What is the truth behind chocolate milk? I have heard that it is better for you than regular milk, and that you should drink it after a hard work out.

The answer to this question requires some background information on milk, so lets take a step back and look at the broader topic of dairy in general.

The verdict on dairy’s effectiveness as a healthy nutrient source has not been passed yet. There seems to be a war raging between those for the consumption of milk, mainly the dairy industry, and those against it, mainly vegan activists, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

As in most wars unfortunately, truth is usually the first victim, and the dairy battle is no exception. Propaganda put out by both parties of the debate have left little room for objective investigation, and truthful reporting of the facts.

Milk, it would seem is yet another case of the West’s industrial complex destroying a food that was once a valuable source of nutrients. Much like beef, chicken, and pork, our quest to squeeze the most profits out of a resource has left it barren of nutrients, and full of unknown additives. This shift is not just happening in animal products. Fruits and vegetables have long been selected for genes that express themselves as the best looking, best tasting, and longest lasting produce. Sounds good doesn’t it? Unfortunately, these traits have come at the detriment of our nutrition and health, as nutrients were needlessly bred out in favour of a taste (Read: Higher sugar content).

Similarly, through the processeses of pasteurization and homogenization, milk has been effectively stripped of most of it’s natural enzymes and bacteria that are necessary for the proper digestion of dairy products.

Furthermore, the common misconception that fat is evil has lead to the mass production of reduced fat milk.

Never drink reduced fat milk. (skim, 1%, 2%…)

Fat is taken out milk through a process that over-heats the milk until is it becomes a powder. The fat is separated, and then water is added back to the powder until a milk like consistency returns. You are essentially drinking water with milk ingredients to it. Not milk.

The heat, and exposure to oxygen during the powdering process also damages cholesterol in the milk, which can cause injury to your arterial cells, as well as cause a pathological buildup of plaque in the arteries similar to having high triglycerides.

Heating milk also:

• Alters milks amino acids, lysine and tyrosine, making the proteins in milk less available for use.
• Lowers Vitamin C content as much as 50%.
• Lowers the water-soluable vitamin content as much as 80%.
• Destroys vitamin B12 completely.

To mention just a few…

These destroyed vitamins are added in artificially after the pasteurization and fat reduction processes so that they may appear on the nutrition label.

If you would still like to consume milk, your best option is to try and find a source of raw milk. Unfortunately, raw milk is illegal to buy in Canada, however, the option does exist to buy a share in a cow. Drinking raw milk from a cow that you own is not illegal. Also, cheese is still allowed to be made from unpasteurized, raw milk. Emmental and Gruyere are just a few of the options.

The second best alternative to raw milk is to buy whole milk, or switch to goats milk which can still be bought in a raw form.

It seems like many other foods, paying attention to the source is the best way to ensure you are eating quality dairy. Furthermore, just as our diet affects our health and performance, the diet of our dairy source is equally important. I will cover importance of what cows are built to eat, and how that is important to humans in the second part of this series.

I admit I have digressed from Shannon’s original question, but it was necessary to formulate a complete answer. As you have read, milk is a good source of protein and vitamins… in it’s original state. Commercial production however, has destroyed most of what is good about milk, and the nutrients that it does contain are artificially inserted backing into the milk product.
Also milk, being high in lecithin produces a high glycemic load, and thus a high insulin response. Adding chocolate syrup (sugar) to milk adds to insulin response, and should thus be avoided.

There was a study however, published in 2006 which indicated that chocolate milk aids in recovery when taken after intense athletic workouts. The study authors believe this to be due to its ratio of carbohydrates to protein, among other nutritional properties. The study was small in scale and partially funded by the dairy industry, but the results may warrant further study. (“Chocolate Milk: The New Sports Drink?”, Associated Press, 24 February 2006)

Related Topics

• Supplementation. Macronutrients vs. Micronutrients.
• The Paleolithic Diet
• Milk. Part 2

In the video Robb Wolf explains how our body’s resistance to insulin happens very much analogous to they way our olfactory reaction to perfume is very strong when we first smell a new scent. That smell fades however as our noses become desensitized to the perfume’s aroma. To experience the smell with the same intensity as the first inhale, we either have to increase the amount of perfume (similar to having to increase drug dosages to maintain effectiveness), or decrease our exposure to it. The sad reality is that most people choose the former when it comes to insulin levels.

When insulin resistance occurs, the body has trouble releasing the energy that it has already stored in fat cells, and thus asks for more food to burn as instant energy in the form of hunger pangs. If this demand is satiated by carbohydrates, as is common in North American eating habits, the cycle continues to repeat itself, and fat stores grow while energy levels need continuous “topping-up” with more carbs.

To elaborate what I said in the post on the insulin response, eating low Glycemic Index (GI) carbohydrates, in conjunction with fats and protein, will keep your blood glucose levels low, and thus maintain a normal insulin response.

You body is stuck in an evolutionary past where sugar was relatively non-existent. Due to this environmental scarcity, when a sugar source was eaten your digestive system became very good at instantly storing it as fat, not knowing when the next opportunity for such a high energy intake would be.

If you would not like to be in a constant battle with your genetics, limit your intake of high GI carbs, and cut the refined sugar.

Robb Wolf is both a scientist and athlete as a personal trainer at NorCal Strength & Conditioning. Robb is an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. In addition, he is a USAW Olympic Weightlifting coach, and a certified CrossFit Coach, the highest level of CrossFit training certification, possessed only by a handful of strength & conditioning coaches throughout the world.

Additionally, Robb is co-publisher and editor-in-chief of The Performance Menu.

Related Topics

• Milk. Part 1
• Supplementation. Macronutrients vs. Micronutrients.
• The Insulin Response

If this sounds like a familiar situation, fear not, for this is the work of insulin, the bodies Master Hormone. Sounds menacing doesn’t it? Insulin has earned this title, as it is the key player in both the processing of carbohydrates, and the body’s inflammation response due it’s control over what gets into and out of cells. Inflammation is an underpinning element in many diseases and immune deficiencies. Control your insulin response, and you can help control inflammation.

Fun fact: Carpel tunnel syndrome is an inflammatory response to insulin resistance.

Back to carbohydrates. When we eat a meal rich in carbs, blood sugar levels increase as the carbohydrates are broken down into their basic components – sugars. As blood sugar levels increase, insulin is released in response. Insulin is a storage hormone which moves glucose (sugar) from the blood into the muscles and fat cells for use as energy. In order to visualize this relationship better, take a look at the picture below.

The red and green shaded boxes point out the discrepancies between the peak blood glucose and peak blood insulin levels. This creates a lag in the time it takes for both processes to reach normal levels again (red box).

It is this lag time in normalization of insulin levels which gives us those sugar cravings after carbohydrate rich meals. This is because blood sugar levels are normal but we still have insulin present in the blood and that insulin needs something to do – without sugar to store it gets bored! So it has the effect of asking the body for more sugar. That’s why we get hungry even though we just ate a few hours ago.

If you read my post on triglycerides you will remember that carbohydrates get broken down into simple sugars (glucose) for use as instant energy. When your cells have absorbed all the glucose that they need, a process that is facilitated by insulin, the gatekeeper hormone, the excess is converted to glycogen via the liver. Glycogen is insulin’s antagonist in that it releases fatty acids from storage in response to protein and hunger, and acts to normalize energy levels.

Insulin is also very important for muscle gain (many bodybuilders artificially inject insulin to gain mass), but if you are constantly causing an insulin response by consuming lots of carbohydrates, you run the risk of developing insulin resistance.

Like many processes in out bodies, insulin has an effectiveness threshold, a level at which our bodies perform optimally. The mechanism is analogous drug tolerance, and why drug addicts never again reach the pleasure if their first high with out significantly increasing the intake levels. Our bodies are very quick at adapting to over stimulation, and if insulin is constantly in your blood stream, your cells develop a resistance. Your body tries to counter act this by pumping more insulin into your blood stream.

Why is this bad?

When too much insulin is in your blood stream, and resistance occurs, nothing gets into or out of your cells. This means that all the glucose from the carbs you keep consuming is turned directly into glycogen. Since glycogen stores have limited space in your muscles and liver, the extra glycogen is converted to fat, which has unlimited storage space (especially in the abdomen and love-handles). Furthermore, with nothing getting into, and more importantly, out of your cells, your body can not get at the fat it has already stored for use as energy, and thus tells you to eat more carbohydrates. It’s a vicious cycle, but one that you can get out of.

You have to learn how to control the insulin response to some degree. If you can decrease the amount of sugar you dump into our blood, thereby decreasing the size of the peak in blood glucose levels, the insulin response will decrease accordingly. By leveling off the peaks and valleys in insulin during the day you’ll be able to exit that ‘hunger rollercoaster’ that plagues millions, and reduce your risk of developing insulin resistance.

So how do I manage my insulin levels?

• Lower your carbohydrate intake and CUT THE SUGAR! I can not stress this enough. If you want to lose fat, and increase your insulin sensativity, this must be your first step.
• Choose your carbohydrates wisely. Leafy green plants, and other vegetables that are high in fiber do not trigger a large insulin response.
• Eat carbohydrates in conjunction with fats and protein. Both fat and protein do not cause much of an insulin response and will slow it’s release.
• Get some good sleep!

Chronic high blood pressure, prolonged exposure to low level stress, and lack of sleep all impair tissue sensitivity to insulin. Understanding the relationship between insulin and glycogen is important for understanding why fat loss while maintaining a high carbohydrate diet is nearly impossible. Hopefully you now have a better grasp on what happens when you eat that twinkie, and why saying “it goes straight to my hips” is not just a figure of speech.

If you have further questions, head over to the Ask a Question page and leave one.

Fun fact: Have you ever noticed how long distance runners, while usually very trim, never really get “six pack” abs? This is because the layer of fat around the abdomen is typically cause by increased cortisol levels, a stress hormone that is triggered by lack of sleep and over training.

Related Topics

• Robb Wolf of CrossFit HQ on Insulin Resistance
• The Secret(s) to Fat Loss
• Milk. Part 1