Workout Recovery Drink

Last night I was at dinner with several of my friends.  Among them were two personal trainers, a nutritionist, and five former collegiate athletes.  At one point I brought up the subject of the best post-workout recovery food/drink.  I wanted to see what the consensus was so I could adjust my diet accordingly.  The opinions were mixed.  Some felt that a PB&J was good, one even suggested Gummy Bears, but most seemed to agree that chocolate milk was ideal.

With that in mind, I picked two drinks that we have in our weight room at school that I could easily drink after my workouts.  Because I workout in a college athletics weight room, all of the supplements they offer must meet NCAA regulations.  Here they are:

Muscle Milk Collegiate

Stats:  250 calories, 8 grams fat (2.5 saturated), 18 grams protein, 4 grams sugar.

Thoughts:  It tastes pretty good going down, but there is a weird aftertaste a minute or so later.  Because it is a “collegiate” brand, there are several ingredients in it that aren’t in normal Muscle Milk.  A quick look at the ingredients list reveals at least 30 different ingredients, most of which I can’t even pronounce.  The first two are purified water and maltodextrin.  WTF is that?  Maybe that’s why it has an expiration date of 1 year!

Shamrock Farms Rockin’ Refuel

Stats:  300 calories, 4.5 grams fat (2.5 saturated), 20 grams protein, 44 grams sugar.

Thoughts:  My initial reaction is, “Whoa, 44 grams of sugar!”  However, most of my friends say that sugar is really important immediately following a hard workout.  So I guess that makes those 44 grams good, right?  I also like the ingredient list.  The first two are lowfat milk and nonfat milk with only 11 total ingredients listed.  Also, it expires in a reasonable 2 months, similar to regular milk.

Because I like natural foods, I am leaning strongly in favor of the Rockin’ Refuel.  I like that it’s mainly a milk product as opposed to Muscle Milk which ironically doesn’t contain any milk at all.

What do you think???