When most people think of a tall frothy glass of chocolate milk, they typically think it’s just one of the ways parents convince their kids to drink a wholesome, nutritious beverage. As more and more research is done on the best workout recovery options, there has been a lot of evidence that it’s actually a fantastic option for growing teens and adults to drink after a strenuous workout.
Whether you’re a marathon runner, an incumbent bike master, or a slave to the rowing machine, any cardio workout should be well supplemented with the key vitamins and minerals it takes to help your body recover and refuel after an intense workout. The 30-60 minute time span after a hard workout is a crucial time to consume the right mixture of nutrients to help your muscles recover from the workout and begin to build on strengthened muscle. Some like protein powders, others prefer high powered granola bars, even others tend to stick to the classic water or Gatorade method, but few are as wholly effective as chocolate milk.
What Happens to Your Body When You Work Out
When you tackle a high endurance aerobic workout, a myriad of things happen to your body in reaction to the increased energy usage and change in breathing patterns and oxygen availability. When your muscles start pumping, they flush out glucose and ATP (essentially, energy) to keep you moving. Your lungs recognize that you’re using up your energy and begin to move quickly to provide a continuous stream of fuel for your work out.
After a strenuous workout, though often times you leave with mental clarity and feel refreshed, your body is still trying to recover from the intense outflow of energy from your body. From lack of oxygen, lactic acid can form in your muscles, making you feel sore. Also, once your mental buzz subsides, you may feel more tired than before. It’s crucial for you to quickly help your body work to regain the energy you put out so that you can easily recover and work towards even more strength for your next work out. That’s where Homestead Creamery chocolate milk comes in!
Chocolate Milk’s Key Vitamins and Minerals
Proteins & Carbohydrates
If you recall from your high school biology class, your body uses carbohydrates and amino acids (or proteins) to build up energy for the body to use throughout the day. Though you often get mixed messages about these two macromolecules from diet experts, a true nutritionist would tell you they’re still important to achieve a well-balanced diet – and a well-balanced diet is always better than a fad crash diet!
Carbohydrates help you replace the glucose you pumped out of your muscles during your training. These are typically considered the first line of troops when sending out energy to your body. Protein is considered the backup source of energy, as their complex amino acid structure typically take longer to break down. Because of this, they’re also key to building up muscle. Chocolate milk is said to have the ideal carbohydrate-to-protein ratio. With an average of 25 grams of carbohydrates to 8 grams of protein, your body is able to make enough glycogen to use during your next workout and still build up protein as a backup source and build muscle.
Vitamins, Calcium, and Phosphorus
In order for the proteins and carbohydrates to do their job efficiently, it’s important to have an ample amount of vitamins to help that process. Let’s run through the alphabet, shall we?
Vitamin A is paramount to healthy bone growth and immune system health! Healthy bones mean better workouts. Vitamin B helps our bodies process the fuel we provide it with. Without the help of it, the key carbohydrates and proteins wouldn’t be efficiently processed! Vitamin C helps the growth, development, and repair of body tissues. Beyond your muscle repair, it helps the other systems in your body stay strong and function well. Then there’s Vitamin D, which helps you absorb all the calcium and phosphorous you’re consuming! Which leads us to those important minerals!
Calcium is well-known for the help it provides to healthy bones, but it’s also an important nutrient to keep the heart, muscles, and nerves in healthy working order too. Without the strength of your skeletal and muscular system, you’d never set foot on the track again! Next to Calcium, Phosphorous is the most abundant nutrient in the body. As an essential mineral, it helps calcium build stronger body systems, balance your system with other vitamins and toxins, and ultimately keeps your muscles from hurting after a workout!
The Homestead Difference
Homestead’s Chocolate Milk is a prime example of this ideal post-workout drink. The combination of minimal fat and a perfect balance protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals is found in every glass and the chocolate flavor is rich and creamy. Because it’s minimally pasteurized, you can also have confidence that the key proteins haven’t been denatured from heat. If you think just any brand of chocolate milk will do the trick, think again. Those proteins from minimally pasteurized milk are the key!
At the end of the day, you can pick any carton, bottle, or jug of milk off of the shelf to find these key, post-workout nutrients. But sometimes, what’s important is what’s NOT in the milk, too. Every glass of Homestead Creamery milk, chocolate or not, is free of antibiotics and hormones. Because we feed our cows with a well-balanced diet and provide vet care often, we don’t need growth hormones.
Ultimately, you’ll feel good from drinking our chocolate milk for many reasons; you’ll feel fresh and revitalized for your next workout, you’ll feel fulfilled for enjoying a delicious drink, and you’ll feel good about knowing your farm fresh milk came from happy, healthy cows. So make sure you grab a glass next time you leave the gym!