Consumption of specific beverages right after exercising is very important to repair muscles and neglecting this aspect can lead to exhaustion in the long run.
Water can rehydrate your body after a workout session that lasted less than an hour. However, for workouts that last longer, consuming a recovery drink in the 30 minutes following the end of the workout is strongly advised.
Athletes use recovery drinks to repair tissue and fill up muscles with sugar, because long and high intensity workouts, exhaust working muscles of their stocks of sugar.
Chocolate milk is one of the best beverages to consume after a workout session of over an hour. A recent study shows that chocolate was a more efficient drink for muscle recovery than two commercial drinks targeted for athletes.
Additionally, milk contains calcium that promotes body fat reduction.
Originally, milk is made of 85% of water; but chocolate milk, with its high provision in sugar and protein (27 g of sugar for 9 g of protein in one cup) is much more appropriate for muscle recovery. Chocolate milk also contains sodium and potassium, to fill in the loss of electrolyte caused by sweat. It contains calcium and Vitamin D to reinforce bones, muscle and cardiovascular health. To quantify and give you an idea of the calories and sugar contained in a glass of chocolate milk, it amounts to taking one cup of unsweetened milk with half of a banana (about 120 calories and 20 g of sugar, which can be split into 12 g of lactose and 8 grams of added sugar).
And if you are wondering which type of chocolate should you get, it is advised to pick the one with 1% fat content.
