I can’t remember where, but I think I read that chocolate milk is a good recovery drink.
Anybody know if this is true as I just had one, and I can definitely get used to drinking some after a workout.
I second what TnT said…
I remember a few years back when I was mixing up a well known recovery drink and a local elite cyclist said “you realize you’re paying over twice as much per serving than you need to”
Only caveat… some people can’t deal with dairy after long exercise. Not me though, I could drink a couple jugs of it with no tummy ache!
But it’s the milk, not the chocolate, that is what you need, right? I’m not trying to dissuade someone from having chocolate milk if they want to, but I’m just trying to understand why chocolate milk is being recommended instead of just plain milk.
D.
You need sugars and protein right after a workout… plain skim milk does not have enough carbohydrates in it to adequately speed recovery… I swear by it…you can get it anywhere and it tastes great…
“Do or do not, there is no try.” - Yoda
I can’t say anything with authority about how good it is at recovery, but I’ve been drinking Ovaltine for years. It’s yummy, and has more “good stuff” than regular chocolate milk. Comes in milk chocolate, rich chocolate and malted.
Learn more about it here: What is Ovaltine?
Yeah, I could swear I read this in Runners World once. This sounds like one of Liz Applegate PhD’s “Top Secret Recovery Foods.”
There was a good thread on 8th Continent Light Chicolate Soy Milk as a recovery drink. Good fopr the lactose intolerant crowd.
It’s my recovery drink of choice. I make up mine rather than buy it. Cocoa powder, sugar and milk. I look forward to it greatly on the long rides.
Milo is also good too, has more vitamins and stuff than just regular chocolate milk, but not quite the 4:1 mix that just chocolate milk seems to have.
Can’t see buying endurox when this is so much cheaper, and if your out somewhere, you can get it in most supermarkets.
J.
Good idea. I used to do that for camping trips. Nothing like hot cocoa on a cold wet night or morning. handy for training away from home.
J.
Check out the label of Ovaltine sometime :
it contains TONS of nutrients (Vitamins, minerals, etc.)
I add it to my (patented) Chocolate/Banana/Soy/Peanut smoothie whenever I have it…
DB
I absolutely love chocolate milk (and hot chocolate) and have lots of choices for them at my home.
- Nestle Quick
- Milka
- Suchard Express
- Marie Belle
Herbert
Litespeed/QR
Lactose (the carbohydrate in milk) has a low glycemic index, and is thus not as quickly absorbed by the body as other sugars typically found in recovery drinks. Might make a difference in replacing all those burned calories.
It is also great if you buy the powdered skim milk and mix it up in a nalgene bottle…"
Yecch! That powdered milk *@#@! is disgusting. I could never hide tha bad taste. I’d rather dring Endurox.
Unless there is some new one that is better.
not all chocolate milk is the same though. i think it’s yoo hoo which has a lot of crap in it whereas other brands are just milk sugar and cocoa.
I’m pretty sure Yoo Hoo is not “milk”. Its shelf life is a couple years or something. I think its chocolate water. Blech…
Don’t remember where I read years ago: 16oz skim milk + 5tbls sugar for recovery drink. Works for me. If I am not at home I look for fat free Chocolate milk at the mini mart.
I have found the coffee or mocha soy milk to be the ticket - carbs, protein, fat, and caffeine in one tasty product. Delicious hot or cold. Oh, and none of the gaseous after effects.
Chocolate milk is a perfect recovery drink. You don’t always here about it because it does not take some complex process and research to design the drink so the companies can charge a lot of $$$$ for it. It’s kind of like the new food and health guidelines the government released the other week. Eat less and move more to be healthy!!!
It is my post workout treat 
that or Peanut M&M’s or Ritz Peanut Butter sandwiches. But normally a good glass of Chocolate Milk does the trick.
I love the stuff… plus it makes me feel like a kid again.