bfloyd

I understand the benefits in a nice tall glass of chocolate milk for a rcovery drink after a ride. However, do you find it best to purchase the already made chocolate milk or use a white milk and add chocolate syrup like Hershey's or the like? Also, is there an added benefit to adding some whey protein mix as well? Thanks.

UmneyDurak

Personally I use 1% from Trader Joes. Tastes good and has 4:1 ratio. I found that normal, 1%, etc milk doesn't have that ratio, and I am too lazy to add stuff to change it.

joconnor

I get an Organic Whole Chocolate Milk from a local organic store and it is delicious. Regularly, I drink Organic Skim Milk only but whole chocolate milk is too good to pass up and I have found it does an amazing job for recovery and quenching my appetite when I come back from a long ride. As for mixing stuff in, I have never been a fan of that...never really tastes as good and I feel like in most cases it would be less healthy (due to the want/need to put so much in to really make it taste delicious).

jc33

I just have to add my two cents. U should try soy milk it is a better source of protein, is absorbed better in the gut due to there being no lactose which humans cant process. There is also no sat fats and chocolate soy milk tastes damn good.

Univega

Check the nutrition of a glass of chocolate milk.

I prefer this after long (>30 mile) rides:
https://propeptide.com/products/propeptidembf.html

More protein and more carbs. Too much riding started to make me look very thin.
Drinking MBF helped me maintain my weight and muscle mass.

If your rides are shorter, chocolate milk is fine.

bfloyd

Thanks everyone. I'll check into all of the above. I never heard of Trader Joes; what is it?

Sahaquiel

OH. MY. GOD. You're missing out! I couldn't survive without that place!

https://www.traderjoes.com/

If there's one near you, go give it a look.

Bixid

mm, can't live without my choco Silk, plus you get omega-3, B12, etc. No pus nor rBGH to clog your system.

https://www.milksucks.com/index2.asp
Study: More Milk Means More Weight Gain (The Washington Post)
Got Guilt? (Salon.com)

"There's no reason to drink cow's milk at any time in your life. It was designed for calves, not humans, and we should all stop drinking it today."
-Dr. Frank A. Oski Former Director of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University

damnpoor

I mix chocolate whey powder with milk, so I guess that counts as chocolate milk. If you add a spoon or two of sugar it comes out close enough to the nutrition figures for choco milk, just with a ton more protein. And yes, I do use COW'S milk.

Thomasdregos

Hershey's Cocoa, sugar, salt, and whole milk in a blender. Frappe away!

Psydotek

I get a glass with 1/2 chocolate soy milk and 1/2 2% reduced fat milk. It's great. About 3 or 4 glasses and i'm good.

UmneyDurak

Oh give me a break! Milk doesn't cause people to get fat, at least no more then other crap they eat in excess like potato chips, grease filled fast food, etc. The reason those kids gained weight is not because they drank milk, but because they are lazy couch potatoes who rather watch TV, play video games then go play outside.

massimo

No milk or soy for me thank you. I only drink rice milk. However there is no protein in rice milk so it is not the all-in-one recover drink.

poxy51

I find that if I drink any milk before or during a ride, it is more a detriment than a help. Is it the protein that helps after a long ride?

ColoradoAviator

The 'magic' 4:1 ratio was mentioned. Chocolate milk has approximately 4 grams of carbohydrates to each gram of protein. It's a good ratio for those looking to recover after a ride. The carbs refill your glucose stores while the protein is used to rebuild the muscle you used on the ride.

Of course real food is also a great recovery source.

chunt

8th Continent Chocolate Lite Soy Milk - 8-16oz post ride.

BeTheChange

How come nobody every talks about the estrogenic effects of soy products? Soy products are used for menopause therapy, but I guess we are all eating magic soy with no estrogens.

Also, the amino acid profile of whey protien is better for recovery than soy.

I am a tempeh addict so I try to limit myself. Moderation in all things I guess. Nobody else worried about any of this?

damnpoor

Best thing I've heard all day.

Bixid

There's a ton of myths out there about soy. Soy has been a staple of the Asian diet for thousands of years. I don't believe Samurai warriors were girly-men The phyto-estrogen in organic soy is beneficial, not harmful. It is when they mess with nature & GMO/isolate soy protein that it can harm you.

If you're worried about excess estrogen, be more concerned about the plastics in food packaging that mimic estrogen. Plastic chemicals, such as Bisphenol A, are known to cause health problems, such as breast and prostate cancer. https://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola

FYI some vegan athletes who do more than well without drinking milk intended for calves:
Lucy Stephens (triathlete), Dave Scott (five time winner of the Ironman Triathlon), Carl Lewis (sprinter)

selecta

i drink a glass o choco milk with a gram of tar

bfloyd

mmmm . . . tar . . . yummy . . .

CdCf

1. The protein in milk is actually the best there is for a human body, unless you're allergic to it.
2. Lactose can be broken down easily by most people with a "Western" ethnic background, as well as people from many other regions. My body handles lactose just fine, thank you!
3. Saturated fats aren't the evil some make them out to be. That said, skim milk contains almost no fat at all...

I have tried soy milk (as well as milk made from oats) and it's fine to drink, but it's quite different in taste from milk. Ice cream made from soy milk is virtually indistinguishable from regular ice cream, though! Perhaps partly from the cold, though.
I have a brother who's allergic to milk protein, so that's why I've tried the alternatives. He prefers the oatmilk.

Pinyon

I like regular low or no-fat chocolate milk for post hard-rides, and usually when the hard-part of the ride is over and I'm going to spin more than 20 slow minutes after a hard group-ride. If I'm finished riding, then I just eat real food. If I have a ways to go, then I prefer a sports drink, or gu-gel and water.

From everything that my former nutritionist told me, there really is no need to break out the test-tubes, scales, and shop for secret ingredients. There are millions of years of evolution at work in your own body that can tell you what you "need". Just walk around the store, and get what looks great. If you pay attention, that is almost never foods with low nutritional value (low in essential nutrients, vitamins, etc.). Only top athletes and people with serious food/diet issues (diabetics, obese patients, people with food allergies, etc.) should have to do much more than just keep a general eye on what and how much they are consuming.

Goriot

I do the same thing. One scoop of whey mixed with 1% white milk. Same thing post workout. I'm trying to maintain my weight, but this summer I went from 175lbs to 165lbs. I want to try to gain some weight back, but with biking its becoming difficult. Only the love handles remain now =)

urodacus

avoid too much soy: nothing like the calcium input you need for cycling... don't listen to people who say that you can't process lactose: only a few people lose the ability to absorb lactose beyond childhood, and they're usually of East Asian ethnicity.


sat fats are only bad if you have a lot of other fat in your diet. full cream milk is a handy way of getting lots of carbs along with your Vitamin D and calcium and protein. and while we're on the topic of debunking pet theories, the phytooestrogens in soy are not the one-size-fits-all answer to women's health problems that many diet fadists claim, either.

and another point: chocolate milk is often made with lots of artificial colourings and flavouring, so make sure you're getting a good one, not eating a chemical factory. perhaps making your own from chocolate powder and real milk is the best way.

chocolate has amazing antioxidants and so on, but you only get the benefiots if you have maybe 50 pure chocolate at a time. not easible with choc milk.


and some say that chocolate milke is a waste of time as chocolate has oxalic acid in it, which prevents the absorption of calcium from the milk. true, there is oxalate in chocolate, but in the amounts present in chocolate milk, it won't chelate much of the calcium in a glass of milk at all.