The following is something I wrote to a past client that didn't ask.
I also wanted to add some comments to the choc milk discussion. I was debating on putting this information on the post but decided to stay mute.
From my experience as an athlete as well as coaching.... I have seen nothing but positive results in athletic performance and body composition from eliminating milk / dairy.
Without going into a lot of detail about research or marketing, I do believe we as a culture have been falsely led into believing milk is a good if not the best option for our nutrition. (as for calcium, yes we need it, but good nutrition and weight bearing exercise will provide adequate bone density)
Generally speaking from a sports performance standpoint the research shows about 3% improvement in performance.
In my opinion these improvements could come 2 or 3 areas or a combination of all:
- Loss of body fat - on avg with my clients about 3-7%
- Improved breathing function - less mucus (there are several studies showing this)
- Improved Iron absorption - studies show calcium inhibits iron absorption
These three alone have convinced me that we are better off as athletes without milk. (If an athlete has stomach issues in while racing this brings in a whole other set of factors.)
Now on the recovery side. There is no doubt given a lack of any other recovery supplements... chocolate milk has a place as a recovery drink... but for me it's near the bottom of that list.
I'll stop now...
