 Member
    That makes perfectly sense to me now. Thanks :)
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
    Neither are right. If your like the milk, drink the milk and drink it at any time of your choosing.

    The important thing is you hit your calorie and macronutrient goals over the day.

    There are very few people who need to follow the rote bro science of post exersice feeding windows and micromanagement of nutrient timing.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Recovery drinks are really unnecessary unless you're competing or an athlete. I personally never drink my calories and only use milk in recipes/oatmeal.
  • JessicaJune
    JessicaJune Posts: 69 Member
    So many of these pre-fabricated milks have sugars in them and other refined ingredients that will make you feel worse in the long run. My advice: stick with organic regular milk for the protein and shy away from the flavored milks. Even organic almond milk would be preferable to chocolate milk. My favorite post-workout drink though is organic coconut water. :)

    JJ
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited September 2016
    vegaschick82 wrote: »
    They say it's good to drink chocolate milk post workout. I prefer chocolate almond milk but people I know who are into fitness say to stay away from both. Who is right?

    The idea is that a good post-workout ratio is 4 g of carbs to 1 g of protein and chocolate milk is an easy source with about that ratio (in this context the sugar is considered a plus). Nothing special about it, but it's easy and lots of people love having an excuse to drink it, so it caught on. Almond milk wouldn't work the same, since it has fewer calories and almost no protein.

    You don't really need a post workout drink anyway if you are eating meals not terribly far before or after, as most probably do.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    edited September 2016
    JessicaJune wrote: »
    So many of these pre-fabricated milks have sugars in them and other refined ingredients that will make you feel worse in the long run. My advice: stick with organic regular milk for the protein and shy away from the flavored milks. Even organic almond milk would be preferable to chocolate milk. My favorite post-workout drink though is organic coconut water. :)

    JJ

    Organic and non organic milks are exactly the same. They both contain lactose and don't add sugar. Coconut water would only really be beneficial if endurance exercise is being performed since they contain electrolytes.

    OP, the premise behind carbs + protein pre - or post-workout is that sugars will stimulate muscle protein synthesis, replenish glycogen and prevent protein degradation, while protein can rebuild muscle breakdown. It has been over blown. Some of the more recent studies suggest there may be a benefit if you eat/drink some carbs + protein either before or after a workout within a 2 hour window, but total diet composition is still more important.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    It's actually a good and easy recovery drink...but not really necessary for your run of the mill workout. I usually have a chocolate milk after a long ride...like I've been on the bike for a few hours...I don't worry about it for my average daily ride or 60 minutes in the weight room.

    As to the sugar fear mongering, when you've put yourself through a strenuous endurance bout, sugar is a go and help to quickly replenish glycogen so that you can go on with your day.
  • ArmsandCharms
    ArmsandCharms Posts: 133 Member
    terenceadavenport4265 wrote: »
    If you would of been talking about alcohol I would have told you about my struggles. Lol

    Lol...Thats what I thought this was going to be about when I clicked into it.
  • VonHocker08
    VonHocker08 Posts: 26 Member
    I would stay away from any drink with added sugar.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    I've never heard of "prefabricated milk." What does that even mean?

    Milk naturally contains sugar (lactose is sugar.) Chocolate milk contains a little more sugar in the form of presumably added sucrose.

    I hear people saying that milk has sugar added to it. No. Nature did that.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I assumed it was a fancy or scary way of saying flavored milk.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    To add, as a post workout drink, almond milk would be terrible. It's all fat. Not something that would help with muscle retention or recovery.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    To add, as a post workout drink, almond milk would be terrible. It's all fat. Not something that would help with muscle retention or recovery.

    A lot of the almond milks on the market are low fat, but I agree they wouldn't have much value as a post-workout drink. They don't have much protein at all. They're mostly water.
  • JessicaJune
    JessicaJune Posts: 69 Member
    edited September 2016
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I assumed it was a fancy or scary way of saying flavored milk.

    Yes, that's all I meant by that comment.

    JJ
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