Sports Nutrition Couldn’t Be Better Than Real Recovery Food
Companies that sell post-workout drinks and snacks would like you to believe that post-workout nutrition is an exact science and that you need certain nutrients in certain proportions from certain foods for recovery and best results. There was a recent study that tested this idea and compared athletic recovery foods to food at McDonald’s and fast food worked just as well.
In a studypublished in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise ,recreational athletes tested two post-workout meals with the same numbers – 1,300 calories, 70% carbohydrates, 10% protein. One consisted of sporting goods such as Gatorade and PowerBars. The other was from McDonald’s, but McDonald’s is a dream world where you can order breakfast and lunch at the same time: there were hot cakes and orange juice, as well as a hamburger and fries.
The results were the same after both types of meals, including the subjects’ glycogen (the amount of carbohydrates they were able to return to their muscles) and their time trial results after a few hours. In a study report, Runner’s World quotes marathon runner and nutritionist Nancy Clarke:
“I have yet to see a study in which a commercial supplement is superior to real food,” she notes. “Supplements may sound impressive because they offer a precise carbohydrate to protein ratio, but you can get the same from tastier and less expensive real foods with enough carbohydrates, protein and calories.”
This explains why chocolate milk can serve as well as recovery products – although some of the research on chocolate milk has been funded by the dairy industry , whichhas a similar program to Gatorade (highlight your product to sell more).
Bottom line: food is food, and what’s inside matters more than what it says “athletic recovery” on the packaging. Read the details and expert commentary on the study in World of Runners.
Fast Food Can Help You Recover, Like Sporting Goods | World of runners