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Do you ever wonder what you should eat or drink after exercise? Or even IF you should eat or drink anything specific once you’re done working out?

If you exercise for longer than an hour, or do a shorter but very intense workout (like runing sprint intervals), then your body craves nutrition within 30 minutes after you finish exercise. This 30 minute window is the optimal time to refuel so your body is ready for the next workout. A combination of carbohydrate and protein gives your tired muscles the nutrients they need.

Many companies want you to believe that you have to use one of their commerical products for optimum post workout-out nutrition.

Guess what? Chocolate milk works even better than commercial shakes and supplements! That’s because chocolate milk contains two types of protein:  casein and whey. These types of protein are key for muscle recovery. The carbohydrate naturally present in chocolate milk from the lactose plus the sugar from the chocolate help move the amino acids in whey and casein into your muscles, plus help rebuild stored carbohydrate in your muscles.

Drink 8-16 ounces of chocolate milk within 30 minutes after finishing your workout, and you’ll find you recover faster and have more energy for the next workout. Plus you’ll get the benefit of the calcium and vitamin D in chocolate milk. Choose fat-free chocolate milk for the best nutritional profile.

Who said good nutrition can’t taste good, too?

Here’s one time you definitely don’t want to be aligned with the majority. A recent telephone survey of almost 80,000 adults over age 20 shows that the most frequently reported nonsleep, nonwork activity is….eating and drinking!

I find it difficult to believe that 95.6% of the people in the survey report that they get most of their activity from eating! Not so difficult to believe is that 80.1% have a primary activity of watching TV. We all know we’re primarily a nation of couch potatoes.

Remember this initial statistic encompasses all types of activity. The story gets even worse.

The most frequently reported moderate activity, where you actually get your heart rate up a bit, is: preparing foods and beverages! I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember the last time I felt that fixing dinner was moderate intensity exericse. Maybe the time I lugged the 20 pound turkey up the stairs from the basement, but hey - that only happens once each year on Thanksgiving.

Only 5% of the people surveyed said they ever get vigorous activity. Thank goodness that doesn’t have anything to do with chewing and swallowing.  The most frequently reported vigorous activity is using cardiovascular equipment (2.2%) and running (1.1%). They didn’t include data on people who are eating while they run, or who prepare meals while riding their exercise bike.

I’m going to think about this information tomorrow when I go out for a hard, vigorous run.