Chocolate milk is more beneficial than sports drinks after a work out

This article in the New York Times health section explains why drinking chocolate milk at the end of a workout, whether it's running or weightlifting, will give you less body fat and a greater, overall physiological response to exercise than those who recovered with water or a sports drink.

During the hour after a workout, muscles are “primed” to slurp blood sugar out of the bloodstream to more readily replenishing fuel stores lost during the workout. If the food or drink also includes protein, the muscle priming is prolonged. Chocolate milk has both protein and an easily digestible source of sugar. But beware, if your exercise session is shorter than 45 minutes, you will likely ingest more calories than you have burned.

Recent studies have also found that eating easily digestible carbohydrates an hour before exercising generally enables athletes to work out longer. This is in contrast to the long held belief of not eating one hour before races or exercising because of blood sugar fluctuations. These blood sugar fluctuations, rebound hypoglycemia, are general short lived and of little significance.

Read the full article for more information:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/ask-well-eating-before-exercise/?_r=0